What Happens Next: If the players’ cats are following a false trail, continue with 13.
If one or more of the players’ cats were Knocked Out while fighting the weasel, continue with 17.
If the players’ cats pick up the missing apprentices’ trail, this is the end of the chapter. Hand the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 22.
15. The Wrong Apprentices
Read Aloud: “Your temporary apprentices have been all over this area, so it’s hard to find the most recent scent trail. But suddenly you hear a young cat call out in shocked surprise. Something’s wrong!”
Narrator Tips: The players’ cats have followed the wrong trail. Describe for them an exciting chase along a relatively short trail that ends with them bursting in on another group of warriors training a different group of apprentices. Like the players’ cats, these warriors and apprentices are from a mixed group of Clans. They are engaged in the stalking test (as described in 3), but the apprentices are doing much worse than the players’ apprentices did (if they already played through that section).
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.