Sleeping Cat

[Yubi Shines]

Preamble

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Every house has a keeper. It is a possessive creature, guarding its territory as jealously as any gargoyle or snarling dog on a chain.

When you are invited to stay in a place you have never been before, when you buy a new home and settle in among your unpacked boxes and half-assembled furniture, bear this in mind: You are an invader. The keeper does not care how beloved a guest you are, nor does it recognize any legal ownership or charter. You are not welcome.

The first night you spend there is your most precarious, for as you are dreaming the keeper judging your worth. If it rejects you, well, the lucky ones are those that never wake up. Even if you meet its grudging approval, it will not be guarding you half as attentively as the true tenants of the house.

For there are keepers that have been dislocated from their homes, and they do not look kindly upon you, trespasser that you are and yet still permitted to sleep in warmth and comfort. And they are not the most terrible of all possible creatures; they will only kill you, after all. Children are at the greatest risk, for their dreams are delectably sweet and rich.

After the first night, you will be safe thereafter. But you must make it through the night.

Info

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Now that I have effectively traumatized all the college-age forumers who just moved into their dorms... Hi!

This is a text adventure loosely based on a sample scenario from Dread. I will warn you now that you will enjoy this much better if you don't spoil yourself. I've put my own spin on the story, true, but why ruin it? If you've already read (or played) the scenario, you can still submit commands! Just don't spoil for the others.

Your commands will be treated as the impulses and intuitive knowledge present in dreams. The player character is lucid and has a mind of her own, but she is still open to suggestions. Indeed, if she is very calm, she might even hear the commands faintly. This won't happen too often.

For the readers of CEAL Institute - no worries! I'll still be doing that. I'll try and alternate updates between the two adventures, although if one story needs to be more fast-paced I'll focus on its thread for a little while. Whatever turns out to be necessary at the time.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin.

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See this girl?

This is Cat -- Catriona Waller. She's a nine year old tomboy who's been trick or treating. At the moment she's at a sleepover with some friends. She's a little keyed up from the sugar and crappy zombie movies and ghost stories, but she's been up all night and just about ready to pass out.

While we're waiting for her to nod off, let's see what we know about her. We already have her name and age, so... Let's start with the simple stuff.

1. What did Cat dress up as for Halloween?

2. What ghost story did she tell at the sleepover?

3. What is Cat's favorite food?

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This is the character creation process, also adapted from Dread. Your answers can be as detailed or sparse as you want, we just need all of them answered. There will be nine questions in all, posted in batches of three. I will either pick my favorite answers or combine a number of them into one.

[Gustave]

>A knight.
>The one about the killer with the hook.
>Her grandma's stew.

[Varkarrus]

> A Juggalo
>

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So a man is walking through the woods one day, when a hideous tentacled flying monster appears. He freaks out and runs the other way, but the eldritch horror pursues, billowing black smoke. He starts to slow down, getting exhausted, cowering as he notices the creature still approaching. Then, the creature prods his shoulder with his tentacle, and calmy asks "Sir, is something wrong?"

> Chicken Pizza.

[thetoastking]

>a ghost.
>so what if... all the air in the world... suddenly turned... TO WOOD! WOOOOOOO.
>spaghetti.

[Xander]

A black cat
The one with the ax murderer.
Chicken.

[Gnomishmage]

> A ghost sounds good
> The one with that babysitter, and the murderer who's calling from inside the house.
> Tacos

[Iyestorm]

So many answers... I can't pick just one! So, pick any combination of these three you like.

>A cat.
>So what if... you went to grab something, and it wasn't there...

...'cause it turned to WOOD! WOOOOOOO.

>Lotsa Spaghetti!

OR

>Cirno
>Candlejack
>Chili dogs.

OR

>Pikachu.
> Either the story of the girl whose father was turning into a monster, or the story of two fairies whose friend put on a mask and just... changed, or the story of the girl who tried to fend off an alien invasion and failed, or the story of the girl whose dreams were constantly invaded by a being who told her that everything would be better if she were dead, or the story of the hand that sticks out of a toilet...

...Cat plays a lot of video games.

>Pizza.

[KawaiiMelon]

>Something ironic
>The one about the two gay guys
>Dogs

[Nehh]

> An evil fruit.
> The story of this forum adventure.
> Mushrooms

[Yubi Shines]

>A knight.

> Either the story of the girl whose father was turning into a monster, or the story of two fairies whose friend put on a mask and just... changed, or the story of the girl who tried to fend off an alien invasion and failed, or the story of the girl whose dreams were constantly invaded by a being who told her that everything would be better if she were dead, or the story of the hand that sticks out of a toilet...

...Cat plays a lot of video games.

Chicken.

Excellent! You're getting the idea. Now for some more in-depth questions.

4. What is the most significant lie she has ever told? Was it for a selfish reason, for a prank, to protect someone else, or simply a case of not knowing the truth of the matter? Or was there no reason at all?

5. Some time ago, Cat got into a bit of an accident -- okay, maybe it wasn't a bit. If it wasn't for a stroke of dumb luck she might have been hurt very badly. What exactly happened?

6. Last year she had a nasty falling-out with a friend. They still haven't talked. What happened?

[Varkarrus]

4: Her biggest lie was when she was 6, and she lied to the mafia to protect her family. Except it wasn't the mafia, just some teenagers pulling a prank on her. She still beleives that she saved her family.

5: She put a small chair on her bunk bed and sat on it. She fell off headfirst, but luckily only chipped on of her teeth.

6: Her friend started liking Twilight.

[Pokolo]

4: Her biggest lie was when she was 6, and she lied to the mafia to protect her family. Except it wasn't the mafia, just some teenagers pulling a prank on her. She still beleives that she saved her family.

5: She put a small chair on her bunk bed and sat on it. She fell off headfirst, but luckily only chipped on of her teeth.

6: Her friend started liking Twilight and Justin beiber and his music, plus she didn't think riding a dinosaur would be epic.

Fix'd, also second

[Yamtaggler]

4: her biggest lie was when she told her teacher that her mom said that she didn't have to do her homework, when her mom said no such thing.
5: She jumped out of a tall tree
6: Her friend helped her steal cookies from a bakery, then used her as a scapegoat as she made off with the goods.

[Yubi Shines]

4: Her biggest lie was when she was 6, and she lied to the mafia to protect her family. Except it wasn't the mafia, just some teenagers pulling a prank on her. She still believes that she saved her family.

5: She wanted to put a small chair in a treehouse. While climbing the tree one-handed, she lost grip and fell headfirst, but luckily only chipped one of her teeth.

6: Her friend helped her steal cookies from a bakery, then used her as a scapegoat as she made off with the goods.

7. When she was four, she had a recurring dream that persisted, on and off, for a few months. Could you describe the dream?

8. What game can she beat just about anyone in?

9. Cat had a problem with a school bully a while ago. What did the bully tease her about, and how did she react? If she told her parents, what advice did they give her?

[catchTwentythree]

7. She dreamed her parents were all full of mismatched bones, like something else was wearing their skin and pretending to be them, and they always gave her weird orders and admonished her hesitance by saying "listen to your father!" They had weird voices, too, and harsh punishments. She always woke up just before they would have killed her with one.

8. RED ROVER. Girl's like a damn bowling ball.

9. The bully teased her about her dirty-blonde hair and glasses. Cat never told anyone, but snuck up on the bully at recess and dumped a load of dirt in her own platinum blonde hair in public. She got a week of recess detention, but the respect of her peers was worth it.

[Varkarrus]

7. In her dreams, she was the star. Until the coart set on fire and burned down.

8. RED ROVER. Girl's like a damn bowling ball.

9. The bully teased her about her fear of demons possibly existing. She scared the bully senseless by luring her into the school's boiler room, with her and her friends dressed like monsters.

[Gustave]

7. She dreamed that everyone was gone and she was all alone in the house with a storm fast approaching. Shadows slowed her movement and doors locked.

8. RED ROVER. Girl's like a damn bowling ball.

9. She was bullied about being a tomboy, and tried to do more girly things to stop the bullying. Her parents noticed and told her she should just be herself and ignore the bully.

[KawaiiMelon]

7. She dreamed her parents were all full of mismatched bones, like something else was wearing their skin and pretending to be them, and they always gave her weird orders and admonished her hesitance by saying "listen to your father!" They had weird voices, too, and harsh punishments. She always woke up just before they would have killed her with one.

8. RED ROVER. Girl's like a damn bowling ball.

9. The bully teased her about her dirty-blonde hair and glasses. Cat never told anyone, but snuck up on the bully at recess and dumped a load of dirt in her own platinum blonde hair in public. She got a week of recess detention, but the respect of her peers was worth it.

[LightGutierrez]

7. She dreamed that she had the ability to create plasma, and I mean the stuff of stars. She then had to fight evil shadow monsters with her power alone. Right as she was about to go fight some more monsters, she was abducted by the government and taken in to be experimented on. Her dream ends right as she is about to be experimented on.

8. RED ROVER. Girl's like a damn bowling ball.

9. The bully had a crush on her, but continued to pick on her. She eventually confronted the bully and told him that if he didn't stop picking on her, she'd call the police and get him arrested. She told her parents that night of the boy, and they said, "Honey, next time you should be a little nicer to the boy who has a crush on you." Man her parents are blunt. :/

[catchTwentythree]

Um okay wow I guess you guys really like Red Rover? o3o

... Or bowling?

[LightGutierrez]

Um okay wow I guess you guys really like Red Rover? o3o

... Or bowling?

Or the way you worded it
6l
..D
6l

[catchTwentythree]

You can just do Edit -> Delete, I think. Or Edit -> Advanced -> Enter Reason -> Delete.

[LightGutierrez]

You can just do Edit -> Delete, I think. Or Edit -> Advanced -> Enter Reason -> Delete.

Thank you good sir, now on with the creepiventure!

[crash826]

I think she should like retro video games.

Other than that, everything CatchTwentyThree said.

[Yamtaggler]

7. She dreamed she was protecting a very important ball from a bunch of shadowy figures. She grabbed the ball and began to run, but the ground turned to mush under her feet and she couldn't run. As she was sucked under, she caught a glimpse of the shadowy figures moving towards her glowing ball.
8. Pokemon, because there aren't enough pokemon in this forum
9. Boy liked her, and poured sand in her hair on the playground. Classic.