Entity $ - "Tagalongs"

Entity Number: $

Habitat(s): Majority

A tagalong in a photo with a wanderer.

Description:

Entity $, or "tagalongs", are entities that have a parasitic relationship with humans. They are relatively human in appearance, and appear relatively normal to the human eye in peripheral vision. Under closer inspection though, the entity is clearly not human, although the degree to which this is immediately apparent varies.

Behaviors:

Tagalongs spend most time near human bases and communities, but can thrive on their own without food for long periods.¹ They appear not to need food to survive, but will eat if given food - most likely, this is an attempt to mimic human behavior. The manner in which they eat food is extremely awkward and uncomfortable to watch Tagalongs do not sleep.

Although tagalongs generally mimic human behavior when alone, they cease most behavior when attached to a host. When a tagalong attaches to a host, it will begin to "infect" the host individual. From the time the host is infected, it is usually too late to save them. They can be saved very soon after infection with a drink of Almond Water, but only if their tagalong has been killed.

Infection Process:

Show Description

Immediate Effects

When a host is infected, they will begin to see the tagalong as a dear friend who they have had for a long time. Some hosts have been observed practicing "secret handshakes" with the creatures or calling them nicknames. When asked, hosts state that they have known the tagalong since before they entered the Backrooms, and are impossible to convince otherwise.

The tagalong during this time will keep as close as physically possible to the host, keeping physical contact as much as possible - usually by standing directly next to them, having their heads, hands, or sides touch. Their behavior is stoic, but the host will pretend to engage in conversation with it. When the host sleeps the tagalong tends to watch over them and protect them from threats, but the level to which this is effective is presumably quite low.

3 Days

3 Days from infection, the host will begin to have frequent headaches. These range in severity, but tend to be quite mild and do not affect cognitive function.

Their muscles also tend to start aching and burning at this point, making it harder to move. General fatigue has been complained of as well at this stage.

5 Days

At this point headaches become extremely painful. Some complain of skin blemishes at this stage, but most remain visibly unaltered.

Fatigue and muscle pain stop the host from walking for extended periods. Hosts also tend to get quite sick at this point, with a high fever and vomiting as common occurrences.

The host also has trouble remembering some things beyond this point, including the names of their human friends to their presence in the Backrooms as a whole.

7 Days

A tagalong merging with a wanderer.

At this point, the host becomes unable to walk, but engage with the tagalong as normal, acting as though they are friends who are hanging out in the real world. The pain seems to progress to complete numbness.

At this point though, the tagalong will physically merge with the host, causing the host to transform into a tagalong, beginning with their face, and quickly progressing to their whole body. Following this, the tagalong and the host - now also a tagalong - detach, going their separate ways.

Biology:

Tagalongs share many similarities to humans, resembling their previous human form. They retain many distinctive features, but they do not retain any previous intelligence or memory.

When dissected, tagalongs are filled entirely with blood, which seems to be the same as blodd from a human - they do not contain any internal organs whatsoever, except for the inside of their mouth. The mouth does not lead to any other organs.

Discovery:

The M.E.G. was first made aware of these entities' presence when a wanderer by the name of G. Ní Bhuachalla asked for an interview. Her friend had recently been in contact with a tagalong, and she wanted the entities documented as a warning to others. The interview was recorded below:

Date: 31/08/2018
Interviewer: Agent Peters
Interviewee: G Ní Bhuachalla

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<Begin Interview>
Agent Peters: I've started the recording, are you ready to start? Are you comfortable?

G Ní Bhuachalla: Yeah, thanks. I've been a little sick, but I'm good to start - it's important.

Agent Peters: Ok. So, what happened the other day, with your friend?

G Ní Bhuachalla: Well… we had a camp. It was a small camp, we only had 5 people. We had just carved our names into a door on Level 4 that led to a board room with a desk, but no table or chairs or anything. We were running low on food, and had gotten bored of almond water. My friend ██████ was saying something like "Cmon guys if we keep drinking only almond water, it will get less effective!"

Agent Peters: I don't think that's how it works…

G Ní Bhuachalla: Me neither, but I wanted to get something else to eat. So I agreed with her that we would go and find some food somewhere else.

Agent Peters: Where did you go?

G Ní Bhuachalla: We used the computer terminal in the room and looked at your MEG database, but we couldn't figure out how to browse it. So we just decided we'd look for food ourselves.

Agent Peters: So you just went out blindly?

G Ní Bhuachalla: Yeah. We just really needed something to eat, I guess. So she saw a lift, and we decided to go in. There were like… 999 buttons on it? We went to the 8th floor, and it dropped us off in a cave. After we stepped out, it was gone - just caves in both directions.

Agent Peters: So you were stranded?

G Ní Bhuachalla: Yes. We just walked for ages and ages in the caves, hoping for an exit. Forget food, we just wanted out!

Agent Peters: So what happened?

G Ní Bhuachalla: Well, nothing happened for a very long time. We were completely alone, and had no idea if we would get out… But then we heard something around the corner. It sounded like a baby, crying.

Agent Peters: So you followed the noise?

G Ní Bhuachalla: We did. █████ went ahead of me to check it out, and she screamed for a second before calming down completely. Then she said something like "C'mon, let's get back." before coming back to me with…

Agent Peters: With what?

G Ní Bhuachalla: It was this weird… thing. It followed her around everywhere. It looked like a human, but just… way uncanny. It was like out of a really old video game, but upscaled to be HD? Everything was just a little off. It never made much noise, but it was creepy to watch it walk around.

Agent Peters: Your friend.. kept this thing with her?

G Ní Bhuachalla: Yes. I asked her about it and she said that it was her friend. That they had known each other since before even entering the backrooms!

Agent Peters: So, did you try to get it away from her?

G Ní Bhuachalla: No. I was scared of it - really scared. So I just let it be, with her.

Agent Peters: And where is she now?

G Ní Bhuachalla: Well… that's why I'm reporting this. She got kind of sick the more time she spent with that thing. It was kind of disgusting… but then one day it happened. The thing just merged onto her, and she started melting into one of them. It was horrific… she just practically threw up her insides… and she-

Agent Peters: It's ok, you can stop. So she turned into one of them?

G Ní Bhuachalla: Yeah. The two seperated, and they just… scurried off… I think…

Agent Peters: Wait…

Agent Peters notices something out of the camera's view.

G Ní Bhuachalla: Yes?

Agent Peters: How about you tell me who that is?

G Ní Bhuachalla: Her? Don't worry about her - she's my friend. We're pretty close, you know - we've been best friends for… well… since before we came here.

Agent Peters: You… wait. Can we get some backup in here? There's an entity in the room.

G Ní Bhuachalla: You… entity? Where?

---

G Ní Bhuchalla was taken out of the room, and the tagalong she had with her was killed. She recovered from the illusion after three days of care in Base Alpha.

Photograpped Instances

Due to the nature of the entities, many wanderers end up taking photos of themselves with them.

Do's and Don'ts:

Do:

• Kill tagalongs if you can.
  • Use any method that does not involve physical contact.
• Avoid tagalongs before you are infected.

Don't:

• Attempt to remove them yourself, or make any physical contact at all with the entity.
• Attempt to reason with an infected person.
• Waste time on somebody who has been infected for over 3 days.
  • You're best leaving them be with the tagalong, they're already lost.

Footnotes

1. One tagalong was allegedly kept in a rudimentary cage for a long period of time at a small camp on Level [i'll fill this in later! oofies!.]

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who dat be huh

wow its me [[*Scutoid Studios]]
idea help by [[*Snomwriting]]
greenlit by [here's hoping!]

so i was up real late one night. it was pretty dark.
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and then i see these weird thing that stylegan keeps making in the background.
i then remembered that the image guide says you can use those images, and it clicked.

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