by Erin Hunter
The other warriors can explain that the players’ cats must have followed the wrong trail, because they have been here for a while and have seen no sign of the missing apprentices. Normally, they would offer to help in the search immediately, but they have the safety of their own apprentices to worry about. They have to take the young cats back to their Clan camps before they can do anything else, particularly if there may be something dangerous lurking in the forest.
The players’ cats may begin their search again with the same rules as before.
Ask the players how their cats will go about trying to find the missing apprentices and then allow them each to make appropriate Skill Checks. If a cat gets a total of 12 or higher on the Checks above, it counts as one success. However, it will take the group as a whole to puzzle this out. Add up the number of successes the players’ cats got as a group.
What Happens Next: If the players’ cats as a group got five or more successes, continue with 18.
If the total number of successes for the group was four or fewer, continue with 13.
16. Tight Squeeze
Read Aloud: “The farther underground you get, the darker it becomes. As the faint light from the surface dwindles to nothing, you find yourselves in complete darkness. You know nothing has changed. So why does it feel like the tunnel walls are starting to squeeze in around you?”
Narrator Tips: The players’ cats have chosen to go down the wrong tunnel. This one is an incomplete weasel passageway, simply leading away, getting thinner and thinner until it simply reaches a dead end.
Describe to the players that as their cats go along, they really do feel the walls pressing in against them. They can only proceed in single file now. Soon they have to squeeze through to continue onward. At this or any of the future junctures, the cats may choose whether to back up or press on. If they want to press on, it requires a Strength Check with a total of 10 or higher. A little farther on, another juncture requires another Strength Check with a total of 12 or higher. Farther on still, a third juncture requires a Strength Check needing a total of 14 or higher. If the cats make it past this point, the one in the lead feels his or her nose bump into solid earth as they reach the tunnel’s disappointing end. Now they have to back up and try a different tunnel.
Backing up through such a tight tunnel is difficult and (because of the rocks in the raw earth) sometimes painful. For each Strength Check that the cats made on the way into the tunnel they suffer 1 Chip worth of damage on the way out. So if they turned back immediately upon meeting earthy resistance, they suffer no damage. If they passed the first Check before turning back, the cats suffer 1 Chip worth of damage, etc.
What Happens Next: If any of the players’ cats are Knocked Out from the damage taken getting out of the tunnel, continue with 17.
If all of the cats got out safely, they can try going down the right hand tunnel. Continue with 20.
17. Knocked Out!
Read Aloud: “Sleep is usually a warm, comfortable thing that covers you like a queen wrapping her tail around her kits. What you’re experiencing now is nothing like that—restless and disagreeable, even painful. When you open your eyes, you remember why.”
Narrator Tips: The adventure reaches this scene when one or more of the players’ cats were Knocked Out. Because of the multiple threats, the confused emotions of the apprentices, and the mission given to the cats to serve as an example for all warriors in every Clan, the loss of even one member of the team is enough to keep the adventure from finishing as a success.
As Narrator, you may want to make sure that the players keep in mind that there is a subtle but important difference between “not succeeding” and “failing.” In a difficult situation like this, it is possible to do very well, and still not achieve full success. Any of the Clan leaders would certainly tell the cats this. The players’ cats did many things right, and may have ended up here solely because of bad luck. That’s how life can be sometimes, and every warrior knows that the only thing to do in these situations is dust yourself off and try again.
Describe a likely ending for the scenario—probably based around another set of warriors (like those in scene 15) having come in and rescued the missing apprentices. Tragedy has been averted, but the players’ cats are not the heroes of the day.
What Happens Next: The adventure is over. The players’ cats do not get any Experience rewards for this adventure. The players’ cats can, however, play the adventure again.
18. Found One!
Read Aloud: “The scent trail is getting clearer now, so you can begin to move more quickly. With that added speed, you almost go straight past a bush until you hear a weak, plaintive mew coming from beneath its leaves.”
Narrator Tips: If the players’ cats look under the bush described above, they find one of their apprentices. (Determine which one randomly.) Unfortunately, the youngster cannot provide answers about what happened because he or she is Knocked Out.
An Intelligence or Ponder Check with a total of 5 or higher will reveal that the apprentice is Knocked Out from sheer exhaustion, rather than any more serious injuries. (The Medicine Lore Knack may be used in this Check, if the player’s cat has that option.) This means that the apprentice will make a full recovery, but not quickly enough to be of further help today. If the players are not able to determine that information, they find that the apprentice appears unharmed and they may continue to worry about the young cat’s health, but they realize that they need to carry on and look for the others.
The players’ cats must try to find the scent trail again. Have them all make Smell Checks. Any cat whose total is 8 or higher can find the trail, but any cat whose total is 12 or higher also notices another scent following the same trail. That scent doesn’t belong to any of the apprentices; indeed, it doesn’t belong to any cat at all. It is the smell of a weasel.
Any cat with the Animal Lore Knack automatically knows a few things about weasels. (Others can get this same information by making a Ponder Check with a total of 7 or higher.) Weasels are vicious, mean creatures with terrible tempers. Unlike most other beasts that the Clan cats might encounter, weasels actually like to fight. They will often attack another creature just for the “fun” of having a fight to the death. However, weasels are also bullies—they only attack in situations where they have a good chance to win. If a weasel is overpowered or severely outnumbered, it will flee if there is anywhere for it to go. When cornered, a weasel always puts up a ferocious fight.
What Happens Next: If more than half of the players’ cats succeeded on the Smell Check, this is the end of the chapter. Hand the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 22.
If half or fewer of the players’ cats succeeded on the Smell Check, continue with 14.
19. Well Played
Read Aloud: “As the last weasel disappears deeper into the burrow, the apprentices rush over to show their thanks. It’s unclear, though, whether they’re more thankful for your arrival or impressed with the way you were able to beat the weasels without ever resorting to violence.”
Narrator Tips: The players’ cats have rescued the missing apprentices. They’ve also shown that it is not always necessary to use fighting to solve a tense and dangerous situation. A true warrior knows when it is time to attack, and when it is time to use his or her other strengths.
Describe scenes where the Clan leaders repeat this message at their camps, holding the players’ cats up as examples of what is best in their Clan. In addition, the cross-Clan mentoring is considered a complete success, and the players’ cats are given a good deal of credit for that. It seems likely that they will get to meet with and train these apprentices again in the future, and hopefully this will increase communication between the Clans.
What Happens Next: The players’ cats should be proud of what they’ve done. This is a good ending—the apprentices have been rescued and taught a valuable lesson about the use of force. The members of all the Clans will speak about this d
ay for many moons to come, and your actions will inspire others who want to bring all the Clans closer together in peace and harmony. The players’ cats get all the rewards listed in the “Experience” section at the end of this adventure.
20. Den of Weasels
Read Aloud: “Pressing through a slight narrowing of the burrow, the earth opens up around you and you’re standing in what must be the weasels’ den. Ahead you see three of the beasts—nasty, snarling, and cruel. Behind them are the missing apprentices—pressed against the den wall in fear.”
Narrator Tips: This is the climactic scene of the adventure. The missing apprentices are here, the enemy weasels are here, and the players’ cats have one big decision to make before you can resolve the situation: Are they going to fight the weasels, or are they going to try to use a less violent strategy? Either could work.
Remind the players of the facts that their cats may have remembered about weasels—that they are vicious fighters who never give up once a fight has begun, but also that they will run away if they seem outmatched. If the group has not yet uncovered these facts, give them one more chance to do so with a Ponder Check that has a total of 7 or higher (any cat with the Animal Lore Knack knows the information automatically).
If the cats line up like they’re going to fight, clearly indicating which weasel they mean to attack, they might scare the creatures off without a fight. Any weasel that has more than two cats aligned against it will automatically run away (scurrying through another tunnel that leads deeper into the burrow). A weasel that has two cats aligned against it will run away if those cats each make a Hiss or Arch Check and have a group total of 12 or higher. A weasel that faces just a single cat will fight unless the cat can scare it off by making a Hiss or Arch Check of 8 or higher.
If a weasel is not immediately scared off, it will start a fight. Each of the weasels has Strength 6, Intelligence 4, and Spirit 5. It also has 5 levels each of Jump, Pounce, and Sneak, and 3 levels each of Bite and Swat. A weasel will fight until it has taken 10 Chips worth of damage, then will run away.
Once a cat’s weasel opponent has fled or been Knocked Out, that cat can join one of the other fights on the following round. Each round, the weasel will reassess its situation. If it is facing more than two opponents, it will break off the fight and run away.
What Happens Next: If any of the players’ cats are Knocked Out during the fight, continue with 17.
If the players’ cats are able to scare off the weasels without a fight, continue with 19.
If the players’ cats get the apprentices back by winning a fight with the weasels, continue with 21.
21. Take That!
Read Aloud: “The weasels have been routed and your cats stand proud and unbeaten. The apprentices rush forward to thank you for rescuing them, and almost immediately begin to mimic the fighting moves they saw your cats use during the battle.”
Narrator Tips: The players’ cats have rescued the missing apprentices. They’ve demonstrated the skill that warrior cats can wield, and the damage that they can inflict when claws are bared. The apprentices immediately start talking about ways they’re going to make use of the fighting moves they’ve seen—applying it to hunting and fighting training they’ll do with the rest of their Clan’s apprentices.
Describe scenes where the Clan leaders make speeches at their camps, telling their Clans what great warriors your cat characters are. They point out that if all the apprentices and kits work hard, they too can learn to fight the way your cats do. This, however, makes it seem less wise to teach other Clans’ young warriors the same lessons—after all, the next time the Clans square off in battle, it would be best to have a secret advantage. As Narrator, your challenge is to show that all the Clans are saying the same thing—each one thinking that their warriors were superior to all the others.
While your cats will get to see their temporary apprentices again in the future at Gatherings and other times when the Clans get together, they won’t get to teach them again. And one day, it is possible that after those apprentices grow into warriors, they may have to fight against them in battle. Hopefully, though, the peace will be maintained.
What Happens Next: This is a good ending—the apprentices have been rescued and brought home, and all of the players’ cats came through safely. The players’ cats get all the rewards listed in the “Experience” section at the end of this adventure.
22. The Right Burrow
Read Aloud: “The overlapping scents of cat and weasel lead down a winding but distinct trail toward a patch of gorse shrubs, where you see a small, furry body on the ground. It doesn’t appear to be moving at all.”
Narrator Tips: Build a quick bit of tension about whether that’s one of the apprentices and how hurt it might be, but quickly let the players’ cats investigate. When they do, they’ll find that it is another of the missing apprentices who, like the one they found previously, is Knocked Out because of sheer exhaustion. After a night’s rest and perhaps some medicinal herbs, the apprentice will be fully healed and ready to resume training.
The scent of a weasel can clearly be smelled on the apprentice’s fur, as if the creature had been nudging the small cat, but not actually attacking her.
If the players’ cats look under the shrub near the unconscious apprentice, they can see the mouth of a large burrow (much larger than the one in scene 14, if the cats’ journey followed that route). Have any cat exploring this area make a Smell Check. If the Check has a total of 8 or higher, the cat knows that there are other cat scents here, but cannot be sure whether or not they belong to the missing apprentices. If the Check has a total of 12 or higher, the cat recognizes the scents of the other apprentices and is sure that they went down into the burrow. If the Check has a total of 15 or higher, the cat realizes that there are also scents for a handful of weasels, not just the one they smelled on the unconscious apprentice—this burrow is home to a group of the vicious creatures.
The only way for the players’ cats to rescue the apprentices is to go down into the weasel burrow and get them. But as the Narrator, you should never force the players to make their cats do anything that dangerous—the players must make that decision for themselves. Your job as Narrator is simply to give the players the information they need to decide what their next course of action will be.
Describe the situation and the things that the cats know for certain. If the players’ cats want to try different tactics to, perhaps, entice the weasels to come out of the burrow, let them—but they will not be successful. If the players’ cats do anything that will let the apprentices know that they are there, the young cats will begin crying out for help. They can tell the players’ cats that they are, indeed, in the burrow somewhere (though they can’t say exactly where) and that the weasels are guarding them and looking at them hungrily.
When the cats finally decide to head into the burrow, tell them that the tunnel is wide enough for them to walk through one at a time, or squeeze through two at a time. After a twisting, turning path downward, the burrow forks in half. There are now two tunnels. The scents are confused and the sounds echo through the underground passageways. There is no way to be sure which way leads to the apprentices—the players’ cats will just have to guess.
It’s possible that the players will want their cats to split up and search both tunnels at the same time. If so, have them tell you which cats are going in which tunnels.
What Happens Next: If the players’ cats want to follow the right hand tunnel, continue with 20.
If the players’ cats want to follow the left hand tunnel, continue with 16.
If the players’ cats want to split up and try both tunnels, roleplay the left hand tunnel first, then continue with 16.
After the Adventure
After the last scene of the adventure has been played, the game itself is not necessarily over. There still are a few things you can do if the players want to keep at it.
Play It Again
If the players
’ cats chose to make hunting the first thing they taught their temporary apprentices, you may want to go back and play again so that the group can experience the action to be had in the stalking and border patrol tests. Or perhaps you just want to go back and pick up the adventure again somewhere in the middle where it feels like things went wrong. In either case, your cat would be right back where he or she was and have another chance to try to find a more favorable outcome.
One of the great things about storytelling games is that you can always tell the story again. And, since there are many different ways the players’ cats could choose to interact with their temporary apprentices, the story could unwind in a different way every time you play (particularly as different Narrators get to guide the storyline).
Experience
If the cats completed the adventure successfully, then they all get Experience rewards. It is important to note, though, that each cat can only get experience from this adventure once! If you play through and successfully finish the adventure several times, your cat only gains the rewards listed below after first time he or she completes the adventure.
If you use different cats each time, though, each one can get the experience rewards. The rule is not that a player can only get experience once, it’s that a cat can.
Age: Although the action in this adventure clearly happens over the course of a single day, the presumption is that this is the most interesting and exciting thing that happens to your cat during the whole of that moon. Increase your cat’s age by 1 moon and make any appropriate improvements described in Chapter Four of the game rules.
