Fading Echoes

As they poke around the van, the players’ cats can smell the fear from the cats inside the monster. Not only that, if they make a Smell Check with a total of 8 or higher, they can pick out all the individual scents of the cats inside (which include Burr and any of the players’ cats that have been captured).

This examination is interrupted occasionally as the Twolegs come back and place more cats inside the monster. Have the players’ cats make Ponder Checks as they watch this. If the Check total is 6 or higher, the cats realize that the Twolegs are performing some kind of specific action in order to get the monster to react in certain ways.

What Happens Next: If the cats want to stay and keep examining the monster, this is the end of the chapter. Pass the adventure to the next Narrator and tell him or her to continue with 19.

If the cats return to the outer camp area, continue with 11 but do not refresh the chips again. (That only happens the first time the cats go through scene 11.)

If the cats decide to explore the Medical Tent, continue with 15.

If the cats decide to explore the Supply Van, continue with 16.

18. A Desperate Fight

Read Aloud: “The Twolegs are big and they’re strong, but sometimes being a warrior means standing your ground and fighting, even when winning seems impossible.”

Narrator Tips: Clan cats fighting against humans is a lost cause, but that doesn’t mean that some of the players won’t want their cats to try it.

One thing that a cat can do effectively is intimidate a Twoleg opponent. Despite their smaller size, cats that show enough ferociousness can cause a Twoleg to hesitate and be more careful, shifting the odds considerably. A cat who performs a Hiss or Arch Check with a total of 15 or higher will get an automatic +3 bonus to all Bite, Swat, and Wrestle Checks for the rest of the fight. If the cat can get totals of 15 or higher in both Checks, he or she can double that bonus, getting a +6 in those Checks for the rest of the fight.

While it’s not possible for a cat to severely hurt a Twoleg opponent, he or she can get in some painful scratches. Twolegs do not Jump out of the way in combat; they pull their hands back out of reach. That movement functions the same way a Jump does for a cat. Treat attacking Twolegs as though their hands have Jump scores of 10.

Treat this the same as if two or more cats were Wrestling, though the Twolegs’ Checks always have a total of 13. In order to pick up a cat, the Twolegs must win a Wrestling Check. As long as the cat wins, he or she is writhing around too much for the Twolegs to pick up him or her.

Once a cat has been lifted into the air, the fight is over.

Any time before that happens, the cat may decide to end the fight by running away.

What Happens Next: If the cat is lifted into the air, the Twolegs will put him or her into a cage. The adventure is over for that cat, though he or she can still be rescued if the other cats manage to figure out how to release the trapped cats from the Transport Van.

If all the cats are captured, continue with 23.

If the cat decides to run away, or if the other cats run away after their friend is captured, the next step in the adventure depends on where they decide to go.

If the cats escape to the outer camp area, continue with 11 but do not refresh the chips again. (That only happens the first time the cats go through scene 11.)

If the cats escape to the Medical Tent, continue with 15.

If the cats escape to the Supply Van, continue with 16.

If the cats escape to the Transport Van, continue with 17.

19. The Monster’s Secret

Read Aloud: “As you watch the Twolegs walk up to the monster, briefly wake it up, then leave as it falls back to sleep, you notice that there’s some kind of pattern involved. Is this some kind of ritual that only partially wakens the monsters?”

Narrator Tips: The secret is that these are the kind of vans where you can set the side door to automatically open, and the people from the animal shelter have done just that to make their coming and going easier. This would be very easy for another person to figure out, but it wouldn’t be nearly so obvious to a cat.

This is another scene where your job, as Narrator, is to describe an ordinary action in a way that seems strange and exotic as seen through the eyes of the cats. There are several parts of what the Twolegs are doing that the cats are likely to focus on.

Some cats may think it has something to do with particular sounds the Twolegs are making—a song or phrase that makes the monster partially wake up.

Some cats may think that it is a ritual involving the Twolegs walking around the camp. They leave the monster, walk a specific pattern, then come back and the monster will wake up only for a few brief moments.