Эрин Хантер - Battles of the Clans

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.

Alternatively, the cats may want to go investigate the other set of tracks they saw when they awoke this morning. Even though those tracks aren’t rabbit tracks, maybe they’ll lead to something interesting.

Finally, the cats may decide to give up. If this is the case, remind them that it will be an embarrassment to go back to their Clanmates without any fresh-kill. But if they’re firm in their desire to give up, don’t try to force them into a different course of action.

What Happens Next:If the cats get another chance to hunt, continue with 5, but make all of the target numbers 2 points higher because the rabbits know there are cats around.

If the cats decide to go investigate the other set of tracks, continue with 14.

If the cats decide to give up and go back down the hill to report their failure, this is the end of the chapter. Pass the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 12.

9. Fox Found

Read Aloud:“Hot on the trail, you burst through a final dense thicket of brush and find yourself face-to-face with a proud, russet-furred fox.”

Narrator Tips:In point of fact, this is not a fox—it’s a vixen (a female fox). As the Narrator you should know her background and motivation. This vixen has recently had a litter of pups and is out hunting so she can feed them. She saw the cats and laid this trail on purpose to lead them away from her den. Her main motivation is to either scare the cats away or to make them think her den is somewhere near here. Once one of those things is accomplished, she will sneak back to her pups to keep them warm and safe.

Of course, the cats do not have any way of knowing that. Here is what they can see and learn.

Rather than running any farther, the fox stands her ground and bares her teeth in a snarl. She seems to be daring the cats to come closer. If the players ask, their cats can learn some information by making the Skill Checks (all of which require a total of 7 or higher to succeed). An Animal Lore

Check can tell them that this type of posturing is unusual for a fox—but no one really understands the behavior of foxes, so it’s difficult to draw conclusions. A Smell Check can tell them that this is a female fox (a vixen) and that her fur carries the scent of at least three other foxes, though none of those foxes are in the area. A Ponder Check will tell them that although she has struck an aggressive stance, she doesn’t seem ready to fight to the death—it may be possible to chase her away.

If the cats want to scare the vixen away by Hissing and Arching at her, have them make the appropriate Skill Checks. (Each cat may only perform one Check.) Add the results to get a group

total. If this group total is 25 or higher, the vixen hisses back but then sprints into the woods. The cats can try to follow, but it soon becomes clear that she is running away from Clan territory as fast as she can and that it would likely take the cats hours to catch up with her.

If the group total is 23 or less, the cats have two choices—attack the vixen and hope to drive her off, or simply walk away and leave her alone.