CD-SWTC06 (Dec 9, 2021)
Puzzle
“Burning brightly until the end.”
Knowledge | 3 Words
Clue
Hover over the clues if you require!
Clue 1: One of our debtors.
Clue 2: Also one of our archives.
Answer and Explanation
Answer: The Yellow Flame
Explanation: The yellow flame, also known as Wicked, one of our debtors, has been described as an unceasingly burning fire.
Summary of Receipt
Manager 6 elaborates on the Wicked. The Red Horse, War, it once tried to enter the Universe by having its cult ‘empty a vessel’ for it to take over. This person was supposed to be Joy Livingstone, or Manager 6. On the day the ritual was to take place, an IRIS agent, Manager 5, tried to save the cult members, but all save Manager 6 and one last cultist (Manager 4) who was supposed to aid the Wicked had died. With the dead cultists’ bodies on fire, the Wicked offered them a deal - become the Wicked’s proxies, or die. And so they accepted - and that’s how Manager 4, Manager 5 and Manager 6 became a three-way Wicked proxy. Other than that, the Wicked also caused the First Cafe to burn down, and attempted to kill Manager 7 via Miss. Masoch in the Third Cafe.
Transcript
[BRANCH] PALM BEACH
[SERVER] MANAGER NO. 6
[DATE] 12/9/21
[INDEX ID] SWTC06
[SECURITY] AND & ARCHIVES
I saw No.44’s report yesterday and something, like, sorta caught my eye with it, you know? She said: “There have been many receipts and run-ins with the Wicked, of course…” and, like yeah, it’s true but having seen what’s currently on the Archives, there’s actually not that much about Wicked on there. Or at least nothing as in-depth as what No. 44 put out for Secret. So I figured it would be nice for Palm Beach to write up a little description of the Wicked and its mortal counterparts. And seeing as this’ll be in the AND channel, too, I think I’ll just use the mostly-real names of the Wicked’s counterparts. So, like what exactly IS the Wicked’s deal?
Well, No. 44 called Secret the pale horse, so I guess that’d make Wicked the red horse… though yellow would probably be more fitting. The Wicked also has gone by a few names, which is unusual for the Cold, but it has also been called the Yellow Flame, the Eternal, the Blight, the Unspoken, King in Yellow Flames, the Matchstick, the Wicked One, and now we just sort of go with Wicked. Now, as for why Wicked has so many more names than the other three is because of its former cult. While Fate, Phantom, and Secret tend to work more in the shadows, Wicked likes to take more direct action. Wicked likes to set fires. Um, case in point, Wicked tried to enter the corporeal plane directly. The end goal of the Wicked’s now-defunct cult was to “empty a vessel” for its Flame to burn through. So who was going to be that empty vessel? Well.. it was supposed to be “Joy Livingstone.” Born and raised in the cult to fulfill that twisted fate. But on the eve the ritual was supposed to take place, an agent of the IRIS Company came in and stopped it… although a few minutes too late. Every member of the cult who was present had already self-immolated. But Joy was saved. And one other member of the cult survived, as he was chosen to rekindle the Flame once the ritual had concluded. So now there was the vessel, the last member of the cult, and the IRIS agent trapped in a smoldering temple. But, Wicked gave them a choice, accept the Flame and the flames will yield… or perish in the flames. The three took the Wicked’s offer creating a three-way split for the Wicked’s envoy: Joy Livingstone, Julius Mendoza, and Jericho Myerscough.
And that’s just my personal connection to the Wicked. Not even getting into the Wicked’s interactions with the former 8 and how they burned down the original Cafe. And the time the Wicked tried to snuff out No. 7 using another proxy of theirs, Miss. Masoch. Which, I guess I should probably touch on that real quick. Wicked has been less than amused with the Tricads performance as its corporeal forms. I spend hours meditating against the Wicked whispers, Julius has never once used the Wicked’s powers effectively keeping it out, and Jericho used to drink to keep it at bay but now uses the Mantle for protection. So Wicked has attempted to create other corporeal vessels because, at the end of the day, a fire will spread until it is extinguished.