Peanuts ears lower and her white little face goes paler.  Carefully, without a word or expression, she sets the mouseling down inside her little house and turns to Num.

"Uh... we gotta do something.  This is bad, real bad.  Do you know where they might be?"  She'll follow Num if he runs out that way, leaving Mitsy behind.

Clive scans the sky for birds (perception 17), and if none are currently visible, he climbs the stack of hay bales outside the barn to look around. If possible, once he is at the top one, he will quickly hollow out a little area so he has cover above him from birds who might fancy a mouse supper. He then keeps an eye out for Peanut, Dragon, and the dog. 

Num looks into the little home and shakes his head.

"We can go follow Dragon" Num says. "Cat's are good at tracking. Maybe Dragon will find the parents."

He starts towards the entrance to the barn and looks out into the grass, looking for Dragon and anyone that Dragon might be stalking.

"Um...Jerad?" Theodore says unsteadily, "H-how are we going to get home with Dragon in our way?" He looks up at the larger rat with worry in his eyes. "What should we do?"

"Go back to the barn," Jerad says to Theo. "Find that nice hedgehog and the mousing make sure they're alright. I'll go see what I can do about Dragon." He reluctantly pulls the spear off his back and gives it a hard stare before shaking his head. "No... perhaps not." He sighs, "Let's head to the barn." At this point the likelihood of him actually saving someone is pretty slim... not to mention the fact that he doesn't know what he'd do in the first place. He's not exactly keen on the idea of attacking the cat, or watching the cat attack anyone else. He could try to cause a distraction... but what good would that do? 

Gripping his spear, he says, "We'll head to the barn, then see what is to be done from there." Then he leads Theo back towards the barn, keeping one eye on the grass where the cat disappeared, hoping for some sign as to what the best course of action would be. The last thing he wants to do is stand by and hope no one gets eaten. (Perception: 17)

Emerging from a tall grass is a new face. A strange, tailless creature, she looks as if someone grafted a rabbit's head into a hampster's body and replaced their long ears with shorter, rounded ones. The creature has a bow and a quiver on her back, and she's carrying a purple Viola labradorica (alpine violet) with both of her paws. The flower itself is about as tall as her body.

"Hi!" Seeing a group of adventurers... or whatever they are, she greets them cheerfully with a wave of her paw. "You guys are having a picnic? Can I join in too?" She leans closer to the group.

It's probably awkward for her to suddenly barge into a group of strangers like that, so she'll have to introduce herself first. "Oh, how rude of me! I'm Kintla, nice to meet you all!" She twirls, "I'm a pika, this is probably your first time seeing our kind since we live in the mountains in the West. We're lagomorphs, which means we're the closest living relative to rabbits!" She opens her mouth and points at her teeth "See? Four incisors just like rabbits, and we're also herbivores too!" She snaps the stem of the flower she's carrying and takes a bite.

A few moments of eating and chewing later, she steps back and joins the party. "So... I heard there is a cat roaming around here." She appears to be deep in thought at first, then, she jumps with joy, her eyes sparkling like stars in the night sky. "That is so, so cool! I've always wanted to see domesticated ones with my own eyes because from where I was born, the closest thing I saw were lynxes, they're much, much bigger and even cooler too! And both of them are so adorable! Just wait until you see their younger versions of them, they're so cute!" She rubs her paws together, "We should try befriending her! What do you say?"

The little mouse whimpers as Peanut walks out of her house.  She tries to follow, scurrying along behind the rat and the hedgehog as they make their way out of the hay stack.  

"Wait, I'm scared!  Wait, wait!"  She says, calling out behind them as they go, before she stops just shy of leaving, crying in the entryway of the hay stack...

Jerad and Theo have time to reach Peanut and Num at the entrance of the barn just before the chipper little Pika appears out of the tall grass.  Where had she come from?  Where was she going?  Home?  It was hard to say and, in the fear and intensity of the moment, probably not important.  She did seem eager to see the cat, though, and that didn't seem like a good idea to anybody else who was even remotely aware of Dragon's murderous tendencies.  

Off toward the farmhouse, Farmer Fitzgibbon can be heard telling the dog "down, down boy" as he approaches the back porch.  

Peanut turns back to the little mouseling who's cries are pinging straight to her heart, "You'll be safer here, we're heading straight" gulp "towards Dragon."

As the two of them run into Jerad and Theo, she smiles at Theo, happy to see the white little rat again, but then starts looking around.  "Where's Clive?"  As the pika joins them she looks startled, having never seen a creature like that before, but shakes her head, now is not the time.  "Where is that little family of mice?  Are they ok? Is..." she gulps again, "Dragon after them??"

Num points out into the grass to where the blades are moving.

"Probably after someone," Num suggests.

Clive lets out a little squeak when he hears Peanut ask where he is. Loud enough the party bears him, but quiet enough to not draw owly attention (hopefully). He is busy trying to analyse Dragons movements to work out if he is stopping soon or catching animals. (insight 12)

The little mouse replies back to Peanut, but it's low, nearly inaudible, as she walks back into her house and disappears from sight.  

Jerad glances down at the Pika, "... Nice to meet you. I'm Jerad." His ears twitch, and he looks back in the direction of the cat, "I don't think trying to befriend Dragon is a good idea. We've been living here long enough to know that the cat has nothing but murderous intent." He sighs, shaking his head sadly, "It doesn't sound like he's caught anyone yet, but I don't know how long that will last." 

"Perhaps... we could cause a distraction? It would be risky but..." He looks to the rodents around him, "I don't want to just sit here and wait for someone to die."

Glancing around, he notices the hose once more, an idea forming in his mind. Then he looks to Num, "Would you be up for piloting the hose again? Perhaps if we gave the cat a bath he would decide to go elsewhere?"

Theo smiles at Peanut then stares wide eyed at the Pika. Wow! He's meeting so many interesting creatures today! However, he is brain is racing to fast for him to think of what he should actually be saying or doing.

Kintla smiles, shaking Jerad and Theo's paws and walks behind them. "Alright, you do you, then." She frowns a bit and sighs, "But I'd be so cool if that actually works! I've always wanted to meet new kinds of animals... what a shame it's either fight or flee in that case, and the former option is practically impossible—" 

Then, an imaginary lightbulb appears above her head. "Wait, I have an idea!" She snaps her fingers, "There is this herb called catnip, it looks like a mint and it has white flowers. I heard that has some... 'recreational' effects on felines, and if we can find one, we can use it as a distraction for sure! Besides, they won't get mad at us too! Much better than spraying water at them, am I right?" After she's done, she begins looking around for a catnip herself.

Num nods at Jerad and runs back into the barn to grab the free end of the large hose.

When he drags it back and hears what the new mouse-rabbit suggests he shakes his head.

"Dragon eats mice and rats," Num says. "Not friend. Not now. Not ever."

Then he listens a little more.

"Nip cat?" Num says with growing respect for Kintla. "You bite Dragon then we spray water."

Peanut feels a rush of relief at the sight of Clive and waves at her friend.  She gets a little closer to talk and asks, "Can you see a direction Dragon can head that is free of other critters?  Preferably towards the house I'd imagine?"

Hopefully Clive can indicate this, she picks up a rock and starts rolling it around in her little paws, nose a-twitching as she does.  She listens to the conversation as she works her magical tinkering on the rock.  She looks at Kintla, not sure what to think, has she never been around a cat before?  When Num returns with the hose and gives his suggestion, she chuckles with her paw covering her mouth.

"Ok, I'm going to throw this pebble in the direction Clive mentioned, try to get whoever Dragon is hunting some time to get away, then wait with the hose, once Dragon figures out it's a diversion, you can spray him good."

She tosses the pebble and as soon as it lands it makes a sound like an injured mouse, howling in pain.

"I don't think we have time to find something like that," Jerad says quickly to the newcomer, clearly in a hurry to do something before someone get's hurt by the cat.Though he is silently relieved to meet someone else whose first thought isn't to jump into bloody battle. At least water is harmless. If this works, no one will have to draw weapons or blood. 

Still, he's very glad to see that Num is willing to help again, Jerad quickly makes his way back over to the hydrant and turns it on when he hears Peanut 'howling in pain'. 

"Herd him towards the house if you can!" he squeaks loudly, trying to be heard over the raging water. Hopefully the farmer doesn't take notice of them, but at least escaping the farmer would be easier than escaping the cat.  

Num holds on tight, trying to brace his legs when he feels the water coming. Before the water pressure builds up he calls to the Pika. 

"Cat Biter, grab hold and help me keep the hose under control," Num says, still not knowing what the Pika's name is and settling on a descriptive title instead.

Num - Athletics: 8  (second roll if advantage from help  17  )

"Seriously? You don't know what a—" She throws her paws in the air, before calming down. "Oh, right... you guys aren't herbivores. Alright, aye-aye, sir!" She salutes before joining Num, the other rat that called her out.

While helping, she says to Num, "I've told you before, but my name is Kintla. My mum named it after the mountain I was born under, what about you?" She asks.

(OOC - Num came out of the barn after Kintla arrived and introduced themselves).

Num holds on tightly to the hose while the pika helps out.

"I'm not as smart as some but I know when I've talked to someone before," Num says. Not angrily but just more as a statement of fact. "I'm Num. I don't know where I'm from."

He gets ready for the water but frowns as he does.

"You were born all the way under a mountain? How did you get air down there?"