This continues for five rounds or until either all of the players’ cats are rescued from the flash flood or knocked out from their ordeal.
What Happens Next: If two or more of the players’ cats were knocked out by the flash flood, continue with 7.
If the five rounds of the flood pass and fewer than two of the cats have been knocked out, continue with 19.
If all of the players’ cats are rescued from the flash flood, continue with 16.
16. To the Rescue
Read Aloud: “You’ve rarely seen such chaos—water rushing through the middle of a Clan territory, cats yowling for help as they try to keep their heads above water, everyone who’s not in the water running around trying to save some cat who is. There’s no sensible place to start, you just have to dig in and help any way you can.”
Narrator Tips: Everywhere the players’ cats look there are ShadowClan cats who need help. The flood will last for five rounds, using a system of rounds just like fighting does (see Chapter Five of the game rules for details). Rescuing a cat from the water simply requires a Swat Check, but the difficulty changes depending on what kind of cat you are attempting to rescue. Each round, have every player say whether his or her cat is going to try to rescue a kit, a warrior, or an elder.
Rescuing a warrior or an elder requires a Swat Check with a total of 5 or higher. Rescuing kits is more difficult because they are so small. To rescue a kit, a cat must have a Swat Check with a total of 7 or higher. In addition, if the Swat Check fails, the cat must immediately make a Focus Check to avoid losing his or her balance. If the Focus Check is 5 or lower, the cat falls into the water.
Whether or not the players’ cats can be said to have been “successful” at helping ShadowClan depends on how many cats they rescued. For every warrior or elder the cats rescue, they get 1 point.
For every kit they rescue, the cats get 2 points
What Happens Next: If any of the players’ cats fall into the water, continue with 15.
If the flooding ends and the players’ cats have rescued fewer than 15 points worth of ShadowClan cats, continue with 20.
If the flooding ends and the players’ cats have rescued 15 or more points worth of ShadowClan cats, continue with 19.
17. Border Patrol
Read Aloud: “At first it’s difficult to tell that you’re in ShadowClan territory. This high up the hill, it looks like any other stretch of woods and there are no scent marks to identify the place. But as you get lower, the trees begin to grow closer together, making it feel like dusk despite the fact that it’s the middle of the day. And a scent becomes clear—a scent that says, ‘This is ShadowClan territory! Go away!’”
Special Note: Although ShadowClan as a whole can sometimes be secretive and difficult to deal with, they are not by any means evil cats. In fact, the individual cats of ShadowClan are as varied as those of any Clan. It is entirely possible that some, or even all, of the players in your game have cats who are from ShadowClan. If so, these cats get a +4 bonus to any Intelligence, Spirit, Focus, Hiss, or Ponder Check made while interacting with other ShadowClan cats in this adventure.
Narrator Tips: As the cats get closer to the bottom of the hill and the Lake, they enter the most populated part of ShadowClan territory. It’s always nerve-wracking going uninvited into another Clan’s territory, and ShadowClan has a reputation for being especially protective of its borders.
The land itself seems well suited for ShadowClan. The trees grow close together, blocking out the sky and casting shadows everywhere. A cat who knew the territory well could be hiding nearby and a stranger would never even know it.
Do what you can to play up the mystery and danger of the scene, and then have a patrol of ShadowClan cats arrive, seeming one instant to be a part of the shadows and the next stepping out for all to see. There are a number of cats in the patrol equal to the number of players’ cats (not counting the Narrator’s cat). They are bold and aggressive and the largest of them, Ratscar, steps forward and challenges the players’ cats. He demands to know what they are doing in ShadowClan territory and ordering them to leave immediately. The ShadowClan cats arch their backs and hiss, but do not actually attack. It is clear, though, that they are challenging the players’ cats to make the first move.
What Happens Next: The next step is up to the players and how their cats choose to react.
If they want to talk to the ShadowClan cats to tell them about the danger, continue with 6.
If they want to accept the ShadowClan cats’ challenge and start fighting, continue with 18.
18. Border Skirmish
Read Aloud: “‘Now we see your treachery!’ yells Ratscar. ‘ShadowClan, attack!’”
Narrator Tips: This scene centers around a battle between the players’ cats and the ShadowClan patrol (and uses the standard fighting rules as described in Chapter Five of the game rules). There is one member of the patrol for each of the players’ cats (not counting the Narrator’s). All of the ShadowClan cats have the same game statistics.
ShadowClan Patrol Cat: 20 moons old; Strength 6, Intelligence 3, Spirit 1; Skills: Arch +1, Jump +2, Sneak +2, Swat +2; Knacks: Belly Rake, Leap, Mighty Swat, Stalk, Track, Yowl.
You may want to write down the ShadowClan cats’ game stats and track each of them separately on a piece of paper for easy reference during the fight.
After three rounds of fighting, 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 who hears this knows there is a flash flood coming down the hill somewhere near here. The ShadowClan cats are a little worried by that strange sound but seem ready to go on fighting.
What Happens Next: If two or more of the players’ cats were knocked out during the fight, continue with 7.
If the cats decide to go on fighting, let them do so for one more round, then the chapter ends.
Hand the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 15.
If the cats decide to stop fighting and 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.
19. Here Comes the Sun
Read Aloud: “The next morning, representatives from all the Clans come into ShadowClan territory to help them recover from the flash flood. A long, slimy, foul-smelling streak of mud stretches from high on the hill down to the waters of the Lake, and there are branches and large rocks strewn all about. Only a few cats were hurt, though, and no one was killed, so it is not an exaggeration to say that a tragedy was averted—thanks in good part to your actions.”
Narrator Tips: ShadowClan will not let the other Clans spend very much time here, not wanting them to learn too much about their territory. But it is important for them to prove that the flash flood has not weakened their Clan in any way—they are still as strong and capable of defending themselves as ever.