#plumshadow

Aliases / Nicknames: Witch Doctor, Doctor of Death 

Gender: she-cat 

Sexuality: asexual, homoromantic 

Family: Lakefur (mother), unnamed father, Cloudykit, Adderkit, Emberkit (brothers) 

Other Relations: Shimmerthroat (mentor), Plumshadow (apprentice) 

Clan: Prairieclan 

Rank: medicine cat 

Characteristics: judgemental, had a neglectful upbringing, believes she's doing the right thing 

Number of Victims: 7+ 

Number of Murders: 2+ 

Murder Method: feeding tainted herbs to expectant parents 

Known Victims: Dustyrose, Slatefreckle, Beeflower, Grassburr, Batfall, Leopardtail, Blackstream, several unborn kits 

Victim Profile: pregnant queens she believed would not make good parents

Cause of Death: poisoned, killed by Plumshadow 

Cautionary Tale: a lesson to medicine cats to not misuse their talents

Story: 

Morningkit had never been wanted.

The Clan had no clue who her father could possibly be. And her mother, Lakefur, would have preferred not to be a mother at all, but if she did have to have kits, she much preferred toms over she-cats. Sadly, all three of Lakefur's sons, Morningkit's brothers, were born sickly, and all of them died before their fifth day of life. 

Lakefur took out her rage and fury on little Morningkit, barely even giving her the time of day. Needless to say, Morningkit's first six moons of life were miserable. Things began looking up for Morningkit when she became Morningpaw and was apprenticed to Shimmerthroat, the Clan's medicine cat. 

Shimmerthroat was everything Lakefur should have been to Morningpaw and more. She taught her so many valuable life lessons, but the one that was most influential to Morningpaw was that, as a medicine cat, she had the power to make things right for her Clanmates.

It stuck with Morningpaw, and she made a vow--she would use her abilities to make sure no other kit would have to go through what she went through.

Morningsky's crusade started with good intentions. Poor, sweet, playful Dustyrose, who had only been made a warrior just a week before, had become pregnant with kits. And Morningsky was pretty sure she knew who the father was too: Dustyrose's mentor had always been a little too creepy for her tastes. She couldn't let kits grow up in that environment. 

So she snuck rotten herbs into Dustyrose's herb bundle. It worked like a charm. She had lost the kits before the week had ended, and she was back to warrior duties, as happy as a clam. Seeing how happy Dustyrose was to not be pregnant anymore made Morningsky feel great. And those good feelings went to her head. 

Her next targets were a trio of sisters, Slatefreckle, Beeflower, and Grassburr, who had moved into the nursery at the same time. Granted, this one was a little more petty, as the sisters had bullied Morningsky when they were all kits. But in Morningsky's defense, she also thought that Slatefreckle, Beeflower, and Grassburr's bond was too strong, and would reflect unhealthily on their litters.

Morningsky made her only mistake here, and added a little too many tainted herbs into Slatefreckle and Beeflower's herb bundles. It caused the bleeding from the spontaneous kit-loss to be too strong, and Slatefreckle and Beeflower both passed away. Seeing Grassburr wail with grief over her sisters' bodies, her own body still weak from her kit-loss, did twist Morningsky's stomach a little, but she reasoned that Grassburr would become a better cat now that her sisters weren't holding her back. 

Morningsky was much more careful from then on, partly because she didn't want to have more blood on her paws, but also because she had an apprentice of her own now, Plumpaw, whom she doted on like a son. She wanted him to make his own path, just like Shimmerthroat had allowed Morningsky to do. 

That didn't mean she was done with her crusades, though. There was Batfall, a blind and partially deaf she-cat, Leopardtail, a tom who used to be a she-cat, and was now pregnant with kits, and Blackstream, who reminded Morningsky a little too much of her own mother, power-hungry and completely disinterested in being a mother. 

None of them would be good parents, and one after the other, they lost their kits, though thankfully, they didn't meet Slatefreckle and Beeflower's fate. Soon after Blackstream had lost her kits, it was time for Morningsky to give Plumpaw his medicine cat name. She smiled with delight as she named him Plumshadow, knowing fully well that she had taught him to be the best medicine cat that he could possibly be. 

After they had returned from the Moontree, Plumshadow came to Morningsky with a gift, a fat, juicy, nutria, her favorite prey. He said it was thanks for being such a good mentor to him. Morningsky thanked Plumshadow profusely and dug into the nutria. However, as she ate, she could sense a strong bitter undercurrent under the fatty and delicious flavours of the meat. 

She looked down to see the telltale dark greenish-brown bits of tainted herbs delicately woven into the fibers of the nutria's meat. Morningsky had simply looked up at Plumshadow with pride. She really had taught him well, hadn't she? Plumshadow simply nodded grimly and directed Morningsky to her nest, staying by her side as the herbs ravaged her body, and her breathing slowly came to a silent end.

Additional Information:

--Submission by @starfalcon555​

--Morningsky's surviving victims figured out what she was doing and went to Plumshadow to ask him to kill her. He did genuinely like her, but he also had a strong sense of justice, so he went through with it reluctantly.

--Plumshadow probably told the Clan that the nutria must have been rotten, so he got away with it.