Fading Echoes

As they follow the yowling sounds, one by one the voices fade out until there is just a single cat’s voice crying on the wind—sad, mournful, and weak. This makes it easier to track. Now one cat must take the lead and use his or her Listen Skill to try to follow the sound. Have the players decide which cat that will be. Once the decision is made, tell them that their cats can help, too. Any cat that wants to help can attempt a single Listen Check. In this case, they can use Knacks and spend chips if they wish. Make a note of how many cats get a Listen Check total of 7 or higher.

Then have the lead cat make a Listen Check, using Knacks or spending chips if the player wants to. Increase this Listen Check result by +1 for every assisting cat who got a total of 7 or higher. Increase it by an additional +1 for every cat in the group who has the Pathfinder Knack.

What Happens Next: If the final Listen Check total, including all bonuses, is 12 or higher, continue with 3.

If the final Listen Check, including all bonuses, is between 6 and 11, continue with 4.

If the final Listen Check total, including all bonuses, is less than 6, continue with 5.

3. The Culprit

Read Aloud: “The sound of the yowling is getting clearer, but it’s also getting weaker. It seems you’ve found the source just as it is fading away.”

Narrator Tips: The cats have found the source of the yowling—Burr, a cat trapped in a Twoleg cage. The difficult thing for you, as the Narrator, is that the cats don’t really have words for things like “cage” so describing the scene may be tough. They will probably think of the cage as a “den” that is hard and cold to the touch. For your sake, here are the details in plain English.

Burr is a rogue who was traveling in the area to the north of the Lake. He smelled food and followed it to an area where humans from a regional animal shelter had set up some “capture and carry” traps. Burr wandered into one of the cages and became trapped. He’s been here for almost a full day now and has been crying for help practically the whole time. As he did, he could hear other cats begin to do the same thing. He guesses they must be trapped in similar cages, but he can’t see any of them.

At this point, Burr is weak from exhaustion. It is only pure luck and a strong wind that let his and the other cats’ cries be carried as far away as the Lake. Or perhaps it was the desperation in their voices and intervention from StarClan. Let the players’ cats talk to Burr for a while and consult among themselves about what to do. The cage is built out of steel and it is attached to the ground. In other words, nothing the cats do will damage or move it.

Burr will be as helpful as he can be, but he doesn’t really understand what’s going on. Also, he’s stuck in a cage and cannot see what the cats are doing once they walk too far away. He’ll still shout out whatever seems helpful, and you can use that as a way to give hints to the players’ cats in any other scenes as long as they are relatively near Burr’s cage.

There are two other bits of information that will become clear to the cats as they investigate the situation. First, there’s a smell of food in the air—not good fresh-kill but definitely food. Second, there’s a new sound on the wind—the sound of Twolegs as they chatter away somewhere nearby.

What Happens Next: If the cats decide to investigate the smell of food, this is the end of the chapter. Pass the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 6.

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.

4. The Fading Voice

Read Aloud: “As darkness draws near, the sound of the yowling fades away completely. You’ll have to find somewhere warm to spend the night and continue searching in the morning.”

Narrator Tips: The cats were unable to find the source of the sounds, though they’ve come close. Still, with the light fading, they will have to camp for the night. Take this as an opportunity to let them do some more talking among themselves or perhaps a bit of hunting for fresh-kill to eat; then have them get what sleep they can.

If they want to set up a watch during the night, have each cat attempt a Listen Check during his or her turn. They do not hear any more of the yowling. However, if you as the Narrator want to improvise some excitement during the night, perhaps one of the cats can hear an owl or encounter a skunk or a raccoon. While such an encounter can be fun, make sure the players and their cats remember that the focus of the adventure is finding the source of the yowling.

In the morning, the cats smell a bitter, meaty scent on the wind. It’s not fresh-kill, but it’s definitely food. What’s more, they hear a new sound—the sound of Twolegs chattering away in their strange voices.