THIS FILE DEPICTS THE FINAL ARRIVAL OF THE GROUP AFTER A GRUELING NIGHT-LONG DRIVE.
--File 030: Anagrams and Serial Killers--
10/20/XXXX - 9:45am
Blaine is recording as the trio steps out of the car, looking exhausted, disgruntled, and worn out. They have clearly been driving nonstop over the night to get to their final destination- namely, ex-FBI Agent Jakub Bartosz's house, which is a run-down shack settled apart from the local town that he is living near. He is within three hours' drive to the hometown of Jake Grantham, just far enough away to maintain a low profile, yet close enough to drive up when he so desires.
Bartosz is waiting outside his home. Though it has only been 15 years since he worked with the FBI as a young 30-something, Bartosz looks aged, and there are deep lines and shadows in his face; he is thin, but moves with an agile, graceful step. There is a tall fence around his yard to keep people out, with NO TRESPASSING signs tied into the chainlinks all across it.
He looks grim as they approach, hands in the pockets of a worn and faded jacket.
Bartosz: "Wondered if anything else had happened to you guys."
Anders: "No, nothing overnight."
Blaine: "We've got only a little time until the next game level starts."
Blaine swings the camera to look at Emma, but she is withdrawn and looking anxious, the game clutched in one hand but held out from her, as if it were about to explode.
Bartosz: "Don't need to tell me twice. Come in, I'll make some tea- it's hardly fancy, I'm living off the bare minimum, but it's what I've got."
Anders: "How are you making a living at all? Last I heard you didn't have a job."
Bartosz: "I'm assuming you spoke with Alois. No, I don't have a job. The book got me a good enough deal to live off of if I'm careful, and before that, I was doing anonymous articles talking about goofy shit in those paranormal magazines."
Anders: "Oh, hell, Jakub, seriously?"
Bartosz: "With my experiences, you think it was hard not to twist the truth a little bit and pull some shit out of my ass? They ate it up. I've got a small following online, but I give them the real shit."
Blaine: "Still seems a little predatory."
Bartosz: "You try being the 'crazy old asshole who thinks the neighboring town has a cult running it'."
Emma: "Do you?"
The inside of Bartosz's house is somewhat baren, and though it smells a little old, it appears to be well kept up. The furniture all appears to be second-hand, and there is a very average looking laptop sitting atop a small table against one wall with a single, mismatched chair to it. There is no TV, but there is a tall, faded bookshelf filled to the brim with occult titles, which Blaine walks up to immediately to look more closely at.
Titles include: "How to identify a cult", "Common cult practices", "Occultic Cults", "Demon Summoning for the Earnest Summoner", "Demonology", "Dimensional Rifts", "Alternate Realities", "Space Time Temporal Rifts", and "Common Portents and Demonic Powers and How to Recognize Them".
Bartosz hurries back surprisingly quickly with tea, apparently having boiled water in preparation. Emma sits at once before she takes the cup offered to her- the largest of them- and quickly sets it down when her trembling hands nearly spill it all over her.
Blaine quickly sits near her, accepting the tea from Bartosz next.
Bartosz: "I take it you're Emma."
Emma: "What gave it away?"
Bartosz: "Well, I doubt he's called 'Emma', but I could always be wrong."
Emma gives a very small, weak laugh, but it peters out and she grows pale again, staring at the screen of the handheld. She has placed it down on the table in front of her, and is subconsciously leaning away from it.
Blaine: "Should we take it outside, in case it... explodes again?"
Anders: "I don't think it's going to. This thing wants to get to the point: the next level. It just wants to up the tension in between missions."
Bartosz: "Can't believe I'm gettin' to see this shit in person, after all these years."
He looks somewhat stricken as he pauses, and turns to Emma.
Bartosz: "Not to say I'm gettin' off to what's happenin' to you-"
Emma: "Don't worry, I'm not offended."
The room goes quiet as they all stare at the counter on the console. There are only thirty seconds remaining, and as they tick down, Emma begins to fidget, first reaching to hold the game, then seeming to think better of it and getting up to move away, and then seeming to change her mind and quickly sit back down. No one stops her or mentions her nervous actions.
At last, the timer hits zero, and the room seems to grow as still as a mortuary.
The screen flashes, and Blaine leans in close to catch the change. A new level loads in, and the scene is somewhat more detailed than the last, with the graphics having expanded in detail and skill. The player character is standing outside, across from a building, and there is no other series of instructions.
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Emma: "There's a timer at the top of the screen. 48 hours, basically."
Bartosz: "The timer shrinks with each level."
Blaine: "Great."
Anders: "The faster you solve it, the more time we'll have to get going."
Emma takes a deep breath, steels herself, and picks up the console gingerly. No maggots burst out of it, so with somewhat stronger confidence, she starts playing, with Blaine leaning in close to get a shot and Anders and Bartosz coming to stand behind them both.
Emma moves her character around the scene a little, but it's easy to see that the main target is entering the building in front of her. All there is around her small character is a cracked sidewalk and a dead tree stump.
The first room Emma enters is small, like a foyer, and has no one in it. When Emma investigates a nearby table with a picture frame on it, the following text appears:
> "WHY COULDN'T IT BE HER?"
Blaine: "His father died."
Emma: "How do you figure?"
Blaine: "That's a memorial table. You're in a funeral home."
Emma pushes through the next set of doors when it appears that there is nothing else to discover. The following room has chairs in which people sit. Talking to each shows a small window with text of general grieving. Occasionally, however, the text is overlaid with massive letters, the font of which shakes and jitters in place:
> "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
Every time the text appears to blot out everything across the screen, the sound on the handheld releases a piercing, digitalized shriek that nearly blows out the speakers and causes Emma and Blaine to jump.
No one comments on it however, with Emma continuing down the lane and slowly revealing a packed room. It would appear that Mr. Grantham had been well-liked in his time; there are so many NPC's that Emma can't even talk to them all, and they stand clustered against the walls.
The source of the shrieking is revealed to be a woman kneeling by a closed casket. Emma brings her NPC up behind her, and text is triggered by her approach.
> "WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE ME, MY LOVE?!"
Emma: "Anyone else sweating buckets?"
Blaine: "You're doing good."
Emma: "I'm going to talk to her again."
Emma activates the NPC woman screaming by the casket, and she whirls around and a very loud CRACK sounds through the speaker, making even Anders and Bartosz jump. All sound in the game ceases, and a text box blots out the entire screen in shaky font, but the letters and words are obscured by artifacting. Before anyone can react to this, the letters suddenly burst off the text box and go flying around the screen, landing in various locations.
When Emma selects the NPC woman again, a text input appears once more.
Emma: "We need to figure out what she said."
Anders: "I'd bet good money it wasn't anything good. That sound was like a slap."
Blaine: "Do you have paper, Mr. Bartosz?"
Bartosz: "Jakub is fine, kid. And yeah, I'll grab it, I've got some right over here."
Emma is already making her way to the closest artifacting in the screen, which is hidden behind another character. She talks to them, and another text box appears:
> "She's taking it so hard. I feel for her and her son. Everyone grieves in their own way."
The woman steps out of the way, and when Emma activates the artifacting, a letter appears: "C".
Blaine: "Got it. C."
Emma continues to the next artefact, also blocked by another NPC:
> "He was a good, attentive father."
When they move, the letter "Y" is revealed.
Blaine: "Got the 'Y'."
This continues in the same fashion many times, with the following messages, which grow progressively less benign:
> "She doted on her man, like a good wife. Shame she... but no, her kid's here."
>
> B
>
> "Never had an employee as dedicated as him. Always wanted to do right by his family."
>
> T
>
> "You think she'll crack?"
>
> E
>
> "Kid's got a huge welt on his face..."
>
> O
>
> "Shhh! Don't say anything! She's going to be one of THEM."
>
> W
>
> "It begins, then. They're really doing it."
>
> O
>
> "Without suffering, there is no gain."
>
> U
>
> "We should do something... Stop this madness..."
>
> U
>
> "Yeah. Sure. You first."
>
> T
>
> "Soon, what I want will be mine..."
>
> N
>
> "Couldn't it have been anyone else? He was a good man to the town."
>
> "Y"
>
> "It has to be a good one- like yin and yang."
>
> I
>
> "Is it all worth it?"
>
> L
>
> "You'll realize just how worth it is when you're not going from paycheck to paycheck and your kid's got clean clothes."
>
> D
>
> "You're right... better his, than mine."
>
> H
Emma: "How many was that? I don't see any more."
Blaine: "17 letters: C Y B T E O W O U U T N Y I L D H."
Anders: "Anagram. We gotta shuffle the letters around."
Bartosz: "I'm real good at these. Gimme that paper, kid. Don't worry, I won't hide the letters."
Bartosz takes the paper from Blaine and walks off, tapping his chin as he considers what he's looking at. Several minutes pass, and Blaine goes between both Bartosz and Emma, who is frowning as she mvoes the character around the screen, talking again to all of the characters. She mouths the words under her breath as she does so.
Bartosz is muttering to himself as he considers the paper, writing potential words on a fresh sheet.
Bartosz: "Would? Bet. Could. Wild. Hide. Hyde? Think about the context, you stupid bastard..."
Blaine: "I think I'd better resume recording in a minute. This might take a second."
Bartosz: "Good idea, kid. Anders, if you want to root around int he kitchen and just make whatever from whatever you see, everything's available. Go ham."
Anders: "You don't need my help?"
Bartosz: "Nah. Thinkin'."
Blaine: "I'll take that as my cue to cut here. Let me know before you go shouting anything ground breaking."
The footage ends after a moment of waiting for anyone to stop him, but the others are all focused on their own mysteries: Emma with her understanding of the statements made, Bartosz with the anagram, and Anders with exploring the kitchen.
--END TRANSMISSION--