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.