Crouching down on the ground Urist looked at the rope trap that had gone off. While doing this the rest of the group surrounded him as he studied the trap. What he found made his face turn grim. Inside the trap lay a choked rat, which was good and all if the rat corpse wasn’t half bones.

Around the corpse, he could see rat tracks surrounding the body, meaning after its death its kind had eaten it. This made him scratch his head wondering why they would eat each other with all this food on the ground. He had already decided to inspect the rat closely to see that the skull was removed and the brains were eaten. Turning the rat over he found the rat was disemboweled, these parts had the most gruesome wounds.

He hypothesized that the rat stomachs and brains held a concentration of the bamboo seeds effects. There would be no other reason for the rat to eat the corpses with all the food on the ground. Removing the corpse and resetting trap, Urist moved forth to check the other traps to see if his hypothesis was correct.

They moved from trap to trap gathering seeds along the way. His investigation bore truth as he found that every rat corpse had it’s brain and intestines eaten. That wasn’t the only thing they came across, they saw about seventy rats out and about feasting on the bamboo seeds. They were able to kill half of them while the rest escaped into the ground.

Collecting bags full of seeds Urist called the expedition to return after checking and resetting the last trap. Unknowingly, the group passed by a rat that was up to their knees in height burrowed into the ground. If Urist saw the rat he would recognize that this was the rat he took the eye from. It stared at them with murderous intent wishing to tear the two-leg walkers to shreds as it ate brains and stomach contents hey gathered from that body.

In the hole, a dozen or so shin-class rats were awaiting the big rat orders in utter obedience. When the dwarfs left, the big rat raised its arms and began to screech at its subordinates to collect more brains and guts. It grinned evilly if the dwarfs were going to make his growth easier then he might as well take the opportunity.

…

Back at camp now the expedition placed the seeds into the crystals storage. They then sat down inside the cave to take a rest, before they had to head out to collect more seeds.

While they were resting Urist was mulling over his thoughts as he felt that just sitting around and doing nothing was a waste of time. Seeing as the branches were going back thicker he decided to make everyone in the expedition to handle an axe to cut down the bamboo in hopes to reduce the seed spawning rate.

A quick rest and the expedition headed back out. While he moved he inspected the wall to see that it was three-fourths done. He found out that they had gotten another Earth mage in the morning which made his tense heart have some ease.

Before night comes the wall should be finished and the watchtowers along walkways should be close to finishing. The oil trench has been dug out and ready to be used in case of emergency. On the finished parts of the wall, I’ve noticed that the pulleys have been put in place having about half the maces placed.

But will this be enough?

The question kept nagging at the back of his mind for some reason he couldn’t explain.

I mean no matter how big the rats got, this strong and sturdy wall would be enough to protect them easy enough. I have no reason to be this paranoid. sure some rats had their brains and stomachs taken out from the traps. A strange habit for sure, but it wasn’t the strangest thing animals are known to do.

So why target eating the brains and guts?

Searching through his hazy memories he tried to make sense of the behavior while he collected the seeds. He couldn’t make heads and tails of why the rats would cannibalize their dead in such away.

He thought for hours to figure out the answer while collecting seeds and killing any rats that came into their sight. When it was time to call it for today the expedition team went home and ate dinner with the others.

Everyone looked at the completed wall and felt pretty good at the protection it gave them. Even if the rat swarm wasn’t a big deal at least they now had protection from the outside. They wouldn’t have to worry about something like a tiger coming into their camp trying to kill them anymore.

While the dwarfs were lively Urist was eating his soup in silence, thinking about the question on his mind. The one who noticed his quiet demeanor was a fairly new member that had been teleported here recently.

The dwarf that smelled of blood Vlad leaned over to Urist, “What are you thinking about boss?”

Since he asked Urist turned to Blood Mage Vlad, “It isn’t much, it’s just the traps we checked the rats caught had their brains and guts eaten. Do you have any idea why? The question has been on my mind for some time now.”

It was at this time that the dwarf breaking of blood smile turned serious, even a hint of fear appeared on his face, “Are you sure about that.”

This utterly confused Urist, “Yes, every corpse checked in the traps had the same thing happened to him. Do you know anything about it?”

Instead of answering Vlad sat up, heading straight over to where the dwarfs had skinned the rats that the expedition team brought back. He had been working together with Rune Smith Ajan to create some magical items and hadn’t collected the blood yet.

Seeing him acted weird Urist followed after Vlad who now stood over the blood-stained rocks. Waving his hand over the rocks he gathered up the blood turning it into a crystallized form.

Finished making the crystal the size of a fist. He sighed to himself muttering under his breath, “What bad luck. To face another one those after dying to one before.”

“Face another what? And you died?”

Vlad had a sad expression on his face when he turned to Urist, “Oh that’s right, I never told you how I died... Since it’s closely tied to what’s about to happen I might as well tell you the tale. The birth of a king.”