Эрин Хантер - Fading Echoes

Allow the players’ cats to look down at this scene for as long as they like. The players may speculate about what is going on, but don’t give them any clear indications. Any cat that has the Twoleg Lore Knack can try to make a Ponder Check to get an idea of what’s going on, but even that is quite difficult. The Check must have a total of 15 just for the cat to have a rough idea what all these sights and smells mean. Even then, the best he or she is likely to do is get a vague connection between these Twolegs and the “cutter” (a veterinarian’s office), something that probably won’t put the group’s minds at ease.

The cats will have to decide on what their next move will be. The answers to the mysterious yowling lie somewhere in the Twoleg camp, but going there will pose a new set of dangers.

What Happens Next:If the cats decide to sneak into the Twoleg camp and take a closer look, continue with 11.

If the cats are truly undecided as to what to do, or if they start and stop different courses of action, or if you as the Narrator think it would make the adventure more interesting, a few of the Twolegs can just happen to notice them up on the ridge. The Twolegs will try to approach the cats. Continue with 12.

8. It’s a Trap!

Special Note:It’s possible for the cats to get to this scene while exploring a second or third cage. If they do, you’ll want to improvise a more suitable description than the Read Aloud section below. If the cats have encountered one of these traps before, their focus will likely be on something other than the food inside.

Read Aloud:“The food inside the strange den smells awful, like kittypet food. Just as you’re getting close enough to get a good sniff, the entrance to the den collapses with a loud crashing noise!”

Narrator Tips:Once the trap has been triggered, the cage door springs closed in an attempt to capture the cat inside. These are humane traps, meant to keep the cat from being hurt, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t frightening, so be sure to describe the scene in a scary way.

The cat may not be trapped in the cage. If the player wishes, his or her cat may attempt a Jump Check (using any Knacks or spending as many chips as he or she likes) to try to escape the “den” before its roof collapses. If the Jump Check total is equal to 13 or higher, the cat manages to get out before the door swings shut. If the total is 12 or lower, the cat is caught inside.

What Happens Next:If the cat managed to escape the cage without being trapped, continue with 9.

If the cat is caught in the cage and decides to eat the food, continue with 10.

If the cat is caught in the cage and decides to search for ways to escape, continue with 13.

9. More Dens

Read Aloud:“Scattered around the nearby woods you find several more leafy nests surrounding similar strange dens, each of which has the same bitter food smell coming from inside.”

Narrator Tips:The Twolegs have been very busy in these woods. They have set a series of traps, hoping to capture as many “stray” cats as possible. The players’ cats can’t really understand that, but it should be clear that something strange is going on here and that the Twolegs are probably involved. The sound of their voices is now a constant background noise carried by the wind.

Let the cats explore as much as they want. Every new “den” they find is another opportunity for a cat to be tempted by the food scent or perhaps try exploring the cage out of pure curiosity. As before, you may want to allow the players to make Ponder, Smell, See, or other Checks for their cats. There isn’t anything new to find here, but they can certainly discover any of the facts or clues that were present in earlier scenes. Again, the Twoleg Lore Knack will probably be the most useful information gathering tool at the cats’ disposal.

What Happens Next:If the cats decide to investigate the sounds of Twoleg activity, this is the end of the chapter. Pass the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 7.

If any of the cats tries to enter one of the new cages, continue with 8.

10. A Snack for Strength

Read Aloud:“This looks like a mouse—but it’s not at all fresh and there are other bitter tastes in there, too.”

Narrator Tips:To a Clan cat, anything but freshly killed meat is a very poor meal, and this one is especially bad. The humans have spiked the meat with mild sedatives to calm the captured cats and, hopefully, put them to sleep until they can be collected.

Any cat who eats this food immediately loses 5 chips because of the drugs. He or she must then make a Spirit Check. If the total of this Check is 9 or lower, the sedatives cause the cat to fall asleep. If the total is 10 or higher, the cat remains awake but is drowsy and will be unable to do much other than talk for at least the next few hours.

What Happens Next:Unlike in previous adventures, it is possible for some of the cats to be knocked out of the adventure while the rest of the group goes on. The cat who is stuck in this cage is now out of the game. However, tell that player there is a chance that the other cats will be able to rescue his or her character if they go through the rest of the adventure successfully. He or she should stay in the game and help the others, if only by giving advice.

The adventure may continue in several different ways, depending on what the remaining cats want to do.

If they want to explore some of the remaining cages, continue with 9.

If Burr is still around and they want to talk to him more, continue with 3.

If they want to investigate the sounds of Twoleg activity, this is the end of the chapter. Pass the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 7.

11. Sneaking into the Camp

Read Aloud:“The mixture of strange sights and smells is overwhelming. It’s difficult at first to tell one sensation from another, especially while trying to stay out of the constant bustle of the Twolegs rushing back and forth.”

Narrator Tips:Before getting any further into the scene, tell the players that it is now time to refresh their chips. Any chips that were spent on Skill or Ability Checks are now brought back into the cats’ chip pool, but any chips lost to injury remain lost. (See Chapter Five of the game rules for a full explanation.) Note that this only happens the first time the cats play through this scene. The adventure may lead them back here several times, but they only get to refresh their chips once.

The point of this scene is to let the cats sneak into the camp and begin exploring. Because this action is so unpredictable, you as Narrator will mostly have to react to what the players want their cats to attempt. Your main job is to give them information about what they see. There are three main areas in the Twoleg camp for the cats to explore (though the cats will not know them by these names).

The Medical Tent: This is the “strange den” the cats saw in scene 7. As they get closer it will seem even stranger. The tent is set up to provide a fairly clean area for the vets to do medical examinations. Any cat who makes a Smell Check with a total of 5 or higher can tell that there are at least six separate cat scents in this area. But anyone whose total is 8 or higher knows that most of those are stale and that only two cats are in there right now.