Dire Rat

Type

Vermin

Base HD

1

Terror

-3

Height (cm)

40 (length)

Dire rats are enormous versions of common vermin, swollen to the size of an oversized beaver or capybara, and their appetites and threat level to storerooms have grown commensurately. They are abundant in large cities and can infest smaller towns or villages as well, but since they cannot fit in the nooks where mundane rats typically hide, they are much easier to locate. Most dire rats congregate in sewers or in burrows outside of settlements instead of living inside them, but they can still be found often in cellars or on ships, where they wedge themselves into dark corners or between barrels and try to pass unseen. Because of their size, this is only moderately successful.

The bite force of a dire rat has scaled to match its increased bulk. Their bites are extremely dangerous and also tend to become infected, but dire rats are cowardly when faced with creatures significantly larger than they are, and will not fight unless forced to. Cornered or starving dire rats will become extremely aggressive and may lash out with shocking force, but if they succeed in landing a solid blow they prefer to use the opportunity to find an escape rather than finish off their would-be exterminators. However, if driven out of a place that they are now aware has food, they will be back unless stopped. Dire rats are clever and will avoid visible and suspected traps, and they quickly learn the signs of poisoned bait.

They are a menace to grain stores and tavern basements. The teeth of a dire rat can quickly gnaw through walls and doors, and they are a threat to the integrity of the storehouse itself as well as its contents. They are too large and strong to be safely and consistently challenged by barn cats or hounds, so the only recourse is usually direct action, and many starting adventurers are sent to cull their apparently endless numbers. They are decent eating once killed, but most of them are also riddled with disease and parasites so a suitable Yersinian cleansing must take place before they are fit to be eaten. The pelt of a dire rat is not nearly as valuable or thick as that of a similarly sized beaver, but since killing the vermin is so routine and important anyway their pelts remain common for a variety of uses such as hats, boots, and wrappings for tools and furniture.