Erin Hunter - The Last Hope

What Happens Next:If all the players’ cats get safely through or successfully escape the snowfield, this is the end of the chapter. Hand the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 21.

If any of the players’ cats get trapped in the snowfield, continue with 14.

17. Outfoxed

Read Aloud:“The claws that scratch. The teeth that bite. Even a warrior has limits.”

Narrator Tips:If the adventure has reached this scene it is because one or more of the players’ cats has been knocked out while fighting with the foxes. Improvise a short scene where the other cats get their friend back to the safety of the Clan territories. Let the players decide how they will get their unconscious friend home.

It’s possible that the players may want to look for medicinal herbs and try to use those to heal their friend. With the Ponder Skill and the Herb Lore Knack, that is possible, but it’s very hard. A single cat must get a total of 20 or higher on the Check, and even that only brings the unconscious cat back to a single Health Chip. He or she still must go back home immediately to seek healing from a medicine cat.

When the cats get back, one of the Clan leaders will ask them what happened. Let the players tell their cats’ tale. The leader will be impressed by their bravery, even though their mission ended badly. The leader will tell the cats that they acted as true warriors should, and they should be proud of themselves. But the leader will look a little dejected because there still is nothing to eat and no clue as to when newleaf will come.

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. Follow the Hare

Read Aloud:“You round a snowbank and see the hare dashing across an open field. Suddenly it turns to the left, kicking up snow as it does and revealing a single, green shoot poking through from below.”

Narrator Tips:The cats must decide whether to follow the hare or dig up the shoot. Getting fresh-kill is important, but the Clan leaders also gave the cats a secondary mission to bring back any proof they can find that newleaf is coming soon (and cats who communicated with StarClan—from Scene 8—have an even clearer reason to do so). This shoot is the only green thing they’ve seen on the whole journey. The cats must choose which goal they will focus on, the hare or the shoot.

Ask the players what their cats want to do. If they want to follow the hare, improvise a brief chase scene with the hare getting farther and farther away each time it ducks around a snowbank. In fairly short order, it is gone entirely. If the cats then go back to the green shoot, they find only a rabbit-gnawed nub where the shoot once stood. The shoot is gone, and so is the chance to fulfill their secondary mission.

If the players want their cats to split up, with some of them following the hare and others trying to dig up the shoot, begin by following those chasing the hare. They have the same experience described above and will be gone long enough to miss the whole digging effort. By the time they get back, the situation will be resolved.

If all or some of the players’ cats ignore the hare and try to dig up the shoot, it will require a team effort to succeed. As simple as that task sounds, it is actually fairly challenging. The shoot is small, young, and fragile. Digging it up improperly could destroy it.

Have each cat make a Focus Check and add them together to get a group total. If that group total is equal to or higher than the total number of players (not including the Narrator) times four, the cats have successfully dug up the shoot. If not, they just bit (or clawed) off a small piece of the shoot. They can try again, but next time the group total must equal the total number of players (not including the Narrator) times five. The group can try a number of times equal to the number of cats making Focus Checks. So, if there are three cats adding to the group total, they may try three times. If they have not succeeded by that point, the shoot is ruined and the mission cannot be fulfilled.

What Happens Next:If the players’ cats succeed at digging up the shoot, continue with 20.

If the players’ cats failed to dig up the shoot, they will find that a field full of normal rabbits is still gathered in a nearby field (though the snow hare will not be there). Continue with 19.

19. Fresh-Kill

Read Aloud:“The hunt is on!”

Narrator Tips:This scene begins as a great rabbit hunt. The players must come up with a strategy for hunting so that they can get as much fresh-kill as possible. There are a half dozen rabbits in the field digging in the snow looking for anything edible. They aren’t having much luck, and they are on high alert for predators.

Hunting a rabbit first requires a Sneak Check with a total of 7 (the Stalk Knack can be used with this Check). If that fails, the rabbit is aware of your presence. For every point that a cat’s total is below 7, another rabbit in addition to the target rabbit is aware of the cat’s presence. For example, if a player’s cat only managed a total of 4 on this Check, the target rabbit would know he or she was there, as would three other nearby rabbits (7–4 = 3). Once a rabbit knows there is a cat nearby, it immediately flees. On this snowy terrain, the rabbits are much faster than the players’ cats, so there is no hope of catching them.

If a cat successfully sneaks up on a rabbit, he or she must make a Pounce Check with a total of 6, and a Bite Check with a total of 5. If either of these Checks fails, the rabbit gets away. However, if both the Checks succeed, the rabbit is now fresh-kill that the cat can bring back at the end of the day.

Use the Hunting rules (found in Chapter Five of the game rules) to improvise a hunting scene based on the players’ cats plans. Remember that as soon as one of the cats goes on the attack, all of the rabbits will have a chance to notice and then try to escape with their lives. With such a complicated situation, including so many different cats and rabbits, it may fall on you, as Narrator, to improvise a lot more than usual. When doing so, remember that this is the end of an adventure where the players’ cats have faced great danger and come through like the heroic warriors they are. Plus, their opponents are only a group of half-starved rabbits, so it is a good rule of thumb to decide most questionable situations in the cats’ favor.

When the hunt is done, narrate a brief scene describing the players’ cats’ journey home, followed by a more detailed scene describing their reception. The fresh-kill they bring—spare as the meat is—goes to feed a great many hungry cats, and probably saves a few of them from joining StarClan.

The players’ cats are treated like heroes, and rightly so, but the truth is that they did not succeed in the task given to them by StarClan. They did not find the green shoot in a white field and bring it back to the Clans and, as the dream predicted, it is more than a moon later that leaf-bare finally loosens its grip. Don’t let this knowledge ruin their thoughts about their other success—this is, after all, a successful conclusion to the adventure. It’s just that there was an even better conclusion that could have been reached.