Part 10 - Rescue
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Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
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One by one the cats wake, blinking and stretching, in the Meeting
Place. The sun is still shining, though it is now considerably
lower in the sky. None of the ghosts are present, which is
unusual, though not entirely unknown.
The air is warm and still, with no hint of a breeze.
It would be a perfect day for napping, if only there were no important cat business to attend to...
Mister Pig yawns, and shakes himself, before looking around to check that all are ready, "I didn't want to ask this in front of her, but does anybody believe we can really trust Priscilla?"
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
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OGMO ripples a shrug.
"Moonlight deep and tender
though love repine, and reason chafe
up from the south at break of day
earth travails," she explains, dismissively.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
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"Ha! If she's lied t'us she gots'ta live
t'regret it. Man! Ah' have no fear uh ha' o' ha' 'master',
and ah' know how t'make life miserable fo' stupid dogs, which means all dogs," Antonio states with a snort as he waits for everyone to wake up.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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Syd stretches as if he has all the time in the world, despite his
unease at still not seeing the ghost cats as would be normal in his
reality. He looks around, his gaze settling in the direction of
Priscillas house as he listens to Mr. Pigs concern. He looks at Ogmo
with confusion at his answer, then nods in agreement with Antonio. "
Prissy looked to upset about the intrusion to be lying about it. Even
in his dreams he sought escape from the house and 'the smell of cat'
that seemed to upset the bone-head." he says and then leaps for
the climbing tree, working his way back down to the ground for the
short journey through the field and across the street to Ogmo's house.
From there he hoped to reconoiter a possible solution to the problem at
hand...
" I'm more worried about Mr. Jenkins than the dog." he says. The old mans hatred for cats had been known throughout the
neighborhood for years now. It was rumored that he had even once
drowned a whole litter in his bathtub inside of a burlap sack. Syd
hoped it wasn't true, but it was a story that had been told to him
since he was a kitten. The feline 'boogeyman' taught to remind that
sometimes dogs were bad - and sometimes their keepers were even worse...
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
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Antonio chuckles and leaps after Syd as he speaks again, "You's do realise Priscilla be a she, right? Not dat it matters, since she be a dog. What it is, Dude!"
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Mister Pig (NPC)
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"I have heard that Priscilla is a magician of sorts, though it's only dog magic." Mister Pig says, thoughtfully, "Still.
we should be careful of her. Even a dog's tricks could make
problems for us, if she is clever about how she uses them."
With one last shake, to set his fur back in place (after all, it
wouldn't be polite to look less than his best when visiting a
neighbour), the cat starts towards the edge of the roof, and the
Climbing Tree.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
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Priscilla's house seems fairly quiet, though there is music playing
somewhere within. The sharp hearing of the approaching cats can
detect it easily, though a human probably couldn't, unless they walked
right up to the porch.
Priscilla herself is napping on the porch. A long leash is
attached to her ever-present collar, and the other end is looped around
the post which supports the porch roof. The dog appears to be
dreaming... her legs are making running motions, and she whimpers
occasionally. There is a bowl of water close to her, and a
half-eaten dog buscuit.
As the cats get closer to the house, there is no sign of the two humans...
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
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Briefly considering walking up and emptying the bowl or eating the
biscuit, the ginger cat eventually decides against that.
Disgusting water and a foul tasting doggie-treat did not rank high
enough despite the enjoyment of playing a prank on the dog.
Instead he start to approach the porch, looking for a flap that would
allow the smelly dog to enter and exit the house as it pleased.
Not that a door is that big an obstacle, but it is yet another way to
play a prank on the dog.
"I say we hit da damn place fast and hard," he says quietly to the others before he risk getting too far ahead in case they decide to stay back.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
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There is an odd shimmering in the air just above the lawn, and suddenly
there is a cat sitting on the grass. Or, more precisely, a
kitten. A moment later a grizzled old cat with a missing ear
blinks into view. Then a tabby... and before long Mister Jenkin's
precious garden is filled with cats.
Hundreds of them.
And every one of them has a ghostly haze about it.
All the spectral cats from the Meeting Place are present, and many more besides. A veritable army of felines.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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Syd's eyes go wide as the ghost cats decide to make their silent return
at the very moment they reach Priscillas house. He watches as one by
one they appear, and he finds himself braver with their prescence
cemented back into his reality. " Looks like the Gang got our back.", he says to Antonio with a smile and a point of his chin at the crowd of ghost cats now gathered on the lawn.
" You see an open door or window? Or are we gonna' have to wake ugly over there and get her to let us in?" He looks to the west, gauging how much longer the day would last.
Considering the deep ebon color of his coat, he always did his best
work at night...
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Mister Pig (NPC)
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Mister Pig, like Syd, finds his confidence bolstered by the ethereal
presence of the spectral cats. Not only have they reappeared, but
so many of them too. A clear sign that many cats have lived in
this area in the past, and will continue to do so, into the future.
Many of them appear interesting, and he looks forward to meeting at least a few of them at some point in the years to come.
"If there isn't a door or a window open, it will
just come down to using a little bit of magic, I suppose. What
human-made door could ever block the path of a determined cat?"
Then he starts forward, across the lawn, through the throng of cats who have been drawn to this most important time and place...
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
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"a mist was driving down
last midnight
if i were very sure
what spiteful chance steals unawares
a thin gray shadow on the edge of thought," OGMO chastises, reminding
any who care to make sense of it of the impropriety of using the Door
Charm without an offering.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
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"You's make as much sense as usual. It's clear we's awake, t'be sho' gal," Antonio offers to Ogmo as he attempts, albeit briefly, to figure it
out. Then he chortles in a catlike manner and trots off after
Mister Pig, his tail flicking up on high. Someone has to keep an
eye on the poor cat, after all.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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" He's saying we won't be able to work the magic without an offering..." Syd says to Antonio. " ...I think."
Syd crosses the lawn at breakneck speed, quickly ducking under the
nearest shrubbery to hide his passing. He pauses only a moment, two
blue eyes peering out from the shadows. From there he begins a quick
patrol of the perimeter of the house, hoping the days heat was enough
for the Jenkins to want to open a window and ventilate the house. He
looked up as well as down, hoping for a basement window pane to be
missing or a tree to be near any higher up openings in the fortress...
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
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"She! Antonio offers in a theatrical
whisper back to Syd, shaking his head in dismay, then doing a
cat-chortle again before doing a ginger lightning zip across the lawn,
following Syd's example. It may not be needed, perhaps, but it
certainly makes it all so much more fun, pretending to be stalking all
the time.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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" He, She, It, ...man you sure got a thing about labeling genders." Syd mutters as his friend joins him in the shrubs.
" It's not like I called her a poodle or anything." His eyes go back to searching the walls for an opening.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
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"Maybe Ah' should be somewhere else den, if ya' duzn't care if it be a he o' some she," Antonio replies with a wide grin, not too far from the famous grin of
the Cheshire cat - although, the ginger cat does not fade away easily
outside of the Dream.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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" Not funny." Syd says flatly. " I like girls in heat as much as the next cat." He flicks his tail in annoyance, whether it was the comment made by his
friend or the lack of easy entrance to the house is unclear. He turns
attention back to the search...
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
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OGMO sits down on the sidewalk in front of the house, curling her tail
over her front paws, and stares at the front of the house. If she
overhears the moving conversation about her gender, she seems quite
unconcerned by it.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
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Mister Pig turns to face the others, "Maybe we should be a little quieter. I'm not sure that I really trust Priscilla, so I'd rather not alert her."
"So... you don't trust me?" comes a low growl from the porch, where Priscilla's eyes are now open. "A
deal is a deal. If I was going to renege on it, I'd be barking
now, instead of talking to you. Just get that cat out of my
house."
She leans over a little, and starts gnawing on the biscuit, seemingly
trying her best to ignore the cats. If she can see the
increasingly numerous ghosts, she gives no sign of it.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Priscilla (NPC)
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Priscilla continues to try and ignore the cats, though she does hunch over her biscuit a little more protectively.
On the lawn, the ghost cats are now so crowded that there doesn't seem
to be any space between them. Disconcertingly, some seem to be
overlapping. And for the first time in the memory of any of the
real cats present, the ghosts are making a sound... a sibilant
whispering, in a chorus of voices, "ResCue HIm. He is iN GrEAt danGER. She wiLl kIll HiM tO aChi3ve hEr goal."
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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Syd looks uneasy as the ghost cats manage to express their fears in din
of shifting noise. He ignores the dog as she does them, but looks the
house over with worried concern. " How are we supposed to get in? Did anyone find a pet-door? I didn't see any open windows..." he pads up onto the porch, staying to the shadows on the far side, well
away from the smell of Priscilla, before jumping up onto the railing.
His keen eyes scan the inside of the house for some sign of Mr. Jarvis,
and his ears stay tuned to the ghosts, wondering if they will have
anything more to add.
Quietly, he wonders who 'she' is, and more importantly, why she would wish to sacrifice our King...
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
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Mister Pig watches as Syd makes his way, by a circuitous route, up to
the railing. "We should be able to get past the door, easily
enough. But we need to use something to work the trick."
As Syd appears on the railing, priscilla grumbles a little, and hunches
even closer over her biscuit. Clearly she will not let any cat,
helpful or otherwise, take her treat from her... at least not easily.
The ghost cats, meanwhile, are edging forward towards the porch. "HeLp H1m!"
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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Syd sighs inwardly, then looks around at the trees and then to the
lower shadows of the bushes near the porch. Not likely to find a mouse
or bird anytime soon, so that only leaves one option. He crouches,
looking down on Priscilla as he asks, " You really want that cat out of your house? ...How badly?" he pauses a long moment to give the dim-witted dog a chance to consider it, then says, "
If I am to do the Doorslip trick, I am going to need a sacrifice,
...something small, something, ...biscut sized. You can have it back
when I'm inside, but I can't resolve this without an offering."
He looks to Antonio questioningly. " Does it have to be a formerly 'living' offering, or will a bonemeal fake pull the trick?"
While an avid hunter, Syd had rarely used his kills to pull a doorslip.
For the most part, all he needed do was show his eyes at the window and
one of the humans was always quick to respond and let him in, having so
desperately missed his companionship during the abscence. They always
let him in with the same enthusiasm, had it been minutes or days.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Priscilla (NPC)
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Priscilla stops gnawing at her treat, and glares at Syd. Her eyes
seem to bulge out of her head a little, and she starts to speak three
times, before she finally manages to make her voice work properly.
Her response is perhaps predictable, "You want me to give you MY biccy?"
Then she turns her head, to look at the door behind her, then back at the biscuit, and finally back to Syd, "But I can have it back, and you won't eat it?"
Priscilla quite clever for a dog (which naturally makes her somewhat
simple-minded by cat standards), narrows her eyes in concentration.
Mister Pig edges closer to Syd, and behind them, the Ghost Cats seem to
be holding their collective breath in antcipation. Mister Pig
whispers, "It
could work. The sacrifice should be something that takes
cleverness or skill or a risk to obtain... and I think getting
Priscilla to lend you her biscuit might qualify."
Instead of speaking, the dog simply uses her snout to nudge the biscuit
a couple of inches towards Syd, before nonchalantly gazing past her
visitors, and across the cat-infested garden.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
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Stepping up beside Syd, OGMO nods to Priscilla.
"All clouds love small, small pirates.
Warm, rainy winds roughly desire a lively, small wind.
The misty sea roughly desires the shark.
Never command a ship
Death is a lively wind," she says, approvingly.
Syd's obligation for the spell has been met, and by rights, he should
go first. Which, of course, is why she's confidant that it will
work as she bats the biscuit towards the door while the others try to
puzzle out her meaning, and walks through it as if it were her own home.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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Syd leaps down, sniffs the biscut, then looks up at the door before
looking to Ogmo. He had never really been any good at this, and still
remembered the time he nearly had his tail smashed in the big sliding
glass door, ...but he forgets it all as he steps boldly over the
biscuit and into the house with the confidence and bravado that only a
cat can muster.
Doorslip: 3 evens out of 4 :)
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
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Antonio sits there silent, biting his tongue almost, in order to stop himself from answering Syd's inquire about living offer.
Suggesting a dead dog in front of the mutt might be a bad idea at this
stage, no matter how eagerly he would do so. Priscilla is a small
dog too, relatively speaking, so maybe it would not be enough of an
offering.
So, instead he just grins like a fool.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Mister Pig (NPC)
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Mister Pig and Antonio both follow the others through the door, which,
to the eyes of anybody else, appears to remain firmly closed.
Inside the house, the layout is fairly familiar to everybody except
Antonio. The cats are in a squarish hallway, with interior doors
on the other three sides. Most of those doors are open, giving
access to recogniseable rooms.
A kitchen, with the faint smells of food and tea wafting through the
doorway, is to the left. Mister Jenkin is there, sitting at the
table with his back to the door as he reads a newspaper. There is
a cup standing by his right arm, and every so often he takes a sip from
it
Next to that is a living room, empty, apart from the furniture.
Music comes from there. The furniture which can be seen is all
dark, polished wood and green leather.
The next two doors are closed.
The final door stands open, revealing a bedroom. This room is again empty, at the moment.
There is no sign of the King of the Cats in any of the open rooms, but
there is the smell of a cat in the air... a cat who is not with the
group of new arrivals.
From behind one of the closed doors comes the sound of a human moving about... heavy, clumsy feet walking across a wooden floor.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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Syd pauses as he crosses the treshold, looking through each of the open
doors carefully as he sniffs at the air. Not many places to hide, and
he feels comforted by knowing exactly where the old cat-hater was at the moment. Hopefully the newspaper will
hold his interest long enough to puzzle this all out. His blue eyes
settle once more on the closed doors, and he nearly growls in
frustration. How to get past them without an offering?
Moving to the right, and well away from the kitchen, Syd ducks into the
one open bedroom and dodges quickly under the bed. From here he waits
for the others to come hide with him as he looks around the base of the
wall for the air conditioning vents. Sometimes they are loose, and
while his uncle disappeared not long after entering one (and was later
found mummified under the house), the black cat knew that somehow they
connected all of the rooms together...
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
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All of the cats dart into the bedroom, and under the double bed.
From there, they have a clear view back into the hall, and around the
entire bedroom. The room is filled with human furniture, all of
it perfect for cats to sit on, no matter what its true purpose.
There is an air conditioning vent in the floor, just to the left of the
bedroom door. At the moment, it doesn't seem to be operating.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Mister Pig (NPC)
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Mister Pig crouches beneath the bed, looking about nervously.
He can see no way out of here. The vent is there, as Syd had
suggested it might be, but getting through it, here in the Waking
World, would be difficult. For once he envies humans for their
opposable thumbs.
"What shall we... " he starts to ask, but he is interrupted by a noise. Out in the hallway, a door opens, and a woman's voice says, "You just wait here, I'll be back in a minute, Your Majesty." The last two words are spoken in a tone which suggests mockery.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
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Footsteps, and from under the bed the cats see Mrs Jenkin, Priscilla's mistress, moving past the bedroom, towards the kitchen.
By the sound of it, she hasn't bothered to relock the room she came out of...
Her voice comes, faintly, from the kitchen, accompanied by the sound of running water, "This is hard work. He's much stronger than I thought. I'll get him in the end though."
The only reply seems to be a barely audible grunt, and the rustling of a newspaper.
"Don't be like that. You know this is important. Or don't you want to be rich?"
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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Syd is nearly certain now that she has the king hostage in her bedroom.
What would fetch such a price as a nine-tailed cat? Looking to his
silent companions, he speaks with urgency. "
Now's our chance. Lets get into that room and go from there. Worse
comes to worse, we can run in all directions while one of us insures
that the King makes it out the front door!" He looks back out
into the hall, crouching and tensing his back legs for only a moment,
...and then he's gone, slipping quickly out from under the safety of
the bed as he makes a mad rush for what he hopes is an opened door...
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
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OGMO moves closer to the doorway, listening for footsteps, and looks
across to see if the door opposite is indeed opened, or if Syd is about
to knock himself out cold.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
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The door is, as it turns out, closed over... but the catch has not
caught. There are still voices coming from the kitchen, and
neither Mr Jenkin, nor his wife, is visible.
All it takes is a nudge, and the door swings a little wider, just
enough to admit the cats. Mister Pig is the last to enter, with a
glance back towards the kitchen, to check if they have been
spotted. It seems that they have not.
One half of the room is cluttered with all manner of human junk.
Old chairs are stacked in one corner, next to several boxes which smell
of books. A closet stands slightly open, the clothes packed in so
tightly that the door will not close properly. There is an
ancient TV set, gazing blindly across the room, and an open box filled
with shiny stuff and glass balls of the sort that Syd, OGMO, and Mister
Pig recognise from the trees that their humans bring into the house
each winter.
The other half of the room is somewhat less untidy. There is a
table and a chair, and a bright lamp mounted on a flexible arm stands
on the table, next to a large red and grey box with a metal grille on
one end. There is a rug in the room, but it has been rolled up,
and an odd eight-pointed design has been marked on the floor, using
something which smells a like blood, and a little like chicken.
There is a sound of movement from the box, and a familiar face regards the cats through the grille.
"If you have come to save me, I'm really most grateful, but I think you should hurry." remarks the King of the Cats from his prison.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
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Almost disappointed, OGMO follows Syd through the door. She regards the King, and inclines her head.
"sad are they who know not love
here falls no light
i saw with open eyes
music i heard with you was more than music
when night drifts along the streets of the city," she agrees.
She begins circling around the design, examining it.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by The King of the Cats (NPC)
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The King of the Cats watches from his cell, up on the table, as OGMO studies the strange design on the floor. "She made that just as soon as she brought me here. A Boggin helped her to... "
Mister Pig interrupts, "A Boggin? They never help anybody. They barely help each other, in an emergency."
"Nevertheless," the King replies, "a
Boggin helped her. Saw it myself. It even whispered
instructions, and she answered it. Which means that she, a human,
can see Boggins."
He edges a little closer to the bars, "She's
being very careful. Doesn't allow the man in this room, even if
he knows I'm in here. I haven't been fed since I got here,
probably to try and make me weaker. And, well, you know these cat
boxes that humans make, they stop our Tricks working."
"Also, I don't much like the look of this knife that's laying up here,
just in front of the bars. Or the gloves and the rope."
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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Syd looks the room over carefully, taking quick mental note of the
assets at hand. Padding forward, he stops at the circle surrounding the
King and sniffs at the reddish stains. Definitely chicken blood.
Definitly bad mojo. His blue eyes narrow as he focuses on the door to
the closet. An avalanche across the top of the symbol would effectively
obscure it from sight, ...and hopefully obscure its magic as well. Of
course, it would mean breaking all hell loose at the same time;
bringing a cacophony of noise, the old-bat kidnapper, ...and her even
crueler husband.
Syd smiles at his friends, who have been annoyingly quiet since entering the house.
Without another word, he bolts over to the closet door and grabs to in with all claws to pull it open...
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
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OGMO circles the diagram, staring at it relentlessly, even as her eyes water.
"An albatross relocates from the cool cat,
Massacring like a peacock the situation fell to sensitive motives
Going its way along, like an yak in the grass.
Quickly the crushed chest was snatched up, Sadism accounts for the facts
A chain shouts noisily, but no one ever listens...
Why ask why ? One pictures this always.
What did the cat have in its flesh?" she mutters to herself, as she walks.
Then she sneezes, and looks away. Seeing Syd running towards the
closet door, she tips her head to the side a little, and then sits down
again to watch. She knows that her humans keep their closets in better shape than to allow for a plan like
this to work, but...many don't. And his last mad rush for a
doorway worked with a disapp - very helpful lack of head-smackings.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
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The King of the Cats observes with interest as Syd rushes at the closet door, unsure what the cat is up to.
Syd leaps and thumps, belly-first, against the door, which
shudders. He hangs on, claws barely caught in the wood, and
nothing happens...
...
The King stands, though there isn't much room in the crate, wanting to get a slightly better view. And nothing happens...
...
OGMO and Antonio watch also, with bated breath. And still nothing happens...
...
Syd starts to slip, claws scraping down the door. And... there is
a slight creak, and the door shifts, starts to swing open, moving
faster and faster still, until it thumps against a carton, and Syd is
finally dislodged.
Nothing falls out, though the closet is filled with all manner of Human stuff, piled on three shelves at varying levels.
Perhaps it just needs a little assistance?
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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" Well. That didn't go as planned." Syd says
from his place near the now opened closet door. He looks up at the
shelves, wondering why gravity had not won. Gravity always won.
Maybe it just needed a little encouragement this time. Then again,
maybe he was being offered a second chance to reconsider his plan by
the hand of Fate. He looks to Ogmo and shrugs. " Still sound like a good idea?" he asks, "
I'm sure I could make it happen if I pull on that blanket near the
bottom shelf. It's going to make a hell of a ruckus, ...everyone ready
for whatever life can throw at us?"
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
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Antonio gives Syd a look which clearly indicates that he, personally, was born ready.
Then, with a twitch of his tail, he jumps up to the table, next to the
King of the Cats and turns to subject the doorway to his most intense
scrutiny. If the woman or her husband comes into the room, he
will know about it even before they do.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
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Syd starts to clamber up the blanket, his claws finding easy purchase
on the fabric. In fact, the only thing which makes the climb a
little difficult is the fact that the blanket is sliding
somewhat... but since that is exactly the effect that the cat had hoped
to achieve, it isn't really a problem.
A box on the shelf is teetering now, so Syd redoubles his efforts, and is forced to leap aside, as the box topples...
In its fall, it tips over a bag of golf clubs, and an ironing board
which had been in the closet, and when it hits the floor, the box
splits open, spilling freshly shattered crockery onto the strange,
arcane design. There is a rumble, and Syd looks up, just as a
bowling ball rolls off the edge of the shelf, where it had been held by
the the box...
The ball drops, sending small shards of crockery flying dangerously in all directions.
Still, the plan has worked. Part of the desin is covered, and a board has cracked, breaking one of the lines.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
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OGMO's hair puffs out, making her look even larger than usual.
With time to compose, but certainly not properly recite, even a simple
poem, she chooses to stay quiet, backing away from the design with only
a low growl as she watches to confirm the efficacy of Syd's cacophony.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
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Syd looks around in a blind panic. He had thought it through this far,
...but no further. He rushes to the side of the Kings container,
ignoring the designs on the floor, for as broken as they were now, they
held no meaning or magic that he could sense. " Can you get out?" he pleads with the King, looking anxiously up at the door to the room, " ...when she opens that door, we need to be ready to run NOW." He is crouched low to the floor, ready to bolt at the first notice.
Even if this went badly, he had learned enough of the house and its
design to make a second assault if needed.
He hoped with all his heart that it wouldnt be the case...
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
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"Some sucka be comin' fast and dey is eida' draggin' deir feet o' sump'n else behind dem," the Orange Guardian of the Door proclaims and puffs up, looking ready to play face hugger with the first one through his door, just like he has seen in those human stories.
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Re: Part 10 - Rescue by The King of the Cats (NPC)
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"There are two small leather straps, holding the door of this box shut." the King of the Cats says urgently, "See,
at those two corners. The magic of the box stops me using a trick
to open it, but a cat outside could do it. Or you could chew
through the leather, but that would take time."
He looks towards the door, which is starting to swing wider, "No! They're here!"
A thin black arm, too long for a human's, and flat as a shadow on the
floor, reaches through the ajar door, and a voice like glass being
crushed whispers, "I smell more cats."
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
-----------------------------------------------------------
Syd reaches up, latching his claws onto the first of the two leather
straps and lifting it up and away from the hook holding it. Even as the
dark shadow falls across the floor he is reaching for the next one,
doing his best to pull the cage open despite his lack of thumbs. He
flinches at the sound of the mans voice, but never loses his focus on
getting the cage open and the King free...
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Mister Pig (NPC)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mister Pig hisses a single word, "Boggin!" and arches his back. His coat stands out all over, almost
doubling his size, and his claws slide out, ready for a battle to the
death, if that's what it takes to defend the King from this threat.
He turns sideways, presenting the largest possible profile to whatever comes through the doorway, and his eyes blaze with rage.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
-----------------------------------------------------------
With no thought or such, as soon as the first glimpse of whatever comes
through the door, the ginger cat leaps at it, jaws and claws wide and
ready to tear into whatever is there.
"Fo' Kin' and Country! Right on!" he
calls out before sinking his claws into the darkness, intent on tearing
it into small pieces of shadows that the fire inside him will
obliterate in turn.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
-----------------------------------------------------------
OGMO bristles at the door, but turns back to the cage. A Doorslip
requires a sacrifice, and besides that, would serve more to get her into the cage, than the King out.
Dinner Dance might work - she imagines "Release the King" is at least
as instinctively vital as food - but requires a nearby human to
compel...
As Syd reaches out a claw to release one of the straps, she sets to the
other with her teeth, trying to gnaw it off, of perhaps just pull it
out.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
While Syd and OGMO start work on the straps which secure the door of
the carrier, and Mister Pig tries to think of what to do for the best,
Antonio hurls himself at the arm which has reached through the doorway.
He lands squarely on it, grips with his paws, and starts to rake.
This, perhaps unsurprisingly, elicits a hiss of pain and anger from his
target. The Boggin slams the door open, revealing a shapeless
mass, with numerous arms snaking out from it, each tipped with a clawed
hand.
The Human female, Mrs Jenkin, standing behind the Boggin, screams, and
from the kitchen comes the sound of a chair falling over with a loud
clatter. And just to add to the confusion, Priscilla starts
barking, out on the porch...
OGMO and Syd work on the straps. Their techniques differ, OGMO
chewing at the leather, while Syd attempts to pull the strap away from
of its fastening, using his claws. Gradually though, their
efforts start to have some effect. The King of the Cats urges
them on, "Yes, my children, that's how to do it. I'll soon be out of here."
The Boggin flicks its arm straight, and Antonio is hurled away, slamming into the wall...
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
-----------------------------------------------------------
OGMO's ears twitch a little as she hears Antonio hit the wall.
The leather strap tastes like...dogfood. Or, more to the point,
the way she imagines dogfood must taste. Especially the kind that
goes to the Twins at the other end of the street.
But she keeps chewing. Apart from her jaw, she holds herself completely still.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
-----------------------------------------------------------
Slamming hard into the wall, Antonio falls down on the floor.
Question is who fared worst, the cat or the wall as they both look a
bit battered. Then, with renewed fighting spirit from his ruffled
fur he forces his body to overcome the vertigo that stems from the
impact. The next moment powerful legs send him hurtling back at
the boggin, claws out as wide as they could possible be and a deep
growl and hiss coming from deep down inside of him.
Once again the claws sinks into the blackness, the ginger cat fighting for not only himself but for his friends and his King.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
-----------------------------------------------------------
Syd continues to claw at the leather, growling with frustration as one
dew claw gets hooked in uncomfortably and it seems impossible to shake
loose for a moment. Freeing himself, he tries tearing it loose with his
other paw, and manages little more success than he had before. " Keep chewing OGMO, we can do this..." he growls, trying to reassure himself as much as anyone else.
Damn. 1 even out of 5 :(
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
-----------------------------------------------------------
Without taking her teeth off the leather, OGMO replies, "mmsky strr hshtens /
hnchbck 'dmnshes, prry / rgrrts frchly, rrde."
It's...probably about as clear as it would have been if her mouth wasn't full.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
OGMO keeps chewing as she speaks, and her words come out as a muffled
growl. Suddenly she falls backwards as the strap breaks, and in
the same instant, she seems to become translucent...
Syd continues his work on the other strap, but the leather is smooth,
hard to get a purchase on, and his progress is slower than he, and the
King of the Cats, would have preferred. Slowly though... so
slowly... the strap starts to come apart.
The King of the Cats himself starts pushing his head against the inside
of the gate, trying to assist the final strap in its decision to
surrender.
Antonio meanwhile recovers quickly, shakes himself once to ensure that
nothing falls off, and leaps back into the fray. A massive clawed
hand slams down, hammering against the floor as Antonio twists a little
in the air and avoids the impact, and suddenly the Boggin appears to be
wearing a very fetching orange fur hat. Black ichor oozes from
the wounds which appear in its flesh, as if by magic, and where it
drips to the floor it explodes immediately into a foul smelling vapour.
Mister Pig finally makes up his mind... With a quick glance at Syd, he says, "Chewing would work better.",
and then he is gone. He leaps towards the door, avoids the
Boggin, and slides to a halt in front of the woman, where he arches his
back as high as it will go.
"Gonna get YOU!" he yowls around bared teeth, eyes blazing with fury.
She starts to back away, as Mr. Jenkin comes up behind her, clutching a
rolled newspaper of somewhat doubtful vorpal awesomeness...
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Dis piece uh boggin went t'market," Antonio half hums as he continues to administer a perhaps not all
pleasant massage complete with razor-sharp claws. Doing his
macabre dance on top of the boggin he takes just enough time to avoid
any attempts to remove him, or such is the general idea anyway.
"Scritch scratch," he hums on while doing just that.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Antonio continues to tear at the Boggin, and its dark flesh fumes
wherever wounds open in its disgusting hide. Still the cat holds
on, interspersing his attacks with frenzied insults and threats.
Even when the horrific creature strikes at him, the cat holds on,
riding out the glancing blow.
Now the Boggin's efforts seem to be aimed more at escape than at attack.
Syd works on the strap, and finally gets a claw hooked into one of the little holes. More importantly, it is the right little hole. He plants his feet against the gate and wrenches at
the strap, using all his weight. With a tearing sound, the strap
breaks, and the gate starts to swing open as Syd starts to shake his
paw to dislodge the length of leather still hooked on his claw.
Mister Pig stays where he is, threatening the humans, until finally Mrs
Jenkin says to her husband, without taking her eyes of the angry cat, "Put that silly newspaper down, Arthur, and let Priscilla in. She'll deal with these smelly cats for us."
Wordlessly, Mr Jenkin turns towards the front door.
And in that moment, the King of the Cats steps out of the box, and breathes a sigh, "I am free."
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
-----------------------------------------------------------
If Priscilla is brought in, she will be faced with the difficult choice
of betraying her Master or betraying her Word. While it's really
her own fault for putting herself in that position, allowing the
circumstance without some attempt to intervene seems to OGMO to
be...unworthy of her, as an invited guest.
Besides - Priscilla's a dog. Between her owner and her honor, OGMO has little doubt she'll serve her owner.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
-----------------------------------------------------------
Syd looks the King over quickly and judges him intact enough to move.
The black cat looks anxiously from the door to the King and then says, "
Well, lets go. I don't know if you have a faster way, but the front
door is just down the hall, ...if he's letting Priscilla in, this would
be our golden moment to get out." He never leaves the
Kings side, recalling the size of the big cats that guarded him back
home and doing his best to swell his own courage to match.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
The King of the Cats leaps down to the floor, and starts towards the door. "Follow me. We might be able to get out as Priscilla comes in." he explains to Syd, "The dog hasn't been born yet who can stop a group of cats. If we all go together, she won't know which way to turn."
But Mr Jenkin doesn't get to the door. Instead he suddenly stops
as OGMO appears at his feet, and circles him three times, rubbing
against his shins. He raises the newspaper, and then... then the
unthinkable - the unimaginable - happens. He smiles at the cat
and throws the weapon aside, knocking over a vase on a small table near
the front door.
Mister Pig, takes a couple of sideways hops towards Mrs Jenkin,
spitting angrily. Then he leaps at her. The woman reacts
angrily, which is probably not too surprising, and kicks at the cat, who spins nimbly past her foot and rakes his claws down her calf, "Ha! Too slow!"
Antonio continues to tear at the Boggin's disgusting flesh, and the
foul creature attempts to hurl him aside. One hand grasps Antonio
by a rear leg and tries to tear him loose, but the orange cat just
sinks his claws in deeper, and holds on, in spite of the pain.
The Boggin succeeds only in raking the cats talons across its own flesh.
The unpleasant creature shrieks in torment, and staggers towards the kitchen, with Antonio still firmly attached.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
-----------------------------------------------------------
"You's've gots'ta be pullin' mah' leg," Antonio taunts the boggin, spurred by the pain by having his leg
pulled, then comments on the claws digging into the monsters face, "I say, whut an improvement! Right on! Shall ah' do de rest uh ya' too?"
Meanwhile his claws do some talkin'n'walkin' on their own. Owie.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Mister Pig (NPC)
-----------------------------------------------------------
An idea suddenly strikes Mister Pig, and he jumps high to bring his
claws into play once more. This time though, instead of human
skin, he tears at the cloth of the mean old woman's skirt, ripping away
a small section...
Grabbing the fabric fragment in his teeth, he turns towards the front door, as his victim shrieks.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
The Boggin disappears in a cloud of foul vapour, and Antonio drops to
the floor with a loud thump, which emphasises the defeat of his
foe. Mrs Jenkin screams, though it is unclear if she is screaming
at the defeat of her dark ally, or at Mister Pig's tearing of her
skirt, or both.
Mister Pig, for his own part, starts towards the front door with the
tiny piece of material clutched in his mouth. The old woman
attempts to grab him, but fails to make contact, falling to her
knees. "Stop them, Arthur!" she yells at her husband.
Arthur Jenkin, meanwhile, is bending down to scratch OGMO behind the
ears. He glances in the direction of his wife, and says, "Pardon, Dear?" as he straightens up. He continues to stand, somewhat protectively, over OGMO though.
And then Syd and the King of the Cats come out of the room, moving
quickly towards the still closed front door. The King laughs out
loud, and calls out, "Come to me, my children!"
Outside, Priscilla suddenly stops barking...
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
-----------------------------------------------------------
Utterly unwilling as well as utterly unable to resist the chance,
Antonio bounces sideways towards the screaming Mrs Jenkins, hissing,
spitting and arching his back as best he can. After all, she
needs to learn that cats are the masters of humanity.
The next moment, once he is certain the others are heading for the door
he simply turns around and struts defiantly towards Mr Jenkins, showing
his best face and letting out a little mew as well. If nothing
else it would give the couple something to talk about once the cats had
left.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
-----------------------------------------------------------
Syd stays close to his Majestys side, looking both left and right, up
and down as they pass through the house. Had he been wearing dark
sunglasses, it would have been easy to mistake him for a secret service
agent expecting assassins on all sides. He keeps moving, looking uneasy
and terrified, despite the Kings laughter at the supposed emancipation
of the situation. " Yeah, come." he mutters, " We could use all the help we could get right now."
Everything is happening so fast, he has little time to ponder why the
evil cat-hating man is protecting Ogmo while the lady of the house
seems to be possessed with all of hells rage and fury. Boggin VS Cat
magics? Just common crazy old people? Too much bitter-brew in their
diets? ...he ignored the cacophony of possibilities and stayed close to
the King. " Just a few more yards Sire, and we're home free." he babbles to quiet the noise in his own head.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
-----------------------------------------------------------
OGMO bumps her head gently against Mr. Jenkin's leg, and then looks expectantly towards the door.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Game Master (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mr Jenkin takes a step towards the front door, then a second, and
then... the door swings open before he even has a chance to touch it.
Outside, Priscilla is visible, just for a moment, on the doormat,
laying still except for her rapid breathing. Her eyes are glazed
over, and her tongue hangs out.
Then she vanishes under a flood of cats. Hundreds of them,
perhaps thousands, of every possible combination of age, shape, size,
gender and colour. Some of them are missing eyes, ears, limbs,
portions of tail, or other more... intimate... parts of their
anatomy. Others are entirely intact.
Every one of them, though, have two things in common with every other
one. First, there is a certain misty quality to them, which
allows the faster ones to pass through the slower. Second, their
eyes, however many any individual happens to possess, are all glowing.
Mrs Jenkin, already trying to avoid Antonio and Mister Pig, shrieks and
dashes for the room where the King of the Cats had been so recently
imprisoned. The door slams shut behind her.
Mr Jenkin seems blissfully unaware of the army of ghosts currently
occupying his home. He glances towards the closed door, then
bends down to scratch OGMO behind her ear, "I don't know what's gotten into her either, Kitty. Must be a headache or something, I suppose."
Soon the hallway is filled with spectral felines, and they flow out
through all the open doors, into the other rooms, where they proceed to
make themselves comfortable on every vaguely horizontal surface, no
matter how small or precarious it is. Their odd chorus
pronounces, with a quite satisfied air, "She hAs t0 ComE ouT sÖme tIM3."
The King of the Cats, accompanied by Syd, makes his way towards the
open front door, pausing only briefly to address the ghosts, "The
Human woman is not to be harmed, my children. Frightened is,
however, another matter entirely. She needs to be encouraged not
to try anything like this again."
Then he steps out, over the body of the unconscious Priscilla, into the
garden, where still more ghosts are waiting to get indoors.
There he sits down, and starts to wash.
"I am very glad that is over."
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
-----------------------------------------------------------
Strutting out trying to look as impressive as possible to all the
female felines - being dead is no excuse why they should not want to
get to know him - since he indeed put down a few lives to help save
their King. He is certain to boast (a few more) many scar(s) now,
something a lot of gals know to appreciate. Good jeans or
whatever the humans say sometimes.
"It wuz mah' honour t'serve, Yo' Majesty.
Let it be knode dat dere be nodin' I, we, yo' servants would not do
t'protect ya', even if it meant takin' on all de boggins and doggins in
de whole wo'ld."
He bows deeply to the King.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Syd
-----------------------------------------------------------
Syd, still close to the King, makes one last look around to reassure
himself that it all really happened and that it was finally over as his
Majesty had so eloquently put it. The hackles of his black coat start
to relax, and he visibly sighs. Looking over at Antonio, he shakes his
head and smiles from ear to ear. " Puss'n Boots, you tore that Boggin a new one! A complete blur of fur and fury, very impressive! I mean, whoa..." he says at a loss for words. If Antonio hadn't scrapped with that
infernal creature, we would have never had the time to free the King.
He looked up and down the street, wondering how word of this night
would spread through the humans, ...and what the story would be in it's
telling.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
-----------------------------------------------------------
"A cat's gots'ta do whut some cat's gots'ta
do. 'S coo', bro. But yeah, ain't gots mah' rep fo'
nodin'. Boggin, hate 'em. WORD! Dogs too! Right
on!" Antonio says and begins to straighten some of his fur, although leaving enough to impress the ladies - for now. "I dun did mah' part, ya' all dun did yo's."
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by OGMO
-----------------------------------------------------------
OGMO gives Mr. Jenkins an enigmatic look, and then walks out. She
sits, looking at the King. After a moment, she says,
"arched the flood
i burn no incense
as evening falls
gone are the three, those sisters rare
out of me unworthy and unknown..."
She trails off, and then, without turning, twitches an ear back towards Priscilla.
"She was...helpful," she says, making it, in some part, a request.
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by The King of the Cats (NPC)
-----------------------------------------------------------
The King of the Cats studies OGMO briefly, then starts washing, "The dog is unharmed, I believe. When the others swarmed on to the porch, she was... overwhelmed by the shock of seeing
so many cats on her territory - I understand that the Human term for it
is 'fainting' - so they seized her and used her for the Doorslip.
She should recover, though her dignity, such as that is for a dog, may
be somewhat impaired, for a time."
Then he addresses all of them, the trio of brave rescuers, "You
have done well here. The situation you have averted went far
beyond a simple threat to my life. As I understood the it, the
Boggin had convinced the old woman that she would gain great wealth and
power if she sacrificed me in a specific ritual. In reality, by
taking part in such a ritual, the Boggin would be the one who would
gain the power."
"Imagine how the world would be, should the Boggins have a King."
===========================================================
Re: Part 10 - Rescue by Antonio
-----------------------------------------------------------
"No danks, Yo' Highness, ah' rada' not try t'picture dat," Antonio says with a grimace and begins washing his face eagerly, as if
attempting to get the horrid vision out of his mind that way.
"Besides, as long as we gots You's, dere gots'ta be no such abominashun." he explains, sounding as certain as only a cat can be.
===========================================================
Epilog by Game Master (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
With the King of the Cats rescued, and the insidious plot to create a
Boggin ruler blocked, life returned to normal in Greenhills.
OGMO, Syd, and the other cats with homes protected their Humans from
the depredations of Boggins and other, less serious threats, while
Antonio continued to defend the pizzeria.
Priscilla learned a little humility from the whole episode, and was a
tad more polite to passing cats (at least for the rest of that
week). The Humans involved mostly forgot about the whole mess
within a matter of days, and (as is so often the case when Humans
encounter something horrible or incomprehensible) attributed it to a
dream, probably fuelled by eating cheese for supper. The cats did
nothing to disabuse them of this comforting fantasy, for they realised
that the Human mind is too fragile to stand being confronted with some
truths.
The ghostly cats from other times would still appear at the Meeting
Place, though their numbers returned to more usual levels, and they
never showed any sign of recognising OGMO, Syd, Mister Pig, or
Antonio. This was a grave disappointment to the ginger cat, in
particular, as he had been planning on using his status as a mighty cat
hero to charm some of the insubstantial ladies.
The rest of the summer passed relatively peacefully. While the
Humans were unaware of events, the Boggins certainly weren't. The
hideous creatures kept a low profile for the next several months, as if
desperately trying to avoid trouble, even in houses with no cats.
This relatively idyllic time would not last forever, of course.
As the leaves on the Climbing Tree started to change colour, and the
weather began to grow distictly cooler, the cats arrived at the Meeting
Place one day to find a stranger sitting there: an enormous white cat,
with long fur, and a collar which glittered with coloured stones.
The King of the Cats was there with him. Their presence signalled
the start of another daring adventure for the heroes of Montgomery
Close.
But that, as they say, is another story...
===========================================================
