Something is wrong in Grievance Falls.
In Grievance Falls, the small-town seat of Septum County, a public works employee vanished after a discovery near Fragile Creek in 2020. Six years later, his body was found. His oldest friend came home looking for answers. The town would prefer he stopped asking.
The Fragile Creek Incident
2020
Mal Gardner finds something near Fragile Creek, tells someone he knows that he'll report it — and disappears.
2026
Mal's body is found. Tella Fero comes home.
Meet the people
Tella Fero
He left to serve. He came back because his best friend didn't come home.
Malcolm Gardner
A modest, helpful man who found something near Fragile Creek and said he'd report it.
Marcella Ruvello
Polished, controlling, and very interested in what the town looks like from the outside.
Sunny Sanger
Cheerful, bureaucratic, and certain the case is best left closed.
Lamont Transfeld
He knows more than he says, and he is genuinely afraid of what saying it would cost.
From the archive
Main Story files follow Tella's investigation. Cultural Anomalies are standalone jokes from the agency's overenthusiastic side desks.
The Grocery Store Encounter
At 4:12 PM a subject purchased bread, eggs, and a single lime. Agents have been unable to explain the lime.
The Unverified Personality Signal
An internal memo claimed septum rings predict personality. An audit found the memo predicted nothing except the need for an audit.
Seven Witnesses, Nine Complaints
Seven people saw it. Nine complaints were filed. Two complaints remain unaccounted for, and one is about the other.
The Fragile Creek Incident
In 2020, public works employee Mal Gardner discovered something near Fragile Creek. He spoke to a familiar local figure about reporting it. Then he vanished. In 2026, his body was found.
Grievance Falls
"We take everything seriously."
- Fragile CreekSite of the mystery's earliest known evidence.
- Town HallSeat of Mayor Ruvello in the county seat. Forms in triplicate.
- Septum County Sheriff's OfficeSheriff Sanger's jurisdiction. Cheerful. Closed on the question of reopening.
- Public Works YardGrievance Falls Public Works. Where Mal clocked in. Where the work orders live.
- Municipal ArchivesEverything is filed. Not everything is findable.
Who handles what
Division of Nasal Phenomena
Investigates every nose-related 'anomaly' with absurd seriousness.
Office of Redactions
Redacts harmless or self-evident details, thoroughly.
Bureau of Unverified Patterns
Confuses correlation with causation, professionally.
Evidence Preservation Unit
Archives screenshots and trivial artifacts forever.
Public Tip Desk
Issues receipt numbers and bureaucratic acknowledgments.
Seen something mildly unusual?
The Tip Desk accepts fictional observations and absurd anomalies. Never real people's private details.