Cougar: Ambush Pounce

It dropped from the ledge with its full weight square on your shoulders and rode you head-first into a boulder. Something in your neck gave with a sound like green wood breaking, and now your arms are pins-and-needles when they answer at all.

• Cannot stand or walk unaided, carried flat on a board or travois for up to 7 days
• Hands numb and clumsy; you drop anything heavier than a tin cup
• Deep claw punctures across both shoulders, seeping through the bandages
• /me lies strapped to the board, fingers twitching like they belong to somebody else.

Recovery 7 days flat on your back under a doctor's watch before you know what you keep, alone in the hills, you don't.·Doctor, urgently

The pounce carried you face-first into granite. Your scalp split above the brow, the world went white, and you came to with the cat gone and your blood freezing on the rock.

• Concussed, double vision, vomiting, and lost time; no riding faster than a walk for 4 days
• Scalp laceration closed with silk sutures under a soaked bandage
• Claw punctures in both shoulders that must be kept open to drain
• /me sways in the saddle, pressing a palm to the stitched brow.

Recovery 5 days with a doctor's care, 9 if you tough it out and the wound stays clean.·Doctor, urgently

Eight claws set into your shoulders like gaff hooks and it took its whole weight to tear them free. The punctures are deep enough to hide a fingertip, and the muscle underneath is shredded.

• Cannot raise either arm above the shoulder for 5 days, no rifle work, no lifting a saddle
• Eight deep punctures washed with carbolic and packed open to drain
• Red streaks around any of them mean a hard ride to the doctor, no arguments

Recovery 5 days with daily carbolic washes from a doctor, 10 festering days without.·Doctor required

You hit the ground with the cat riding your back and your shoulder popped from its socket against a root. Getting it wrenched back in hurt worse than the claws did.

• Arm in a sling for 5 days, no roping, no shooting, no ladder work on that side
• Claw furrows down the shoulder blade, stinging with every breath
• Joint swollen and plum-colored; whiskey helps less than you hoped

Recovery 5 days with the joint set and slung by a doctor, near 10 stiff ones without.·Doctor required

You came down across a deadfall log with the cougar's weight on top. Two ribs gave, and its claws left parting furrows across your back as it sprang away.

• Every deep breath, laugh, or cough stabs for 4 days, no heavy lifting or hard riding
• Back scored with shallow parallel claw marks, salved and wrapped
• /me stands up slow, one hand braced flat against the wrapped ribs.

Recovery 4 days wrapped and resting on doctor's orders, 7 wincing days without.·Doctor required

It landed square between your shoulder blades and drove you flat, claws sinking through your coat as you skidded in the dirt. You never even got your hands up.

• Four punctures a side across your upper back, kept open with carbolic wicks
• Deep-bruised chest from the ground; sleeping on your front is the only way for 3 days
• Coat torn beyond honest mending, the tears tell the story

Recovery 4 days with a doctor draining the punctures, 8 if you let them close over dirt.·Doctor required

You went down in a tangle with the cat still gripping, and your knee twisted under the both of you. It broke off when you screamed, but the joint swelled tight before you reached your horse.

• Hard limp, no running, no crouching, and mounting from a stump for 4 days
• Knee splinted straight and wrapped snug
• Claw scores across both shoulders, shallow but weeping

Recovery 4 days splinted with a doctor's care, 7 hobbling days without.·Doctor required

The pounce drove your face along the scree like a plane along pine. Your cheek is scoured raw, your brow is split, and one shoulder carries a set of punctures where it pushed off.

• Cheek and brow scabbed raw, you look like you lost a fight with a road for 5 days
• Grit picked from the wounds with tweezers and whiskey; it takes an evening
• Shoulder punctures bandaged and checked daily
• /me turns the raw side of the face away from the firelight.

Recovery 3 days with a doctor picking it clean, 6 if you scrub it yourself over a basin.·Doctor required

It hit, you dropped, and your nose broke against the hardpan before the cat lost its grip and fled. Your coat took most of the claws; your face took the ground.

• Nose set with a crunch and taped, two black eyes bloom by morning
• Talking sounds like you have a head cold for 3 days
• Shallow claw drags across the shoulders under the torn coat

Recovery 3 days for the swelling with a doctor's setting, 5 crooked ones without.·Doctor advised

Your heavy winter coat gave its life for you. The claws shredded wool and hide and only pricked what was under it, though the landing rattled every tooth you own.

• A dozen shallow punctures across the shoulders, washed and salved
• Whole-body bruise stiffness, slow to saddle and slower to dismount for 2 days
• The ruined coat is either a loss or a trophy, depending on who is asking

Recovery 2 days of stiffness treated or not, just keep the pricks clean.·Doctor advised

The weight of it drove the breath clean out of you against the slope, and you fought the whole fight wheezing like a bellows with a hole in it. It quit before you got your air back.

• Bruised sternum, deep breaths ache and shouting is out for 2 days
• Shallow claw stings across both shoulders
• /me leans on a knee, still chasing breath that will not come easy.

Recovery 2 days sore whether doctored or not; laudanum only if you are soft about it.·Doctor advised

You threw a hand out to catch the fall and the whole ambush landed on it. The wrist is ballooned and hot, though the claws only dragged cloth.

• Wrist splinted, no gun work or rope work with that hand for 3 days
• Shallow claw drags across the back, more welt than wound
• Buttons, buckles, and card-dealing all done one-handed

Recovery 3 days splinted with a doctor's wrap, 5 if you keep using it anyway.·Doctor advised

The hit carried you both over the trail edge and you parted company somewhere in the rolling. You fetched up against a juniper with a rolled ankle and claw scratches you cannot reach.

• Ankle wrapped tight, walking with a stick and no running for 3 days
• Scratches across the upper back, salved by whoever you trust with your shirt off
• Juniper needles keep surfacing from your clothes for days

Recovery 3 days wrapped, treated or not, the ankle sets the pace.·Doctor advised

It misjudged the drop and caught you glancing, shoulder instead of neck. You went sprawling, it went tumbling, and both of you chose different directions after.

• One shoulder stiff and plum-bruised for 2 days
• A single shallow claw drag along the shoulder blade
• You check the treeline twice before settling anywhere

Recovery 2 days of stiffness; liniment and pride cover it.·No doctor needed

You heard it a half-second early and dropped, so it raked past instead of landing square. Skinned elbows, a torn sleeve, and a heart doing double time.

• Elbows and forearms scraped raw, rolled sleeves sting for 2 days
• One shallow claw line across the back of the shoulder
• Jumpy at every snapped twig for a day or so

Recovery A day or two of stinging scrapes; wash them and go on.·No doctor needed

Its claws pricked through the coat as it pushed off you, four shallow stings a side, no worse than a barbed-wire argument. The landing did more to your dignity than your hide.

• Eight shallow pricks across the shoulders, painted with iodine or whiskey
• Stiff neck from wrenching around to face it, sore for 2 days

Recovery 2 days of stinging pricks; keep them clean and they are nothing.·No doctor needed

The weight hit and you rolled with it like falling off a green colt, and it could not keep its grip through the tumble. You stood up scraped; it slunk off insulted.

• Bone bruise on the hip you landed on, tender in the saddle for 2 days
• Scuffed palms and a claw-nicked collar
• /me dusts off, wincing at the hip, and picks the hat up off the trail.

Recovery 2 days of bruise-ache; nothing a doctor would charge for.·No doctor needed

It leapt long. One hind claw ticked your shoulder as it sailed past, and by the time you had your rifle up there was nothing in the clearing but settling pine needles.

• A single red scratch across the shoulder, worth showing at the saloon
• You flinch at overhead branches for a day

Recovery A scratch, wash it once and forget it.·No doctor needed

It landed on the bedroll and pack lashed across your shoulders and got a mouthful of wool blanket for its trouble. You wore your luggage like armor and never took a scratch worth naming.

• Pack straps snapped and bedroll shredded, gear needs mending
• A pressure bruise across the shoulders where the straps bit
• The blanket with the bite-hole makes the story true

Recovery Nothing but a bruise; the bedroll got the worst of it.·No doctor needed

One pebble ticked off the ledge above and your body moved before your mind did. The cougar landed exactly where you had been standing, and for one long breath you and it stood eye to eye. Then it was gone, and you own a story no one will believe without seeing the paw print pressed one stride from your boot mark.

• Not a mark on you, but your hand will not quite steady for an hour
• You can point to the ledge, the paw print, and your boot mark, one stride apart
• /me crouches by the print, spreads a hand over it, and lets out a low whistle.

Recovery Nothing to heal but your nerves; give them an evening and a fire.·No doctor needed