Cathulhu #2, 'I am here for the cemetery, not your weird shenannigans!'

Having been overheard by Lena...the cat of Paulie Pavlov, Whiskey and Fitz's discussion over the origins of the strange 'cat killer' are discussed by the new trio of investigator cats.

The gang - Whiskey, Fitz & Lena

 They resolve to investigate the last murder site, taking some milk at Fitz's hangout at Keenan's Laundry on East College Street. 

They look at the map in Brock's office, and mewl as they point to the sites of the four previous murders... Lena had also heard of some earlier cat murders in the cemetery to the south (one of her hangouts as she lives in the south east of the city with Paulie's family). She would like to return home of course, especially with a 'cat killer' on the streets, and persuades her two new friends to investigate in that direction. 

After a binned chicken dinner in Powder Mill Street, with a local cat called Maddox, he tells them of a house close to the cemetery, where the cellar was recently 'bricked up', removing it as one of Maddox's warm areas to sleep at night. Strange, unearthly sulphurous smells also emanated from the property at all hours. Mostly Irish immigrants live in this quarter, but there was a section of older richer houses on a large lot.

By mid afternoon, the party resolve to check the place out, finding a run down, though once expensive house. Fitz, whose speciality is opening doors, sneaks to the front. Finding it locked, he sneaks around the back and manages to enter via the kitchen, with Whiskey and Lena in tow.

 Their attention to the filth in the place is disturbed by a distinct banging from the basement, as if, something is trying to get out...present also is the voice of a man from below. 

They check out the living room and study, finding occult paraphernalia and messy 'insane' human notes. As they continue to search, they hear human 'can opener' footsteps coming up the stairs from the basement.Whiskey races to hide under the table, while Fitz heads for the chair...Lena heading for the fireplace, hoping to make her way out through the chimney...which turns to disaster, as she not only slips, but gets covered with inky black soot on the way down, convincing the approaching human...that she too is a black cat, and thereby, a target 'Here, kitty kitty!'

Terrified, the cats race from the room, though Lena is caught and dragged down the stairs to the basement...the next victim for the Black Cat Murderer?...the 'thing' that is making all the banging downstairs.

the 'horrible laboratory'

Fitz and Whiskey race to the bottom of the stairs, finding the basement and the horrific laboratory...where a door separates the 'thing' from the outside world. Whiskey tries to save Lena from the grasp of her human captor...whilst Lena herself manages to scratch and rip her way free, bolting up the stairs once more.

 

The cat that does not look like a D4, really...(well they have to useful for something)...

Fitz, bravely opens the door to the laundry room in the basement, revealing the horrific 'Cat from Saturn' which the human Montague has managed to summon from the Dreamlands and do his bidding, and help with his magical attempts to find eternal life and summon more cat demons, with the hearts of the black cats. With a lollop and a thrash, the thing tries to kill Fitz, who dodges and runs back up after his friends. 

 

the 'Cat from Saturn', and it hasn't had dinner yet...

Chased by Montague and the thing, the heroes race upstairs to the bedroom, with Lena and Fitz jumping onto the wardrobe.

Montague goes for a pistol in his drawer, whilst Whiskey races for the door...the cat thing lolloping toward the rickety wardrobe. Both cats pushing against the wall, they manage to bring the poorly balanced, heavy oak furniture down upon the cat-thing, hearing at least one bone break, but doing LOTS of damage, as they race for the kitchen downstairs...and the exit. Montague fires a shot from his revolver, but misses.

The old 'let's bring the wardrobe crashing down upon its alien head' trick.

They regroup back at Paulie Pavlov's house, where his young daughter feeds all the kitties some well deserved milk. Finally working out that the cat thing only comes out at night, they resolve to lay an ambush.

As expected, the the alien thing emerges for the night's hunt, though with one leg broken, and with a heavily wounded body. Clearly Montague could not repair it. Our heroes resolve to lead it to college street, where the traffic is heavy enough to cause an incident...taking it in turns to lead the thing in a merry chase for vengeance, they ultimately, in the darkness, manage to find an appropriate car, with a driver who could use better eye-glasses.

The cat thing misses one attack, as the heroes dodge effectively, and it is blinded by headlights from a driver who didn't even know it was there and ...SPLAT! Game over man! Game over!

That time when you realise that AI has absolutely no idea what you are asking for ...

 Breathing a sigh of relief, and with the thing's head not altogether attached properly, they retrieve their grisly trophy to return to Ricardo's gang...as proof of mission. Ricardo is grateful, having his gang feed on what is left of the 'thing' , and gives the party more catnip...informing them that his gang will take care of the 'can-opener' that had held the cat-killer.

'I mean this book is great and all, but where the heck did Kitty go???'

Returning to Lady 'Madame' with the Catnip, she is impressed (having never sampled it before) and hopelessly addicted.

Laughing at their triumph, the cats return to their homes, with Fitz returning to the Professor's home, near the University... a letter from London, an invitation to a lecture, has arrived... 

   TO BE CONTINUED ... in 'Horror on the Orient Express' (with added cat) 

  

Cathulhu #1 'The Black Cat Murders'

During a short interlude from Shadowdark, our intrepid party have now become feline investigators in the mad mash-up that is 'Cathulhu - Velvet paws on Cthulhu's Trail', where the characters are ...ummm...cats investigating the Cthulhu Mythos - makes purrrfect sense...(see what I did there...)

I bet he drinks Carling Black Label...

 Whiskey (who belongs to local P.I. Brock) and Fitz (the cat of a certain professor Edward Downie, recently returned from a sanitarium in Los Angeles) both of Arkham, meet at the site of a recent vicious cat-murder, noticing a few things...as they peer through the throng of nosey felines.

'Moidah! Moidah!'

 An old cat called Benjamin, after some discourse, explains that this is the 4th such murder he has seen in the last few days

Whiskey - definitely trustworthy, without any 'dodgy' connections to the mob...

• Whiskey & Fitz notice that the cat's heart has been removed
• Upon further investigation, it looks like all of the victims were also black cats - curiouser and curiouser.
• From a 4th storey apartment balcony overlooking the scene in Walnut Street, a regal and thin looking white female cat watches them.

Fitz - keep an eye on your catnip...and the milk...and your wallet

 Resolving to see what she witnessed, Whiskey & Fitz use the old 'delivery truck driver leaves the door open while they scoot past and head upstairs' trick...then the 'hide in the flowerpot while the grocery delivery knocks on the appropriate apartment door trick'...and manage to make their way inside the white cat's 'palace' whose owner, is actually an old blind woman.

Her excellency 'Madame' decides that they shall be her 'knights' as she is of course descended from Cat Royalty of old...though she appears frightened by what she witnessed the previous night. The local victim - 'Tom-Tom' was known to her but not well, and she saw him taken and killed by something 'large, with distorted contours, warped, cat like, but three times the size of a cat...' seeing it tear something from Tom-Tom's body before he died'. She shudders at the memory.

It seems also that 'her majesty' has a penchant for cat-nip, and Whiskey (who is well connected to the local 'mob') promises to get her some. 

Trail of the Black Cats...

Benjamin had told them that one of the victims had also been found at the docks - where Whiskey happens to know 'Ricardo' the local mob-boss cat and supplier of catnip (Top Cat? the indisputable leader of the gaaaang). Surrounded by mob operators, they find their audience with Ricardo, guarded by Ahab (who is rarely cheerful) and Tik-Tok (who never shuts up)...'tell 'em boss, tell em'.

 As Ricardo relates the story of one of his cats - a black cat named O'malley, who also appears to have had his heart ripped out, he has an idea, trading two sticks of 'nip'...if Whiskey and Fitz will guarantee to  'take out' this cat murdering fiend - be it a dog or whatever.

They agree and leave, finding a stray mother who is being menaced by a dog, and give it short shrift, returning to hear that she had fled from south of the city due to the 'black cat murders'...she thanks them and says she will keep an eye out.

 They resolve to check out the other crime scenes at the East College St Laundry (Fitz's normal hang out where the ladies feed him milk) and the French Hill street. They leave the nip with 'Sanjo Panza' the fearful mouse who hangs out in Brock's offices.

They also hear various rumours about sightings of the thing, and stories of rabid dogs...but they resolve to find Benjamin first and keep him up to date...finding him amongst a gaggle of students being carefully petted at the Miskatonic University Tower... joining the party, and finding themselves pampered by the students...Fitz and Whiskey bring Benjamin up to date surrounded by 'can openers' who have no idea as to the import of their conversation. The older cat slowly realises, based on what they have determined, that this 'thing' must be something to do with the fabled 'Dreamlands'.

From behind a statue...a grey Siberian cat, owned by Paulie Pavlov, listens closely...watching...