Tiny Terrors! A Recap of “Not Curse of Strahd” Episode 2 – “Cat Vs Mouse”!
Hey there, fellow adventurers! After that mind-bending, plane-hopping cliffhanger at the end of Episode 1, we were all itching to see where “Not Curse of Strahd” [Title] would take our heroes. Well, buckle up, because Episode 2, aptly titled “Cat Vs Mouse,” took a very unexpected turn!
Remember how our party of Redone, Rob (who sadly wasn't present for most of this episode), Atiya, Steph, and Grandma were whisked away through the planes by a mysterious force? Well, they landed somewhere truly bizarre: a room filled with oversized furniture! And the strangeness didn't stop there.
As our adventurers tried to get their bearings, a shocking realization dawned upon them: they had all been transformed into rats!. Yes, you read that right. Our powerful heroes, the monster hunter, the armored warrior, the towering cleric, and the ancient, cookie-baking Grandma were now tiny rodents, squeaking in confusion. The GM, Wintermute, revealed that this encounter was inspired by someone named Esky (who apparently deserves a playful shank later).
The situation went from bad to worse when Fluffy the kitten poked its head over the table, spotting the miniature adventurers. And to top it all off, Muffy, the kitten's mother, was lurking on a high shelf! It turns out the party was trapped in a house with two very large and potentially hungry felines.
What followed was a hilarious and chaotic struggle for survival. Stripped of their magic and conventional weapons, the rat-ified party had to get creative. Their new arsenal consisted of sewing needles, which could be used as melee or ranged weapons (originally intended as blowgun darts!).
Here are some of the highlights from the Great Rat Escape:
- Sheer (presumably Atiya's player) immediately tried to make a run for it, squeezing under a door and hiding in a broom closet.
- Grandma, ever the unconventional one, attempted to hide in the open mouth of a bear rug under the bed. She even tried to poke a cat with her sewing needle for a whopping one damage! Grandma's player also mentioned this wasn't her first time being attacked by cats.
- There was a valiant (though perhaps ill-advised) attempt by someone (it's a bit unclear from the transcript who initiated this) to fight the kitten with a sewing needle, resulting in the kitten backing away slightly after taking two damage.
- Steph's player (who wasn't present for this part of the session but their character, Buffy, the mother cat, was active) had their feline avatar pawing at the doorknob. Eventually, Muffy managed to open the door!
- One of the players (again, the transcript is a bit ambiguous here) tried a clever strategy of finding a loose fireplace stone, climbing above the door, and attempting to drop it on a cat's head. This actually hit Muffy for two damage!
- There were desperate attempts to squeeze under the front door, but weather stripping proved to be an obstacle.
- At one point, a player considered using their Divine Strike (even as a rat with a sewing needle!), which could have added radiant damage.
The tension and humor were palpable as the players desperately tried to avoid becoming a cat's afternoon snack. The GM even had to remind a player to remove the Holy Weapon effect (presumably from the previous episode) as it felt like it could abruptly end the very precarious fight.
Ultimately, through a combination of hiding, a well-aimed falling stone, and persistent (if not particularly damaging) needle pricks, the players managed to “defeat” the cats. The definition of “defeat” here seems to involve the cats backing off enough for the party to feel safe, rather than any actual feline fatalities (much to one player's relief!).
Just as the Smith's (presumably the rat versions of the players) started to regroup, they were once again transported out of this world. The good news? They returned to their original forms!. Redone even found a little sewing needle in their hand as a souvenir.
The party deduced that a very powerful entity was behind the plane shifting. However, they also realized that if they had died in their rat forms, they likely would have been permanently dead.
The episode concluded with the somber note that Steph's player would be absent for the next session, and the group would need to find a new player. Despite the player loss, the game will continue, with the GM promising they would be diving “directly into the shit” next time.
“Cat Vs Mouse” was a truly memorable episode, showcasing the unexpected twists and turns that make tabletop RPGs so engaging. Who knew a party of powerful adventurers could be so thoroughly inconvenienced by a couple of curious kittens? We can't wait to see what bizarre challenges await them next in “Not Curse of Strahd”!