With Daphyra’s calming tune, the cat's frenzied movements start to slow down. Its bared teeth slowly retract, and its aggressive snarls turn into low growls. Its wide and frantic eyes begin to narrow and focus on the priestess. For a brief moment, the cat's usual gentle nature appears to be reasserting itself, and the cat seems to be momentarily calmed by the sound of Daphyra's voice and her soothing melody. 

“Oh, thank goddess, it seems to be working!” One of the acolyte says. 

“Quickly, we have to catch it and bring it back the temple before it hurts anyone else!” The other says.

((Tasmara: Please roll HP for Sleep.) 

((14)) 

Tasmara raises her hand and begins to chant a spell. As she finishes the incantation, a wave of magic radiates from her hand towards the temple cat. However, as the spell washes over the feline, it appears to have no effect.

“What are we doing here?” Slick yells from behind. “We’re supposed to catch Raheed, not here playing with a cat!” Not wanting to get involved, he’s going to dodge, and keep himself out of it.   

Meanwhile, the wounded acolyte takes a moment to focus, placing her hand on her bleeding arm as she chants a healing incantation. A soft glow envelops her wound, knitting it back together as the pain subsides. Cure Wounds: 8 

The other acolyte seizes the opportunity and rushes forward, hoping to catch the cat while it's momentarily calmed by Daphyra's soothing melody.

Acolyte athletics: 14 

Temple cat acrobatics: 15 

The cat squirms and writhes as it twists out of the acolyte's grasp. Its fur ruffles and stands on end, and its eyes narrow into slits as it hisses, clearly agitated and frightened. The acolyte stumbles back, her hands empty, her face both worried and scared.

The cat's eyes widen as it realizes it is surrounded, disoriented and confused, it is going to disengage. It springs forward, and lands on the wagon to the west with a loud thud. The wagon shakes violently, and a cacophony of clucking and flapping of wings echoes through the plaza. The woman standing beside the wagon shrieks in terror, putting both hands on her full bosom. “Oh lord, what’s it doing with my chickens? Get it out of here!”

New map: 

PCs are now free to act! 

Felix recognizes the spell and is curious why the cat is still up and running. "This is not a normal cat" he whispers to his group.
Time to up the game, Felix murmurs a few arcane words and delivers a psychic wave on the animal.

INT save DC 14 or 1 psychic damage + remove 2 on its next save

"First the cat, then the rat," shrugged Kerra. "What's your hurry? It's fun!" Whether the cat was normal or not, right now it looked like a cat and Kerra took it as a personal challenge to catch the distant relative. She ran to the wagon and tried to pick the animal up from it (Kerra has climbing speed too).

Athletics: 16

Daphyra looks scathingly at the acolyte who had jumped on the cat and shakes her head, and sighs at the woman with the chickens. 

She grasps her amulet, prays to the Goddess for Guidance and moves slowly towards the cat on the wagon, sing/calling to it again, trying to convince it to come to her for safety. animal handling 10 plus guidance of 3

Tasmara's jaw drops as the cat shrugs off her spell. After a moment of stunned silence she trues again.

Gesturing with hand and whispering the eerie words of magic the halfling sorceress casts a Prestidigitation spell. Seemingly from nowhere the odour of fresh fish springs up around her. Enticing - hopefully! - to a possibly hungry cat...

Cat Int save vs. 14: 3 

Cat acrobatics vs. 16: 24 

The cat lets out a yelp of surprise as Felix's mental intrusion startles it, causing it to briefly lose focus. As Daphyra approaches the cat with her amulet of Bastet glinting in the setting sunlight, the cat's eyes seem to soften and its tense muscles begin to relax. Kerra sees her chance and darts towards the wagon, with lightning-fast reflexes, Kerra manages to lunge forward and grab the cat, wrapping her arms around its squirming form.

Slick scowls, his arms tightly crossed over his chest. He stands back, observing the chaos unfolding before him. He lets out a “hmmph” as if to say "I can't believe I'm even here for this."

The acolyte's face flushes with a tinge of embarrassment from her failed attempt to catch the cat. But her eyes sparkle with hope again as Kerra manages to scoop up the cat. With a glimmer of excitement in her eyes, she turns to her companion and calls out, "Fatima, quickly! Fetch that barrel over there so we can transport the cat safely!" With that, she is going to help Kerra keep a hold on the cat.

The acolyte named Fatima nods and dash towards the pile of barrels nearby. With deft movements, she hoists one up and brings it over to Kerra and the cat, ready to catch the cat.

The cat is squirming in Kerra’s arms and makes one last attempt to squiggle out of the tabaxi’s hold, its eyes fixed on Tasmara and the alluring scent of the fish she's making. Its tail swishes back and forth with anticipation as it tries to break free from Kerra's grasp.

New map: 

Cat acrobatics to escape grapple: 6 

Kerra roll athletics, with advantage from the acolyte's help. 

Kerra Athletics: 15

The cat twists and turns in Kerra's arms, trying to break free, but Kerra manages to keep hold of it.

PCs turns again! 

Daphyra continues to croon at the cat, hoping to keep it calm enough for Kerra and Fatima to place in the barrel. animal handling 12

She calls out to the other acolyte. "Once it is in the barrel, take us to a private room in the temple where I can examine the creature. As Felix says, this is no ordinary cat. Something is afoot!"

Felix approaches the cat and tries to see if there's any magical shenanigans.

Arcana: 18

"Gotcha!" Kerra almost purred in satisfaction. The little not-an-ordinary-cat was quite the fighter and more wiggly than a wiggly worm. Happy to finally put the animal into a closed container, Kerra followed others into the temple to see, what did she actually catch.

As Kerra and Fatima deftly maneuver the squirming cat into the barrel, Daphyra maintains her calming tune, ensuring that the cat remains docile. Once the cat is inside the barrel, Fatima closes the lid to make sure the cat won’t jump out again.

“Thank you so much for your help. We wouldn’t know what to do without you!” The other acolyte, named Nadia, says gratefully, her eyes brimming with tears of gratitude. At Daphyra’s command, the two acolytes converse for a minute and one of them says to you, “There’s a small prayer room inside the temple, priestess. We could take the cat in there if you wish to examine it.”

Felix, you could not detect any discernible magic aura emanating from the cat. Its fur has curious markings, but apart from that, it seems to be an ordinary cat with no unusual features.

 ((Good job everyone! We're out of the initiative.))

Once inside the prayer room with the door shut tight, Daphyra opens the lid of the barrel. Now that she has time to examine the cat properly, can she see anything unusual apart from its markings? Does she recognise its markings in any way?

(Not sure if this would be best as a perception, [Tooltip Not Found] roll: 14 for perception, minus 1 for religion or minus 2 for animal handling.)

"What is going on with this cat?" Tasmara asks Daphyra as they hustle inside the prayer room. The diminutive halfling stands on her toes to try and look in the barrel.

"Could it be something else magically changed to be a cat?" she asks, recalling her own transformation.

You enter the small prayer room to examine the cat more closely. The room is dimly lit, with flickering candles placed around the perimeter of the space. The walls are adorned with colorful murals of the goddess Bastet, with images of cats, prayers, and offerings.

The cat seems less agitated now, but still on high alert. It has its hackles raised and hisses at everyone who comes near, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

Daphyra (for Religion): 

Roll for Perception or Arcana to see if you can notice something more.