Timewatch -- session two

The group goes to the pub to get something to eat. The pub is rundown — not much business. A couple of locals drinking at the bar, talking to the bartender. Everyone in there is suspicious of a bunch of people coming in. There’s a grease-spotted paper menu on the table with some oddly German-seeming foods on the list, along with some more traditional Scots bar food. No flags and such on the walls, just bottles of booze and old pictures and newspaper clippings. 

The characters order food (pretzels with mustard and fish& chips) and listens in for a bit. Eventually they make conversation with the barkeep (Solomon tries and fails, while Micah and Jason succeed). They still aren’t sure what’s going on, or even if anything’s going on, but their time-abnormality-senses are going off like crazy. Not long after they get their food, Eddie comes in, panicked, and tells the barkeeper “they got Reg!” Reg, as it turns out, is Reggie, Eddie’s older brother. They are both the sons of the bar owner/bartender. He asks what they were doing, Eddie says “nothing” and the barkeeper whips off his apron and hands it to Eddie, telling him to mind the shop for a bit while he goes to see what he can do for Reggie. At this point Eddie notices the strangers in the bar and goes pale, but none of them say anything. Eddie’s dad doesn’t notice, and instead heads out the door, pulling his coat on as he goes. 

Micah starts talking to Eddie, who is stuck where he is and is thus more willing to answer questions. He appreciates that they didn’t rat him and Reggie out to his dad. He explains that he’s sorry for trying to mug them, but people only come out here for two reasons: “to get H or to get fucked.” They tell him they aren’t here to make trouble, and they’re sorry about his brother. Eddie seems to accept the apology and is relieved they aren’t trying to tell his dad. They finish their food (passable) and then leave, walking down to the Leith Public Library. 

Once inside the library, they start doing research. There aren’t a lot of people here to talk to, so Micah and Jason start reading the papers while Caroline hits the modern history section. The newspapers don’t seem to have a lot that’s immediately helpful — nothing obvious stands out. No mention of a heroine epidemic or anything like that. Caroline hist the jackpot, though, and comes back with a history book about WWII. The cover shows the flag of the Third Reich covering Europe and is titled, “Rise of the Eagle: The Birth of A New Europe.” Flipping through to the portions on the UK, they read that King Edward VIII was an early supporter of Hitler. When Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement in 1938 ceding the Sudetenland to Germany, Hitler referred to Chamberlain and Edward VIII as “our friends and allies.” The UK surrendered to Germany in 1940 and was allowed to remain relatively unscathed, so long as they sent supplies and support for the German forces and accepted a degree of oversight from the Reich. 

A quick review of modern history tells them that Edward shouldn’t have been king after 1936. They check, and Edward’s queen is Thelma, not Wallis Simpson. The group starts trying to figure out what happened to Wallis Simpson, but they realize that they’re not going to get anywhere in their current spot in the timeline. They’re going to have to travel back to figure out what when wrong and why. They decide to walk back to the townhouse and see how Ronnie is doing.

On the way, they see that the cops have set up a road checkpoint. The group decides not to push their luck with the local constabulary and instead cut through a park (Victoria Park). In that park, on one end, they notice a statue of a man with an odd handlebar mustache and decide to check it out. The statue is of Paul von Hindenburg, with a significant handlebar mustache, and listed as “Field Marshall of the Wehrmacht.” At the other end of the park, down a long walkway, is a statue of Edward VIII. The agents don’t need a chronometer to tell them this is bad, so they skedaddle back to the townhouse. Along the way they also notice that, for a place in the middle of a heroin epidemic, it’s awfully clean. It’s empty, but it’s not full of trash  and drug paraphernalia refuse. 

Ronnie, mildly peeved they didn’t bring him back any food, is in the midst of careful calibrations and overseeing the process. When they tell him they need to jump in time, he flatly refuses and reminds them that the safe house installation has to be first priority. Once he’s done, it’ll be there no matter what the current time stream is, and that’s a matter of life and death for agents — possibly even them. They agree to stay for a few more hours until he’s done and then get him back to the Citadel before they investigate, but everyone’s a bit on edge. Something’s wrong and everyone knows it.