Interview with Thoth

So, after my post about Grayskins went up, I received an email from someone who called themselves "Thoth" (later, I figured it was this guy). They said that they had more information about the Choir proxies and directed me towards an IRC channel.

Here is our transcript:

TheFreeRadical: So you know stuff about Grayskins?
Thoth: Mhm.

TheFreeRadical: Well, that was noncommittal.

Thoth: I noted in particular that you didn't provide any information on the internal workings, merely their appearance.

Thoth: I thought it would be a good idea to provide your readership with additional information that you didn't cover.

TheFreeRadical: I didn't really get a chance to see the "internal workings" of the one I met. I was too busy burning it.

TheFreeRadical: I'm sure my readership will appreciate any additional information.

Thoth: The proper response, yes.

Thoth: It's a pity that fire is the best way to dispose of Choir, it's a terrible way for the people who have been inundated with it to die.

TheFreeRadical: So do they choose to be like that?

TheFreeRadical: Or does it force itself upon them?

Thoth: Very rarely the former.

TheFreeRadical: Well, that's a pity.

Thoth: Once somebody has been exposed to the fungal form of Choir for long enough, it begins to grow on and inside them.

TheFreeRadical: Is there any way to get rid of it other than burning?

Thoth: Then the very thoughts of the victim begin to be shaped by them.

Thoth: None very effective, no.

Thoth: I have heard good things about acid, but none verifiable.

TheFreeRadical: Huh. Their thoughts are affected by the Choir?

TheFreeRadical: Does the fungus get into their brain?

Thoth: Yes, that's exactly what it does. Soon enough, the Choir is changing their thoughts without them ever knowing it.

TheFreeRadical: How do you know about this?

Thoth: Yesterday drowning their cat in the bathtub was a reprehensible idea, but hey, why not, right?

Thoth: Certain connections that I am not at liberty to discuss at this junction.

TheFreeRadical: How many of the Grayskins have you seen? Do you know how many there are?

Thoth: I have seen two, but neither were active.They don't seem to be as numerous as other servants.

TheFreeRadical: What do you mean, "active"?

Thoth: In fact, I wouldn't classify them as proxies at all. They are simply the end point of the unlucky victim.

Thoth: They had both been partially absorbed by the fungal Choir. It looked like it had been thriving in their homes for months.

TheFreeRadical: That is some freaky fucking shit.

Thoth: Do you, by any chance, know how Choir spreads?

TheFreeRadical: No.

TheFreeRadical: I've heard that it appears as a blur, as a shadow, and as the fungus.

Thoth: Personally (and this is just conjecture on my part) I believe that the 'blur and shadow' forms act as carriers.

Thoth: They spring from small concentrations of fungal Choir and spread it to other locations when human carriers are not practical.

TheFreeRadical: I personally want to know why it wants to spread chaos or suicide or whatever.

TheFreeRadical: It seems to like fucking with us just to fuck with us.

Thoth: Who knows?

TheFreeRadical: Fuck, I found your blog.

TheFreeRadical: You're a fucking Timberwolf.

Thoth: Did you, now?

TheFreeRadical: A fucking Archangel death cultist.

Thoth: Ah, yes, the aforementioned connections.

Thoth: Now, now, calm down.

TheFreeRadical: So that's your "mysterious connection," huh?

TheFreeRadical: Do all you proxy fuckers get together and share stories?

Thoth: The ones who still like to think of themselves as human, yes.

TheFreeRadical: I guess that discounts the Grayskins.

Thoth: I think a great many of them have absolutely no idea what's happened to them.

TheFreeRadical: Why even contact me? Won't this look bad, sharing information with someone on the other side?

Thoth: If they try to have a thought that the Choir doesn't like, it appears to be swiftly excised.

Thoth: Personally, I sympathize with and try to help so-called 'runners' whenever I can.

TheFreeRadical: Really? Why?

Thoth: If they evade the Others, they die of natural causes.

Thoth: You have read Steward's blog, yes?

TheFreeRadical: The more runners survive, the more they can embrace the Archangel?

TheFreeRadical: Fuck.

TheFreeRadical: Any other information you would like to impart?

Thoth: Before, I mentioned human carriers.

Thoth: The second 'Grayskin' was found surrounded by Choir, but there was none actually inside him.

Thoth: We have reason to believe that the Choir exited his body by force.

TheFreeRadical: Fucking hell.

TheFreeRadical: More reason to burn them.

Thoth: The moral of the story appears to, all too often, be "Just burn it all the fuck down."

Thoth: I believe that is all for tonight, Mr Radical?

TheFreeRadical: Yeah. I'm sure to have some pleasant dreams.

So there you have it. I had a relatively nice chat with a fucking Timberwolf who gave me some disturbing information.

Sweet dreams.

Servants: Grayskins

So I just read Proxiehunter's post on Plague Doctor proxies (look at that alliteration). I've never encountered one, but it makes sense. Imagine how many runners are wounded and have to seek medical attention. How many times do you go to the hospital? How many times do you go to the pharmacy for drugs? How many aspirin have you taken today?

I'm not trying to make you paranoid. But then again: is it paranoia if they really are out to get you?

And I guess that brings me to the subject of tonight's post. As Proxiehunter showed me something I didn't know, I'll show you something he probably doesn't know about: Choir-proxies. Yeah, that's right.

The one's I've encountered I call Grayskins. That gray mold I talked about, which is either a byproduct of the Choir or the Choir itself? They have it covering their entire body. It grows on their skin - perhaps even in their lungs. I don't know if they chose that or if the Choir just forced itself upon them. But they look absolutely freaky.

The ones that try to blend in cover their entire bodies - sometimes you'll see a person wrapped completely in cloth or wearing a burqa. Now, don't attack them just because of that (because that's just being too paranoid), but if you see gray skin under their clothes, skin covered in mold, well, that's one of them.

Just like getting rid of the Choir mold, I recommend fire. Flamethrowers may be cumbersome, but they get the job done.

Them 9: The Choir

I'm listening to music right now. I really shouldn't be. Why? Well, for one thing, it could be the Choir I'm listening to. I could be hearing the eldritch sounds of an abomination and I wouldn't even know it.

The Choir is sound. Well, maybe. It can manipulate sound, I know that. It can change what you hear. It can turn a "How are you?" into a "I hate you." It can turn a nice song into endless screaming.

It can turn your brain into a pile of mush. Yeah.

There are several limitations to the Choir, if you ever encounter it. One: in order to manipulate sound, there actually has to be, well, sound. Noise. Talking. Without sound, it probably won't do anything. (Of course, since an area being completely soundless is almost impossible, I'll let someone else try test this out.)

The other limitation is on a variation of the Choir: sometimes during an encounter, a grey mold is seen on the walls, ceiling, or floor. This mold is often thought of to be the Choir. If you could, say, destroy the mold (preferably with fire), you could get rid of the Choir in that area.

There are two problems with this method, however: not every appearance by the Choir has the mold. This either means that the mold isn't the Choir and might be some byproduct or that the mold is simply one aspect of the Choir. If it's the second case, you can still burn it - but be careful, because it will probably resist and turn the sound of your flamethrower into a screeching noise that will make your ears bleed.

Merry Fucking Christmas

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six years old. I walked into the living room to find my parents putting the presents under the tree. I asked why Santa wasn't doing it. They said Santa was busy, so he had dropped off the presents and left.

I knew at once this was bullshit. If Santa can deliver a billion presents in one night, he can take the time to put them under the tree. My suspicions were confirmed with the discovery of several receipts in the trash. My parents had bought those presents. Santa Claus? Fictitious.

I discovered the same thing about the Tooth Fairy the year before. (Funny story: I didn't ask for a dollar, which was the going rate of teeth back then. I asked for a book. I woke up to see my mom trying to sneakily put the book I wanted next to my bed. I didn't tell her I caught her, but I did give her a big hug the next day.)

The Easter Bunny isn't real either. Neither is the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, Bloody Mary, vampires, ghosts, goblins, fairies, and God.

Do you know what is real?

Fear is real. The sound of your heart beating, the sweat on your forehead, the hairs on your arms standing up. Santa Claus isn't real, but there's a man who sees you when you're sleeping. The Tooth Fairy isn't real but there's something out there that will take away a piece of you. There are many things that aren't real...but there are so many things that are. Bad things. Terrible monstrous things.

And on this darkest of nights, what do we do? We wait for a fat man to bring us presents. We don't despair into the night. We sit and laugh and watch cheesy movies and give each other gifts. Fear is real, but so is hope.

I learned that Santa Claus wasn't real when I was six. It took me over thirty years to figure out that I was wrong. Just because something doesn't exist, doesn't mean it isn't real.

So have a merry fucking Christmas. And a happy fucking New Year.

Them 8: The Convocation of Birds

They look like a flock of birds. Hey, they can't all be tall, slender men or little frozen kids. Some of them look just like dogs or birds.

Okay, they look just like birds. A flock of them will generate electricity, passing it through themselves. I don't know how or why. They've been known to cause lightning strikes. They are probably the reason for the myth of "Thunderbirds" (not the Gerry Anderson show though).

Like the Slender Man, they have proxies. They are called Nests. And there is a very good reason for why they are called Nests. Take a guess.

That's right, they are nests for the Convocation. The Convocation nests within a person's body and they become a Nest. I don't know what sort of special powers this conveys (does it convey any powers besides creepiness? no idea), but they are dangerous. They can cut open their skin to let out birds of the Convocation and the birds? Will mess your shit up. I have seen a flock of birds carry away a full grown man and drop him from a great height so that he ended up just a splatter on the pavement.

Supposedly, they come from or travel through a place called the "Bleak Shore." I have no idea if this is true or bullshit someone made up.

Them 7: The Eye of Judgment

It looks like an eye. That's it.

Okay, that's not it. Those targeted by the Eye of Judgment (or just the Eye, I guess) start to see it everywhere. It...grows on surfaces. In people. Victims of the Eye will see it everywhere they go. Big eyes, little eyes, brown eyes, blue eyes.

And it passes judgment. That's why I call it the Eye of Judgment. It judges people for their sins. No matter how small their sins may be. Murder, rape, genocide, littering. It will judge you.

And then? Then it takes someone else (preferably someone you have wronged) and possesses them. It turns them into a killing machine named Judgment. They will come after you and come after you and if you beat them back, the Eye will just possess someone else and come after you again.

It will never stop until it gets you. Until you disappear.

Like the blink of an eye.

Them 6: The Black Dog

It looks like a black dog. See the name? That's it.

You want more? Sometimes it's a big dog, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it looks like a Rottweiler or a Bullmastiff or a Boxer or a Bloodhound, but it always has black fur and red eyes.

If you've done something bad and you've hidden it away, if you are hiding something in your past, it will find you. It will always find you. I don't know why exactly it goes after certain people and not others - why it will let one bastard live and another die - but then again, at least I know a little motive behind it, rather than the zero I know about the rest.

There are survivors of the Black Dog. Yes, one of Them has survivors. However, I think it's just toying with them. The Black Dog can take years to finish off one of its victims. Years of psychological torture, of paranoia, of trying so hard to hide from it. But the more you hide, the better it will find you.

Sometimes, a survivor will say they escaped by revealing all of their secrets. They go to the police and confess all of their crimes. However, the person who told me this died a month later in his cell. His cellmate said he had been complaining about a dog in his dreams. Cause of death was inconclusive. Perhaps that's how the Dog finally gets the victims that escape - through their dreams. I don't know. All my secrets I've revealed. They are all out there.

Except for one. One secret waiting to be found. And yet, I have never seen the Dog.

I wonder why.