E. Ask Rook various questions
~~
Nova had left, and the old tom Kestrel was left with seemed harmless. He limped due to a back leg injury, which made Kestrel confident that he could take on the tom if things went south. But he wanted to make fighting his last resort, after all, Rook seemed very friendly, unlike RussetClan's grumpy old leader.
Kestrel: "Are there any other rogues here beside you?"
Rook: "No one else lives in this cave, it's just me and my three daughters. Their mother died when they were little, and I took care of them best I could. Now, they're taking care of me. I can barely walk and I'm starting to lose my eyesight."
Kestrel: "Sorry to hear that. Do you ever go outside?"
Rook: "I like getting some fresh air, but I never wander beyond the thicket walls surrounding the camp."
Kestrel: "So you haven't seen any other rogues passing by?"
Rook: "Oh, I've seen a couple, but that was many moons ago. It's quiet here."
Kestrel: "Could they be the thieves?"
Rook: "I doubt it. I would recognize their smell."
Nothing useful. The old tom seemed really clueless about the outside world. Who knows how long he's been staying down here. Kestrel felt bad for him, he was unable to enjoy the little things like hunting or playing on ice. He decided to wait for Nova and her sisters to come back to question them further, they're bound to know something. For now, he changed the topic.
Kestrel: "This is a really nice cave. Biggest one I've seen yet!"
Rook: "Yes, it is cozy here."
Kestrel: "Can I take a look around?"
Rook: "Be my guest."
Kestrel ran ahead to explore the cave. He pushed a stone down one of the holes, it took a while before he heard it hit the ground. He got shivers down his spine just thinking about what could be down there. He jumped over them and ran into the room to his left.
To his surprise, there was something engraved on the wall. It looked like a Clan symbol!
Kestrel: "Rook, come over here!"
Rook carefully walked the narrow ledge around the hole separating the two rooms and walked up to Kestrel.
Rook: "Ah. This was probably left here by some ancient Clan."
Kestrel: "Meaning Clan cats used to live here?"
Rook: "Perhaps. Or maybe they all got trapped in here during a tragic event and were forced to dig their way through."
Kestrel: "That's depressing."
During a moment of silence, Kestrel heard what sounded like water dripping. There was no water anywhere near, so it must've been coming from behind the wall. Realizing that the wall consisted of mostly dirt, he began to dig a hole through the Clan symbol. Rook wasn't sure what his intentions were, but decided to help along anyway. And indeed, there was a secret room behind that wall!
It was filled with shiny rocks and had a tiny pool of clean water in the middle. Water kept dripping into the pool from the ceiling, indicating that there was probably a body of water right above them. Kestrel had never seen anything this beautiful before and ran inside without hesitation.
Rook: "Now Kestrel, be careful! I cannot keep up with you, I won't be able to save you if something bad happens."
Kestrel: "I'm fine! Look at this! It's beautiful! Wait 'til Nova sees this!"
Rook: "It is beautiful. How did you know there would be a hidden room behind that wall?"
Kestrel: "I didn't!"
The Clan symbol they both saw earlier was beginning to haunt him. What could it mean? Did the mysterious Clan know about this place? Did it have a value to them? How many more secret tunnels were hidden in this cave?
Kestrel couldn't wait to show the room to Silverfoot when he woke up. Excited for tomorrow, he went to sleep next to Silverfoot. Rook followed him and waited patiently for his daughters to return.
Kestrel woke up startled when he heard angry hissing. Silverfoot was awake beside him, then they noticed four strangers approach them. Nova's sisters were back, but somehow that didn't make them feel much safer.
Rogue: "You're going to leave now."
Nova: "We've lived here for many moons, we're not going anywhere!"
Kestrel: "What is going on??"
Rook: "I think we're under attack. We're outnumbered!"
Kestrel: "No, you're not! Silverfoot and I will fight alongside you!"
Nova: "That's awful nice of someone who accused us of being thieves the other day."
Kestrel: "Will you forget that already?"
Rogue: "Get moving! This cave belongs to us now, and so does your fresh-kill."
After hearing that, Kestrel could only assume they had found the thieves. Or perhaps the thieves found them? Were there really only four of them, or were there more waiting outside? Seems unlikely for just four cats to cause so much havoc around the forest.
Comet: "We will fight for this cave."
Echo: "You're the ones outnumbered. We give you one last chance to turn around!"
Rogue: "Do you really think there's only four of us? We're just hiding. We're everywhere. Kill one of us, two more will come."
Kestrel: "What if we kill all four of you?"
Rogue: "Do you want to be hunted down? Do you want your little Clan buddy to become our next target? We have enough cats to invade his entire Clan! Those who fear us, join us. Those who rebel, die. That's how we grow in numbers."
Rook: "He's lying. There is no way they have that many rogues! He's just trying to scare us!"
Silverfoot: "I don't know, I don't want to take any risks! Let's just get out of here!"
Nova: "This cave belongs to us! Go, if you wish, but we're staying to fight."
Silverfoot: "Let's go, Kestrel, we don't even know them!"
Kestrel: "..."
--
A. Leave and call Silverfoot's Clan for backup
B. Stay and help Nova's family defend their cave
C. Convince Nova and her family to leave the cave behind
D. Try to make peace with the strangers