She arrives inside a large room with a domed roof. The walls are dotted with many nooks and crannies, in which dozens of cats perch and lurk. Their eyes glint in the glowing light from a small brazier. Against the wall opposite the entrance is a tall statue of a beautiful woman with a cat's head, seated on a throne. 

A woman in 1920s clothes stands before Brenda. If Brenda knows the phrase "virtue of franchise," from the way this woman is holding herself, it's obvious she has it.

"Bast has sent you to help me."

Franchise is when you can vote. Or one McDonald's as opposed to all the McDonald'ses. 

She does know who Bast is, when the room is full of beautiful fluffy hints! And Egyptian mythology being true would be a pretty cool world to get sent to. And apparently she got dropped on someone who wants help from a spontaneously appearing person! If she trusts the Spirit, and she provisionally does, it's probably a problem she'll be able and willing to solve.

"Hello! What do you need help with?"

"A man has stolen the sacred scrolls. He must return them, or the Curse of Bast will be upon him. I tried to explain this to him. He does not believe me. I prayed to Bast that some other way might be found. I looked up and saw you."

She speaks Egyptian slowly and haltingly, like it's her second language. 

That is some Indiana Jones shit. "And you want me to steal them back? Also, I have language magic if you'd prefer to speak something else." Being able to understand and make herself understood in Egyptian is incredibly cool and she was so right that Omniglot was an awesome power.

"Does your language magic work with Cat?"

"That is a fascinating question and I want to find out! And if it doesn't I have something else that might!"

And the woman is now a panther!

"This is a much easier way to communicate. I struggle with Human."

"That's so coooooool!" she says, in Cat.

The panther raises her tail happily. "Thank you! --You can steal the scrolls back if you can figure out where they are. I wasn't able to. I don't know how to explain to a human that he's in danger. He thought I was threatening him, which--" Huff of dissatisfaction. 

Brenda is historically also not great at that, but she supposedly has Friends In Places magic for it now! "Do you know where he is? I'd be happy to try to talk to him." Especially since it's possible he has some plausible story for why he should have the scrolls and cat-animagus-lady shouldn't and she should hear them both out first. "Also, what are your name and his name? I'm Brenda."

"I am Neris. He is"-- she quickly shifts back to human-- "Janwillem Van Heuvelen."

"Pleased to meet you, Neris. Do you have any way of contacting Van Heuvelen? Do you think he's still in--what city are we in? Also what country and planet, I just got here from another universe and I shouldn't assume this is an Earth just because there's humans and cats on it."

"We're on Earth. Cairo, in Egypt." Back to panther form now that she no longer has to do proper nouns. "I can show you where he's staying."

"Okay." Presumably by Google Maps or crystal ball or whatever people here use, and not by following a panther through a city.

"It isn't just for my sake that I want the scrolls back. I can't keep Bast from inflicting Her curse upon him."

"What are the effects of the curse?"

"Cats start to surround him and follow him at all times. Eventually, if he doesn't put the scrolls back, they'll start attacking him. At first they'll be housecats, but eventually Bast will ask a cheetah or leopard for help, and when they attack he'll die. --I have asked her for mercy but you know how gods are."

"My previous planet had stories about gods but none actively doing stuff, and I don't know how much the gods here resemble the stories there, but--yeah."

"Bast-- isn't as cruel as many gods are, and she gives warnings-- but it doesn't make sense to her that being followed around by dozens of cats at all times isn't a clear or sufficient warning, for many humans."

"I hope I can--bridge that communication gap." Possibly, in the general case, by Dragon Fairy Elf Witching Neris and/or a god. Though she has to 'encounter' a type of being for it to count and maybe she doesn't want that. Hard to say.

"What other gods exist? How much do they communicate with humans?"

"There are many. We followers of Bast are at war with the crocodile-god Sebek. The most powerful god I know of is Nyarlathotep. The gods send-- visions, dreams. Sometimes they incarnate and speak to you, or possess people. Sometimes they give you power."

"What are Bast's--goals, priorities? How do people choose which god to follow? Uh, if all this is stuff I can just look up in a library feel free to tell me to stop asking stupid questions, I'm just trying to get some kind of clue what to expect."

"Bast wants cats to be well and happy and safe. I'm not sure how other people choose which god to follow, I'm a panther. I didn't get many options."

Oh wow she's a panther who turns into a human and not the other way around, that is SO cool. 

"That's a good set of priorities for a god to have. Are there a lot of shapeshifters like you?"

"I don't think so? I was chosen by Bast as her priestess. I haven't met another one like me, other than the woman who trained me."

"How much of this stuff is common knowledge? Does Van Heuvelen think Bast doesn't exist, or that she doesn't care about the scrolls, or what?"

"Most humans don't know about the supernatural. I think Van Heuvelen doesn't believe in her."

"What sort of things would be likely to go wrong if someone attempted to be supernatural or talk about supernatural things in public as if it wasn't a secret?"

"If you're exposed too much to the true nature of reality, you will go mad."

"Wow, that's really fucked up!" She's probably immune to it, though, right? It really sounds like the sort of thing Iron Will would make her immune to. If she can be upset but not traumatized she should be able to be weirded out but not driven mad. She hopes. "Very sensible reason for hiding stuff, though."

"I don't know if the humans hide it or not. They mostly don't know. We cats are simply too sensible to look at subjects that are of no benefit."

Isn't there a proverb about cats and curiosity that's racist, Brenda. "I'll keep that in mind when I talk to Van Heuvelen."