Эрин Хантер - The Fourth Apprentice

If the cats cross the yard without taking any special precautions, there’s a very good chance that the dog will wake up. Flip a coin twice. If it comes up heads on either flip the dog is awake. If the cats are at all noisy while crossing the yard—goofing around or, worse, talking loudly to one another—the dog should automatically wake up.

If the cats try to move stealthily across the yard, have them each make a Sneak Check. Add the totals from all the Checks together to get a group total. If that group total is equal to or higher than the number of cats x4, then they get across safely; otherwise, the dog has woken up. (Do not count the Narrator’s cat in this total, only the cats of the players who are actively participating in the scene.) For example, if there are four cats actively trying to go across the yard, the group total of all their Sneak Checks must be 16 or higher (4 x 4 = 16) or the dog will wake up.

What Happens Next:If the cats get across safely, continue with 5.

If the dog wakes up, continue with 22.

If the cats decide to go into the woods toward where the monster noises are coming from, continue with 4.

If the cats decide to take the route by the river instead, continue with 6.

If the cats decide to go directly into the deep part of the woods, continue with 7.

Special Note:If the players arrive here because some of the cats fell into the water, explain that their cats have realized this is the only safe way to follow the river. If they would rather follow one of the other paths, continue with the choices at the end of scene 2, but tell them that they’ve lost almost half a day because of this delay.

Read Aloud:“The hill is steep, but traveling by the edge of the woods is much easier than crawling over the river rocks. However, from this vantage point you can no longer see the water.“

Narrator Tips:As the cats go farther up the hill, the terrain gets rockier and they have to go around some boulders. It is easy, while doing this, to get turned around and lose track of where the river is. You should describe how the large stones and thick woods mix and overlap to create cliffs and roadblocks and detours that make it difficult to keep a good sense of direction. It’s not even always clear which way is up the hill because of little groves and valleys that form in these remote places.

The group should have one cat take the lead. That cat must make a Ponder Check to see if he or she can correctly follow the path.

What Happens Next:If the Ponder Check total is 6 or lower, the cats are lost. Continue with 14.

If the Ponder Check total is 7 or higher, the cats have successfully followed the river to its source. Continue with 5.

Special Note:There is no Read Aloud section for this scene. If the cats have ended up here, it is because one or more of them have been Knocked Out or otherwise been so damaged that the group cannot continue.

Narrator Tips:It is up to you, as Narrator, to describe the results that led the cats to this end. If one or more of them get Knocked Out in the river, were their friends able to pull them from the water at the bottom of the hill or were they washed downstream to some unknown fate? If they were beaten in combat, do they manage to stagger back to their Clan camps or are they now wounded rogues in a strange territory? Were they captured by Twolegs and imprisoned in one of their nests?

The details are left up to you. The one thing that will remain true in every case is that the cats did not get the needed herbs, and the fever continues to ravage the warrior Clans. Many cats will die, and while it’s certainly not the characters’ fault, they had the chance to prevent it and they failed.

What Happens Next:The adventure is over for the cats. They acted bravely but, in the end, did not have what it took to overcome the dangers they faced.

Although they can be proud of the bravery they showed, the cats do not get any Experience rewards for this adventure. They can, however, play the adventure again, hopefully using the things they learned to bring about a better conclusion the next time.

Read Aloud:“The higher up the hill you go, the bigger the rocks get. And wherever the water splashes on them, they’re covered with some kind of slippery green plant.“

Narrator Tips:Climbing over the rocks is not going to work out for the characters. It just keeps getting tougher and tougher and eventually they are going to fall into the water. But, as the Narrator, you have to give them a chance to discover that for themselves.

Describe to the players that as they look up the hill, they see the stream turning into a river and the rocks getting bigger and bigger. Also, these bigger rocks are wet almost all the time, so they are completely covered by a thin layer of algae that makes them even harder to climb. Tell the players that the cats can change their minds and walk by the edge of the woods if they prefer.

If the characters want to continue on this route, have all the cats make Climb Checks. If any cat’s total is lower than 2 that cat slips and falls into the water (see below for what to do if that happens). If everyone’s total is 2 or higher, they can continue. Soon, though, they have to make another Check. Tell the players that this looks like it will be more difficult than the last one. Give them a chance to get off the rocks rather than attempt the Climb Check. If they do try to Climb, this time any cat whose total is lower than 3 slips and falls in.

Continue this process, always giving them a chance to opt out voluntarily and with each successive Check being 1 point more difficult than the last. Eventually, the cats will have to give up voluntarily, or some of them will fall into the water.

What Happens Next:If the cats decide to leave the rocks and go over by the edge of the woods, continue with 11.

If any of the cats slip and fall into the water, continue with 9.

Read Aloud:“That doesn’t seem right at all. Shouldn’t the river be where that giant oak tree is?“

Narrator Tips:The cats have gotten lost. This may not panic them terribly since they didn’t really know where they were to begin with, but somehow they’ve got to get their bearings and head up the hill so they can find the pool that has the feverfew.

Let the players suggest ways their cats could find their way out of this predicament. Perhaps they want to listen for the river, or use their innate senses to tell which way is north, or which way is the bottom of the hill they started at. You, as Narrator, have a lot of flexibility to let this scene play out whatever way is most fun for the group. In the end, though, it should require a Skill or Ability Check (whichever one you think is most appropriate), and the total must be equal to or higher than 7 (just as in scene 11). However, in this instance it is possible for the cats to gather their efforts and work as a team.

Whatever Check is being attempted, one cat should perform it. The others can all perform Focus Checks to try to assist in the effort. For every assisting cat that gets a total of 4 or higher on the Focus Check, the cat performing the main Check receives a +1 bonus.