Welcome to the Dog Days of Podcasting, 2022 season. This year we’re taking part by creating 30 NPCs to use with table top gaming, writing projects, or other creative endeavors. These NPCs are system agnostic, but may include minor suggestions for how to run the characters with a party of adventures and explorers. They are written with a specific genre in mind, but will include notation for how to use them within at least two other realms.
That said, let’s get started.
Today, we’re visiting The Feline Envoy, an NPC designed for Urban Fantasy campaigns.
The Feline Envoy
VIII
The alley was clogged with stuffed trash bags, discarded furniture, and a heap of cushion stuffing soaking under a boarded window. The odor of a heavy dyes and something sickeningly sweet lingered in the air. But this is where the note said to come. It warned to come with just the party, and to come early enough that the light wouldn’t go out over the streets. There’s no one there to return a greeting, only the sound of rummaging and distant traffic.
And then the cat jumped up from behind a broken box. Its scampering movements cause papers to scatter. Old ripped up newspapers mostly, yet, wait. That’s the same fine printing as the note that led you here. It reads, “hello.”
The party starts calling for someone to come out and talk. The cat jolts off again, before returning with another note. “I’m here.” More questions. More answers. It’s only a few minutes, and a few frustrated stares, but then the party starts to clue in. It’s not someone else hiding giving notes to a furred familiar.
It’s the cat.
The feline envoy is smart. It knows how to read and understand most spoken human languages, and it always seems to be able to pull out a note from somewhere that can at least vaguely answer questions. It’s curious and observant, and a powerful ally to have wandering an urban sprawl.
But it is a cat. It can be manipulated in many of the ways a cat can. By food, by comfort, by positive attention. And in the same token it can be harmed and flee and will do so the moment someone is hostile to it. It’s smart enough to know it deserves better.
In urban fantasy, the cat is bright eyed and curious. It knows these streets and the creatures that lurk in the alleyways. It knows the party is a part of that, but it’s decided they’re more friend than foe.
In the time of legends, they’re a clockwork owl, speaking with scrolls from the gods and provide divine wisdom to epic voyages.
In cyberscape dreams, they’re a feline sprite, a daemon of some forgotten machine curious and eager to learn. Not all creatures need be big and scary, nor must they have great powers. Some are just the right size to cozy onto a lap, purr the worries away, and whisper the secrets they’ve learned on their prowl.
The audio portion of this episode is shared on a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Sounds and music are provided by Syrinscape’s Absalom Station Soundset. Please see the website for individual song and sound usage. The text for this episode is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Have a good time with the character, and let me know if you use them for something.
Until tomorrow.