### Act 1, Scene 4: Finlay's Lair

- Backdrop: Industrial chain / hook
- Props: Levers
- Special FX: Reesa (Fog)
- Puppets: Mika (Tani), Lori (Eis, owolf), Lionel (Tigerseye), Finlay (Lynard), Minions (Zefiro 1 + 2, CJ 3 + 4, Pan 5 + 6), Tarrion (Fairlight, Fin), Poke (CJ), Sky (Eis, Xan), Minion 3 (Reesa), Fake Mikas (owolf, Zefiro)
- Puppeteers:
- Setting: Industrial Building, some levers in section B, a door at the right, second playrail in Section A
- Music:
- PreRec: Minions, Lionel in part 2, Fake-Mikas

##### FINLAY INTRO

"Life can be unpredictable. For years and years, everything just flows along like a gentle stream. But then, without warning, something happens that changes your life forever. Something of such importance, that NOTHING remains like it was before. In my life, this has happened to me twice. The first time, it was my daughter's last day in elementary school before the summer holidays. Florence was way old enough to ride the tram home, but since I had taken a week off to spend the holidays with the rest of the family, I decided to pick her up in person.

I parked my car across the road and got out. I glanced across the street, trying to spot her face among the masses of children swarming out of the doors. There she was, walkin down the steps! I called her, and she immediately recognized my voice. She was overjoyed to see me. She waved back at me, and started running. I shouted to her to be careful. But she was too busy being happy. She ran down the stairs and across the street. Just like sleepwalkers, children of her age seem to have an invisible forcefield around them which seems to magically keeps them from self-destructing, so I tried not to panic too much. I wouldn't have been able to stop her anyway. Somehow she got through the traffic safely. Then she proceeded to cross the tram tracks while a train was just about to enter the stop. She would have made it, but one of her shoes got caught on one of the rails and she fell, right in front of the oncoming train! I could hear the driver engage the emergency brakes as everything suddenly turned into slow motion. I leapt across the street, reaching for my daughter, grabbing her by the arms. I pulled as hard as I could. I heard her scream in pain as her foot slipped free from her shoe that was tightly wedged into the gap between the rail and the pavement. Then the train hit me.

When I regained my senses much later, the world was no longer the same. Until my death this fateful day should remain the last memory of Florence, my only child.

Almost two decades passed before a second experience changed my life in a similarly drastic way. It was the day when I met a couple of very remarkable new friends. Or rather, the day when THEY met ME."

##### MAIN DIALOGUE

Darkness

04 - Forgotten Factory

0401 - Chase Music / Running Feet

Lionel, Lori, Mika (off): "Aaaaaaaah!"

Lori: "Are they still behind us?"

Mika: "Yes they are, keep running!"

Lori: "Oh no, it's is a dead end!"

0402 - Music Rises

Lionel: "No, it's not! There's a door! Everyone follow me!"

Lights on

0402 (Cont.) - Large Metal Door opens
0401 (STOP) - Chase Music / Running Feet

Lionel, Lori and Mika enter running from Section B to Section A

0402 (cont) - Large Metal Door closes

Lionel: "If we're lucky they won't follow us here!"

Mika: "I hope you're right. Because I see no other door. We're trapped!"

Lori: "I don't even know where we are. "

Mika: "Neither do I. Lionel, what do you think, how far did we run?"

Lionel: "Not far enough to end up in a place like this. It all makes NO sense."

Mika: "That's true. I mean, look up! This is not the cheerful morning we woke up to."

Lori: "Yes, where is the sun?"

Lionel: "Shhhhh! I think I hear them … be quiet, or they'll find us!"

Mika, Lori and Lionel listen quietly.

0403 - Attack Soundtrack Starts

Lori: "They're coming nearer! They know where we are! Mika! Do something! Or they're going to kill us!"

0403 (cont.) - Minions: "Night - Where shadows reign!"
0403 (cont.) - Minions: "Hunt - In dreams insane!"
0403 (cont.) - Minions: "Blood - Is what we lust!"
0403 (cont.) - Minions: "Feed - Is what we must!"

Minions kick in the door in section B

0403 (cont.) CRASH! Debris Flying.

debris flies into the scene

Music starts

0403 (cont.) - Minions: "Night - Where shadows reign!"
0403 (cont.) - Minions: "Hunt - In dreams insane!"
0403 (cont.) - Minions: "Blood - Is what we lust!"
0403 (cont.) - Minions: "Feed - Is what we must!"

0403 (cont.) - Mika: "Allright! Who are you?"

0403 (cont.) - Minion1: "We are your worst nightmare!"

0403 (cont.) - Mika: "Oh yeah? Do you think you can scare us into submission? Forget it! If you want to mess with us, you must first mess with me! And nobody messes with Mika!"

0403 (cont.) - Mika wields her frying pan

0403 (cont.) - Minion1: "A frying pan? That's it? You should be afraid. Very afraid! ATTAAAAAAAACK!"

Everyone fights for their lives. (And looking very good while doing so.)

Just when they seem to be overpowered and surrounded, Finlay appears next to the levers

0403 (cont.) - Finlay: "Hey! What are you doing here? This place belongs to me!"

0403 (cont.) - Minion1: "Who the fuck are you?"

0403 (cont.) - Finlay: "My name is Finlay! And hunters are not welcome here! Leave! Now!"

0403 (cont.) - Minion1 laughs

0403 (cont.) - Minion1: "Why don't you try and make me? I've got a hundred of the best hunters of the northern tribe behind me … and as far as I can see, you're only one. So, what do you say now?"

0403 (cont.) - Finlay: "I say … LET THERE BE LIGHT!"

Finlay flips the first switch

FX first ray of light (Scanner, small pointgobo, white, center beam on PPS-Stage)

light destroys minion 1 in a puff of smoke

0403 (cont.) - Fizzz! Bang! Scream!

Bats scream an flutter around in panic!

Lori changes puppeteers to owolf, Eisfuchs takes over Sky

Fight!

Finlay flips the second switch

FX second ray of light (Scanner, small pointgobo, white, right beam on PPS-Stage)

0403 (cont.) - Fizzz! Bang! Scream!

Finlay flips the third switch

FX third ray of light (Scanner, small pointgobo, white, left beam on PPS-Stage)

0403 (cont.) - Fizzz! Bang! Scream!

Lord Tarrion Appears with Minion 2 and Sky at the gallery.

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "STOOOOOOOP!"

Everyone stops fighting and looks at Tarrion.

0403 (cont.) - Finlay: "Lord Tarrion!"

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "Oh no, not you again old man. Hunters! Are you all crazy? You walked right into Finlay's lair, just to catch a bunch of dreamers? They're not worth any bloodshed! Everyone get back to the capitol!"

0403 (cont.) - Minion3: "But Lord Tarrion! They're the best catch we had in years! No matter how much we scare them, they won't wake up! Can't we feed on them just a little bit? They're almost scared to death!"

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "IDIOTS! IDIOTS!"

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "Shadows feed on dreamers' fears!"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "But they will always wake!"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "If no amount of fear can stir them,"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "something must be fake!"

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "This can't be coincidence,"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "I've seen this kind before,"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "I think I know who is to blame,"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "How many more?"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "How many more?"

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "SKY!"

0403 (cont.) - Sky: "These four are the only ones. I slipped black ice into their drinks at the bar."

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "And because of that, three of my best men are now dead! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

0403 (cont.) - Sky: "I am ashamed! But not of myself! You want me to become like you! But I'm not like you! I'll never be like you!"

0403 (cont.) - Sky: "I am ashamed"
0403 (cont.) - Sky: "of you"
0403 (cont.) - Sky: "'Cause any day and hour"
0403 (cont.) - Sky: "there is nothing on your mind except"
0403 (cont.) - Sky: "your manic lust for power"

0403 (cont.) - Sky: "I don't care"
0403 (cont.) - Sky: "what you think"
0403 (cont.) - Sky: "It was my own decision"
0403 (cont.) - Sky: "I'm your daugther, not your minion"
0403 (cont.) - Sky: "sorry if that's not your vision"

0403 (cont.) - Sky: "I have found my true love"
0403 (cont.) - Sky: "where I least expected"

0403 (cont.) - Sky: "Someone who knows how it"
0403 (cont.) - Sky: "feels to be rejected"

0403 (cont.) - Finlay: "Hello? May I interrupt your little dispute for a moment, please? Since it seems you're not interested in resolving this situation peacefully, here is my ultimatum: You've got 10 seconds to leave, or I will blast you out of existence! And those dreamers stay here. They are now under my protection! 10 … 9 … 8 …"

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "Be careful, Finlay! We're more than a hundred hunters against one single old man. If you flip that switch, you'll be dead in less than a minute."

0403 (cont.) - Finlay: "Yes, yes. But YOU will be dead in less than a second. And unlike me, you seem to have quite a bit to lose here."

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "Alright, it seems you have a point. The dreamers are not that important to me anyways. In only a few days there will be thousands like them!"

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "Preying on a dreamer's fears"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "Takes caution, skill and haste"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "'Cause once they wake and disappear"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "Your work has gone to waste"

Minions leave to section B during next verse

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "But soon I'll use my secret ways"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "To bind them in their sleep"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "'Cause when they stay and never wake"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "They'll be mine to keep!"

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "It's not worth to risk my life"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "and fight this senseless war"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "Because in less than just one day,"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "They will come,"
0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "Knock at my door!"

0403 (cont.) - Mika: "So why do you think we would do something stupid like that?"

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion: "I don't merely think you will. I KNOW you will. Because I've got THIS!"

Tarrion pulls up Poke, who is neatly tied into a package.

0403 (cont.) - Poke: "Hmmm! Hmmmm! Mmmmmhmmrhmmhmgrml!"

Mika, Lori, Lionel (gasp): "POKE!"

0403 (cont.) - Tarrion (laughs): "See? But now it's time for me to go. Goodbye my friends! See you tomorrow!"

Tarrion, Sky and Poke disappear from view.

The bats disappear in a flutter of wings.

Lori: "Oh no! I told you we shouldn't have left him behind! Mika! We must go and save Poke!"

Mika: "No! Lori, that would be the most stupid thing we could do!"

Lori: "Why?"

Mika: "Because it's a trap! And besides, do YOU know where they went? Because, I don't. I don't even know where WE are, for that matter. I've never seen any place like this in our neighbourhood."

Finlay: "That's because, it's not your neighborhood. It's nobody's neighborhood."

Lori: "This place looks more like a horrible nightmare come true!"

Lori changes puppeteers back to Eisfuchs, owolf prepares for fake Mika

Finlay: "Precisely."

Mika: "What?"

Finlay: "Oh, you still don't know what's going on here. Let me help you out: Try to remember what happened yesterday."

Mika: "Oh, sure, I … Uh … Wait a minute. Yesterday? I remember going to the bar with Poke … to be honest, I don't remember anything before that."

Finlay: "And you know why? Because there is nothing to remember before that! It's the beginning of a dream … and you're still in it!"

Lionel: "That's nonsense! If this were a dream, I would have woken up about a dozen times by now, sweating and shaking!"

Finlay: "Yes, that's what most dreamers do. But then sometimes, some of them don't. Look at me. I've been dreaming for twenty years, and no matter what I do, I can't wake up."

Lionel: "You're a crazy old man!"

Finlay: "Maybe I am. But I have a dream!"

Mika: "Lionel, think of it. The egg. The mayonnaise. Lori's pajamas. The sky turning black! All the strange things that have happened since yesterday! He might be right after all. Lionel! Hit me, pinch me, shake me, do whatever you can to wake me up! If it works, I will go to your rooms, wake you up too, and put an end to this nightmare once and for all!"

Lionel: "Okay, if that's what you want …"

Lori and Lionel shake Mika

Lori, Lionel: "Wake up, Mika! Wake up!" (continue until fake mikas are gone)

Two other Mikas come out left and right, grabbing Lori and Lionel, pulling them away from the real Mika.

0404 - Absurd Music and Paradox Sound Effects

0404 (cont.) - Fake_Mika1: "Hey! You're not allowed to do that!"

0404 (cont.) - Fake_Mika2: "You can't just wake me up like that!"

0404 (cont.) - Fake_Mika1: "Nobody messes with Mika's sleep!"

0404 (cont.) - Fake_Mika2: "Let me go! Now!"

0404 (cont.) - Fake_Mika1: "I said, let me go!"

Lori and Lionel let go.

Two other Mikas disappear.

0404 (cont.) - Absurd Music and Paradox Sound Effects Fade

Finlay watches and giggles madly

Mika is angry, and walks over to Finlay, and grabs him.

Mika: "You'd better stop laughing, and tell me why I can't wake up!"

Finlay (still laughing): "I have no clue. Honestly. I've got the same problem!"

Mika: "Then at least tell us where we are!"

Finlay: "I call this place 'the dream world'. Whenever someone falls asleep, their souls materialize here. Sometime they look just like they do in their real life. Sometimes they look entirely different. Usually they also bring memories of their surroundings with them, like their bedroom, their house, or any other place they know."

Mika: "And what happens when they wake up?"

Finlay: "Then they disappear. And so does everything they brought with them. It slowly fades away, just like the memory of their dream. The constant changes makes the dreamworld a dangerous place. You never know what you will run into next."

Mika: "And who are those bat creatures? Are they dreamers too?"

Finlay: "No. They come from what they call 'the world of eternal shadows'. They're our enemies! They live on fear! That's why they hunt for dreamers, cause them horrible nightmares, and then drink their blood, which contains the essence of their fear!"

Mika: "Let's see. If they were able take Poke with them to their world, we should be able to go there, too. If we only knew where to go. Finlay, you know this place better than anyone else here. Would you please be our guide?"

Finlay: "Well … maybe. I could help take you to the place where their world meets ours. But from then on, you're on your own. You know, normally the worst thing that can happen to you in a dream is, that you wake up. But if something happens to you and you can't wake up … you will die! I've been to their world once, and I swore to never go there again!"

Mika: "Good. Then we have a plan. First we must rescue Poke. Then we must find a way to wake up. And we'd better be quick. I really don't want to spend the rest of my life like this. Nightmares are bad enough when they last for a night! Finlay, is there anything we can do for you in return?"

Finlay (sighs): "Yes. If you ever find a way to wake up … let me know how it works before you go!"

Lights Out

Close Curtain