So the other day I was helping Gregoria out around the shop, being the ever so kind halfing I am. The trash was overflowing, so I gathered up all the magic soaked rags and broken bottles and took them to the back where the garbage hole is. That’s a magical dimensional portal Gregoria created that sends trash to an unexplored dimension. (Don’t worry, she’s fairly certain no one lives there).
Anyway, the smell from the portal must have attracted vermin, because there were several giant rats surrounding the hole. Once they saw my intimidating stature they attacked, of course, and after a little scuffle I was able to grapple them down into the portal.
This little incident got me thinking, though, why are there so many large rats? I mean, in all my years of adventuring, I think I’ve only seen one or two rats smaller than my torso!
I was determined to figure out the answer, so I bugged Twern a bit about it (he loves nature and all that so I figured he’d be a good guy to ask). According to him it all started with this small patch of woods where most of them Rodents Of Unusual Sizes lived, along with a lot of quicksand and exploding bogs (sounds like an interesting place to me). The kingdom nearby started exploring that area and drove all the rats out to the surrounding environments. Since then they’ve bred like rabbits and expanded throughout the realm. Some scholars believe their original source of sustenance was smaller rats, and that’s why we rarely see any of them.
Crazy, huh? I’m pretty sure there are too many now that species control is out of the question, but there is one upside to them being everywhere. When I was a young explorer, I would occasionally run out of rations no where near a town. Those rats did one good thing and that’s keep me fed until I was able to finish my quest. So, I guess they aren’t too bad. Just wish they would stay away from our garbage portal!
