Deciphering [solo]

"Silverpelt shines brightest..." Beecloud murmured. Mountain. Clearing. WindClan? Hm... Moonstone. No."

It made no more sense than it had when he first heard it. The most distressing part of getting an urgent message from your ancestors was realizing they gave it to a totally unqualified idiot.

The Asylum guard trailed close behind, and Beecloud lowered his voice. Though he did all his best thinking out loud, he was going to have to find a way to stifle it. There was hunting to do, anyway. He wondered if the Mousehunt had really spread the way he hoped it would. If it had, then he would have another whisper for them soon. Maybe this prophecy was exactly what they needed... if only he could figure it out!

The warrior decided to decode the prophecy in pieces. Piece number one: "To kill a snake, you must cut off its head."

Well, if the snake was the Asylum, what was its head? Beecloud imagined that it was their camp. Of course, their base was where they were all coming from, and if they could "cut off" the Asylum from their source, they'd come crumbling down. But, as he thought about it longer, it became apparent that storming their camp was a gamble not even StarClan would advise them to take. Perhaps, then, it was their literal "Head." The one that they all deferred to was Eris, the same cat who had scarred his body and arrested his mate. She was plenty venomous.

As Beecloud wiggled his rump in preparation to leap upon a robin that was fluffed up against the starkly colored frost, he noted that Eris being the subject of the prophecy would also line up with the next few lines. This viper was apparently female.

Wait, he suddenly realized, Is the viper being female a metaphor? The whole snake is the Asylum, right? So the Asylum is a female viper?? Ugh!

He pounced upon the bird despite his head spinning. Whether StarClan meant it or not, Beecloud had made up his own mind. The head of the viper was Eris, and she needed to be taken down. That was all there was to it.

Beecloud attempted to catch a bird... success!
235/240 SP

The member 'Grizzly' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 5

Having established before that the camp was too risky a venture, Beecloud now had to figure out what the viper's "den" could mean. If StarClan thought he was stupid enough to try and attack their base... well. Now that he considered it, that sounded like him after all. Wherever this den was, and whatever a den could be, it could be found where Silverpelt shines brightest. That could be anywhere, really.

Beecloud followed a squirrel near-silently and attempted to reason his way through the problem. It was almost never cloudy over the mountains, so the elders would often recount; stars could be seen on the stormiest of nights. The Moonstone was deeply sacred, and therefore would be a place where the ancestors could truly shimmer. But when Beecloud thought about the Moonstone, he didn't think of stars. He thought of the moon. Well, then, maybe on WindClan's territory was where they'd find the Asylum's den. Roguish WindClan would be a pretty difficult clan to set up camp near, though, wouldn't it? A crystal clear pool would certainly illuminate the band of stars across the sky.

Or, Fourtrees. Beecloud felt a moment of hesitation burden his paws with the dawning of his cognizance. In that hesitation, he misstepped and hit a stone. The squirrel made a dash for an oak tree. That couldn't be right. Especially if he thought of it. Especially if it was the last thing he thought of.

Beecloud stared off in the vague direction of the sacred center of their forest. Even if he was wrong... something drew him to Fourtrees. Its liberation would mean the liberation of all cats. In any case, they had to be hiding something there that the Clans weren't supposed to see. Why else would they refuse Gatherings, which for all intents and purposes serve no hinderance to the Asylum's goal?

It made him nervous to be so frank and so sincere with himself with only a wing and a prayer to convince him he was correct. Even so... they were eagles' wings and answered prayers. If this turned out to be an exercise in veering off into the abyss, then the ancestors would correct his path. He could only hope so.

Beecloud attempted to catch a squirrel... failure!
230/240 SP

The member 'Grizzly' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 9

There was also the matter of the kits.

Beecloud didn't need to ponder on it too much; of course the Mousehunt would have to know the truth. But he had to tread lightly. If he came on too strongly, they might do something rash. They might be imprisoned. That wouldn't do the Hunt any good.

The rest would come in time, the warrior was sure. For now, that all-important plan he had been toying with was now coming to fruition. He had information, and time to deliver it. Newleaf was on the forest's heels, and Beecloud intended to make good on his promise. Free before the first flower blooms.

For every stolen kit's sake, he hoped that the Asylum's end would be as swift and inconsequential as its beginning. Beecloud prayed that their reign would be a footnote on his life and the lives of those around him... may they all come crashing down.