Pea was also there hunched over Liz doing...something. You wouldn't be the reason she is missing now would you?

Nah. I was investigating her corpse (which, by the way, is absolutely wacked up). I then got knocked out by some slimy monster. By the time I woke up, she disappeared. Ask Lyra about it.

(Ohhhh, Ohhhhh- This is bad. We're doomed. Our first night alone on the job - they'll never forgive us for this!)
(It's over for us! We were late!) (Meetings, we're supposed to be good at those! We even found the Meeting Room during the tour!?) Wait, wait! The nightly report! That's the single most important part of the agenda. Maybe we'll get a second chance if it's good enough!)

Trembling, the alleged intern holds out a file folder, its exterior stained and singed, the pages within in disarray. Despite the damage, the contents of the folder remain entirely readable, immaculately written.

---

P.H.ENERA - BPI DESIGNATION PENDING - NIGHTLY REPORT NUM: 001

Tonight, we were given our first independent assignment as an intern of the Bureau! How exciting! It feels so exhilarating to know we're finally somewhere we fit in! Or… we're trying our best. The facility is so big, and we have so many co-workers who already know so much more than us… But… this is where we belong, so we'll just do our best! "Everything starts with the nightly record!" That's what they said! We'll have a great first-month performance evaluation if that's done right!

The man with the unusual face - was he… DXHustler? - was holding a seminar tonight, but we weren't asked to cater it. When we asked Spooks what a Linkedin was before bed last night, he said it's a tool for getting jobs that aren't with the Bureau. It's not possible… He couldn't be… He's not a Crimson Eye recruiter, is he!?!

We weren't sure he could be trusted, so we skipped his seminar to find the smartest person we know! We took the Elevator down to the Lab Passage and found Lyra in the Killing Game Lab. There was so much time before our first assignment, isn't it the most productive to spend it learning from the smartest person? Research as important as she does has to be kept confidential until she authorizes its release, so we're striking it from our report, but even after only one night, we learned so much! If someone as important as Lyra guides us, we'll be our best at supporting the research into the dangerous anomalies here!

We'll get better at tracking down missing files for her! Then she won't mind us shadowing her!

While we were working together, an announcement played and asked the Crimson Eye to sign a petition. Soon after that, Pea came from the Lab Passage and went into the Anomaly Lab. Then Jack of Spades came in and interrupted our work. The Rookie Journalist came through the Lab Passage to go to the Anomaly Lab, then the… is she… a ninja…? Roxie Richter, was that her name? She went the same way. Are they… filming training videos in there? Maybe the journalist is recording, and the ninja does special effects!

We didn't have time to think about it once we realized it was almost time for the meeting! Our first assignment came from a very experienced member of the Bureau! We needed to be at the meeting at midnight sharp, so we took the Shuttle to the Lounge and saw… that grumpy man from television… Dexter…? He was sitting at the bar and drinking. We couldn't bring ourselves to disturb him, so we stopped in the Kitchen to get drinks for the meeting. We weren't sure what kind of drink a Bureau agent like the one holding the meeting would like, so we searched and searched until we found butane, already conveniently inside a blowtorch to take on the go! How lucky!

After that, we went upstairs to the Cafeteria and passed Lily. There was somebody else who came in just before we left, but… there are so many new faces here, and they all have different gaits, and different food preferences, and different ways of holding themselves up, and it just got overwhelming! We couldn't tell who they were.

Things were so tense, and time was running so short, we went outside and hurried right into Sleep Lab... except it wasn't the Sleep Lab! It was a distorted library! What kind of a test is that!? Is it hazing the new intern?! Was it an anomaly? Were they testing if we can read books!? Did we fail!?

It was utterly bewildering in there, and so stressful! We finally escaped into the Museum Hall, but as soon as we did, we knew… WE WERE LATE FOR THE MEETING! It felt like we were never going to get trusted with anything ever again! We hurried to the meeting, bu-bu-but, everyone was looking at us when we stepped inside… Staring… They looked so disappointed… They were staring at us so intently… Like we… didn't belong… We- We belong, don't we?

It was so disorienting… We needed to go… outside. Something… Something said we needed to be outside… b-b-ut, how could we? After we had already screwed up so badly, we didn't deserve it… So we settled on the Patio. We were waiting here to try and get out thoughts to stop racing, and then…

Gus Odeon came up the stairs. There wasn't time to call for help. There was a Crimson Eye right in front of us! We did everything that "L.A.S.T. Line of Defense - Laying Down Your Life for the Bureau" said to do. We rooted ourself in place and tried to fight back as he came at us! We hit and swung, but he kept coming at us, snarling and getting upset he couldn't hit us back! Then we remembered the blowtorch! It was so hot… it felt like we were melting, but we set him on fire and we managed to knock him down the stairs!

It was exhausting. Everything was a blur. Someone came up the stairs we knocked that Crimson Eye escapee down, and someone else was moving around the North of the Patio…

We were about to collapse, so we ran into the Sleep Lab, but it was the library again!!

END REPORT

---

(...we just screwed up again and again last night… They're all staring again… The report's not good enough…)
(But it's still salvageable if we find the murderer!)

Right, I should probably set a good example, considerin' there's a dead man and all. Me, I was just taking a good look around the joint. Hey, did you know that Whisper Valley used to be a mining town? It also used to be a town, but I'm gettin' ahead of myself.

First thing I did, ironically, was go to check on Gus. Glad to see all these friendly faces in the halls, by the way, wonderful people we got here. Anyway, Gus was fine right where he should be when I saw him, stuck in that cell. Lita was givin' him a real earful, though. Wonder what that was about?

Anyway, I thought I would check in on the Director next, but wouldn't you know it? He ain't home! Guess that makes sense, you'd think he would've shown his face last night with the whole Liz thing. That Hustler character was setting up his seminar or what have you, so I left him to his business.

Uhh, what else... Oh, I had a nice little chat with Astrid in the Library. Lovely girl, I can see why the Director would take a shine to her. I'm sure my cousin will love your recommendation, by the way.

After that, my wandering was a little bit more aimless. Some light reading in the archives, a little stroll out in the open air... that girl, Ciel? Happened to notice her working on the fountain. Looks great, by the way.

On my late night stroll, I happened upon the Patio, lookin' much in the way everybody else found it this morn'. And then can you believe it? That huge bird, Dodo, he was bench pressing the body! No respect for evidence, that's for sure. Personally, you wouldn't see me fowling up a crime scene, that's for sure.

And after that, I went to bed! Plumb tuckered out, I was.



Oh, and in case it matters, which it might, I saw Goose, Bradimir, Giffany, Dodo, Nancy, and ol' Hunter boy on my way to check on Gus.

Other Info:

• Someone has taken a shit at Station 1
  

@Spooks now that Gus is dead are you in charge of cleaning this up?

This post was last modified: Jan 3, 2024 at 5:45 AM by Revy.

Aaaaand now, we're even passing our stories around. All this needs are s'mores and a hockey-masked psycho lurking behind the trees, and we've got a real summer camp bonfire going on. Whatever. I'll tell you how my night went down, and you don't even need to do any tortu-sorry, "interrogation" tactics to get that info out of me.



Let's see....so I woke up and stumbled out of bed, right? Then I went down to the lobby for that Doctor Doom yuppie's pyramid scheme seminar or whatever the hell it was, but it turned out I got myself up at the asscrack of dawn for nothing, because no one had even showed up yet. So what was a girl runnin' on 3 hours of sleep to do besides target practice? I thought the "energy weapons" in the Armory were nothing but plastic Toys-R-Us nonsense, but what can I say? I've been known to enjoy new toys. I saw Nancy and her Ren Faire boytoy in the Control Department as I passed through it, and after I grabbed a plasma rife from the Armory, just to see what it did, I stepped into the jail to stare my bullet sponge down. Gus Odeon....you know, I'm sure there's some advantage to having an old geezer good for nothing but collecting Social Security checks and liver spots among the ranks of a wannabe Illuminati organization, but I just couldn't see it. Perhaps they sent him out here as cannon fodder, and as far as I was concerned, I was happy to oblige. Admittedly, it pissed me off that the holding cell had this weird energy wall instead of prison bars like I was hoping, but I still got to see the sci-fi blaster work its magic, and fuck, was it beautiful. At least, it was until I felt a sharp pain at the back of my head and passed out.



It was the bathroom where I woke up in, with a post-it note on my forehead saying "Please don't shoot the prisoner~ -Nancy"....goddamn killjoy, I was only going to shoot around him and make him dance, even if there wasn't a barrier blocking my shots. Whatever, this place has other federal nerds more worthy of my time. So I went out to look for one of said nerds, noticing the Hustler crafting something in the Lab Passage and that Jack Spades chick in the KG Lab as I entered it. Eventually, I found her in the Morgue, taking pics of the stiffs...Lyra. Who fuckin' knows why I was drawn to a pencilneck like her. Call it an anomaly. Just my luck that that was her specialty.

What was also an anomaly was why she turned down my offer to grab a drink. I thought it was a given you need a constant flow of booze in your system to not let your job take your soul. Granted, her job was examining bodies and mine was making 'em, but fuck it. She legitimately thought that me watching her do her work would have been just as riveting, but I needed to kill time before the Hustler would make an embarrassment of herself somehow, so I might as well have stayed. She started rambling to me, mostly herself, about how all of these corpses were people who found themselves on the "killing" end in past Killing Games, however many happened before the one I stumbled into right now. I took a look at some of the cadavers: some grey-skinned demon thing with horns and red eyes, a man with goat legs, a fruity-looking robot with pink heels....seemed like the weirdoes to get caught up in murder rituals, all right. She went on like this for a godforsaken eternity before I remembered "Oh yeah, I'm hanging out with a virgin of science" and made like a tree. I came back to the Lobby, and this time, the Hustler actually showed, and by now, the hammer gremlin and...whatever Riki is had already showed up. After that....



....The hell you looking at me for? A third of us came to watch them spew garbage out of their mask, surely you can get a recap from someone with a less creative vocabulary. That zombie of the lady who died earlier, though.....yeesh, I've seen incestual murder twins less creepy than that hot mess. But we did a fuckin' autopsy on her, right? We know for sure she bit the dust? So then....shit, I'm not drunk enough for this. Whatever, I took the elevator with Lita and passed by the catbot in the Lobby on my way back to my dorm.

On his neck, his jugular has been ripped out, though not in a violent way akin to a mauling, but in a percise manner. The wound itself is not terribly large, but you imagine the blood loss is immense.

Can we rule out somebody just pluckin' at him with their fingers? Assumin' it was some sort of super strong or super precise anomaly, of course.

This post was last modified: Jan 3, 2024 at 6:05 AM by Spooks?.

Think we might want to poke about the Anomaly Records, considering somebody used Gus' code to get in there. Hopefully no files went missin' or nothin'.

Spooks allows you into the Anomaly Records, though he doesn't let you actually read any of them. You don't really have to though to tell that nothing's actually be taken from here. Searched through, sure, but not taken.

More ghosts... Riki fault? Riki said Gus kapow jail... now Gus gone. Gus bad Hom Hom, but still...



...Heropon not really sure how talk about tonight yet, but got two papers, one from not good greedypon seminar, and one from big, shooty Bird Person seminar. Riki want to show friends pictures on papers! Help Hom Homs understand what happen there!

You show off your two pictures...

First, you pull out a drawing on a piece of paper. Rather crude and drawn with sharpie, but art nonetheless.



Next, you pull out a pamphlet. It looks like a collage of various images, images which probably shouldn't even exist, but somehow do.

Pea was also there hunched over Liz doing...something. You wouldn't be the reason she is missing now would you?

Nah. I was investigating her corpse (which, by the way, is absolutely wacked up). I then got knocked out by some slimy monster. By the time I woke up, she disappeared. Ask Lyra about it.

He's not lying. I found him knocked out on the ground. Big bruise around his throat, and a mess everywhere. Ugh, go figure that I only need the janitor after he's both Crimson Eye and dead.

Oh but I did find something interesting! I don't know if it will help with the investigation but we can inspect it together~

> Take out and investigate 'Traveler’s Journal - English Translation (pg. 1)

Traveler’s Journal [ENGLISH TRANSLATION] - pg. 1

---

I depart today, from my village in this frozen corner of the earth, to understand what we have lost - our knowledge of this world’s magic. As a people, we persist through our hardships, yet the old stories tell of bountiful life, even in the tundra in which we reside.

I have studied what I could from the small village I called my home, but I have reached a stalling point, our people too fearful of the _______ return to preserve records of our mythology. Yet, we are not the only ________ of this world, and so… I shall seek them out. Perhaps in their cultures, in their stories, I may find my answers.

We are not permitted to return upon leaving. Knowledge of the old _________, even gained incidentally, they say, is too dangerous. To depart is to be exiled as those who bore the tome..

…Today, I have gathered my crucial belongings. I have no family, no ties to this place, but when I return, they will greet me not as an exile but as a savior.

Today… I begin my journey.

He's not lying. I found him knocked out on the ground. Big bruise around his throat, and a mess everywhere. Ugh, go figure that I only need the janitor after he's both Crimson Eye and dead.

Mind comparing that bruise of mine with Gus' throat, if possible?

This post was last modified: Jan 3, 2024 at 5:23 AM by The Thing that Lives Beneath.

Good sunrise fellow peoples!

I began my night by partaking in a classic Human tradition - the midnight snack!
I wanted to get myself a nice burger of the cow to consume.
On the way to the Cafeteria, I noticed Bradimir utilizing the muscles in his legs to run at great speed out of the Auxiliary Building!
When I arrived and sat down to eat a nice and tasty hamburger - a classic of the american human diet - I saw both Lily and someone my eyes could not identify.
After I finished my muy delicioso burger, I was feeling a great thirst that needed to be quenched, so I set out in the pursuit of the Bottomless Beer Bottle that we saw in the Anomaly Room the day before.
With much luck the bottle was still there when I reached it, I can't believe no other humans sought to seek this much desirable object of great power!
After that, I went down the elevator to attend DXHustler's seminar so that I could learn how to better invest my effort and money and strengthen myself as an individual so that I can retire at the nice young age for a human of 92.
Other money-minded people were Dexter, Giffany, Lily, Lita, Revy, and the same person I could not identify from earlier. Tinkaton and the furry one were present but i do not believe they can be consider as a human like you and I, both are far too small!

After the seminar, I went into the Control Department where I found Nancy out of consciousness!
As any good human would do for another, I helped her up.
Shortly after BPI-2300 arrives and the two of them talk about Gus' escape for a while.
At the end of their discussion, BPI-2300 claimed that he could sense Gus' death! What a mysterious and cool power these non-normal-human anomalies can exhibit!
After he mentioned that, Alan Wake ran out of the Facility Jail.
I leave a bit later, feeling very tired and desiring rest.
As I walked past the library on the way back to my warm and comfortable bed, I heard two voices in the Library! How mysterious!



Nancy and BPI-2300, could you please confirm and clarify our interaction? (specifically in regard to 23 "sensing" Gus' death)

Other Info:

• Someone has taken a shit at Station 1
  

@Spooks now that Gus is dead are you in charge of cleaning this up?

...Yes.

On his neck, his jugular has been ripped out, though not in a violent way akin to a mauling, but in a percise manner. The wound itself is not terribly large, but you imagine the blood loss is immense.

Can we rule out somebody just pluckin' at him with their fingers? Assumin' it was some sort of super strong or super precise anomaly, of course.

You look at the wound closer. No, it doesn't look rough enough to be done through brute force with something as blunt and thick as fingers. The entry points are rather bruised though, as though considerable force was used. The bruises appear as though they would have come from something thin.

This post was last modified: Jan 3, 2024 at 5:43 AM by Morgan.

Alright, let's get accounts settled. I'm sure some people have questions for me, namely What I was doing with Gus before he died.

Spoiler: Show

I started my night exiting my dorm. The Goose was outside in full tactical gear. Had a gun, too, a big one. Wasn't looking to get shot within 2 minutes of leaving my room, so I left it alone.

My first order of business was to head for the Orange Zone. Spooks didn't like me trying to get in, something about messing with the anomalies stationed in Counter-Terrorism, which, as fair as a complaint that is, I had to get in there. Columbo was nice enough to take the cat off my hands and pull him into Dispatch to have a different conversation that didn't involve me.

Into the Control Department, Nancy and BP-2300 were stationed outside the Holding Cell. Nancy had a file on her, didn't ask what of. 23 wanted to know why I needed to see Gus, and I was happy to explain that I had to ask him a few questions. I take my job very seriously, and I had a hunch a guy with that big a target on his back wasn't gonna last very long in the whacko den. Nashu came by to talk to the two of them, so I just ignored any official answers from Nancy and went inside to talk to Gus while she was pre-occupied.

All I had for Gus to start were questions. He was a dangerous man and I knew it.

- How do they bring him back to life, like he said when we arrested him?
- How many Crimson Eye are there around the facility?
- How do I get into the Director's Office?
- What does Codex Nocturnum actually do?

He answered a few, but not all of my questions.

- There's a drug called Lazarin. Apparently, if you give it to someone it can bring them back to life, and keep them that way with regular dosage.
- He couldn't say (guess we know why now.) but did tell me the organization usually sends Four, not counting support from Yakuza or any other auxiliary units.
- Additionally, he didn't seem to know who was an Anomaly or not. He offered this information mostly unprompted.
- He elected not to tell me anything about Codex Nocturnum.
- He offered to let me into the Director's Office himself, if I let him out.

I'll be the first to admit it was a big risk. For one, the target I was pasting onto my own back. Second, he was a killer. Responsible for the death of one of the most skilled people in the Bureau. After deliberating I decided that the truth of this place and Codex Nocturnum were more important than my personal safety, and I let Gus out of his cage, with the promise he wouldn't stab me in the back. Maybe a fool's errand to trust him, but I had to try.



As soon as we exited the Holding Cell, Gus hit Nancy over the head with a chair, knocking her out cold instantly.

I would like to personally apologize to her. Hitting women with chairs is against my personal Code of Ethics. I wish I could have stopped him.

Pea was there the whole time, and saw Gus brutalize the poor woman. They fled the scene, and I noticed 23 was nowhere to be found.
I figured since I had Gus anyways I would have him show me around to some restricted areas. We tried looking into whatever the hell Trip is doing here, or actually is, but it seems like Lyra was telling the truth on this one, he's simply too new to the facility to know for sure.

We left for the Director's Office next, but not before we were spotted by DXHustler, Tinkaton, Dexter, Lita, Jonsohn Smithy, Revy, Giffany, and an Eighth Person I don't know. We all stood for a few seconds while the group gave me a look.

I just told them "I'm just doing a subquest." and moved on.

We entered the Director's Office, which didn't have a lot in it. Not enough for a Revelation, anyways. It was dark in there, with a computer and some books on shelves, pretty usual affair. (Which is sort of unusual itself if you consider where we are.) Mostly non-fiction about weirdo stuff like the Mothman or something, but a few fiction books as well.

I felt that this venture was mostly disappointing. There wasn't anything special in either of the places I checked, and Nancy got hurt on top of that.

But I hadn't achieved my goal just yet.

Spoiler: Show

I was here to kick Gus' ass.

I brought him to a place with a high access level to try and ensure nobody could interrupt us. Consequences be damned, if I didn't get to punch him out at least once I was gonna kill myself. I turned to Gus and punched him straight in the nose.

He doesn't even flinch.

What follows is a one-on-one brawl between me and Gus around the Director's Office. There's a struggle around the office as we trade blows, but nothing I do seems to hurt him. I had to go for my Ultimate Move (究極の攻撃); TIGER DROP (虎落とし).

Unfortunately since last killing game I lost all my levels in the SOUL tree so it didn't work and he threw me into a fish tank. He knocked me around for a bit before I lost consciousness, vowing that if I ever met his ghost in hell that I would brutalize him so bad he would have wished he joined a different crime faction.

I regained consciousness much later. DXhusttler was standing over me, helping me off an unconscious Lily, who Gus presumably threw me into during the fight. She found her way in there during the battle somehow, I guess. Husttler tries to start selling me Bitcoin or something, which I listen to politely for the dialogue EXP because I just had my shit rocked.

I tried to head for the Leisure Center next to look for a portable speaker. This place doesn't have a disco hall or anything and I'm starting to tweak over dance break withdrawals. Unfortunately it seems like the sound system in there is built into the walls. Very sophisticated. The Good Doctor Niles Crane is in here doing Dynamic Stretches. After some time looking for a speaker, I tried to leave the room before I see Gus once again, this time very much on fire and running for his life. He falls down the stairs, which me and Niles both promptly ignore and leave to his fate.

Me and Niles both went for the Shuttle next, watching Momoyo pry the Service Elevator door from the Receiving Bay open, and climb inside. I ignore that and ride the Shuttle with Niles. He went to the lounge, and I went up and outside from the front door.

I thought I'd go to the Arboretum to look for weird plants I might need for future Subquests, but someone cranked the heat and humidity in there up to KIWAMI (極み) and it made me black out. I was already tired, and it wasn't helping. Cut my night short, but maybe that's for the best.

Hey, Astrid. Can I borrow the book you told me about last night? I'd like to read it tonight.

This post was last modified: Jan 3, 2024 at 6:25 AM by Columbo.

There any files or papers or some mush that might've been paper near the lake? Might need Spooks' help to check, just in case the monster isn't hungry for information.

Two things; for the sake of openness, let's take a look at this note I found in the Geology Lab.

Second, let's compare this chisel I picked up from there with the throat wound.

Hey, Astrid. Can I borrow the book you told me about last night? I'd like to read it tonight.

Well, I don't really want you losing it, but you can come look at it at the Observatory if you want.

There any files or papers or some mush that might've been paper near the lake? Might need Spooks' help to check, just in case the monster isn't hungry for information.

Spooks wheels over to the lake, with you in tow. You decide to let him look, because chances are whatever's down there isn't hungry for electronics. Spooks rolls back and forth along the shore, before returning with a paper boat.



This is all I was able to locate. My sensors detect 0% concentration of wet paper residue is lining the shore, which would indicate that no large volume of paper was placed inside the water at any point in recent time - unless it were within a sealed container.

You unfold the paper boat, taking it from him. It seems to be made with Bureau stationary, but it is blank.

Gonna compare a few random tools, just to get a ball park of how big this wound is. Tweezers, pliers, kitchen tongs... those all sound pretty absurd lined up, but I'm pretty sure we could find those without hassle.

Two things; for the sake of openness, let's take a look at this note I found in the Geology Lab.

Second, let's compare this chisel I picked up from there with the throat wound.

You present the Geology Memo

ATTENTION:

Samples 9-C, 4-S, and 2-B have been transported to the ______ ___ for further analysis and ________ readings.

If determined to be successful candidates for [REDACTED], samples will not be returned. Please adjust inventory accordingly.

You are doing good work.

You then compare your chisel to the neck wound. The chisel is far too wide for the size of the entry point.

Hey, Astrid. Can I borrow the book you told me about last night? I'd like to read it tonight.

Well, I don't really want you losing it, but you can come look at it at the Observatory if you want.

Aye aye ma'am!

Other than that. Got two more things.

Wanna check out the Sleep Lab, and see if the chairs are still organized in the creepy way from last night. Just wanna check them out
Wanna check out the Chapel and see what book was dropped on Dodo.

Gonna compare a few random tools, just to get a ball park of how big this wound is. Tweezers, pliers, kitchen tongs... those all sound pretty absurd lined up, but I'm pretty sure we could find those without hassle.

You grab a bunch of random tools, tongs from the Kitchen, pliers from the Boiler Room, and tweezers from the Bathrooms. The tongs are still way too big, but the tweezers are a near perfect match. However, a small pair pf needlenose pliers are also a potential match, based on your comparison.

Hey, Astrid. Can I borrow the book you told me about last night? I'd like to read it tonight.

Well, I don't really want you losing it, but you can come look at it at the Observatory if you want.

Aye aye ma'am!

Other than that. Got two more things.

Wanna check out the Sleep Lab, and see if the chairs are still organized in the creepy way from last night. Just wanna check them out
Wanna check out the Chapel and see what book was dropped on Dodo.

You check out the Sleep Lab. The chairs are all surrounding a single bed, as though a crowd was viewing a sleeping person. They don't feel particularly haunted to the touch or anything - not that that's really... how that works.

You then head to the Chapel and pick up the book. The History of Cans, the book reads. It looks like a very long and dry book about... cans.

Can I check out the area I saw Momoyo pry their way into last night? I believe it was the Service Elevator doors.