Narrator Tips: In order to get the monster to wake up, the cats know they must hit it on its side. Unlike the Twolegs, they cannot just walk up and Swat the monster—they’re too small. However, they are sure that if they run up and Pounce on the monster, they can cause the same effect. The cats are correct in this assumption, but depending on the result of their Ponder Checks, they may or may not know exactly where on the side of the van to Pounce.
In order to succeed, the cats will have to Pounce on the monster more than once. Each time a cat Pounces, note that cat’s Strength—that is how many points of Force the Pounce inflicted. If the group total from scene 20 was 18 or higher, the cats must inflict a total of 12 points of Force in order to get the door to open. If the group total was 17 or lower, the cats’ aim is a little off and they must inflict 16 points of Force to get the door open. If the cats have previously succeeded in opening either of the van doors, they only have to inflict 8 points of Force to do the same thing again.
Once the door is open the cats smell the scents of all the cats held within. What’s more, those cats start calling out for help. If any of the players’ cats were captured during the earlier part of the adventure, they are now here, as is Burr. If the players’ cats wish to speak with the others, they can gather the following pieces of information:
Not all of the cats were captured here in these woods. At least five of them were captured a day ago in another stretch of wilderness, put into the cages, and driven here. They are afraid that the same thing will happen today.
All the cats that were brought into the Clean Den were given something that made them sleepy; then they were poked and pinched and made to eat foul-tasting food. But they all agree that the Twolegs didn’t do them any harm.
Each cat may be in a separate, small, cold den, but the Twolegs seem to be able to open or close them all simultaneously by touching some small stones and tugging on a stick near each monster’s opening.
Opening the cages is another complicated matter that the cats will have to figure out using a combination of the descriptions of the cats in the cages and a series of Ponder Checks. The simple truth (which the players’ cats won’t understand) is that the cages are controlled electronically. If a person pushes a certain button then pulls a lever, all of the cages will open. But the cats cannot understand the apparatus in that way. Luckily, though, pushing the buttons and pulling the lever are things the cats can do quite easily once they’ve figured out the details.
Have all the players’ cats involved in this process, even the ones trapped in cages, make Ponder Checks. Add all the totals together to get a group total. If the players’ cats asked the advice of the other cats trapped in the cages, add an additional +6 to the group total.
If the group total is equal to 30 or higher, the cats have successfully hit the right combination of buttons and levers and unlocked the cages.
If the group total is less than 30 then there is a chance that the Twolegs will notice what the cats are doing. This chance is 50/50, so flip a coin or use some other fair method to decide whether or not the Twolegs come to interrupt.
As long as the Twolegs do not come over to try to capture the cats, they may make another set of Ponder Checks and add their results to the previous group total.
What Happens Next: If the cats have succeeded in unlocking the cages, continue with 22.
If the Twolegs notice what the cats are doing, continue with 12. However, if this is the third time that cats have come back to retry this scene, the Twolegs realize what they’re doing and lock the van. There is no longer any way for the cats to open the van door, so instead continue with 23.
22. Released from the Monster
Read Aloud: “With a loud clanking noise, the mouths of all the caves open and all the trapped cats leap out! Although the Twolegs immediately notice and begin making very unhappy-sounding noises, there is nothing they can do as all the cats run into the woods, free once again.”
Narrator Tips: The players have successfully completed the adventure, but there still is room for a little bit of storytelling.
At the very least, the players’ cats can talk with the newly freed cats. They are all rogues from areas outside the Clan territories and they are anxious to get home. First, though, they will express their deep thanks for the work the players’ cats have done. They may ask for permission to travel across Clan territory, but only so they can get back to the areas they were captured from.
Burr plans to stay in the general area. He will, however, agree to stay out of the Clan territories.
What Happens Next: The players’ cats head back to their camp and regale the Clan leader and the other members of their Clan with the exciting tale of their adventure. Certainly, many of the other cats will have a hard time believing some of the details, particularly that the cats were able to survive being so close to two Twoleg monsters. In the end, the success of the mission will be self-evident, and no one will be able to argue that the players’ cats did an excellent job.
23. In the Belly of the Beast
Read Aloud: “The den you’re in gives you room to move around—a little. There’s water here, but it isn’t fresh. Food, too, though it’s the same bitter stuff you smelled when you first discovered this awful place. There are other cats nearby. You can smell them—and their fear.”
Narrator Tips: If you’ve ended up here, then the adventure has gone badly. Some or all of the players’ cats have been captured and are about to be driven off in the animal shelter’s van.
You can let them engage in a bit of storytelling by having the various captive cats talk to one another from their cages. This at least would give you a chance to help explain some of what happened and give the players a sense that their cats will not be harmed. These humans will not hurt the cats, just try to find them homes to be adopted into. Perhaps, eventually, the cats might be able to escape and rejoin their Clan.
What Happens Next: The adventure ends as the Transport Van starts up and drives off into a very different world than these cats have ever known before.
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.
Lost Cats
One of the saddest parts of any tale is when a character we care about leaves. As fans of the Warriors series, we’re all keenly aware of the mixed emotions that come along when that loss is part of a great story, but it’s different when the character is your own.
If “The Plaintive Howls” ended badly, some or all of the character cats were left to an unexpected and uncertain fate. They are still alive, but no cat is quite sure where they are, where they’re going, or if they’ll ever return. This can be quite frustrating to the cat’s player, who put in a good deal of time, effort, and emotion to create and develop that character.
So what can you do?
Make a New Cat
For some players, having a character meet an unexpected fate is just a good excuse to go back to the rules and make a new character from scratch.
You no doubt learned a lot while playing your cat character; maybe you even saw some things in the rules that you’d like to try out but that didn’t mesh with the character concept of your previous cat. Now you can dive right in and explore those possibilities by making a new cat.
You can build a beginning warrior, just like you did the first time around. Or, if you and the other players agree, you can build a character and improve him or her quickly until your new character is just as many moons old as the others—that way you’ll still be at about the same experience level as the others.
Either way, the next time you and your friends sit down to play the Warriors Adventure Game, there will be a new character for everyone to meet.
Write the Next Chapter
Perhaps you want to continue exploring the character of your old cat. That’s certainly still possible, too, and the clues for how
to do it are right there at the end of the adventure.
In the final scene, as the van pulls away carrying your captured cat, the text suggests that in time your character may yet escape from wherever the Twolegs are taking him or her. Then it would just be a matter of finding the way back to the Lake and your Clan territory.
Try making up a story about what happens to your cat—maybe about where the van takes him or her, or what other cats he or she meets along the way. There is a lot of adventure in the world, and a lost cat is sure to find plenty of it. And the best part is that when the story is over, your cat will be back home where he or she belongs and ready to take part in the next adventure.
Play It Again
Maybe you just want to try the whole thing a second time, starting back at the beginning or perhaps picking up somewhere in the middle where it feels like things went wrong. In either case, your cat would be right back where he or she was and have another chance to try to find a more favorable outcome.
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 timing and Skill Checks, it won’t always go exactly the same way.
Plus, there may be parts of the adventure that the cats never got around to exploring (especially if the Twolegs kept noticing them as they moved around). 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.
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 a handful of 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 can gain 1 level in one of the following Skills: Focus, Ponder, See, Smell, Swim.
Knack: For surviving such close and prolonged interaction with Twolegs, your cat also gains one level of the Twoleg Lore Knack.
* * *
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.
* * *
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Kate Cary
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.
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
OMEN OF THE STARS
Book One: The Fourth Apprentice
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
Ravenpaw’s Path #2: A Clan in Need
Also by Erin Hunter
SEEKERS
Book One: The Quest Begins
Book Two: Great Bear Lake
Book Three: Smoke Mountain
Book Four: The Last Wilderness
MANGA
Book One: Toklo’s Story
Credits
Jacket art © 2010 by Wayne McLoughlin
Jacket design by Hilary Zarycky
Copyright
WARRIORS: OMEN OF THE STARS #2: FADING ECHOES. Copyright © 2010 by Working Partners Limited. Warriors Adventure Game © 2009 by Working Partners Limited. “The Plaintive Howls” © 2010 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.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hunter, Erin.
Fading echoes / Erin Hunter.—1st ed.
p. cm.—(Warriors: omen of the stars)
Summary: As Dovepaw, Jayfeather, and Lionblaze strive to understand and fulfill the prophecy that promises them great power, the cats of the Dark Forest begin to teach battle skills and techniques to different Clan cats through dreams.
ISBN 978-0-06-155512-1 (trade bdg.)—ISBN 978-0-06-155513-8 (lib. bdg.)
[1. Cats—Fiction. 2. Prophecies—Fiction. 3. Dreams—Fiction. 4. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 5. Fantasy.] I. Title.
PZ7.H916625Fad 2010 2009026328
[Fic]—dc22 CIP
AC
EPub Edition © January 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-198817-2
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Erin Hunter, Fading Echoes
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