[Network] Collecting Information

[bloodalwaystells]

Who: Andrew Jaeger
Username: a.jaeger
Warnings: CW: Body horror, burns, mass burning deaths, human sacrifice. More will be added as needed



Good evening, all. For those I haven't met yet, my name is Andrew Jaeger and I'm looking to compile the information gathered in light of tonight's rather disturbing events. After several discussions, it seems like some of us have different information and I'm looking to put it all in one place, discuss it, and if possible, decide on a course of action.

I'll start by reviewing what I've been able to discover about the carnival over the course of this week:

* The Funhouse seems to have some sort of disorienting effect for those that go through it. I suffered this myself as well as witnessing others affected. I...found myself chasing someone that wasn't there, and when I came to, I was very confused and upset. I had been chasing an innocent bystander instead.

[That's hard to admit, but he does anyway. It's important that all the details are there for people, even the ones that hurt.]

* Photographs of the building reveal nothing concrete, though I did find some distortion around the ticket booth when I took shots of that. More on that later.

[He'll enclose those photographs here: there is some blurriness and warping around the ticket booth. Maybe he just took some bad pictures? Maybe, but the ones he took of the Funhouse look perfectly fine.]

* A psychic investigation of the ticket booth confirms that the train jumped the rails and crashed into a wall at the trainyard, then burned with people trapped inside.

I did catch something interesting before the fire, however, from the people in the car before the crash: "The end that will be a new beginning". This is a theme that seems to recur with the circus, so I thought it was worth noting.

* I don't believe that Pyre is human. If he is, he's possessed of some kind of unnatural power. He apparently has some sort of criminal history, possibly arson, that Fenix helped him out of, and he started out at the circus doing technical work before he began his show. He seems very loyal to Fenix, and very enamored with the idea of fire in general. "Wax poetic" in his own words...

I also witnessed him melt his hand down to the bone, and then regenerate it. He did this right in front of me, inside his private tent while we talked. I didn't see any signs of accelerant or pyrotechnics, he just snapped his fingers and his hand burned.

[Yes, that last bit gets added casually, because isn't that the sort of thing that happens all the time? Of course it does.]

* If the circus is drawing power from the fear they inflict during their shows, I'm worried about the possibility of a mass-casualty event. If the train wreck was some kind of offering or sacrificial rite, then another certainly isn't out of the question. I hope I'm reaching, here, but I'm not sure that I am.

I'm available to talk publicly or privately about any of these details, if it helps anything, but I would very much like to hear from anyone who talked to the other employees of the circus or found anything else of note. I haven't shared the information given to me by other ADI investigators, I'll leave it to those individuals to jump in with what they have.

Thank you for your time, and I hope this helps us form a clearer picture of exactly what's going on and what we're meant to do about it.

Comments

un: jelica

[musicdied]

There were rumors that the owner of the Smoke and Mirrors Troupe was involved in the occult.

If Fenix Down was not just trying to sow discord to put us at each other's throats instead of his, maybe the ADI one hundred years ago was more direct in dealing with magical things.

[sorser]

Of course there were.

[Dry. Should he even be surprised at this point?]

That might be the case, but even if ADI doesn’t subscribe to “the ends justify the means” anymore, I’d still like to know why they didn’t bother to mention any of this in their briefings.

Not exactly a small detail you leave out and hope no one discovers it. There’s more to this story.

[bloodalwaystells]

Pyre made a reference to the whole thing being "Smoke and Mirrors" but I'm not sure if that was an innocent turn of phrase, or him being clever. He seemed to make a lot of little jokes like that, that amused him but that he wouldn't explain.

[Jaeger is starting to get a headache. He probably just needs more coffee...]

But I agree. This is all important information that hasn't been shared with us, and if they want us to do our jobs properly, we need to be informed of things like this.

I know some of us were able to find more information about the train wreck in the news archives, but if ADI knows more about it directly, that's a hell of an omission.

[sorser]

There’s not much I’d call “innocent” about this whole thing. My money’s on it being a purposeful turn of phrase.

Anyway, it’s going to be harder to give ADI the benefit of the doubt if this ends up being true. But let’s see what they have to say for themselves first.

[bloodalwaystells]

Agreed. I would very much like to hear what they have to say about the whole thing. We're doing this on their directive, so for the moment...we do it their way.

Once we get some sort of answers.

[musicdied]

They are trying to be a covert organization. There is always more to the story.

Did you notice, when the ghost train crashed, that mostly it was only us who noticed? Not the people in town, not the ADI agents from here. They didn't seem to be aware of the remains of the wreck, either. I think you're right that someone hid information about what happened before, but it may not be someone at the modern ADI.

[sorser]

I did notice. I even asked a few of the locals, and not one bite of real recognition. No hint of even the smallest memorial.

It’s odd, and even if modern ADI operates differently, it’s telling that they didn’t think to mention it beforehand.

[musicdied]

If they were a normal organization, I would say maybe they buried those records, so the incident is only a footnote. With as much strangeness as goes on here, I'm wondering if their version of burying the records involves preventing people from being able to look at it.

It isn't smart, and has glaring flaws, but it isn't any less smart than sending us to look at the circus knowing that someone there might dredge up the past.

[sorser]

[Now hold on a moment-]

Are you saying that they might have expected us to stumble onto this information?

[musicdied]

They asked us to investigate because they thought the circus’s arrival after the phantom crash could not be a coincidence.

If they knew about a connection between ADI and the crash, they would have to realize there would be a chance that anything tying the two circuses together might also lead to them.

[sorser]

[Logically, yes. That makes sense — and maybe a bit ridiculous that he hadn’t realized it until now.

Ugh.]

So then this was, what? A test? Why not be upfront to begin with?

[musicdied]

Maybe because it was a test, and they wanted to see what people looked for and asked about.

Maybe because they are so used to lying to everyone that being straightforward is not a thing that even comes to mind.

[sorser]

[A scoff.]

Then we’ll see which is the excuse I’m given when I ask after it.

[bloodalwaystells]

Yes, And I thought it very strange. It could be that it was a phantom event and something about us "other world" refugees makes us more attuned to such things in a way that the local residents aren't, but I can only guess at this point.

I know when we got to the scene of the crash, there was nothing there but the ruined car. No casualties, no fire, just a burnt-out car that they're now using as a ticket booth at the circus. And as I said before, there are very strong psychic impressions of fire and death around that car. It wouldn't surprise me to find it an anchor for other supernatural events.

[musicdied]

A burnt out car that nobody but us seems to really look at, and a lot of people who have not been at the railyard very long, and want to go away as quickly as they can.

[bloodalwaystells]

I'm willing to bet quite a few people in the crowd felt uneasy about that car without knowing why. Even those who didn't witness the phantom crash.

But a great deal of the circus seems to operate that way. Small, unsettling things- for now.

I'm still concerned about escalation. Pyre's show is a recent addition, so we do know that they're evolving, developing. No one's dead yet, but I'm not optimistic that will last.

[musicdied]

It would help to know how magic works when it's from here, and not something people bring with them. If the small things are stocking up, or maintaining something.

If I was planning something, I would wait before escalating. Get as much out of the fear from the immolation act as possible, until word has spread so people are expecting it and know that things are under control. Then expand it to harming the audience, so that the fear is both from something horrible happening, and from having the illusion of safety stripped away.

But that doesn't mean they will be patient, or that nothing will go wrong.

[bloodalwaystells]

Agreed. I'm used to my magic being an innate part of me, the fact that it apparently comes from *somewhere else* now is very disquieting and makes me wonder if all power is that way, here. There are clearly some supernatural beings in this world, such as the kelpies, but are they servants of the Powers, or creatures in their own right with their own natural abilities? It bears exploring.

And I hope you're right, or that they're content with the show as it is. It *is* a fairly effective, potent source of fear, and they may choose to remain that way to avoid attracting more attention than they have to. If it's all just a show, then no one's really been hurt and it's all fine, right? So they can keep doing it without interference. Where a true tragedy would put an end to their little game.

[He can taste the bitterness in those words as he types them.]

[bloodalwaystells]

Misdirection and chaos certainly seems to be part of Fenix's act, I wouldn't put it past him. He's a showman at heart, that type of personality tends to thrive on what they create.

I agree that we need more information about this, preferably from ADI themselves.

[musicdied]

Smoke and mirrors. It seems to all come back to that, one way or another.

[bloodalwaystells]

It does. Which means digging for those roots, to see if it all really does connect. I suspect it does, but I think we need more to make it all fit.

[musicdied]

About them, about ADI. And about the fear entities, I think.

[bloodalwaystells]

Agreed> I'm still studying up on that aspect of things, and I see a few places where it could apply. But the overall theme of cultivating fear at low levels...I think that fits entirely too well.

It might be worth researching known Avatars and servants of the Powers that overlap with the circus's whereabouts.

[musicdied]

That is a good idea.

I would be surprised if they kept that information in the main library. We might want someone in the Research department to help.

[bloodalwaystells]

Agreed. Though it still might be worth it to check through local legends for things that match the pattern. Every small town has its stories, and particularly with a place like Dogtown around, I'm sure there's quite a few tales and mysteries that people talk about.

[He's jotting notes as he goes, keeping careful track of every detail that might yield more information later. He has a process here, and it's very meticulous.]