The Forgotten Warrior

Once that’s done, it is up to the players’ regular cat characters to decide where to take their apprentices next—to practice stalking foes through the forest, or to practice hunting for freshkill. (Remember that the group should not repeat a test they have already passed.)

What Happens Next: If the players’ cats want to continue with stalking practice, this is the end of the chapter. Hand the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 7.

If the players’ cats want to continue with hunting practice, this is the end of the chapter. Hand the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 10.

12. The Cold Trail

Read Aloud: “Until now, the only sights, scents, and sounds that the apprentices have been exposed to were those in their Clan camp. Out in the woods, there are an endless series of distractions. It’s not surprising, then, that the young cats are having trouble finding and catching a skilled foe.”

Narrator Tips: The apprentices have failed in their attempt to stalk a foe through the woods. Reaching this scene counts as one failure. Keep track of the total number of failures the group amasses while attempting this test.

Ask the players to use the perspective of their regular cat characters to discuss what they think went wrong. Why did the apprentices fail at this action? What could they do differently to get a better result next time? What advice would their cats offer to the apprentices? Sometimes the best way to learn something is to try and fail, then try again. The apprentices have certainly learned something from this experience and now can make good use of the advice that the players’ cats are giving them.

The Narrator should create a bonus pool of Ability Chips. Each player whose apprentice has already succeeded at this test may add one Ability Chip of his or her choosing to the pool.

When the remaining apprentices try again to stalk a foe, they may use the bonus pool of Ability Chips to augment their efforts. Any apprentice may take a Chip from the bonus pool, but these Chips never refresh. Also, once all the apprentices succeed, this bonus pool may no longer be used—it is only useful for the stalking test in Scene 7.

What Happens Next: If the apprentices have amassed a total of four or more failures, continue with 13.

If the apprentices have not yet amassed four failures, return to scene 7 and let them try again. Note, though, that once an individual apprentice succeeds at this test, he or she does not have to perform it again.

13. Flunking Out

Read Aloud: “Not every adventure ends successfully. Sometimes cats make mistakes, and sometimes they hit a patch of bad luck. The important thing for a Clan warrior is what happens next.”

Narrator Tips: There are several reasons why the adventure may end up at this scene, but none of them are good. Either the apprentices failed one of their tests or the mentors lost their apprentices.

There isn’t any crucial need for the apprentices to succeed at these particular tests immediately. And no matter how hard the players’ cats want to work at it and be good mentors, eventually they may have to accept that the lessons are not going to be learned today.

The Clan leaders will thank the players’ cats for their hard work, and congratulate the apprentices for being part of such a grand undertaking. But as sundown approaches, they decide to bring this experiment to an unsuccessful close. Maybe in the future they will try it again.

Alternatively, if the story ended up here because the players’ cats lost their apprentices, tell them that another group of warriors (the ones they met in scene 15) managed to find the missing youngsters and bring them back to safety.

What Happens Next: Although no one did anything particularly wrong, arriving at this scene means that the apprentices did not learn quickly enough for the training experiment to count as a success—the adventure has ended badly. The players’ cats do not get any Experience rewards for this adventure. The players’ cats can, however, play the adventure again, hopefully finding ways to get better performances out of their apprentices.

14. Under the Old Oak Tree

Read Aloud: “The scent of young cats becomes overwhelmed by another, more dangerous smell—the powerful fumes of weasel musk. Dangerous creatures, weasels. If they have the apprentices, there could be real trouble.”

Narrator Tips: The players’ cats have arrived at a burrow that contains a weasel den. Unfortunately, it is the wrong weasel’s den. The missing apprentices are not here, though the players may not realize it at first.