Part 3A - Die Söhne von Meyernick (Alex)

[SunlessNick]

”Something’s happening!” said Alex. “Let’s go take a closer look!’

Leading Elsie by the arm, he approached the two artists. “‘Abend,” he said as they got nearer. “What’s going on?”

The pair look round at your address. "Good to see you," the artist - you recall Wilhelm called him Jürgen - "Konrad and I are here for the sermon."

He gestures toward the large building the crowd is gathered before - a large granite structure with a row of slender towers atop its frontage - the walls are carved with intricate reliefs of huge humanoid figures. A wide pair of doors stand open - the doorway is stuffed with a second crowd of people yelling imprecations at the first.

"Sermon?" Elsie asks. "Is this a church?"

"The temple of the Great Ones," Jürgen responds.

"Great Ones," the New Objectivity enthusiast - presumably Konrad - says scornfully. "Childish myths all."

"The priests have been speaking against Meyernick," Jürgen adds.

Elsie looks at Alex "Do you know what they're talking about?"

[Philulhu]

Alex shook his head. ”No, never heard of Meyernick or the Great Ones. Who are they?”

[SunlessNick]

"The Great Ones are the supposed gods of this world," Konrad says. "Mashups of old Greek and Roman myth."

"Those figures on the temple wall are supposed to be them," Jürgen adds.

"Meyernick is the truth," Konrad continues. "The falsity of all gods and pretension."

Some of the nearby people in the crowd pick up on his words, shouting to those gathered in the temple door, "Meyernick is the truth!"

"But is Meyernick another god? A person?" Elsie asks.

Jürgen and Konrad don't answer her, joining in the crowd's shouts.

A tall, white-haired man dressed in a grey robe something like monk's habit pushes through the crowd in the temple door, and calls back "Meyernick is a false truth, who words speak only destruction!"

The crowd outside jeers him, while several of those around the temple start advancing toward them.

[Philulhu]

”Let’s just step back,” said Alex, quietly but firmly. “I don’t think this is going to go well...” With one hand, he took Elsie’s elbow to pull her away. With the other, he found his knuckledusters in his pocket, just to be on the safe side should he need them.

[SunlessNick]

Alex's caution proves well founded. The group at the temple door push the priest - assuming that's what he is - back inside, before the shouting degenerates into a brawl between the two sides. Jürgen and Konrad are quickly lost in the mass. Most of the combattants are too focussed on each other to bother with you or Elsie, but a pair separate from the pack and move threateningly toward you. They don't look to be armed.

[Philulhu]

Alex gently pushed Elsie behind him. ”We’re not taking sides and we’re not looking for trouble,” he said firmly, watching carefully for either of the men making a move.

[SunlessNick]

OOC,It could be Persuade or Intimidate, but Persuade's higher, so let's go with that. Persuade: 45 Rolled 1D100: 40

One of them tugs on the other's arm. "Come on, we're wasting time with them." They turn away and join the fray. The Meyernick crowd are trying to force their way into the temple, with their opponents trying to keep them out. So far, the latter group appears to be prevailing.

[Philulhu]

Alex looked around to see if there was any sign of whatever passed for the Kripo in this place. He sensed it was going to get ugly soon...

[SunlessNick]

As if in response to Alex's thought, the sounds of whistles heralds the arrival of a group of men in dark brown leather jerkins - not quite uniforms, but similar in design. Many of the Meyernick crowd break off from the brawl and start running. The newcomers wade into what remains, and drawing clubs, start beating down the combattants - they strike at both sides, though they are noticeably harded on the Meyernick supporters.

Jürgen is one of the ones taking flight, and grabs as you as he passes - "Come with me, they'll arrest everyone here," he says.

Elsie looks reluctant to go with him.

[Philulhu]

Sensing her reluctance, Alex said, “Look, if he’s right, we could end up arrested and split up. Probably better we go with him and at least we stay out of their clutches.”

He looked over to where two brown-jerkined thugs were giving someone a beating. “Come on,” he said to Elsie. “Let’s get out of here.”

[SunlessNick]

Elsie nods and follows. Jürgen ducks through a door leading into a narrow hallway and sprints down its length to a door at the far end - you get a brief glimpse of metal doorframes as you pass, and then you're back out into another street, narrower than the one you left.

The buildings in this street seem to be apartment blocks rather than the semi-ubiquitous clubs and cabarets - deprived even of the colour from they provide from within their windows, the scene is even more black-and-white than the Hlanith you've seen so far. Jürgen doesn't stop, but hurries down the street, keeping to the shadows. He leads you round a corner - you think you must be back on Leenstraße, the same street as the Manticore's Feather, though you'd be heading away from it.

Another turning leads to a block sporting a row of nightclubs. Jürgen goes into one - called the Three Magahs - and says "We should be safe in here. The Kripo don't bother with the clubs."

"I bet they don't," Elsie says sourly.

The Three Magahs is quiet, seemingly geared for drinking and talking rather than dancing - there is no music playing. The lights are low, but multicoloured, a bit of a shock to the eyes after the monochrome of the street - the colours glint off of glass covered pictures lining the walls. There's a bar, but no stage so far as you can see.

"I suppose I owe you both drinks," Jürgen says.

[Philulhu]

“Bier, bitte,” replied Alex. He glanced around the room, looking for a second exit and trying to find a table that would allow him to watch the patrons and the door.

[SunlessNick]

Alex is able to find such a table. Elsie also opts for Bier.

Once you're all sat down, she says, "You replied to our questions, but you didn't tell us anything. Who are these Great Ones, and who or what is Meyernick?"

Jürgen takes a sip and says, "The Great Ones are as I said - the gods the people of this world worship. They look like men - the reliefs carved on the temple's facade are said to be their true appearances. Whether they ever were men, who can say? Meyernick is a revelation. You must know we dreamed this place into being?"

"You didn't seem aware of that today," Elsie says.

"Maybe I forget when I'm awake. But the people of the Dreamlands are beginning to know it too. Learning the unreality of their world, their gods, their lives. It is fascinating to watch them grapple with it."

[Philulhu]

Alex looked around the room. ”So, we ‘dreamed’ this place into being, and this is the best we came up with? Schiesse... ...”

He took a sip of his beer. ‘So what next?” he asked Jürgen. “You seen to have a better handle on this. Why do we keep coming here and what can we do to stop it?”

[SunlessNick]

"Stop it? Why would we stop it? We have a whole world for our canvas, to remake in whatever image we want."

[Philulhu]

”Well,” said Alex slowly, ”So far we’ve experienced an attempted kidnapping and religious intolerance, so whoever is dreaming this is doing a great job, don’t you think?” He looked around. “And for the second day, night, whatever, we find ourselves in a drinking establishment. I could stay at home and do that!”

He took a drink of his bier. “So tell me,” he said to Jürgen, “What did you dream? Is this what you wanted when you closed your eyes last night?”

[SunlessNick]

"An Expressionist film set? No, I suppose not." He shrugs. "But if it was dreamed this way, maybe we can change it, with enough practice. Make it more of a return to nature perhaps."

[Philulhu]

”I’m not sure what it looks like when we’re here is really the issue,” replied Alex. “Why we keep dreaming we’re here is the bigger issue. That’s what I’d like to know.”

[SunlessNick]

"And why so many people are only just becoming aware of it," Elsie adds.

"There's a man I know," Jürgen says. "He calls himself a Son of Meyernick. I don't think he's a dreamer like us. But he knows this isn't the real world. He might be able to give you some answers. And I promise it won't be in a drinking establishment."

"Is he the one who whipped up that crowd at the temple?" Elsie asks.

"Yes. He makes others of the Dreamlands aware."

"Then I don't feel like being led off to wherever he's hiding. If we're going to meet him, it should be somewhere neutral."

"I can put that to him," Jürgen says. "I know he would welcome allies from among dreamers. In the meantime, do you have anywhere in Hlanith to stay? Time moves unevenly here."

[Philulhu]

Alex glanced at Elsie and then back to Jürgen. ”So, we’re going to be stuck here?” he replied. “Why won’t we just wake up and be at home in the morning?”

He shook his head. He was a barman - how was he meant to figure this out? He needed to get home - and he needed to get Elsie back home too. He had decided what he had to do.

“If this ‘Son of Meyernick’ can tell us what’s going on, then we’ll meet him but as Elsie said, on neutral ground. And no, we don’t have anywhere to stay, so what do you suggest?”