The Rat
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| Rat King · the Rat King · the rats | |||||||||
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The Rat, formally the Rat King per the DM’s world brief, is the major information broker of Umbrafall, the spider at the centre of a spy network said to hear everything worth hearing. The only account of him in play is The Broker’s in session 10: “basically a huge network of spies”, run by a man who learned to leverage secrets for money and rose to be one of the city’s main factions [4]. He cannot be sought; if he wants to meet someone, he will make contact [7]. He has not appeared on screen.
Overview
The Rat is the major information broker of Umbrafall. The DM’s world brief gives him a formal title, the Rat King, and slots him among the city’s named power structures alongside the Shade Mistress, The Broker, the Nightwatch and the Black Cartels; the brief’s own phrase for him is the figure “whose spies are said to hear everything worth hearing”. The two names are the same entity: “the Rat” is how the Broker introduced him to Hugo in session 10, and “Rat King” is the canonical title.
Everything the party knows comes from that one conversation. The Broker said that no one knows more about Umbrafall than the rats, and that the Rat is “basically a huge network of spies” [3]. He is said to have been an ordinary man who learned to leverage secrets to earn money, and became one of the main factions of Umbrafall, in effect one of its beating hearts [4]. He pays well for information: beggars, children, anyone who can tell him something he does not know, and he uses what he learns as leverage over someone else [4].
Relationships
- The Broker: sent the party to him after saying that the Dawn Mercy Clinic was not his business [5].
- The Rat’s network: beggars and children among them [4]. Nothing in play has shown a particular agent of his.
- Dawn Mercy Clinic: the matter the party wanted him for; Hugo took him to be the one person who might know what was going on there [6].
Disposition towards the party
None established. He has never met the party, and the Broker’s account is that he cannot be sought: he comes to those he wants to see [7]. The party has no way to reach him.
Notable quotes
“Not really. It is said that if he wants to come in contact with you, he will.” — The Broker, [7]
History in the campaign
Session 10: Ruin Joins, the Aurelian Conspiracy, the Plate Armour
Main article: Session 10
When Hugo asked about the Dawn Mercy Clinic, the Broker said it was not his business and that no one knows more about Umbrafall than the rats [8]. He described the Rat’s spy network and its master, and said there was no way to arrange a meeting: if the Rat wants to come into contact with you, he will [9]. Hugo passed this on to the party, and later urged that it stay a night in Umbrafall in case the Rat made contact [6][10][11]. No contact from him is recorded.
Status
As of session 23. Unseen and off-screen. He remains an open contact if the party returns to Umbrafall, toward which its escort job from session 20 is heading [12], but he has not approached it in any recorded session.
See also
References
- ^ Session 10, line 469-473: Broker introduces "the rat" / spy network as a beating heart of Umbrafall.
- ^ Session 10, line 742-759: Hugo proposes waiting in Umbrafall in case the Rat makes contact.
- ^ Session 10, line 469-471: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 10, line 471: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 10, line 467-469: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 10, line 498: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 10, line 473: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 10, line 463-469: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 10, line 471-473: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 10, line 742: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 10, line 759: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 20, line 725: Inline citation.