by Erin Hunter
If the Arch Check has a total of 8 or higher, the badger snorts again and waddles back into its burrow. Otherwise, it will charge in for a fight.
What Happens Next: If the cats succeed in the Arch Check, continue with 20.
If the Arch Check fails or if the cats try any other strategy, continue with 21.
17. Delirious
Read Aloud: “Maybe it’s the fever, or just exhaustion setting in, but you’re finding it harder and harder to concentrate.“
Narrator Tips: Even though they know with absolute certainty that the feverfew is somewhere around this pool, the cats haven’t found it yet. By this point, several of them may be suffering the effects of the fever, and a few may even be Knocked Out. Time is running out and you, as the Narrator, should make them fully aware of that.
There really is no action that takes place in this scene. The cats must continue their search. You should use this scene as a reminder that the cats are starting to feel more and more worn down. As you describe the upcoming scenes, stress how tired they are and how ill they are feeling. Try to get the players to think about what it feels like to be running a high fever—the disorientation and confusion and exhaustion—and convey that their cats are feeling just that way.
What Happens Next: If more than half of the cats are still awake and active, continue with 20.
If more than half of the cats are Knocked Out, continue with 12.
18. Not the Right Pool
Read Aloud: “You’ve found a beautiful pool—calm, clear water, tall grass growing around its banks. Surely this is where the feverfew will be found.“
Narrator Tips: Let the cats search around the pond briefly, allowing them to make See or Smell or Ponder Checks, if they like. Cats with the Herb Lore Knack may use that in these efforts. Pretty quickly, though, they should realize that there is no feverfew around this pool, so they must be in the wrong place.
Let the cats make another group Ponder Check to gain an insight. This is just as described in scene 15 except that it is a little easier (since they have gained some experience from this wrong turn). This time they gain insight if the group total is equal to or higher than the number of cats x4. And, if they wind up trying this again later in the adventure, the target for the Ponder Check multiplier drops by 1 each time (so it’s cats x3 on the third Check and cats x2 on the fourth).
What Happens Next: If the cats failed to get an insight, they must retry scene 18 again. Don’t tell them that they are doing the same scene a second time. Improvise a slightly different Read Aloud section and make them feel like they have certainly found the right pool this time.
If the cats have successfully gotten an insight into the problem, continue with 5.
19. Feverfew
Read Aloud: “Along the water’s edge, hidden among the roots of tall grass and reeds, you finally find it—a thick, green, overflowing patch of feverfew!“
Narrator Tips: Success! The cats have found the feverfew!
Using the instructions given to them by the medicine cats, they can gather as much of the herb as they need. And the cats who are currently suffering from the ill effects of the fever can begin taking the medicine right away. They won’t be completely healed, but they will feel a little bit better right away. (They get 1 chip of immediate bonus healing.)
The adventure is over, but let the players describe what their cats are doing and how they will get the feverfew back to the Clan territory. Then skip ahead over the two days of travel, and describe the scene when the cats return.
At first, the medicine cats will simply grab the herbs and get to work, perhaps leaving the characters to feel unappreciated. But later, the medicine cats and the Clan leaders and all the other healthy members of the Clans will come and thank them, telling them that they are real heroes. And it’s true.
What Happens Next: The adventure is over. Well done!
20. One Special Pool
Special Note: The cats may come to this scene more than once. After the first time, there is no need to reread the Read Aloud section; just get to the meat of the scene.
Read Aloud: “The other pools are certainly beautiful, there’s no doubt about it. But there is something special about this pool. And there is a fresh, hopeful scent in the air.“
Narrator Tips: The cats are absolutely certain that this is the right pool. The scent of feverfew fills the area. Unfortunately, that makes it more difficult to determine where exactly the patch is. It will take a group effort to find it.
Each cat must make either a See or a Smell Check. Add their totals together to get a group total. Write that number down; you may need to remember it later. If the group total is equal to or greater than the number of cats x6, they have succeeded in finding the feverfew. If the group total is less than that number they have failed to find the herb.
It is possible that the cats will fail to find the feverfew on their first attempt. If so, they will have to visit this scene a second and possibly a third time. Each time they do, they build on the same group total. So, for example, if there are six cats, the group total must be 36 in order for them to succeed (6 x 6 = 36). If the first group total is only 15 points, then the next time the cats try they add their new group total to the old one. So if the second group total is 12, the overall group total is now 27 (15 + 12 = 27). That’s still not enough to succeed, but it’s getting close. They’ll almost certainly succeed on the third try.
What Happens Next: No matter what the results of the search are, the cats must first face the ravages of the fever. Continue with 5, but then come back here to see the final resolution.
If the cats succeed in finding the feverfew, continue with 19.
If the cats fail to find the feverfew, continue with 17.
21. Fight!
Read Aloud: “The badger launches itself straight at you, snorting and growling and baring its teeth. But as sharp and dangerous as those teeth look, you know that the real danger is the badger’s claws!“
Narrator Tips: This is the big fight. Either the cats will win, or the adventure will end in tragedy for them and all the cats suffering through the fever back in the Clan territory.
The thing that makes the badger especially dangerous is that it’s a vicious fighter with incredible speed. In each Round of this fight, the badger may be able to attack twice. It always attacks first; then all of the cats attack. If any of the cats try to Swat or Wrestle with the badger and fail on their attack Checks, the badger gets to make a second attack at the end of the Round.
When the badger makes a Swat Check, the total is 7. If the badger hits, its Strength Check has a total of 8 when determining damage. When the cats attack, the badger’s Jump Check total is 7. Its Strength score, for determining how much damage the cats do, is 5. Once a fight starts, the badger will not quit until it is Knocked Out—it has a total of 15 chips that must be lost before this happens.
In most scenes, if one cat is Knocked Out, the whole team loses—even if they beat the enemy. Since this is the climax of the adventure, though, the group can still win even if one or two of their members are beaten. If half or more of the cats in the group are Knocked Out, though, then the whole team loses—there aren’t enough cats left to bring back sufficient amounts of feverfew. If, however, the badger is beaten and more than half the cats are still standing, the team wins.
What Happens Next: If the cats Knock Out the badger and less than half the cats are Knocked Out, continue with 20.
If half or more of the cats are Knocked Out, continue with 12.
22. Dog Fight
Read Aloud: “With a roaring bark, a large brown dog leaps from the back of one of the monsters.“
Narrator Tips: The cats have very few choices at this point. They can try to run up the hill and hope the dog doesn’t follow them, they can fight the dog, they can climb a tree, or they can retreat down the hill and hope the dog doesn’t follow them.
Up the Hill: This is the worst choice the cats can make. The dog will catch them
and start a fight, but in the first Round, the target cat cannot make a Jump Check to avoid the dog’s bite—he or she is automatically hit—and none of the cats may make attacks. It is basically just a free bite for the dog.
Fight: Fighting the dog works the same as any fight (see Chapter Five of the game rules). In each Round, the dog goes first and will attack one cat. It is probably best to use a random method (like Evens & Odds or Rock, Paper, Scissors) to pick exactly which cat gets attacked, though a particularly brave cat can volunteer to get the dog’s attention. After that, all the cats get to go.
The dog does not Swat; it only Bites (and remember that Bites do extra damage). Its Bite Check has a total of 8. When the cats are attacking, the dog has a Jump Check total of 5. When it comes to inflicting or taking damage, the dog has a Strength score of 6.
The dog is really just a big bully. It’s happy to pick on the cats as a mean kind of game, but if the cats actually hurt it too much, the dog will run away. If the cats manage to do 6 chips worth of damage to the dog, it will give a loud yelp and run away to hide in the back of the truck. The cats can then safely get away.
Climb: There are plenty of trees around to climb. If the cats just want to get away from the dog’s teeth, they only have to succeed at a Climb Check with a total of 4. Of course, once they’re up in the trees, there’s nowhere to go, and they have to make another Climb Check to stay balanced—if the Check fails, they have to come down out of the tree. If they have to or choose to come down, the cats will have to fight the dog.
Describe the situation like a scene in a scary movie. The dog is at the bottom of the tree, barking and howling. The cats are stuck in trees that are swaying dangerously in the breeze. Make the cats all attempt a total of 3 extra Climb Checks to see if they can keep from falling off their perches. If they do, the dog gets bored and goes back to the truck. Then the cats can come safely out of the trees and hopefully get away from the dog. They still have to make Sneak Checks (as described in scene 10) to get safely across the yard.
Down the Hill: The dog will not chase the cats down the hill. They can choose which alternate route they want to take.
What Happens Next: If the cats get away from the dog, continue with 5.
If any of the cats are Knocked Out, continue with 12.
If the cats retreat and prefer to go directly into the deep part of the woods, continue with 7.
If the cats retreat and prefer to take the route by the river instead, continue with 6.
If the cats retreat and prefer to go into the woods where the monster noises are coming from, continue with 4.
AFTER THE ADVENTURE
After the last scene of the adventure has been played, the game itself is not necessarily over. There still are a few things you can do if the players want to keep at it.
Play It Again
One of the great things about storytelling games is that you can always tell the story again. And, since so many of the events depend on Skill Checks, it won’t always go exactly the same way.
There may be parts of the adventure that the cats never got around to exploring (especially if they only tried one path up the hill). Playing again will let everyone see all the parts of the story and give other players the chance to try their hands at being the Narrator.
In particular, if the adventure ended badly, you and the players may want to try a second time. Maybe starting back at the beginning, or perhaps picking up somewhere in the middle where it feels like things went wrong.
Experience
If the cats completed the adventure successfully, then they all get Experience rewards. It is important to note, though, that each cat can only get experience from this adventure once! If you play through and successfully finish the adventure several times, your cat only gains the rewards listed below after the first time he or she completes the adventure.
If you use different cats each time, though, each one can get the experience rewards. The rule is not that a player can only get experience once, it’s that a cat can.
Age: Although the action in this adventure clearly all happens over the course of just a few days, the presumption is that this is the most interesting and exciting thing that happens to your cat during the whole of that moon. Increase your cat’s age by 1 moon and make any appropriate improvements described in Chapter Four of the game rules.
Skill: On top of the improvements your cat gets from aging, he or she also gains 1 level in one of the following Skills (your choice!): Focus, Ponder, See, Smell, Swim.
More adventures can be found at the back of each novel in the Omen of the Stars series, and you can find extra information at the warriorcats.com website.
About the Author
ERIN HUNTER is inspired by a love of cats and a fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. As well as having great respect for nature in all its forms, Erin enjoys creating rich mythical explanations for animal behavior. She is also the author of the bestselling Seekers series.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Other Books by Erin Hunter
WARRIORS
Book One: Into the Wild
Book Two: Fire and Ice
Book Three: Forest of Secrets
Book Four: Rising Storm
Book Five: A Dangerous Path
Book Six: The Darkest Hour
THE NEW PROPHECY
Book One: Midnight
Book Two: Moonrise
Book Three: Dawn
Book Four: Starlight
Book Five: Twilight
Book Six: Sunset
POWER OF THREE
Book One: The Sight
Book Two: Dark River
Book Three: Outcast
Book Four: Eclipse
Book Five: Long Shadows
Book Six: Sunrise
EXPLORE THE WARRIORS WORLD
Warriors Super Edition: Firestar’s Quest
Warriors Super Edition: Bluestar’s Prophecy
Warriors Field Guide: Secrets of the Clans
Warriors: Cats of the Clans
Warriors: Code of the Clans
MANGA
The Lost Warrior
Warrior’s Refuge
Warrior’s Return
The Rise of Scourge
Tigerstar and Sasha #1: Into the Woods
Tigerstar and Sasha #2: Escape from the Forest
Tigerstar and Sasha #3: Return to the Clans
Ravenpaw’s Path #1: Shattered Peace
Also by Erin Hunter
SEEKERS
Book One: The Quest Begins
Book Two: Great Bear Lake
Book Three: Smoke Mountain
Credits
Jacket art © 2009 by Wayne McLoughlin
Jacket design by Hilary Zarycky
Copyright
WARRIORS: OMEN OF THE STARS #1: THE FOURTH APPRENTICE. Copyright © 2009 by Working Partners Limited. Warriors Adventure Game © 2009 by Working Partners Limited. Series created by Working Partners Limited. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © October 2009 ISBN: 978-0-06-195474-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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