For every cat or pair of cats that fails their Sneak Check, they were not sneaky enough to trick the rabbits and you’ll have to increase the difficulty of the Pounce Checks below by +2. So if one cat or team failed, the difficulty for all the cats is increased by +2; if two failed, the increase is +4; and so on.
When all the cats have finished making their Sneak Checks, it is time for them to try to nab their intended prey. Have all the cats make Pounce Checks. The difficulty of this Check is based on the rabbits’ Jump scores. All of the rabbits have a Jump score of 9, but this may be increased if any of the cats fail to be sneaky enough. Cats who are hunting alone have only one chance to catch their rabbit—if they miss, it gets away. Cats that are hunting in pairs may each make a Pounce attempt, so even if one is unlucky, the other may still succeed.
If the cats have successfully caught rabbits, they must Bite in order to finish them. The Bite
Check is made against the rabbit’s strength of 3. Multiple cats can bite a single rabbit, so even if a cat failed to catch one of her own, she can still help to bring down another one. If a rabbit takes 4 chips worth of damage, it is killed.
Any rabbit that is still alive after all the cats have made their attacks will try to escape. The cat (or cats) holding it must make Wrestling Checks to keep their grip and can perform another round of Bite attacks. If the Wrestling Check is 5 or higher, the cats are successful. If not, the rabbit escapes and dashes into a nearby burrow before the cats can pounce again.
What Happens Next: If at least one rabbit was caught, continue with 10.
If all of the rabbits got away, continue with 8.
6. Talking to the Shadows
Read Aloud: “Ratscar looks at you suspiciously. ‘What have you got to say that’s so important?’”
Narrator Tips: Remember that any of the players’ cats that belong to ShadowClan get bonuses to some of their Checks (as described in scene 17). Under normal circumstances, that would mean that the ShadowClan patrol cats would automatically believe what the players’ cats said—members of the same Clan trust one another. But the presence of cats from other Clans puts the members of the patrol in a very aggressive frame of mind. The fact that a member of ShadowClan is standing with these other cats instead of his or her Clanmates has clouded the patrolling cats’ judgment and they must be convinced to listen to reason.
Let the players’ cats lead the conversation, giving them sufficient time to explain themselves.
The cats of ShadowClan may be suspicious, but clearly something important must be happening if this group so brazenly crossed their border without a full war party.
The scene will center around you improvising Ratscar’s and the other ShadowClan cats’ reactions and responses to what the players’ cats say. It may also involve the players’ cats making Spirit or Intelligence Checks (aided by Orate or Clan Lore) to try to find the right words to make their opponents understand the importance and danger of this moment. Such Checks are opposed by the ShadowClan cats’ Spirit scores (and you can spend their Ability chips in the process if they are feeling particularly stubborn).
If the players’ cats do well, it will make the ShadowClan cats more likely to trust them. If they do poorly, or purposely antagonize the patrol, the ShadowClan cats may decide that fighting is the better option.
After the conversation has gone on a little while, have all the cats (including the ShadowClan patrol) make Listen Checks. Any cat whose total is 7 or higher hears the deep, wet “schloomph”
sound of the pools above collapsing. Any player’s cat that hears this knows there is now a flash flood coming down the hill somewhere near here.
What Happens Next: If there is a breakdown of communications and the two sides are ready to begin fighting, continue with 18.
If everyone failed the Listen Check, this is the end of the chapter. Hand the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 15.
If the cats know that the flash flood is coming, they can only brace themselves and continue to try to warn other members of ShadowClan of the impending danger. This is the end of the chapter. Hand the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 11.
7. Calamity!
Special Note: There is no Read Aloud text for this scene. It is a catchall scene for you to use if the cats’ adventure comes to an unhappy and untimely conclusion. Use the information below to improvise suitable details.
Narrator Tips: Something the cats did has caused the adventure to come to an unhappy end. This may have been the result of poor planning or just bad luck. This scene is about providing a sense of completion (if not success) to the story. Below are notes to help you improvise scenes based on the most likely reasons for the cats ending up here.
Fighting the Fox: If the cats fought the fox and one or more cats were knocked out, the adventure has to conclude. Helping their fallen friend takes so much time that the group misses the opportunity to take part in the other chapters of this story. By the time the players’ cats are able to get back down the hill, they find that a flash flood has swept through ShadowClan territory, injuring many cats and even killing a few. No blame is laid on the group—after all, the flood was not their fault—but let the players know that their cats have a nagging suspicion that they could have helped in some way.
Perhaps next time, they will be more careful when going into battle.
Caught in a Flash Flood: The players’ cats may end up here because one or more of them was knocked out by a flash flood. The first flash flood occurs during their hunting trip, and the results are similar to those described above—taking care of the fallen cat keeps the group out of the rest of the adventure. The other possibility is that the cats were caught in the climactic flash flood, in which case they’ve seen the adventure to its conclusion, but the injuries have kept the adventure from being counted as a success.
Fighting with ShadowClan: If two or more of the cats are knocked out in the fight with the ShadowClan warriors, the group is unable to help save any other cats from the flash flood. The flood is still not their fault, but they know that if they’d been able to get past the warriors’ resistance, they could have prevented some of the injuries and death—perhaps all of it.
What Happens Next: Although they tried hard, the cats do not get any Experience rewards for this adventure. The group can, however, play the adventure again, hopefully changing some of their tactics so that they get a better result next time.
8. Empty Bellies
Read Aloud: “Blame it on the mud and muck. Blame it on the growling of your empty stomach. Blame it on bad luck. But whatever you blame it on, the rabbits got away. And, to make matters worse, it’s started raining again.”
Narrator Tips: The cats have failed to capture any rabbits, which means that they are completely failing in their mission. Although they are undoubtedly aware of it, remind the players that StarClan sent them on this mission specifically to get fresh-kill. Certainly, they will want another chance to hunt.
After failing once, the cats may wait along the meadow’s edge until the rabbits return. There will be fewer of them (only half as many as there are players in the game), so the cats will have to team up. That’s a good thing, though, because these rabbits will be even more difficult to catch than the first bunch. If this is the second time the cats have failed to capture any rabbits, then they are through hunting. The rabbits will not return for the rest of the day.