MAG 100: I Guess You Had To Be There

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Transcript
Warnings

A team of Martin, Tim, Basira, and Melanie attempt to take statements with varying degrees of success: as the Archivist is not present, neither is the Beholding power that allows statement-givers to describe their experiences smoothly in the form of a story.

## Statement

### Lynne Hammond

Lynne Hammond, interviewed by Martin, recalls a ghost she saw about a year ago in her flat in Clapton. She had been awoken several previous nights by a burning smell, but returned to sleep after realising there was no fire. The ghost took the appearance of a young woman on fire, and did not last long enough for Lynne to call the police. The apparition reached out to her, and was able to burn her, then disappeared. The appearances stopped once she moved from the flat.

Lynne has misunderstood the Institute's purpose, and expects payment for her statement, Martin explains that the Institute does not pay for statements and awkwardly gave her some small change out of his own pocket.

### "John Smith"

Tim takes a statement from a proclaimed "John Smith," who lost his friend "Jeremy" below Aldwych Tube Station. They had broken in to go exploring into the abandoned station, when their torches abruptly went out and Jeremy disappeared, possibly taken by people in the tunnels. Mr. Smith is convinced his friend is in a secret government holding facility located there. He becomes increasingly agitated, and leaves after Tim expresses skepticism.

### Robin Lennox

Robin Lennox gives his statement to Basira, with excruciating detail. He was walking his Jack Russel terrier, Jackie, in South Downs at around noon when he found a stone circle he had never seen before, though the rock looked old as if it had been there a long time. Approaching the circle created a decrease in air temperature and nervous behaviour from his dog. He meandered through the spiral hedge maze within until he encountered the sound of an old man crying. Upon hearing this, he checked his watch to realise he was going to be late for dinner with his mum, as he had been in the maze for 6 hours. He then exited the maze and went home, much to the bafflement of Basira.

### Brian Finlinson

Melanie vocally accepts that without Jonathan Sims, statement gathering is very difficult. She listens to Brian Finlinson describe his spider problem. Gradually over a few months, hundreds of different types of spiders begin to move into his flat. The spiders do not touch him or let him kill them; Brian also reports that they had webbed his furniture, including once trapping him in the bedroom. When he calls an exterminator, they disappear, only to reappear once the exterminator had left.

## Post-Statement

After recounting his story, Brian begins to panic. Melanie gets him tea, and asks him to breathe while she goes to find help. During her absence, Peter Lukas appears. He asks if Brian works there, as Peter has a meeting with Elias Bouchard. When Brian responds in the negative, Peter asks him to "get used to his new situation", leaving Brian alone and potentially banishing him to the Lonely.

## Continuity

* **Related Entity:** The Desolation, The Dark, The Spiral, The Web, and The Lonely.
* Lynne Hammond later reappears in MAG 190. However, due to being trapped in a domain that stole her name, she is instead going by the name Celia. She does not recognise Martin and it is unclear if she remembers anything about her past.

## Trivia

* For this episode, the voice actors were given a short script of what was meant to happen in the statements but most of the dialogue was improv.