The Last Hope

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.

What Happens Next: The players’ cats have succeeded in getting fresh-kill for the hungry Clan cats. They have earned Experience but their victory is incomplete, and so are the rewards that they can collect. See the “After the Adventure” section for details.

20. Shooting the Moon

Read Aloud: “With a pop, the shoot comes loose from the frozen ground and lays on the snow in front of you.”