Murderers in Riverclan V.3 [welcome back!]

[Monomares]

Viperstrike / River / Target: Patrol

Viperstrike bounded up to their apprentice and sniffed the pawprints. "It's them." They trotted along the river as it opened into the lake and their heart sank at the sight in front of them. Flamingheart was in the wet soil around the lake and Ottersnap was floating in the shallows, obviously dead.
"Oh no. Pigeonheart, make sure Cranepaw doesn't see them, it would break her heart." They then slipped into the water and grabbed the floating Ottersnap, dragging the tom to the shore. They set him down gently and inspected his wounds.
*These are bad, but not enough to kill him* they thought, and with a horrified wave of realization, the scented the faint Riverclan scent.
"One of our clanmates did this, why?" They murmured.

(I'm skipping)

[gerard way]

|| pigeonheart || tom || med. cat apprentice || lake || viperstrike, cranepaw || abstaining

Pigeonheart watched Viperstike hurry their way to the lake, and his heart stopped when he saw the bodies of the two in water. He nodder, not saying a word, and turned around to make his way quickly to Cranepaw before she could arrive to the scene. It would be hard enough for her to know her mentor was dead, let alone see him in the state he was.

“Cranepaw,” he mewed softly, “I think it’s best you stay back a minute.” He tossed a glance over his shoulder, watching his own mentor inspect Ottersnap and mumble to themselves.

[Tainted~Wings]

Blastclaws padded forward beside his sibling to be greeted by a horrific scene. "Why would one of our clanmates do this....?" He swallowed hard glad his sibling had told their apprentice to stop his daughter. "Thank you for protecting my daughter from seeing her mentor this way," he whispered,"we have to find who did this." He was angered by this. "I need to tell her though," he whispered to Viperstrike, "but I don't want her to remember Ottersnap like this."

[the sound]

abstaining: I I I
pigeonheart: I

votes will close tomorrow evening, 10 pm EST

[DaisieGames]

Cranepaw blinked confused as Pigionheart stopped her. "What is going on?" she meowed. "Did we find them?" she asked. Glancing to where Blastclaws was, hoping for some answers. The apprentice could smell the former two warriors, but she didn't know what to make of the other smell. "Are they okay?' she asked Pigonheart.

(abstaining)

[Monomares]

Viperstrike / Lake Shore / Target: Blastclaws

"I know the bond between mentor and apprentice is strong." They glanced back at their own apprentice, a sad feeling falling over them. "Pigeonheart is like a son to me, to lose him would kill me." They murmured, resting a paw on Ottersnap's lifeless body.
"I imagine Ottersnap felt the same." They gently picked the tom up by his scruff.
"You taffe Famingheart, I goff Oersnap." They tried to say, and just hoped their brother understood their gibberish.

[HyperfixationStation]

(Just gonna slap Pidgeonheart vote on here)

[gerard way]

|| pigeonheart || tom || med. cat apprentice || lake || cranepaw ||

Pigeonheart felt uneasy, unsure of how to answer the apprentice. He could heart Viperstrike and Blastclaws struggle to move the two deceased warriors, and he knew Cranepaw would be told the truth regardless. He sighed and looked at the young she-cat, but the words weren't forming.

"They... they've died, Cranepaw," Pigeonheart said, his voice low and soft. "But we don't want you to see either of them like that, not in the state they're in. We can walk back to camp ahead of Viperstrike and Blastclaws." Ottersnap and Flamingheart surely were not in too bad of condition, but he knew seeing them drenched in the bloody water would be near traumatic for the young apprentice.

[the sound]

gave everyone an extra hour; votes are closed. exile to be up shortly (later this evening)

[the sound]

ＲＩＶＥＲＣＬＡＮ

the patrol of four returned to camp, with pigeonheart and cranepaw arriving first. pigeonheart didn’t say a word, and looked at mottlestar with a look of worry and genuine sadness. they walked towards the entrance to greet viperstrike and blastclaws. they looked in horror as the two cats drug in the sodden bodies of ottersnap and flamingheart.

mottlestar was speechless, seeing their son in the state he was. honeystorm followed after her leader, and let out a wail of grief when she saw her sister in blastclaw’s grasp. after blastclaws and viperstrike laid the two bodies in the middle of the clearing, viperstrike returned to the medicine cat den to retrieve the proper herbs to prepare the two bodies for the vigil. blastclaws and mottlestar retreated to mottlestar’s den to discuss while the clan struggled to remain calm.

“mottlestar,” blastclaws said nervously, “there were signs of struggle. we- viperstrike and i -think that ottersnap and flamingheart were murdered by a clanmate.” mottlestar remained silent as the information was relayed; they didn’t know how to cope knowing that their only son was not only dead, but killed by someone he and the rest of the clan trusted.

they nodded. “then we must inform the clan and discuss.” without waiting for a response, mottlestar exited the den to call for a clan meeting. they sat outside their den, knowing that riverclan’s occupants was waiting for a formal statement.

“let all cats old enough to swim gather to hear my words!” mottlestar called out, gathering the remaining cats of riverclan. it was a pitiful site- the previous leaf-bare had left riverclan’s numbers small, and this new found killer seemed to be determined to eliminate riverclan in its entirety.

“it appears that flamingheart and ottersnap were murdered last night,” the leader began, “and it was one of our own. one of you have betrayed your clanmates. i cannot sit here and let you go unpunished, so if anyone has a word to say, speak now.”

the clan remained silent. everyone was too nervous, or simply had no idea what to say. the evil deed was done in the middle of the night- how was anyone to notice what had happened? the clan murmured amongst themselves, discussing their suspicions. flintkit popped out of the nursery, complaining to his mother about something that had to do with pigeonheart, but moonsong quickly dismissed him.

blastclaws got the consensus from the clan and returned to mottlestar, telling them that no one seemed to want to believe this was the doing of a clanmate, so they refused to accuse anyone. frustrated, mottlestar wanted to ridicule the clan.

“if no one would like to speak up, then so be it. but if you aid and abet in concealing the murderer’s identity, then just know,” they paused, “there are murderers in riverclan.”

with that, the inconsolable leader stormed off. the clan prepared for a vigil in utter silence.

------

the next day, after the two deceased were buried, mottlestar decided to grant cranepaw her warrior name and bring flintkit to apprenticeship. both were close enough to age, and riverclan could not sit and wait for new litters. cranepaw was named cranewing and flintkit was named flintpaw, with honeystorm becoming his mentor. moonsong, however, remained in the nursery.

riverclan; you may have avoided exiling an innocent, but you also gave your killer another day. be careful.

Leader --
↳ mottlestar // non-binary // spooky puff

Deputy --
↳ blastclaws // tom // Tainted-Wings

Medicine Cats --
↳ viperstrike // non-binary // InterstellarAlaria
↳ pigeonheart // tom // gerard way

Warriors --
↳ honeystorm // she-cat // hxneystorm
↳ cranewing // she-cat // DaisieGames
↳ otternsnap // tom // The Trickerster~
↳ flamingheart // she-cat // mastergirl7

Apprentices --
↳ flintpaw // tom // Hummingbird!
↳mentor: honeystorm

Queens --
↳ moonsong // she-cat // ✧Mahou Shoujo✧

Kits --


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round info: here
discord:here

toms: 04 03
she-cats: 04 03
non-binary: 02
total: 10 8

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families + relationships:
- ??? + ??? = moonsong, pigeonheart
- moonsong + ??? = flintpaw
- ??? + ??? = blastclaws, viperstrike
- ??? + blastclaws = cranewing
- mottlestar + ??? = ottersnap
- ??? + ??? = honeystorm, flamingheart