Rat Problem

The **Rat Problem** event starts on day 20 by taking Harold's quest *Noises in the basement*.

## Steps

 20. Tell Tao he is free. Unless...

## Plot

### The tavern's basement

Of course, when you investigate, you find out there are big rats in the basement. Harold is not happy about that and has a new quest for you: *Rats!* He thinks there are two rats down there and needs you to kill them. If only you had to only deal with rats... But no, you meet your first ratkin down there. Since you're down there, why not investigate! Go in the basement and explore the area near the entrance until you find a new path. It is very dark in the basement and to actually travel down the new path, you will need light. You can craft at the Workshop a torch at home and equip it to get light.

### The junkyard

You find yourself in a gigantic junkyard. While exploring, you get surrounded by ratkins. They take you to their leader, the Rat King, who thinks he owns you... But you quickly find a way to buy back your freedom: find the Rat King's key and he will let you leave. Explore a bit more, until you realise that a big part of the junkyard cannot be accessed because it is blocked by trash... Go back to the Rat King and ask him to clear the way. Once the path is clear, you can look for the key again. It is located in the upper left corner of the junkyard. Give it back to the King and he will reward you by... Allowing you to share his 'property', a red panda named Tao...

### Exploring with Tao

Start by exlporing the junkyard by yourself. In the upper right corner, you should find a stone tablet with weird symbols on it. Talk about it with Tao, then go back to exploring the junkyard, this time with Tao. Take him to the stone tablet so he can study it. He has seen the symbols on the tablet somewhere else before : they were on a piece of cloth in the Rat King's treasure. According to Tao, there should be 2 pieces of cloth like this. These pieces of cloth are somewhere else in the junkyard (center right, guarded by a ragroach and lower left corner, guarded by a purple jelly.) After waiting a while for Tao to translate the symbols, go back to him and ask him again about the cloth with strange symbols. He will explain that with his... 'Property' duties... He can't concentrate on his work as he should.

### Releasing Tao

Ask the Rat King to release him. He will ask you to bring him more 'treasure', meaning trash, to the Ratkins in exchange for Tao's release. Ask Bernard hat he can do: you'll both plan garbage collection in town to take place in the tavern's basement, knocking down two birds with one stone! Just ask Harold if he's ok with your plan, which he will be, then go back to the Rat King and tell him your plan. Of course, the Rat King being as stuborn as he is, it will not be enough. You have to find 3 lost ratkins in the junyard: one is in the upper left corner (same place as the rat with the King's key), another is in the lower right corner. Rescuing him gives you access to the second part of the junkyard. The last ratkin is almost in the middle, a little to the right, in the second part of the junkyard. Go back to the King, askhim to release Tao, this time it works! You can choose to set Tao free or to make him your slave. This will affect the way he interacts with you and puts an end to the Rat Problem event!

## Outcome

* You are now free to explore the western island with Tao (jungle, deep jungle, Lake of the Ancients, island road, Lakeshard).