For the past week, cats have been showing up outside the investigator’s house. At first it was only one or two cats, but as time went on more and more began to arrive until they presented a bizarre and almost alarming spectacle which has caused much comment among the neighbours. Dozens of cats of all colours and sizes sit outside the house waiting… for something.
Possibilities
1 Many thousands of years ago in a previous incarnation, the investigator was a favoured priest of the cat goddess Bast. Now some new threat has arisen against all of cat-kind, and she needs his aid once again. The cats are her way of getting the investigator’s attention; she will also send dreams that gradually reveal details of his past life.
2 Shortly before the cats began to arrive, the investigator accidentally killed a small, black kitten by running it over with his car. Ordinarily this would be nothing to worry about, but due to an unusual collection of occult circumstances, the area where the investigator lives has begun to intersect with certain regions of the Dreamlands. Some of the Cats of Ulthar have crossed the divide and are preparing to enact the terrible vengeance which is the just due of any human who dares to kill a cat. The investigator may get a hint of his coming fate when he reads a newspaper article about some other cat-killers, whose skeletons had been found curiously gnawed and licked free of any trace of flesh.
3 The cats are not supernatural, just hungry. For some time now, the reclusive old lady across the street has been feeding dozens of stray cats in her back yard. A few days ago she fell and broke her hip, and in the absence of her handouts the cats have been searching for sustenance in the rest of the neighbourhood. The injured woman remains trapped on her floor, helpless and dehydrated but still alive (at least for the time being).
© Emily Johnsen
Possibilities
1 Many thousands of years ago in a previous incarnation, the investigator was a favoured priest of the cat goddess Bast. Now some new threat has arisen against all of cat-kind, and she needs his aid once again. The cats are her way of getting the investigator’s attention; she will also send dreams that gradually reveal details of his past life.
2 Shortly before the cats began to arrive, the investigator accidentally killed a small, black kitten by running it over with his car. Ordinarily this would be nothing to worry about, but due to an unusual collection of occult circumstances, the area where the investigator lives has begun to intersect with certain regions of the Dreamlands. Some of the Cats of Ulthar have crossed the divide and are preparing to enact the terrible vengeance which is the just due of any human who dares to kill a cat. The investigator may get a hint of his coming fate when he reads a newspaper article about some other cat-killers, whose skeletons had been found curiously gnawed and licked free of any trace of flesh.
3 The cats are not supernatural, just hungry. For some time now, the reclusive old lady across the street has been feeding dozens of stray cats in her back yard. A few days ago she fell and broke her hip, and in the absence of her handouts the cats have been searching for sustenance in the rest of the neighbourhood. The injured woman remains trapped on her floor, helpless and dehydrated but still alive (at least for the time being).
© Emily Johnsen
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