Cattail Pond

[BEAR.]

[ you're good! @Blazing ]

Woodpaw came closer to him due to the tail pull, and though Wolfhive had anticipated being kicked he didn't have time to fully dodge it. His paw connected with Wolfhive's muzzle and he staggered back, the strike to his nose momentarily disorienting him.

Though Woodpaw was smart to not leave his back unguarded, it didn't deter Wolfhive once he recovered. He thought Woodpaw might take advantage of the kick and continue the assault, but it seemed Woodpaw was too focused on the defense. For a beginner, this was fine - but in a real battle it was best to maintain the upper hand. "Next time you daze someone, go in for another hit. You only have a moment but that moment can be the difference between you winning and losing a fight."

And then he launched himself over Woodpaw and swiped down mid-leap, paws aimed to bap his back. In a real fight, he'd be raking him - but for today it'd just be a light thump and a tickle.

[taillow]

DUSKLION
she/her | riverclan deputy | 28 moons

The relief that she had been allowed to remain in her position was somewhat soured over the fact that Fades didn't seem to hold much importance to the Cattail Pond situation. ThunderClan was giving them their land back, and if it were Dusklion she would've jumped to reclaim it. But he had only said to keep an eye on the area around it, not the actual area itself. Dusk snorted as she led her two patrol members out of camp and towards the pond. Yeah, no. She wasn't about to let these badgers get a taste for cat blood and come looking for more.

"Thanks for comin' with me, you two," she called over her shoulder, grateful that she hadn't been the only one willing to take this lying down. Her trot was somewhat fast, but Jayfrost had said his leg was healed and she didn't want to treat him like he wasn't a fully grown warrior. "'N Jays - thanks for makin' sure the kits got out of that last meetin'." ...A meeting that was partly her fault for making so dramatic.

Falling silent for the rest of the way there, Dusklion slowed as she picked up badger scent before nearing the pond. Confused she ducked low and signaled for the cats behind her to do the same. Stalking through the undergrowth as slowly but efficiently as she could so as to not make a sound, she peered around a rock to see not one, not two, but three huge lumbering badgers. And they were making their way deeper into the territory - towards RiverClan.

Three. Three large badgers. And it looked like they weren't at the center of Cattail Pond any longer, but nearing their territory. "Oh, hell no," she muttered quietly under her breath. Between the three of them they would be dead if they tried to tackle them alone. Looking over her shoulder, she ordered, "there's three of 'em. One of 'em looks huge, bigger than any badger I've ever seen. We'll need a full battle patrol to drive them out - or kill 'em, which'll be preferred. I don't care what my brother said - I'm not lettin' these beasts get any closer to our camp 'n addin' to the three other threats we already got." All they'd need is to follow a trail back to camp...

Frustration enraged her - wasn't her brother suppose to be the one doing this? Out here, taking charge of the Clan and battling back threats with her? She tossed a frustrated glance over her shoulder at the territory, knowing Cattail Pond was somewhere beyond there. Why weren't they keeping it?? Yeah sure it wasn't a gift, and Bumblestar just handing it back to them felt more like a kick in the gut than anything else, but territory was territory - one less piece they'd have to fight to get back once these badgers were gone.

"Either of you feel up to runnin' back to camp to gather a large battle patrol?" They didn't all need to go back - and at least one of them needed to stay here incase the badgers got quick feet. "I'd say about... thirteen cats should do. Includin' us, that'll give us five on one badger, five on another, 'n six to take out Ol' Big Mama." A snort. Why not make the situation a little lighthearted? Considering the path ahead was a bit rough.

[ Redmire - @dino. ] [ Jayfrost - @alec ]
[ whoever decides to run back, these are the cats you will call for!
[ pebblesplash, seabreeze, starlingflight, duskleaf, deerspark, venomblight, eveningthaw, antlerbranch, fadingsun, irisfrost, springburst, stagheart, and rosehawk ]

[dino.]

The more Fadingsun opened his mouth, the more Redmire considered him to be the dumbest cat on the earth. What was he thinking, just leaving Cattail Pond to whoever happened to stumble across it? Bumblestar gave it back and he was just abandoning it again without even trying to clear it out? Who cared if the other three Clans were about to run them down? As far as Redmire was concerned, it was still RiverClan territory and she would fight for it just as hard as she would when the three groups undoubtedly bore down on them. So when Dusklion had invited her and some other guy out to go take a look, of course she hadn't said no.

And wouldn't you know it - three badgers moving inward to RiverClan's territory and away from Cattail Pond. What had Fadingsun expected, honestly? Badgers didn't stay in one spot just because he decided he didn't want it anymore. What a frog-brain.

"I got it," she muttered. "It'll give me a chance to get some words in with Fadingsun. I know he's your brother, Dusklion, but stars above, I have no idea how you stand to be around him. Both of you stay safe. I don't want to come back these monsters making a feast out of you."

With a snort and a glance at Jayfrost, Redmire turned to book it back to camp.

[ @taillow @alec ]

[alec]

->> jayfrost <<-
[ he/him | riverclan | 27moons | burn baby burn ]
a tall, silver classic-tabby with well groomed short to medium length fur and icy blue eyes

it surprised him a bit when dusklion asked him to accompany her and redmire to cattail pond, especially after fadingsun had pretty much just abandoned this part of territory immediately after they had gained it. it shouldve been of comflicting interest to go along with this, but he wasnt loyal to either of them, and at the moment dusklion was the less evil of the two siblings.
dusklions thank you for something he had done more or less for his own gain was nice, even if it didnt feel honest, because well, he knew.
"'s all good" there wasnt much more to say, and he had taken to focussing on his movement either way, after being stuck in camp for a while and not really going faster than a walk it was weird to keep up with dusklions sturdy trot.
almost in tune with dusklion ducking and signaling them to do the same he caught scent of the badgers, they didnt even have visual yet, despite the mostly flat-ish territory. worry and expectation grew and pretty much peaked at dusklions cursing. three badgers. bigger than dusklion had ever seen.
'stars above'
at least dusklion was thinking the right thoughts, and before jayfrost could really react, thoughts still on the badgers, redmire spoke. it had been pretty obvious that the other warrior didnt particularly like fadingsun and jayfrost couldnt help but agree, he returned the nod, and watched redmire disappear between the undergrowth.

[ @Dino - redmire @taillow - dusk ]

[occultation]

( @taillow @alec )

[ I have tal's permission to have Fading show up early. This will be my only post until the battle starts ]

To say that Fadingsun felt a surge of relief when he saw Dusklion and Jayfrost alive and well was an understatement. He skidded to a halt beside them, out of breath. After taking a moment to catch it, he said,

"Redmire informed us about the badgers. She's put-putting around camp, so I came out here on my own. I should've been out here with you from the start; I don't regret my decision to let the pond go, but it was my responsibility to be out here first making sure these badgers weren't coming further into our territory, and I didn't do that."

He was glad that Dusklion had at least obeyed his orders not to cross into the pond's area; his sister could be rash and hot-headed, but charging into the pond would've been a terrible idea- especially if there'd been a trap waiting. "You were right to come out here right away; I'm sorry I wasn't here with you. But I am now, and I'm not leaving until these beasts are dead."

Stretching his neck, he tried to get a good look at them. His blood ran cold when he caught sight of a particularly large one, one of the biggest badgers he'd ever seen. "I'm assuming you have a plan?"

[taillow]

DUSKLION
she/her | riverclan deputy | 28 moons

With the group away from the badger threat as Dusklion waited for Redmire to return, she opened her mouth to speak to Jays before a familiar scent had her turning around. Surprise eyes peered to see her brother approaching. Part of her tensed, ready for a scolding for taking a patrol out here. They weren't at the pond, but they were close. Her eyes narrowed as her brother admitted to the fact that it should've been him out here. At least he was admitting it now. "...'Suppose you bein' out here now makes up for it. Next time though, we tackle this issue together. I don't wanna do deal with a threat 'n have it in the back of my mind that I might get in trouble for doin' so." Her gaze softened juuuuuuust slightly as she glanced at Jayfrost before back at her brother.

"...I still don't agree with your decision to let this area go - its a good piece of territory that we could've used to get prey 'n herbs before whatever ends up comin', but now we won't get to. This pond could've given Mists and Berry what they needed for their preparations, but because of your order they won't get the opportunity to even see." Dusklion just shook her head. She really didn't want to get into it with her brother considering they'd gotten into it pretty bad after the meeting. Resisting the urge to say more, Dusklion simply glanced over her brother's shoulder to see if Redmire was heading back. "Yeah, I do. Just waitin' for everyone else. Hopefully they all come - five cats each on the smaller badger, 'n six taken on the bigger one."

[ Fadingsun - @occultation ] [ Jayfrost - @alec ]
[ once the 20th rolls around, i'll do another post of dusk here mentioning everyone and the plan, then i'll kick the badger fight off! ]

[alec]

->> jayfrost <<-
[ he/him | riverclan | 27moons | burn baby burn ]
a tall, silver classic-tabby with well groomed short to medium length fur and icy blue eyes

dusklion briefly looked like she was going to say something when fadingsun skidded to a halt besides them, he looked like he ran all the way, probably made sense judging by the fact that redmire probably just said there are three ginourmous badgers and him and dusk all alone..it was kind of funny in a way.
jayfrost took the opportunity of fadingsun speaking to finally move past dusklion and peek around the rocks. he shivered a bit. hell. she hadnt exagerrated at all. three fully grown badgers. he gave fadingsun half his attention, grey tabbied ears twitching in concentration, while keeping an eye on the badgers in the meantime, it was good that they werent actively moving closer, not right now at least, but he didnt expect them to hang around the same spot indefinitely so the battle patrol better hurry..
another reason he'd like the battle patrol to move a bit faster was that dusklion seemed pretty upset, rightfully so, but he was probably supposed to be the neutral party so no one had to know that..
his eye met dusklions briefly and he appreciated that she hadnt forgotten about him just yet, even if he was stuck in a sort of bad situation, between three badgers and his deputy and leader kind of sort of fighting.
"they seem pretty stable, not really moving in any direction, should give us a moment." he informedthe other two, even if only to not just silently listen the whole time.

[ @occultation ; @taillow / apologies for any mistakes its super late ]

[dino.]

It was funny how fast he turned it all around on her, sneering and snarling, and Redmire only rolled her eyes in response as he bolted off right after without letting her get a word in. Hypocritical of him, really. With the way he was running things, she wouldn’t be surprised if the sister he claimed to care about so much despite being so willing to throw under a monster at the first sign of trouble would be taking up the mantle within the next two moons.

“Festering pile of swampscum,” she spat, whipping back around to survey the camp. If he wanted these lazy slugs to move, he could get them to do it himself; she wasn’t responsible for the actions of others. The missing three could either catch up or go toe-to-toe with Dusklion. “All of you who’ve managed to actually show up, let’s go!”

— — —

Redmire pulled in with the group behind her just in time to catch the end of Dusklion’s verbal jab toward her brother. That was a warrior she was proud to serve by. Jayfrost might be, too, depending on how he handled himself here. Fadingsun? She kind of hoped one of these badgers broke his neck to make room for the superior sibling.

“Here.” She kept her voice down as she approached, glancing through the brush at the three animals before pulling her attention back to Dusklion. Fadingsun was ignored entirely. “Got most cats rounded up. It’s Eveninghtaw, Rosehawk, and Starlingflight who are lagging behind. How are we dealing with this?”

[ @occultation @Dolomedes @Seamrog @Marigoldwhisper @Bean @Tiabirb @silver. @Dakotaa @redshiftreign @paris @squidz @kittycatburmise @Eden @alec @taillow ]

[taillow]

---

Welcome to the Boss Fight, everyone! Buckle your seatbelts because RiverClan will be facing off against not one, not two, but three badgers! This will run similar to a Pokémon Style battle (think, "Tera Raids"!) where each team will work together to defeat the boss Pokémon!

Two of the teams facing off against the two Large Badgers will have 100 HP total, and their respective Badgers will have 150 HP total. The Mega Badger will have 200 HP, and the team fighting it will have a total of 150 HP.

Here's how this will work:

• Each group will have its own posting order. Be sure to follow it, and post only once in between each badger attack! Additional posts may be removed.
• This is a fast paced event; once the first person in each group's posting order posts, the next person will have 24 hours to respond. If there is no response, I will prompt the next person in posting order that it is their turn.
• Only mention the next member in your posting order in your post, that way people's mentions don't get clogged!
• If you miss a turn, you have until I do my next badger post to get something in; please communicate with me so that I know when you will be posting! I will try to work with you to ensure you're able to post.
• Each team will have a starting HP level, and each round their Badger will deliver attacks to the team that may or may not result in HP lost. Certain IC actions will result in status updates of their Badger - this could be result in their Badger being paralyzed, stunned, or confused, which will affect their Badger's next attack turn!
• In you post, have your cat attempt to deliver an attack to either damage or cause a status affect but make sure to leave the post open-ended, as dice rolls will be used to determine success and fail! Additionally, please roll a d100 dice and include the roll in your post! If you need an online dice rolling site, click here! Make sure to set the sides to 100.
• Once their Badger reaches 0 HP, there will be a chance to deliver a killing blow, delivered at random to one member of the team. That character will roll a d100, and if they roll higher than 70 they will be able to kill the badger! If they roll under 70 they will simply cause their Badger to flee badly wounded.
• VM me with any questions! If you're confused, I'd rather you ask before posting so that I can help clarify any confusion!

---

GROUPS:

1st Large Badger Group
Seabreeze [ @Dolomedes ] - first up to post for Group 1!
Pebblesplash [ @Dakotaa ]
Duskleaf [ @Seamrog ]
Starlingflight [ @Tiabirb ]
Deerspark [ @Marigoldwhisper ]

2nd Large Badger Group
Venomblight [ @silver. ] - first up to post for Group 2!
Antlerbranch [ @Bean ]
Eveningthaw [ @redshiftreign ]
Irisfrost [ @kittycatburmise ]
Springburst [ @Eden ]

Mega Badger Group
Dusklion [ @taillow ] - first up to post for Group 3!
Redmire [ @dino. ]
Fadingsun [ @occultation ]
Rosehawk [ @paris ]
Jayfrost [ @alec ]
Stagheart [ @squidz ]

---

As Redmire arrived and gave her an update on who had and hadn't shown, Dusklion nodded and gave a grunt. The deputy then gave a wave of her tail to gather their attention. "Listen up! Those badgers have started to move in on our territory, 'n I don't know about you but I'm not lettin' them make their way into camp. So here's what we're gonna do. Three badgers, three groups. Group one will be Seabreeze, Pebblesplash, Duskleaf, Deerspark, 'n Starlin'flight if she shows. You'll go after one of the large badgers. Group two'll have Venomblight, Antlerbranch, Irisfrost, Springburst, 'n Evenin'thaw if he shows. You'll take out the other large badger."

The two large badgers taken care of, the deputy took a breath to prepare for the last group. "Lastly, there's one big badger here, bigger than anythin' I've seen. I'll be on the group of takin' this one out, along with Fades, Jayfrost, Redmire, Stagheart, 'n Rosehawk if she shows." Once everyone gathered with their respective groups, the deputy lifted her tail again. "Fight smart. If you see an openin', take it. Work together though - I don't wanna see any collisions out there. My goal is to weaken 'em, but if you see an opportunity to kill - go for it. Better dead badgers than badgers wanderin' around with a vengeance." Dusklion didn't know if badgers even had that, but better safe than sorry.

With that she turned and lunged through the undergrowth with a battle yowl. The three badgers were spread out a bit thankfully, which would allow each group some space. The deputy wasted no time in lunging forward, leaping up in an attempt to score her claws along the beats' face.

[ Redmire - @dino. - next up for Group 3! ]
[ Dusklion rolled an 85! ]

[dino.]

[ ROLLED AN 85. Starting off strong! ]

Solid plan in writing - now to see if it held up in action. Redmire wasn't happy with being grouped together with the swampscum, but that wasn't important right now. She gave Dusklion a nod and unsheathed her claws.

As soon as the deputy began the charge, Redmire followed, crashing through the undergrowth with a snarl as she went straight for the giant badger's flank, intent on hooking her claws in and shredding whatever she could get her claws into.

[ @occultation ]