"Yep... That looks like a rat hole made by Rodents of Unusual Size.  Anyone object to magical light sources?" Lucia asked as she looked around for small stones or small pieces of wood from the broken wall.

OOC: if she finds some she'll pick up about a dozen pebbles or the like and put them in her pockets.

Glorandal tests the edges of the crack with his quarterstaff, tapping here and there. "You'll have no argument from me." He says to Lucia, "I was just about to fashion and light a torch myself."

He peers as far into the crack as he can.

17:57, Today: Glorandal Jozeiros rolled 16 using 1d20+3.  Perception .

Tappis shook his head at Lucia, "As you wish."

Valaric looks around at everyone before speaking, " I would like to suggest that we block the opening for now, return with the proof of rat elimination. Get our reward for this task, then explain about the Crack and barter for our reward for that task."

Looks at the others for thier reactions.

Geoffrey nods his head a bunch of times, signifying his agreement to the swordsman,"Or, counterargument here, how about we smash this wall in it's entirety so the rats will never hide in this stable ever again." he says, waiting to see what the others think,"I'm sure the owner would agree with that arrangement." so Geoffrey says.

Lucia blinked a few times trying to parse out what the muscle-bound man was saying.  "If you are suggesting trying to block up the rat tunnel , that might work in the short term, but the rats could just dig a new tunnel; perhaps into someone's root cellar and an entire family might be killed by the rats next.  If you mean to bring down the stable wall, that won't stop the rats at all and could very likely bring down the stables; something the owner definitely won't like."

Turning to the man with the sword she stated, "If we are going to present ourselves as a cohesive group, we really aught to know at least each others' names.  I am Lucia Bardakci; glassblower and mage."

Glorandal gives the large man a bemused look. "As logical as that reasoning is, Lucia was it? She makes a good point. I would also prefer not to bring this entire stable down about our ears." he says, gesturing around the building.

"I agree. We need to nip this in the bud sooner rather than later." Then turning towards everyone and motioning to himself, "I am Glorandal, wandering wonderer and seeker of knowledge. Despite the circumstance, it's a pleasure to meet you all."

Geoffrey crosses his arms up as the others didn't agree with his,"Well, you never know, it could work. It might smash true the rat king or something" he grumbles and seeing as everyone's introducing themselves, Geoffrey does so too,"I am Geoffrey, I was once many things, nobleman, lover, slave, gladiator and now pest control." he says, staring at the rathole,"So what do we do with this crack, should we leave it to the owner or do something else with it?"

"Call me Tappis, just a simple horse trader. I think we should leave the thing as it is for now. We were paid to take care of the vermin, and no more. If we take the rats back, get our money, then we can negotiate a price for investigating further, or for sealing it shut, whichever he feels more inclined to expense."

"Valaric, I say we block the hole temporarily while we collect our reward. Then we inform him of the new threat and negotiate a fair reward before we investigate further. Our original task is completed so we have earned our pay."

"Alright, guess I'll plug the hole so we can get paid." Geoffrey says, grabbing some hay a horse was chewing. He started collecting a bunch of hay that's about the size of the hole and plugs it,"You said temporary right, then this is a very temporary measure. Hah, let's get paid."

As you are walking with the rats in tow; a man starts yelling at Valaric.

"Ritan! Ritan!"

Two men in blue and green leathers bearing clubs round the corner.

"Where?! Where is the ritan?" one bellows.

The man points at Valaric.

Lucia asked sternly, "Who or What is a ritan?" She was beginning to regret not eating supper again as the start of a headache was growing.

"Not again! This is the third time this month you've cursed at rat-killers."
One of the guards says as he grabs the madman.
"A Ritan is an animal killer; usually of livestock, maybe of familiars."

"Well now this is just a simple misunderstanding. You see, we found a bunch of rats and thought... Wait a second." Geoffrey says, and looks at the man closely,"Oh, this man could be the rat king in disguise. He could be looking for revenge." he says, pointing to the crazed madman dramatically.

Valaric looks to the guards, "We were just tasked with ridding the stables of some vermin, we were just returning with proof for our reward. Since you are here though we did find a dead stablehand inside, if you care to retrieve the body and do any reports or notification to the family."

Glorandal smirks at Geoffrey's insinuation, but then again even if the man wasn't the rat king himself, why would he be shouting at us for killing a few rats?

While Valeric is talking to the guards about the dead stable hand, Glorandal examines the man that had been shouting "Ritan"

06:38, Today: Glorandal Jozeiros rolled 14 using 1d20+3.  Perception .

Lucia gave the man raving about animal killers a critical look to see if Geoffrey's claim could be true.  She thought it more likely that the man was responsible for the giant rats coming back, not that he was a giant rat in disguise.

OOC: 08:35, Today: Lucia Bardakci rolled 9 using 1d20+3.  Insight of madman.

"Oh no, Jerron is going to be most unhappy. This is the fifth stablehand he lost this year. Shame, I think he and Roxhalia were trying for a relationship of some kind."

Glorandal's ears perk at this. "He's lost six stablehands in a year? Have they all been killed by rats?" he asks the guard incredulously.

"No, some have left to join the fight in the Ludovic Border Wars the last one got killed in a goblin raid on the Rushenko caravan when he was picking up horses." The Guard said as he counted out ten copper pieces.

"Here, going rate for rat bounties in the city. feel free to collect from Jerron too."

Geoffrey grabs the copper pieces and so he starts counting them and the group too,"Uh, that's 8 and a 4 which divides to... Ugh, all of you just take 2 coppers." he says and passes two pieces to the group. Geoffrey then turns at the guard,"So where do we find this Jerron?"

"Jerron is the innkeep, he might be in the Whispering Dragon. Spending some time trying to coax another night out of Erroth's latest customers."

"Erroth! His name sprouts out yet again. Just who is this person called Erroth Venni?" Geoffrey asked the question of the day to the guard.

"Thank you very much, sir.  Are giant rats a common infestation here?" Lucia asked the guard.

She accepted the two copper coins from Geoffrey and told him, "Erroth is a bard here in town."