Cats of a feather

Location:  A fictional caravan park in a small town on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. 
All the characters are residents in the caravan park.

Rule System: Stats  and most of the character generation originated with Kids on Bikes. 
I subsequently modified the stats, and added Sanity and Mythos knowledge stats from Call of Cthulhu.

GM/Keeper activities are marked in italics.

=^o^=

Heidi is at work sculpting in an otherwise disused shed that the park’s owner lets her use for free. 
She experiences a vision of mysterious creatures that bear only the faintest resemblance to Earth
creatures.  She loses 2 sanity points (Keeper’s discretion, plus a 1d6 roll for number of points lost),
drops her sculpting tools, and runs screaming, blind with terror and not paying a single scrap of
attention to see whose caravan she stops at.

Keeper rolls for random to see whose doorstep she lands on, and gets Lowell.

Lowell is at home and opens the door and goes to investigate when he hears her. 
He is shocked when he sees what state she’s in. 

Keeper roll: does he know first aid?  Answer: No. He realises that she’s upset, but doesn’t know
how to treat shock.

He invites her in.  She clings to him. He remembers some old piece of nonsense about forcing brandy
between somebody’s lips when they’re hysterical, and decides to do so this time. 
He doesn’t have brandy, but he does have bourbon. So he pours a bit out, and gets her to drink some.
She reels from the mouthful she swallows, instantly drunk since she doesn’t normally drink.

She is now hysterical AND has lost any remaining inhibitions she had before.  She starts babbling
about her vision, and rambles about how she was thinking of trying to find another space to sculpt in,
since she kept having flashbacks in the shed where she’s been working, but doesn’t want to since
she’d have to pay for it, and can’t afford it.  Etc.

Lowell has no idea what to do next.  Desperately, he thinks about who he might ask for help.  His only
other idea was to slap her, but the alcohol has already failed to calm her down - who knows what
the slap might do.  

Keeper rolls for random other main character: Poppy.

Poppy is home - he saw her out the window a few minutes ago.  He looks outside, sees her still
pottering about, and calls out to her.

Keeper roll: does Poppy know first aid?  Yes but.

Poppy comes over, and Lowell explains what little he knows.  She comes inside, smells the bourbon
that Lowell got Heidi to drink, and berates him for thinking that alcohol can solve all problems.  Lowell
is miserable about this, and can only cower a bit.

Poppy lays off, though, when he admits that he doesn’t know first aid.  She tells him off again,
repeating that alcohol does not solve problems.  Then she turns to Heidi, who is watching this
performance with drunken bewilderment, since she doesn’t know about Poppy and Lowell’s history.

Keeper roll - intelligence.  Poppy wins, and successfully remembers how to treat shock.

Poppy orders Lowell to fetch a blanket, and gently persuades Heidi to explain what happened.

Hiccupping miserably, Heidi tells Poppy everything.

Poppy takes Heidi back to Heidi’s cabin, and makes her drink some water before putting her to bed. 
She promises Heidi that she’ll come back in the morning, once she’s sober again.

Heidi passes out.  Poppy leaves, closing the cabin door carefully behind her.

Keeper roll - which of the remaining sober characters remembers that there was an old lab there? 
Lowell.

Lowell is watching from his cabin, and calls Poppy over.  “When I first moved in here,” he said,
“Everybody kept trying to frighten the new boy.  They kept telling me that the place was haunted.
That there was an old laboratory here, once upon a time.  I didn’t believe a word of it, of course, but I
did do a bit of research.”

Lowell rolls for intelligence/research ability:  Keeper rates learning anything true about a top secret
research facility in a country town as being hard.  Lowell fails the roll, and only has rumours to go on.

“I didn’t learn anything, unfortunately, but from what Heidi was saying, I think there might be something
to learn.”

Poppy nods seriously.  “She’s an imaginative sort, but she’s never been one to go imagining horrors. 
I think we should take a closer look at that shed.”

Poppy and Lowell both roll for perception:  Poppy succeeds, Lowell fails.

They explore the shed, and Lowell finds a concealed trap door in the floor.  When they open it, they
see a dark space beneath. They look at each other.

Roll for wisdom:  Poppy succeeds, Lowell fails.

“We’re going to need torches,” Poppy said thoughtfully.  “Probably a ladder, too.”

Later, armed with torches and a ladder, they descend into the space.

They find themselves in what appears to be a standard corridor - the walls are two-tone, with white on
top of green.  As they shine their torches around, it looks very clinical.  

“This looks like it should be in a loony bin,” Lowell comments as they shine their torches around.

“That is not a comforting thought,” Poppy admitted.

Sanity rolls for both:  both succeed. They have the creeps, but their sanity is not upset.

They walk down the corridor to the nearest door.

Is there anything biological behind the door?  Yes.

They open the door and step inside, shining their torches around.  

There is a large bench in the centre of the room.  One wall has a sink, a refrigerator that is several
decades old, and a stove with an oven.  There is an incubator in the room as well, along with plenty of
shelving.

There are some books on one of the shelves, and a pair of glowing eyes staring down at them.

They shine their torches up at the glowing eyes, and see what appears to be a small black and white
cat staring down at them.

They both sigh in relief, and start to smile.

“Hello, puss,” Poppy says.

The cat launches itself at them, and their eyes widen when, moments later, the cat glides down to land
on Poppy’s chest.  It has feathers, and wings. It purrs at them both, and they quickly decide that they
are not in any danger. But it has had its effect.

Keeper’s choice: they each lose 3 sanity points.

“What the hell?” Lowell asks quietly, even as he tickles the flying cat behind the ears.

“Maybe those books would explain,” Poppy replies.

They go over to the books stacked neatly on one of the bookshelves, and Lowell picks up the one
labelled “Laboratory Journal.”  He opens it at a random page, and reads a bit. He frowns, and closes
it again. He is clearly disturbed.

“I don’t think we should explore any further tonight,” Poppy says, and Lowell agrees.

“I’m going to take this back to my cabin and read through it a bit,” he tells her.  “There’s got to be
something here that explains why this cat has feathers and wings.”

Poppy nods.  “I’ll take it back to my cabin,” she says.

=^o^=

The next day, when Poppy awakes, the catbird is nowhere to be found.  Frowning, she goes to Lowell’s
cabin.

Keeper:  Lowell has read some of the journal during the evening.  He has lost four more sanity points,
and has unsuccessfully compensated for it by getting very, very drunk.

“That is a bad book,” he tells her, wide eyed and serious.  She realises that he is still drunk.  

“Coffee,” she says, frowning. 

“No!” he exclaims.  “Please! Don’t make me sober up!”

She picks up his now-empty bottle of cheap bourbon.  “You’re going to have to face sobriety sooner
or later, my lad,” she says.

“Not now, please!” he begs her.  

Keeper’s question for the Mythic Oracle: has anybody else been to the lab, yet?  Answer: No and.
The mad scientist has not yet learned of the intruders.

She reaches for the journal.

“No!” he sobs.  “Don’t do it!”

“How about if I take it back to where we found it, without opening it?” she asks.

He frowns for a moment.  “Only if you promise not to open it,” he replied.  “It’s a bad book!”

“I promise not to open it,” Poppy told him solemnly, and he nods.

“Okay”

Poppy collects the ladder and her torch, and takes the book back to the lab.

Wisdom roll:  Does Poppy manage to resist the books?  Difficulty = hard. Result: succeed.
She leaves the books untouched.

She leaves the lab, and goes to check on Heidi.

“Poppy?” Heidi says.  “Did you bring me here?”

“Yes, that’s right.  Do you remember what happened?”

Heidi nods.  “I saw something.  I...I must have been imagining it.  But it freaked me out. Then Lowell
got me to drink something, and it made things even worse.”

Poppy nods too.  “Yeah. He thought that bourbon would make you feel better.”

Heidi snorts rudely.  “He should know better than that by now.  But...”

Poppy sits down next to her.  “We went and had a look around yesterday, after I brought you home
and you passed out.  We found an old laboratory.”

Heidi’s eyes widen.  “Really? My vision was about a laboratory.  There was a strange man there - I
think it was that old scientist who disappeared, before the caravan park opened.  He was trying to
summon something. He nearly succeeded! And it would have destroyed us all, I can just feel it! It...it
thought we were food!”

Heidi starts to cry.

Keeper roll:  Wisdom dictates that Heidi pretends that the whole thing didn’t happen and thus does not
threaten her sanity any further by continuing the adventure.  Does she succeed? Result: yes. Heidi is
out of the running.

Later, once she’s stopped crying, Heidi decides to distract herself by calling some of her peer group. 
She wants nothing more to do with this.

Keeper roll:  Wisdom dictates that Lowell also pretends that the whole thing didn’t happen and thus
does not threaten his sanity any further by continuing the adventure.  Instead, he goes out to buy
himself another bottle of bourbon, meeting up with some of his mates in the process and distracting
himself to such an extent that he can pretend he imagined the whole affair.  Result: success. Lowell
is also out. Poppy, however, has not yet been sufficiently traumatised.

Poppy is concerned about Heidi, Lowell, and the catbird.  She is also still curious about the books she
saw in the hidden laboratory.  That evening, she heads back down into the lab.

She meets a tiger/magpie.  Does she get killed? Oracle says no and.  

The catbird meets her at the base of the ladder, and purrs.  This is its home. Poppy is pleased that it
is safe. It climbs up onto her shoulders as she wanders down the hall.

She is carefully avoiding the lab where she met the catbird - she knows that if she goes back, she’s
probably going to pick up one of those books, and she’s already seen what they can do to a person.

She comes across another closed door.

Keeper roll: is the catbird concerned?  Yes but.  

“It can’t be that bad,” Poppy tells the catbird.  “I’ve seen much worse reactions than that from both cats
and magpies.”

But she is cautious as she opens the door, and shines her torch around carefully before she enters the
room properly.  She could quickly retreat and slam the door shut at a moment’s notice.

When she sees what’s inside, she understands why her strange companion is so concerned.  There’s
a cage in there, with a very curious occupant.

It’s a tiger.  The fact that it has black and white stripes instead of yellow and white stripes, with feathers
around the shoulders, and an enormous set of wings, makes Poppy realise that whoever was creating
these creatures had a definite attraction towards catbirds - cats blended with magpies in particular.

Perception check: successful.

The tigpie is growling, but Poppy can smell fresh meat in the air, and realises that the creature is
hungry.  She looks around and spots a pile of fresh meat on a platter near the door. She grabs some,
and tosses it to the tigpie  The tigpie drags it in and consumes it greedily. 

Poppy looks around, and spots a workbench with an open book on it.  She strides over whilst the tigpie
is eating and scans it.

Sanity roll:  Poppy loses 2 points, and gains 2 Mythos points.

She wonders for a moment if Heidi and Lowell weren’t right in backing away.  And who the blazes was
Rhan-tegoth anyway?

Does anyone show up this visit?  Yes but.

Perception roll:. Successful.

With the tigpie happily eating, Poppy is able to hear someone approaching.  She looks around, and
conceals herself in a dark space behind the door.

She is genuinely surprised when Ryan walks in.  Ryan is surprised to see the tigpie eating, and looks
around wildly.  

"They have to be here still!" He exclaims, and rushes out again.

Poppy heads back and checks the journal sitting on the bench.  Now that she looks more carefully,
she can see that there are some much older entries in a different hand.

Does she confront him?  Yes, because they are friends.  No roll necessary.

She strides down the hall after Ryan.

Perception check for Ryan: successful.

He hears her and spins around.

"What are you up to?" Poppy asks curiously.  "I met the magpuss. And the tigpie."

"It was you that fed him, then."

Poppy nods.  "The poor thing was hungry."

"I was trying to find something to keep me busy, and stop me from gambling, when I found this place. 
How did you find it?"

Poppy explains.

Does Ryan want to do anything to Lowell and Heidi?  Yes.

Wisdom roll for Poppy.  Successful.

She calms him down, and persuades him that they know nothing about his involvement.