The laughter from beyond the wall drops into echoes that fade away, to be replaced by the hissing of the cold breeze which has, thankfully, stopped insulting the cats who stand before the gate.

Mister Pig shudders, and turns away.  Then he stops, and purrs loudly, "Our friends have found us!"

Sure enough, Bones, Mephistopheles, and Miss Cuddles are walking along the iron road towards them.

The cats are reunited...

Miss Cuddles begins to purr as she sees her friends.  When they are back together she goes up to each one, in turn, and touches her nose to theirs in greeting.

"How has your search gone?"  She asked any and all of them.  There was much to tell on both sides, she thought, but this may not be the time for full disclosure.

Bones Fleabag traipsed in, and laid down close to his friends.

"I would certainly like to hear about it! Our journey was eventful," he said, smilingly.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:44, Sun 17 Jan 2021.

Midnight doesn't say anything because he seems to have forgotten what he was looking for.

"We saw the King of the Cats!" Mister Pig responds excitedly, "And he told us of a place where I can change my name.  A well, somewhere in the North, where I can get a new name, and it won't matter that the Boggins know my old one."

"But first we have to get past this gate, and the thing that lives beyond it.  We... "

A gust of wind interrupts him, seeming to laugh, and then whisper, "Youuuu're all going to diiie."

Dreamcatcher hisses, "Oh, go away, stupid wind!" and then he continues with his previous topic of conversation, "As I was saying, we need to get past the gate, but there is a chain holding it closed, and we hadn't yet thought of a way to open it."

Midnight turns his behind to the door, raised his tail and then brings his tail down against the lock.
13:19, Today: P-P rolled 1 evens using 6d6 with the Advantage system with rolls of 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 1.  Tail 4 + reputation (Trickster) 2 open that door.

[13 blank lines suppressed]

I am coming to the conclusion that the dice dislike PP

Sunny turns to see the missing cats returning and nods a polite greeting, "Well, this door has us stymied for the moment. Please, regale us. As for us, yes, we met the King or Cats. A rather unpleasant Queen of Owls, some mice that looked awfully crunchy, a madman chasing reindeer, some chatty crows, a dubious crocodile, and this rather annoying wind." It lacked a lot of details, but it was rather accurate. Sunny then watched the failed attempt to unlock the door. "Perhaps, it is a puzzle rather than an obstacle?" That was about as good as he got though. Sunny was rather bad with puzzles.

"Did you send Alice?" Bones purred as he regarded his friend cats.

"We saw nothing so grand as the King, I'm afraid.  We saw a creature who purported to be a witch, and we disrupted her schemes.  We fixed the river, and killed a Boggin in the process."  Mephistopheles explained, while he studied the gate carefully.

"We also met a small fisherman, a helpful bird, and some giant metal spiders in a city of glass.  All pretty normal, for the Dream."

"And some evil, non-human monks, as well."  Miss Cuddles added to the list that Mephistopheles recited.

"Yes, the spiders! I made a friend, by the name of Ch'chrrr'rk'rk." Bones Fleabag contributed to the recap, quite meaningfully he thought.

Sunny eyed the other three suspiciously, "A helpful bird?" His tone dripped with incredulity. The idea that a bird might be helpful in a genuine and non-suspicious way was foreign to Sunny's thinking. He looked over each of the returning trio and then sniffed. "Well, you are usually quite sensible cats, so I'll believe you. This time. A helpful bird. Phah! And next we'll speak of undelicious milk or uncrunchable mice."

He turned his face toward the great door and Regarded it for a time, "well, this door is being incredibly unhelpful. Any thoughts? Oh, and beware the mad god behind it. The dubious crocodile warned us of it. Hardly need to be TOLD to beware mad gods, but, well, there it is."

Mister Pig considers the problem, and finally says, "One of my Human once asked me a riddle, which might be useful here.  I don't know why he asked me, because I couldn't speak to him, and he already knew the answer - even told me straight away.  But then he acts strangely sometimes, always asking me to help him with things that I know nothing about.  What is a clutch anyway?  Or a differential?  And how would I know the best thing to say to a Human girl to impress her?  Or whether a recipe for hot sauce is a good one?"

"Where was I?  Oh yes, the riddle.  Let me see if I can remember it."  He closes his eyes briefly, and then, "Ah yes...  When is a door not a door?  When it's a bottle.  I think that was it."

The gate, meanwhile, shows no sign of turning into a bottle...

Mephistopheles sighed, "It's jar.  Not bottle.  When is a door not a door?  When it's ajar.  Not that it helps us."

He sat down and stared up at the chain.  "While I'm not sure why anybody would want to go in there, it seems that we must."  His tail thrashed furiously from side to side, stirring up the dust.

"Oh, I'm sure it's positively wonderful in there, Dancer." Bones Fleabag trotted ahead of the others toward the door, peeking inside.

Bones moves close to the double gate, and peers into the crack between the two halves. 

Above him, there is a loud *click* and the padlock springs open.  One end of the chain slips clear of the shackle, and as the two ends swing freely, the weight of the lock causes the chain to slide a couple of links to that side.

But it still hangs, albeit loosely, across the brackets on the twin gates...
This message was last edited by the player at 19:50, Wed 20 Jan 2021.

Miss Cuddles looked up at the lock, which had unlocked itself, hanging from the chain still on the gate.

"Perhaps if we all push against one side of the gate at the same time it would open for us?" She suggested, although not convinced that it would work.  "Although, has anyone looked for a back door or a cat flap?"

"Loki's pyjamas! I didn't expect that to do the trick." yowled Mephistopheles, shocked that such an obvious solution had actually worked.

Sir Percy stands up against the gate and pulls experimentally at the chain to see if he can dislodge it further.

"A cat flap?  I never thought of that.  And now that you mention it, there might be another... " Mister Pig says, but is interrupted by the loud clattering of the chain falling onto the iron roadway, as Sir Percy leaps aside.

"Why did you do that?" he asks.  Frankly, though, he is amazed.  He's never, as far as he recalls, seen Milk-Whiskers move so fast...

As if in response to the noise, the howling starts up again, somewhere beyond the gate.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:29, Fri 22 Jan 2021.

"Should we check to see if there is another way in, before heading in by the main gate?  And, perhaps we should have a strategy before we proceed?"  Miss Cuddles suggested to the others.

"Well, everything is messy and covered in ivy. It doesn't look like anyone's home. I say we can just go in." He wanted to ask why they are going in, having missed any details that might fill him in on their purpose, but he figured it was probably just because it was there to go into.

Midnight can't remember WHY either, but he figures that going in is a good idea because he's a CAT and therefore curious.

Miss Cuddles walked in a circle outside the gate as she considered the situation.

"Well, if we have to go in there, or through there, then we might as well.  But I think we need to make sure that we stay together, or at least make sure that we're not alone."

"I think we do have to go in because the wall sits exactly in our way." Mister Pig replies to Miss Cuddles, "But yes, sticking together would be the best idea.  And trying to avoid whatever is doing all the howling and insane laughter.  That seems good too."

He stands up and leans his front paws against the gate.

"Unlocking the chain was a simple solution.  Hopefully opening the gate will be just as simple, and all we need to do is push.  It's heavy though... " he says after  a few moments.

Mephistopheles walked forward and stood beside Dreamcatcher before the gate.  "If pushing doesn't work, we can try using our tails to open it magically."

Then he stood up and pressed his paws against the portal.

Miss Cuddles joined the other two cats at the gate and added her efforts to theirs in attempting to open it.

"If we all push, it may open.  Perhaps it is something we have to do together", she voiced as a random thought of the day.

Sir Percy also lends his efforts against the gate.

Sunny rumbles up to the group effort and adds his weight to the endeavor.

With five cats pushing against it, the gate creaks open, slowly, until it actually does stand ajar.  It's only a narrow gap, but even the bulkiest of the cats can get through.

Beyond the gate is a ruined city, little more than broken pavements and unstable mounds of rubble, bound together by pale ivy which looks to be riddled with disease.

Oddly, but not for the realm of dreams, on this side of the bronze wall, the sky looks very different, with dense copper coloured clouds roiling above the city.  Lightning leaps among those clouds, but there is no thunder to accompany it.

And somewhere, unseen amidst the rubble, the same insane creature that the cats had heard howling and laughing is singing wordlessly, and relatively softly.

Midnight keeps walking as fast as he can, hoping the route crosses the city and comes out the other side without anybody having to pray talk to the mad god.

Bones Fleabag almost wondered if meeting a mad god would not be so bad--after all, he learned bugtalking by listening quite wrong, and wouldn't a mad god be much more pleasant if one were listening quite wrong? But he followed behind his cat-friend closely, not diving away from Midnight's path.

Miss Cuddles walked through the gate at a sedate pace.  There was no reason (yet) to hurry and she wanted to make sure all the rest of her cat friends came through before she followed Midnight and Bones.

With his fur on edge, Sir Percy follows the others, eyes darting back and forth to keep watch on every suspicious shadow in case it holds nightmarish tentacled horrors.

Last through the gate to watch their hind quarters for birds or crocodiles, Sunny moved into the city and felt a cold wind run across his shoulders. He rolled them uncomfortably and then, having the notion that not seeing well might help, he flicked his tail lazily as he eyed the rusty clouds. A pair of headphones like the best boy's father often used appeared on his head. Adorably cat sized, they muffled his hearing. As a result, his head moved more to compensate. Over the headphones, played the comforting sound of crunchy bird bones being crunched.

17:14, Today: Sunny rolled 3 evens using 3d6 with the Advantage system with rolls of 2, 2, 4.  headphones
This message was last edited by the player at 09:19, Tue 26 Jan 2021.

Things only get worse as the cats move away from the gate.  Before too long it becomes apparent that not everything in the city is rubble... many of the mounds are actually piles of bones, festooned with the same ivy as everything else.  Disturbingly, the ivy on the bone piles looks healthier than elsewhere.

And always the wordless singing seems to come from all directions, echoing from rubble and bone piles alike.

Something glides down to alight on top of a heap of rubble.  Something larger than a cat, and almost bird-like in form, with filthy, bedraggled feathers, although it seems to have no eyes in its hideous face.  Still, it turns its head as if watching the cats' progress.  It opens its beak to reveal serrated edges...

Mister Pig glares at the creature, and suggests, "I think we should try to follow a straight line, until we get to the far side.  What does everybody else think?"

"That makes sense to me, Mister Pig." Bones Fleabag, seeing the large creature, tried to keep his walking steady.

Sunny, mostly unable to hear at this point, was already intent on the single-file status of the group so as to not lose them. AS such, he followed along quietly keeping an eye on things as much as possible.

Mephistopheles gave the not-bird what he hoped was a withering look as he walked by.  Unfortunately it refused to curl up and die.

He turned his attention to more pressing matters.  An insane god was somewhere in this city, and he tried to focus on avoiding its attention.  Hopefully he wouldn't just turn a corner and find themselves face-to-face with it.

"Is anybody else finding that singing annoying?"

Miss Cuddles followed along, nodding at Mister Pig's suggestion.  "Single file and as far from the edge and shadows as we can get sounds reasonable to me!"

"I've found several things annoying so far, and have added that noise to the list," Miss Cuddles said in agreement with Mephistopheles.

"Definitely most vexing," Sir Percy agrees.

Suddenly the singing is joined by a second voice, a harsh one that growls and snarls, and almost sounds like an angry dog...

"Stop it!  Stop it now, or we'll punish you again!  Stop it!"

The singing fades away, and transforms into a quiet whimpering.

Miss Cuddles stopped short as the second voice was heard, her ears perking up and swivelling  to try and determine which direction the voice came from.

"Punish? Who do you suppose is being punished?  Should we help them?"

Midnight shook his head firmly.  Much better to keep on keeping on.

Looking about at the other cats, Mephistopheles growled, "Punishing somebody for singing doesn't seem right.  And I don't like the sound of that second voice any more than the first.  We should at least take a look."

As an afterthought he added, "As long as Dreamcatcher doesn't object.  This quest is for his benefit, after all."

"It may be best if we 'got eyes on' this troublesome individual, as they say," Sir Percy agrees. "He might come after us next, after all."

Mister Pig indicates that he has no objection to a small detour.  "As Sir Percy says, it might be best to at least have an idea what these creatures are, since they could well detect us, and decide to hunt us down."

The first voice is still quietly whimpering, with occasional forays into sobbing, interspersed with indistinct muttering and short, barking outbursts of hysterical laughter, which seem to be quickly stifled.

The other voice, the harsh growling one, has lapsed back into silence.

"I think the sounds are coming from that direction." Dreamcatcher tilts his head to indicate a mound of rubble to the left of their route.

"I agree - we need to find out what is making these noises and if either poses a threat to us.  I do not wish to have something dangerous at our backs if it can be helped."

Miss Cuddles voiced her opinion to the others and made to follow Mister Pig and the others in search of the strange voices.

There seems to be some slight disagreement among the cats.  A disagreement that is easily solved.

After some thought, Mister Pig suggests, "Those who wish to investigate can do so.  Those who don't, can stay here."

And he starts to climb the rubble, deeming it safe enough with its binding of ivy.  He is soon joined by others who are not intimidated by the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat."

From the top of the mound they see a strange, and horrific, sight at the bottom of the far side.

There is a creature there that looks almost like a small human male, one aged about ten years, laying naked on the ground.  Its dirty skin is pierced through with equally dirty feathers.  It only has one arm, the other being just a stump covered with a black tarry substance, and there is a considerable quantity of dried blood around the stump.

The figure is secured in place by heavy chains around its neck and waist, and its eyes are concealed by more of the tar-like material.  It is whimpering quietly.

Two more creatures are nearby.  Hideous, amorphous things, with limbs like a spider's, but tipped with long-fingered hands.  Their bodies are covered with coarse hair that writhes like nests of snakes as the move about.

Mister Pig growls deep in his throat, and spits out a single word...

"Boggins!"

It ain't curiosity any more, decides Midnight and he too climbs the rubble as fast as he can, practically running up that mound in fact, ready to fight the horrible bogginses.

21:31, Today: P-P rolled 5 evens using 8d6 with the Advantage system with rolls of 3, 5, 4, 6, 6, 2, 6, 1.  Climb Legs 5 + Climber 3.

Sir Percy's aristocratic blood is stirred by the presence of his ancestral enemy, and he scrambles to keep up with Midnight.

07:15, Today: Milk-Whiskers rolled 2 evens using 4d6 with the Advantage system with rolls of 1, 2, 6, 3.  Legs.

Miss Cuddles followed the others over the rough terrain, taking small, dainty steps as she placed each paw carefully before moving on.  The thought of boggins torturing another creature almost made her throw caution to the wind ... almost.

As she crested the rise not too far behind her friends, she stopped and considered what was before them.  "What do you think that small creature is? She asked quietly before adding, "We should have a plan before we just go down there."

"I would imagine it's a mad god" suggested Midnight with his quietly kittenish voice, "All that matters is THOSE are bogginses.".

Sunny followed along slowly. He wasn't sure what was going on exactly as his ears were still well covered. As he crested the rubble, he spotted the boggins and a low growl escaped his throat. He looked at his allies closely, trying to decide their aim in this situation. AS much as he'd love to crunch boggins, he wanted to know the situation first. Cat's with unsure footing fell no matter their luck. This reminded him of that time the boys' friends had put that long, green vegetable behind him while he was eating.

"The creature is chained up, and clearly being tormented and 'punished' by the Boggins." Dreamcatcher growls, "Obviously it needs our help.  We can ask it what it is after we rescue it."

"It might be more amenable to answering when it is freed."

He starts looking about for anything that might give them an extra advantage here.

"Obviously." Katerina Auguste murmured softly and mostly to herself, as if she wouldn't help free the creature from boggins just because she didn't know what it was!

She also scanned the area to see what, if anything they could use against the boggins, as well as looking for other boggins which might be hiding.

Dancer crouched low on the rubble heap and studied the area around and about.  Two boggins was not a problem, but best be sure there were no more lurking about.  And, while he was at it, he thought about a plan of attack, one that would be safe.

After all, it wouldn't do to simply charge down on the boggins, stumble on the rubble, and arrive at the fight with a broken leg.  Or a broken neck.

Sir Percy studies the battlefield-to-be, trying to determine the best angle of attack.

09:19, Today: Milk-Whiskers rolled 1 evens using 4d6 with the Advantage system ((2, 1, 5, 3)).

Midnight is not a planner.  He's a CAT! and the best way to fight is to strike first.  This he seeks to do with fur erect and tail lifted over his head to point at the Bogginses a he seeks to draw the lightning to destroy them.
12:24, Today: P-P rolled 4 evens using 6d6 with the Advantage system with rolls of 2, 4, 1, 3, 2, 4.  Tail (call the lightning to fight the Bogginses).

Some of the cats are looking about, trying to decide how best to attack the Boggins.  One of the vile creatures, meanwhile, picks up a length of wood and starts scraping it against a large slab of rough stone, tittering as it works to sharpen it.

Who can say what mischief it plans with his makeshift weapon? 

The second Boggin is searching around the area for something it can use.  It finds a length of rope, so rotted that it almost falls apart when handled, and casts it aside with a snarl.  Finally it picks up jagged piece of rubble, and a cruel grin spreads across it misshapen face.

Overhead the flickering lightning seems to have found a voice, as a deep rumbling builds among the clouds.

The Boggins glance up, and then go back to what they're doing.  The one with the sharp-edged stone draws back one twisted limb to hurl the missile at the prisoner...

There is a loud boom, and a brilliant flash, as a bolt of lightning drops from the sky.  The Boggin falls dead instantly, still clutching its projectile, smoke billowing up from the smouldering corpse. 

The other drops its sharpened board and shrieks in terror.

Which causes the prisoner to howl and laugh insanely, even though it cannot be aware of what is happening...

Bones Fleabag, for his part, trotted confidently past the lightning-struck Boggin and attempted to get a good look at their captive.

"Hello? We're here to help you, I suppose. What's your name?" He asked as he rounded the corner to find the captive.

Mephistopheles yowled in fright as the lightning burned his vision, but soon recovered. "Good job Midnight!" he declared, then did a double-take as he spotted Bones trotting blithely down the hill.

"What in the name of Hephaestus' paisley underwear?  Oh, good grief!"  And he too skipped and danced down the slope to help his friend.

"If I die here, I'll never forgive Bones." he grumbled as he went.

Eyeing the rubble looming over the boggin sharpening a weapon, Sir Percy decides to take the better part of valour and be crafty instead of courageous. He flicks his tail at the slop, trying to push the stones into sliding down into an avalanche that will bury the boggin. It may be tricky, but let it never be said that Sir Percy Higgleton III will not help out a chap in need!

06:56, Today: Milk-Whiskers rolled 2 evens using 6d6 with the Advantage system ((4, 5, 2, 1, 1, 5)).

Miss Cuddles felt all her fur stand on end with the lightning strike which killed the one boggin.  Everything seemed to be happening as they normally did with cats ... all at once and a bit all over the place, but she could work with that.  It looked as if Sir Percy had the same thought as she did, so she tried to assist in getting a land-slide started.


OOC:
06:35, Today: Miss Cuddles rolled 2 evens using 4d6 with the Advantage system ((1, 3, 4, 4)).

The strange creature turns its head, with its obscured eyes, towards the sound of Bones' voice and howls at him. 

Behind Bones and Mephistopheles the remaining Boggin screeches angrily and waves its sharpened piece of wood at them.  The screech is suddenly drowned out by a loud rumbling, and the rubble pile nearest to the Boggin suddenly collapses.  The unpleasant creature vanishes in a cloud of dust and shifting debris.

In the stillness that follows, the prisoner stops howling, coughs, and then says in a hoarse, childish voice, "Help me, please.  I can't see, and everything hurts.  My name is... Joey... I think.  Hard to remember just now."

"It's a child!" Mephistopheles yowled in disgust, coming up behind Bones.  "They were hurting a child!"

He moved closer to the chained victim and sniffed at the substance covering the stump of his arm, and his eyes.  Then he examined one of the feathers.  "I think we could pull these right through, if we were careful."

"Not to worry, Joey, old chum," Sir Percy says, strolling over. "We'll have you out of those bonds lickety-split!"

Midnight stands where he is.  He wants to get going and ignore the entreaties of the mad god, but they're right.  It looks like a child.

Mephistopheles looked in the direction of the  fallen rubble, making sure the Boggin wasn't about to burst out of it, then turned his attention back to the boy.

"As my friend said, we will free you.  We destroyed two of your captors, are there more that might come back and interrupt us while we work to release you?"

"Tell me, young friend, can you move around...easily?"

Bones approached, a bit uneasily because the captive seemed to be in awful pain and Bones' closest non-cat confidantes largely don't feel pain the same way a person or a cat does--so Bones Fleabag was understandably uncertain how he could help. Moving easily is a good sign for a bug, though, so it must be a good sign for a human, right?

"I don't think there are more.  I only saw two before they... when I could see.  They chained me up and made me smash this city, or else they would hurt me.  Then they hurt me anyway.  I'm tired, and I'm hungry.  They didn't feed me for years.  I can still move, but the chains stop me."

Joey turns his head from side to side.  "I thought this city was a dream, least it was before I smashed it, but if it's a dream why can't I wake up?  Not even when the monsters hurt me."

"Do you know where my mum and dad are?  I haven't seen them since I hit my head.  Sometimes I can hear them talking, but far away.  But they can't hear me, even when I shout as loud as I can.  They just keep talking to the other man, the one they call 'doctor'."

"Hmm, intriguing," Sir Percy says. "You see, my good chum, you are in the world of dreams. We can walk here freely, because we're cats and that is only one of the ways that we are superior, but humans have a tendency to get lost. No, no, don't feel bad - you can't help that your senses are so laughably weak! It seems that you might have gotten stuck here from that mishap you had. Possibly we could help if we knew where you were in the real world?"

Miss Cuddles moved closer to what was obviously a child, or at least what had been a child but now, well, it was better to think of what could be.  She looked at the chains holding the boy and poked at them gently with one paw.

She laid gently next to the boy, purring loudly and giving him what comfort she could. She stared at the offending chain, her tail twitched and she hoped.


OOC:

11:41, Today: Miss Cuddles rolled 2 evens using 4d6 with the Advantage system with rolls of 3, 3, 4, 2.  release chains.

The boy thinks for a moment, then says, hesitantly.  "I live in The City.  There's a hospital there, and a doctor."  He closes his mouth tightly, and his brow furrows above the black mask.  Then, "She's a... a... pee-dio-tricity.  My mum and dad took me to see her last year when I was sick.  But it's a different doctor who talks to them now.  A man.  Maybe he's at the hospital."

"Never been to the hospital before.  Only seen it from the school bus.  It's a big place, with a helicopter."

"What's happening?"

What's happening, in fact, is that the cuff attached to the chain securing his remaining arm is unfastening itself.  The nut and bolt that hold it closed it are slowly turning in opposite directions, with a faint creaking, scraping sound...

Miss Cuddles' purring gets louder as she sees that the chain is beginning to unfasten itself.  She rubs her head gently against the boy's side, being careful not to jostle any of the feathers that are sticking into him.

"The chain around your arm is unfastening itself," she said softly to the child, "Stay calm for a little while longer.  We will get you free."

Sunny whole being rebelled at the situation. He trusted the boy not one whit. He slowly raised to his feet and moved down the scree and rubble to look around the city. He did not speak and he kept the headphones on, so he had no idea what was being said. He eyed the fried boggin and then the pile burying the other. Tails were rather remarkable things really. Sunny used far more mundane cat tricks, he walked quietly. The kind of quiet that let you sneak up on birds and and mice unawares.

If the boy truly could not see, he did not want the boy to know he was here. He looked at the others and, by their faces and body movement, suspected they were listening when they should not be.

23:25, Today: Sunny rolled 2 evens using 3d6 with the Advantage system with rolls of 4, 5, 2.  Legs, Quiet.

As quietly as he could, he tried to get the others' attentions, motion to his headphones, and then motion away from the boy.

"Just hold up a moment, old chum," Sir Percy says to Joey. "We'll bright with you, never fear."

He then goes to attend to Sunny.

Midnight too keeps going when he sees he won't be the only one.  Boy or not, it's still the mad god and probably a boggin in disguise.

Mister Pig does not follow the others as they move away.  He's a cat, and it is his duty to protect humans.  Doubly so children (though this part may be just his opinion).

He sniffs at the black substance over the eyes.  It seems to be dry and inflexible.  In fact, now that he looks, he can see that the substance is flaking and cracked on the arm.  He leans forward and bites at the covering, breaking away a large piece, which crumbles into a number of smaller ones as he pulls it away from the boy's face.  There is a blue eye below the brittle shell, which blinks furiously when exposed to the light.

"I can see!  They told me I was blinded!" yells Joey.  And then the eye is blinking again, but this time it is to clear away tears.

The chain falls from his wrist and he lifts his hand, a tad clumsily, and starts peeling away the black substance from his face...

Seeing the situation unfolding, Sunny feels a fright climb his flanks. Still, Mister Pig is there and Sunny would not abandon his allies. Those he cared for was a much smaller circle than that of other cats, but he cared just as fiercely. Thus, as he glanced between a nearby nice hiding spot and his ally, Sunny hesitated. The sound of crunching bird bones in his mind could not even soothe him.

Dancer, curious as to what Rumbler wanted, followed the other cat away from the child -- Dreamcatcher and Katerina Auguste appeared to have things well in hand there anyway.

Finally, at what felt like a safe distance, that curiosity got the better of him.  Hopefully it wouldn't kill him.

"What is it Rumbler?" he purred.

Clearing the cover from his eyes, Joey sits up and looks around.  Then he starts to laugh and, while there are still slight traces of the insane laughter that the cats had heard earlier, there is much less of that, and more of the pure joy of a child.

"You're all cats!" he says, and falls flat on his back, laughing uproariously.

"We are cats, Joey. Cats in dreams are very natural, young-friend, and we're always here to help." Bones felt immense relief to see Joey coming back to himself now, and trotted close to the boy as he laughed.

"Well, did you expect us to be dogs?" Sir Percy says. "Pshaw! Imagine dogs trying to save someone. Their idea of helping is running off to find a human to bark at."

He strokes against Joey's foot.

"Now, this will sting just a bit," he says. "But it may provide some necessary help with your case later on."

He bites Joey in the ankle, gently but firmly, marking the lad for later finding. It should be possible - keeping track of people and making sure they aren't in trouble is, after all, what he does!

07:47, Today: Milk-Whiskers rolled 5 evens using 6d6 with the Advantage system.  Tail 4 + Friend to All 2.

Mister Pig watches Sir Percy marking the boy.  Joey just looks at his ankle curiously.  Then Dreamcatcher asks, "Joey?  Can you stand up?  Are you strong enough?"

The child struggles a bit, but he manages to push himself to his feet, and stands there, swaying.  He still has his ankles chained  He sniffs suddenly, "What's that smell?  Oh, I see."

The corpse of the nearest Boggin is boiling away into tendrils of black vapour.

"Smells like Frankie Seddahecker's farts." Joey comments.  "He's in my class.  Nobody likes him."

The boy does not seem to have notice that some of the cats have moved away from him.

Sunny is reluctant, but finally rubs and paws at the headphones enough to dislodge them from his head. However he was going to get them back on was another matter, "We were told rather explicitly, though by an untrustworthy source, to avoid listening to the Mad God. I get they want to help the boy, but some of us should heed the warning just in case." Sunny liked people and he loved his boy, but he did not love this boy, nor hate him, yet. His was a more cautious soul perhaps. He waited for replies to his statement.

"Hrmpf." Sir Percy inclines his head. "I suppose that is only prudent. Keep a safe distance in case we start dissolving back into the primordial ooze or something equally upsetting."

Miss Cuddles walked around the boy, looking at the chains which secured his feet, her tail twitching only slightly as she stared at the offensive restraints.


OOC:  20:29, Today: Miss Cuddles rolled 1 evens using 4d6 with the Advantage system with rolls of 1, 2, 1, 5.  release more chains.

(I don't think that's worked this time :( )

Midnight says nothing but decides to stay with Sunny, watching from what he fondly imagines to be a safe distance.

Mephistopheles considers Sunny's words, "Caution is good, yes.  But if caution causes us to leave a real Human child chained up, and in the hands of Boggins, then it is less good."

"We should not judge him unless he does something to earn judgement, and we have not seen him do any such thing.  From what he said, the Boggins have tormented him, lied to him, and forced him to do bad things.  From his own words, he may be asleep in the real world, and unable to wake up.  If we leave him here, then more Boggins might find him, and do the same, or worse."

Trotting back to his friends for a moment, Bones offered his opinion. "We might...bring or send him somewhere with more cats, if we can get many cats to agree to defend the boy from Boggins." He was clearly enthusiastic about helping the child.