Dr. Cat

Dr. Cat is the proprietor of the The Cat's Lair in Paws in Ultima V and Ultima VI.

Description
During Blackthorn's reign, Dr. Cat could be found working the bar of The Cat's Lair Tavern, where he offered the usual services of his establishment.

Later, during the gargoyle invasion of Britannia, Dr. Cat could still be found working at the bar of his establishment, surrounded by a number of his feline companions. He felt Paws was the perfect place for him because his tavern was on the King's Way, equidistant between Britain and Trinsic, and well traveled. When asked about the gypsies, Dr. Cat seemed quite fond of Zoltan's traveling band, but had a great dislike for the group north of Trinsic. The bartender even claimed he once had a bet with the gypsy Taynith on whether or not he could catch a duck with his bare hands. Winning this bet, he decided to tie the duck on a string and keep it with him. Talking longer with Dr. Cat further revealed him as a friend of Kytyn of Britain, whom he asked the Avatar to ask about her purr, and the bard Mandrake. Dr. Cat told the hero he was searching for a copy of 'Snilwit's Big Book of Boardgame Strategy', and if the Avatar located the tome, would award the hero 200gp.

The tavernkeeper felt Thindle and Mortude's simple game of flippets lacked the intellectual complexity of his preferred entertainment, nim. Nim consisted of players progressively subtracting 1 - 3 points from 10, a game which ensured Dr. Cat could never lose as long as he played first. The cunning man would take bets as large as 50gp from the Avatar, but was willing to indulge in a game for free.

Ultima V: Lazarus
Immediately recognizing the Avatar in Ultima V: Lazarus, Dr. Cat was proud to tell the hero that he helped looked after the cats of Paws, and merely ran a tavern as a means of paying the bills, telling the hero how had bought and renamed the Folley Tavern from Rob before the previous tavernkeep moved to a new location. The strangely feline man was enamored with the cats of the town, and spoke at length of his affection for the animals, saying he believed Lord British's virtues should also apply to Britannia's treatment of animals. Still, with Blackthorn's recent rigid interpretation of the virtues with his Ethics, Dr. Cat felt all hope was lost for improving the treatment of cats throughout the land. He believed that Ferru, who benefited from selling his horses to the Oppression and spying for them, was not necessarily an evil man, just one who was ignorant of the true intentions of the Oppression and was blinded by the profit to be made by serving them.

After speaking to Windfer, Dr. Cat mentioned the recent disappearance of his serving girl Kitten, having a hard time understanding would could have happened to the sweet young girl. The distraught tavernkeeper asked the hero to talk to all the citizens of Paws to see if anyone knew of her fate, ultimately learning that the young girl had been arrested due to Ferru's influence. The Avatar could finally discover the fate of Kitten by traveling to Wrong, and there in the first chest of the dungeon was Kitten's brooch. The hero could then choose to tell Dr. Cat that the young girl had been imprisoned and tortured to death. Horrified by this knowledge, Dr. Cat bade the hero to talk to Ferru, and let the stablemaster know the true consequences of his flirtations with the Oppression.

Runes of Virtue
In the Runes of Virtue series for the Nintendo Game Boy, Dr. Cat is transformed into an anthropomorphic cat-like creature, whom would offer many useful hints for the hero.

He would also appear again in Runes of Virtue II, where he operated the bar in Jhelom. He at first insisted the hero make a wish at the local wishing well, but after Lord Zellivan's kidnapping, he admitted the crime had been good for business because many citizens now frequented his pub to talk about their loss.

Trivia

 * Dr. Cat is the in-game counterpart of David Shapiro, programmer of the Commodore 64 and 128 ports of Ultima V, and writer for Ultima VI. The character's name is an amalgamation of Shapiro's first two online aliases, Dr. Who and Samurai Cat, and is also his professional pseudonym.