THE MOON CROWN
EPISODE 02:
AN OPEN LETTER
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RESOURCES ON FILIPINO MYTHOLOGY FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE CAN BE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS TRANSCRIPT.
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INT. - A ROOM OF AN INN
INTERRUPTING BROADCAST #1
SFX: PEPPY NEWS STATION MUSIC
NEWS ANCHOR
Next up! There are reports of faint lines appearing in the
sky.
Scientists are still
SFX: CLICK, STATIC
LOU
Guess what. I finally found the others. And you know, I… I feel like I can breathe again. I know, I know. It's risky, broadcasting these tapes. It's pretty hard to find a station that will allow me to use their equipment.
Easier though, than it was to find broadcasting equipment in the last town. Don’t know if you remember, but I found an artisan interested in restoring these kinds of things — ah, radios — stuff that we generally repair with magic?
Maybe you know them as Liminal Artifacts. Or Liminal Objects?
I doubt he was happy with me when I left. It probably didn’t help that I made this uhhh.. Joke? About how nice the equipment was and that I had a mind to steal it — if he wasn’t around, of course. Ugh. You ever say something so… dumb… That you have that sort of repeat embarrassment, every time you remember it?
Yeah, no. I wasn’t being serious about the radio thing.
Even so, I doubt the things watching me there, hiding in the shadows, their bones clicking with every wavering movement, would even let me. Who lets Tiyanak* just… Was that some kind of infestation…? How did he… how do you find er — hope you mind if I don’t explain Tiyanak. You’re welcome to find the information yourself.
It would’ve been nice, if that artisan had mentioned them beforehand. If I’d noticed them before sitting in a room, broadcasting under their gaze, without a thought.
Well, I digress.
When you get far away enough from the smaller towns, you can find legitimate broadcasting stations. However, what makes them more difficult to use, than they are to find, is needing to break in and use their equipment.
That’s probably how you’re hearing this. Can we keep that between us? If you’re… Uh, government… That was a joke! Hahaha…
But, hypothetically, if I did stumble upon a station that I needed to use to broadcast something… It’d be quite hard to get into it, you know, without setting off any enchantment barriers.
Without falling through the floor, into a pit of slick bodies. Writhing. Climbing ever upward.
No matter what they say about mages and how, snooty, they generally are?
You learn a thing or two when they need a transcriber.
Like how to avoid these folds. In reality.
Walking through any street in this area, you can hear broadcasts from the Kingdom. I’ve heard shopkeepers tune into different channels, searching… Helplessly.
Through the low growling and whispers. The screaming, and chanting.
On more than one occasion, I've stopped by the bakery near our inn, only to hear the familiar tune of a broken music box, while picking up bread from a cashier with eyes wholly white.
Much too large.
And spread too far down their face.
I haven’t gotten used to that yet. The eye thing. But I gotta say, that station’s my favorite. Gotta find those silver linings.
Anyway, I’m gonna have to sneak out tonight when everyone’s asleep, just to get these recordings out to you. I don’t mean to guilt you or anything. It’s just… You see, Benny… He wants me to sit tight. If he had any say in it, he’d probably lock me in this room.
Permanently.
I don't make the best decisions, as you can tell. If you're hearing this. But I can tell he doesn't trust me as much lately, and I don't know what's changed.
We are all in this!
I screwed up. And that's an understatement. Truthfully, I don’t understand why I’m acting the way I have?
I know that, it’s… Things have been changing between the four of us. Well, maybe not with Tala? That’s ok. She has her boundaries, I get it. Keeps to herself… Except for when she does this creepy thing where she appears out of nowhere?
So, you guessed it. I haven’t told any of them that I’m not, in actuality,
recording these tapes for my own sanity, as Chess first suggested when he first gave me this recorder. I haven’t told them about the broadcasts the tapes become.
I’m not entirely sure Chess knows I brought the recorder.
But, you know, I guess they aren’t so much recordings or broadcasts, as they are relays.
Aren’t they?
Now, I’m not sure who you are. Honestly, I’m not sure how you’ve found the inn, let alone my room number. But it’s - it’s… It’s incredible, the letters you’ve sent me. I mean, seeing someone use the old script, out here. And with such penmanship.
I’ve only seen bits and pieces of the script while helping with translations from the academy’s archaeologists. The Kingdom doesn’t even like the idea of sending instructors on the subject to the academy.
Some use it for sacrifice, yes, but Gods’ Peak never had a history of that.
But this? This is like finding an ancient artifact, specifically sent to me. Which means, unfortunately… Your letters? I can barely read them.
But still there's something about your writing, the curves, the symbols. Like constellations, drawing me in. Pulling me in...?
Beckoning. BECKONING.
Whispering. WHISPERING.
RISING
SFX: RADIO TUNING, THE SOUND OF RAINDROPS ON A ROOFTOP CAN BE HEARD
LOU
NO, come on, play! PLAY!
SFX: RADIO TUNING, DISTORTED RECORDING
LOU
distorted, like from an old tape
Lou speaks lightheartedly
They're kind of like constellations. Or more like orbits.
Pulling each other to and fro, beckoning each other closer.
Maybe I can find a place that does teach the script. I mean,
we're already out of Sheriff Kitt's jurisdiction, so… Well,
actually, I never studied law and
SFX: RADIO TUNING, THE SOUND OF RAIN RETURNS AND EVERYTHING SOUNDS CLEAR AGAIN
LOU
Gods damn it all!
Well, at least I know you can actually play these back.
SFX: A CRATE FALLS OVER, GROWLING AND DISTANT SCREECHING RISE Oh Gods, how did I set that off?! O-ok. I can get around it.
SFX: RUMMAGING AROUND A BAG
There must be some kind of spell in here!
Lissomenos, Ianarius, telete hosios pareinai!
SFX: SOUNDS CUT OUT, ONLY CALM RAIN CAN BE HEARD
LOU
Fuck! Fuck - it worked! The spell worked! And they say
transcribing religious practices of citizens coming from
beyond the void is pointless.
Chess would not be happy about me using his scrolls...
Well, I can broadcast the rest of this tape later.
SFX: RADIO TUNING
LOU
Aaaand I’m back. Sorry, I know it’s been, what, a week since my last recording? Longer for the broadcast. I had to start a new tape. I think I can get past Hen…
Hen?
Ah… His name…
Benny…
Benny.
Sorry — that was weird.
I… I think — I can get past Benny’s room later without him noticing. To broadcast. But, uh… I don’t know what he’s going to do if he realizes that I’m telling someone about all of this. It doesn’t feel right, though. Acting like we didn’t see that creature.
I couldn’t really argue with Benny, if he got upset. Which he would.
Still, he’s weirdly… Benny doesn’t hold things against me as much as you’d think? As much as he should. Us meeting, it’s tied up in everything with Arnel. And everything with Arnel is tied to what happened in the ruins.
Let me say up front, this will make me look bad.
So... Benny and I met at the saloon, back at Gods' Peak. We stared at each other in this sort of, standoff, until he finally cracked, asking what I was doing at the saloon if I didn’t plan to actually drink. Chess brought over a carafe of a drink I’d asked for, my own recipe, leaving it between our
glasses. It was a pretty drink, milky and purple.
Benny was still guarded, suspicious over a drink. Chess went to take it, a little panicked, worried that he’d gotten the order wrong, wondering if I’d changed my mind.
In the end, we kept it. But Benny wanted me to go first, and when I’d drained my glass just to prove a point, Benny poured his own. Drained it immediately. Poured another. Passed it over. Like a game of chicken. The stuff wasn’t half bad.
Benny reminded me that he’d lived in Gods’ Peak for ages, yet somehow we’d never spoken.
He wanted to know,
SFX: IN TANDEM WITH ANOTHER VOICE SAYING "RIGHT. NOW." “Why am I here with you, right now?”
LOU
heavily distorted
I leaned back in my chair
LOU
(???)
distorted
And watched him with satisfaction.
He was different than I expected. I wasn't even sure he
would meet with me. Maybe he'd gone soft over his time
traveling from town to town.
The priestesses that pass through Gods’ Peak are often
uncomfortable, when you bring up their pilgrimages
outside of the continent. More so if the places they travel
to get hit with infection or a town descends quickly into
cannibalism.
Even worse. Occult. Worship.
So, I imagine it wears on a vampire.
Watching your food eat itself.
LOU
typical mannerisms return
Benny must have liked Gods’ Peak. If he didn’t, he could have killed all of us in a night. Probably.
Ah. Honestly, in retrospect, I don’t know if he’s ever hurt a human unprompted. Or even an entity for that matter.
I don’t know, I had this visceral fear? That the vampires in town could move on at any point. And if that happened, if there was some sort of agreement between a clan in Gods’ Peak.
That could explain why Arnel was sick. A last meal.
When he realized why I’d finally asked to meet, he wasn’t all that interested in the New Gen who’d told me to talk to him. I think maybe he wanted to know more about the academy, since I worked there. Back before all of this.
Turned out, he also wasn’t interested in hearing about how Arnel was clearly fighting some sort of infection. I told him that my brother was ill, feverish. That he had bite marks. That he looked drained.
Benny seemed to study his empty glass. He just had two words for me: Not. Us.
I didn’t get it, you know? Sounded like a classic vampire attack. Benny was being an ass, all smug about something. Giving me absolutely no answer.
And then I went to grab my glass, and Benny grabbed my wrist. I nearly spilled the drink. He held me there, his fingers like icicles, cutting the
realization into me.
Yeah. I’d been so far in my own head, I’d forgotten. You know. Vampires? They don’t. Get. Fevers.
I didn’t really notice when he let go of me. I was still trying to work out what was happening to Arnel. I asked if he knew who it could have been.
If it was some other beast.
LOU
(???)
distorted
A strangled expression crept into his face. He glanced up at
me. Confused. As the veins in his neck turned black and
his face went red. It must have been so hard for him to
speak.
LOU
He — He choked out this question. A fair one, given that what I’d said is kind of shitty.
Now, this isn’t entirely true, vampires are mostly considered survivors of mutation. And, ah, I think about that moment, sometimes. About saying that to him.
Actually, I’ve been thinking about what I’d done in the cemetery, back in that last tape. I don’t like to think hard about what I did back then, to get here.
No matter how angry I get, I just… I never thought I’d be capable of something like that. After everything — let’s just say that out of all of us, I’ve earned this life. Running. Looking over my shoulder. I’m starting to think I would’ve made my way to it eventually.
I watched Benny slump in his chair, staring at his shaking hands. Blood trickled out of his ear, following his jaw. I just stayed in my seat while he placed his palms on the table.
And I explained this to him, as I explain it to you right now: There's a process to growing garlic.
Plant. Trim. Watch.
But if you don’t cut the scapes when they form... You get flowers.
Benny had this… This pained look. I couldn’t really meet his eyes, I just stared at his hands, the skin stretched over bones. An indent curved around his ring finger. I kept studying it, the curve? Wondering how long he’d have to wear a band for his fingers to keep that shape.
I thought about Arnel. About what happens when the body rejects mutation. And that helped me actually meet his eyes.
I was blunt when I asked if he wanted the antidote. The drink was really just tea and liquor. I didn’t even bother to make an extract. That New Gen seemed to think he knew something. I needed to know what it could be.
He wheezed out an answer, but not one I’d ever have expected. Apparently, there were legends about them. Where vampires had come from. Did you know that vampires had ever been anything else?
Before then, I had never heard that.
If you couldn’t tell, that wasn’t enough for me to go off of, for what had happened to Arnel.
But it was a start.
I had a vial of what he needed, which I put on the table, not expecting him to actually go for it so quickly, almost stumbling. He unscrewed the cap and squeezed the rubber dropper, letting the clear drops fall into his mouth.
That was a little nerve wracking. I told him not to use so much. Benny doubled over the table, sweating, e-even more confused… I don’t know how we didn’t get kicked out at that point, though the sheriff really didn’t care about bar fights.
In case he needed it, I fished the whole bottle out of my pocket, then slid it across the table to him. His eyes flicked back and forth, reading the label over and over again. As if he couldn’t understand the letters.
I can’t blame him. The thing is, I almost couldn’t translate that bit of the old script myself.
LOU
(???)
They really do import odd things, those apothecaries. I did
not buy the arsenic that they suggested!
LOU
As a peace offering, I told them what it said.
Ipecac.
SFX: CLICK STATIC CUTS OFF, STEPS ON WOOD, A CHAIR CREAKING, PEN CLICKING
LOU
Now, as I've said here. We don't know the old script that
well on this side of the river. People in the kingdom, they're
very interested in keeping the old script alive, which is why
you must be from the Kingdom. So I'm not sure how…
LOU
(???)
Or why you're listening to my broadcasts, but still. I'm
interested to hear more, to read more, about what you have
to say.
SFX: "THUMB" BY MONOPHONA PLAYS BRIEFLY, RADIO TUNING
NEWS ANCHOR
More at 11!
INTERRUPTING BROADCAST #2
COMMERCIAL
About any side effects you may be experiencing. As a
result of Moon ex
SFX: RADIO TUNING, "THUMB" CONTINUES MONOPHONA PLAYING, CREDITS ROLL, CLICK
MYTHOLOGY FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE
TIYANAK
Information on Tiyanak can be found throughout the web, but you can start with the below links if you're curious.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiyanak
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https://exemplore.com/legends/Tracing-the-Umbilical-Cord-of-the-Tiyanak -Demon-Babies-of-Philippine-Folklore
- https://www.mangkukulam.com/folklore/355/Tiyanak