Investigation Log – Anomaly E-5581
Date: 13/10/2008
Location: Chojnik Castle – Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism has refurbished this abandoned castle and opened a tavern to serve tourists visiting the ruins.
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[Agent Bähr enters the tavern and takes a seat at the bar. There are only a few other patrons. The bartender approaches the agent and speaks in German.]
Bartender: What did you want?
Agent Bähr: How did you know I spoke German?
Bartender: [Looks away uninterested as he starts cleaning glasses with a towel.] You look like you speak German. Prefer Polish?
Agent Bähr: No, not at all.
Bartender: Great. So, did you want anything or not?
Agent Bähr: Yeah, I’ll take a beer. Whatever you have on tap. You alright? Seem a little tense.
Bartender: Closing time is in 30 minutes. So, drink up.
[The bartender pours Bähr the beer and walks away without much eye contact. He is approximately 2.1 meters tall, dressed in rough workman’s coveralls, with a full beard and shoulder length hair. His appearance is disheveled, but clean.]
Agent Bähr: Busy time of year?
Bartender: Not really. Gets cold up here in the mountains, tourists like the summer mostly. Got any other questions?
[Bähr raises his hands in mock surrender. The bartender continues to wipe down the bar before getting interrupted by another employee.]
Manager: Ruby, stop chatting with customers and help me with the sweeping up!
Bartender: Not my name, Jarek.
Manager: Whatever, just help out.
[Before the bartender walks away, Bähr catches his arm.]
Agent Bähr: What is your name?
Bartender: Why? Writing my biography? It’s Graf. Graf Bergman.
[The agent does not interrupt again, but silently drinks his draft beer. As the manager passes by, Bähr stops him.]
Agent Bähr: Where’s the nickname come from?
Manager: Huh?
[Bähr hooks a thumb at the tall bartender.]
Manager: Oh, no idea. Everyone calls him that. Says it isn’t his name, but it fits. Honestly not sure why we call him that despite his constant corrections. [The manager shrugs and looks down at the agent’s beer.] Everything alright with your drink? He might have told you, but we’re closing soon.
[Bähr nods and turns back to the beer, sipping at it. He drinks a bit more over the next few minutes, then leaves some Euros on the bar and exits. He retreats to the small parking lot outside the tavern, just outside the castle ruins, and waits. Within fifteen minutes, the last few patrons exit and start driving away. Twenty minutes later the manager and the bartender exit. The sun has started to set as the bartender half-heartedly waves goodbye to the manager. The manager gets in his car and drives away. The bartender turns left and starts walking into the hilly terrain beyond the castle’s walls. Agent Bähr exits his vehicle and starts trailing after the man.]
[The bartender begins roughly pushing through the trees and shrubs dotting the hillside. Agent Bähr follows from a distance but is able to keep track through all the noise the bartender is making. Bähr begins coming across the remains of turnips, two or three at a time, seemingly having been eaten like an apple. After approximately thirty minutes of climbing the hillside into the mountains, the trees start to clear and leave open rock and dirt with some small shrubs here or there. Bähr scans the horizon, but the bartender is not visible in the stark light from a nearly three quarters full moon.]
Agent Bähr: [Speaking into his radio.] Command, I’ve lost him.
Command: I thought you had him?
[Bähr turns in a wide circle, scanning the hillside again.]
Agent Bähr: I thought I did! But I don’t have a visual.
Command: Scout around, but if you can’t find a trace within the next hour you sh–
[Static interrupts the transmission and a loud squeal is heard from the radio, forcing Bähr to pull it away from his ear quickly. He tries to reconnect with command but is unsuccessful.]
Agent Bähr: Great!
[Bähr sighs to himself and continues to search the immediate area for traces of the bartender. After a few minutes a loud groan is heard from off camera, Bähr turning to try and find the source. Then a light dims as something cuts off the light from the moon. Bähr turns and looks towards the moon and gasps. A large black shape rising from the hillside and mountains in front of him blocks out the moon. It takes a second for the camera to focus, but it looks roughly like the shape of a man.]
Agent Bähr: My god.
[A booming voice rises from the general direction of the humanoid shape, only really visible as a silhouette.]
Unknown voice: No, not a god. But I am sick of you people coming out here trampling down the grass on my mountain. What do you want?
Agent Bähr: We just want to talk to you.
[The silhouette turns suddenly, and the eyes are visible on camera, shining a deep red light.]
Unknown voice: I don’t want to talk with you.
Agent Bähr: Look, we’re just interested in what you do out here.
Unknown voice: I tend bar.
Agent Bähr: That’s not what I me–
[Clipped laughter echoes off the mountains around them. The ground shakes minutely due to vibrations, mildly distorting the camera feed for a moment. The silhouette bends down, no longer blocking the moon, bringing the entity’s face only a few meters away from Bähr.]
Unknown voice: Last chance. You gonna leave? Or you gonna make me do something you’ll regret?
Agent Bähr: I’ll leave.
[Bähr turns to walk back down the hillside. Just before he gets to the trees, the light changes. Bähr pivots and looks back up towards the mountains. The silhouette is gone, no visual contact with the entity remains.]
Unknown voice: Tell the boys back at home base, next damned fool I find up here looking for me isn’t coming home.
[The mountain begins shaking violently, prompting Bähr to speed up his descent. As he gets a few more meters into the trees, a more distant echo reaches him.]
Unknown voice: Could always add more meat to my turnip stew, just something to keep in mind.
End of Log
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Afterword: No further investigations will be authorized at this time. Containment efforts to be pivoted to keeping the public out of the mountains nearby. Given the recent seismic activity, embedded agents in the Ministry of Sport and Tourism will generate a cover story of landslides to be circulated to nearby locals.
Sources:
Grigori Karpin
Ignota IronShears
