Rat Catcher

*"If you grabs them by the tails, they can’t barely even bite you. Well, not most of the time."*

## Basic

(Core) The Rat Catcher is a common sight throughout the Empire. They can be found in villages, towns, and cities, making a living by disposing of the vermin that infest all dwellings in this unsanitary age. Rat Catchers are often travelling folk, although larger towns and cities have permanent contingents of “vermin soldiers.” Rats are their chief enemy, but they can also dispose of moles, mice, and even fouler pests. City-dwelling Rat Catchers spend a great deal of time in the sewers, wading through rivers of filth in search of their prey. It’s a dirty job but it helps keep the plague away.

### Secondary Profile

**Skills:** Animal Care, Animal Trainer, Concealment, Perception, Search, Set Trap, Silent Move

**Talents:** Resistance to Disease, Resistance to Poison, Specialist Weapon Group (Sling), Tunnel Rat

**Trappings:** Sling with Ammunition, 4 Animal Traps, Pole with 1d10 dead rats, Small but Vicious Dog

### **Career Entries**

Grave Robber, Jailer, Runebearer, Tomb Robber

### **Career Exits**

Animal Trainer, Bone Picker, Cat Burglar, Grave Robber, Jailer, Shieldbreaker, Thief

## The Secret of Catching Rats

A good rat catcher keeps his methods secret if he wants to protect his livelihood. He prefers if his customers attribute his skills to some supernatural talent, rather than a collection of clever tricks. However, a good rat catcher doesn’t catch many rats chasing after them with a mallet. To truly excel at the art of hunting and killing vermin a rat catcher must become a true rat wrangler, truly understanding the rat. To this end, rat catchers sometime spend hours in sewers and derelict buildings sitting silently and watching their prey, learning how they move, hunt, and feed.

The most common way to catch rats is to trap a house. The rat catchers find the likely places rats travel and lay simple cage or spring traps to kill or capture them. However, sometimes canny rats will learn to avoid or even survive the traps. Then, the rat catcher must hunt them down. Rats leave many traces of their passing, from tiny paw prints to trails of droppings. A good rat catcher can tell the size and gender of a rat by its tracks. A rat catcher’s dog is also a vital part of his trade and it is during the hunt that it comes into the fore. A dog can crawl into dark places and root out hidden vermin. He is also the rat catcher’s nose, helping him to detect the scent of filth left by his quarry.

## Rat Catcher Slang

Living beneath the notice of society, rat catchers are a rather secretive and shadowy group, prefering the company of their own kind. Part of this insular nature comes out in the way they speak, a mixture of slang and trade tongue that only other rat catchers truly understand. Below are a few examples of rat catcher slang.

Rats – Tunnel Pigeons, Sewer Bunnies, Pox with Paws, Privy Natives

Sewer – Filth Hole, Dark Street, Rubbish Pipe, Rat Run, Downtown

Job – Rat Hunt, Trap and Strangle, Underground Walk

Money – Rat Tails, Sewer Coin, Skull and Paw

Watchman – Clanker, Limping Lantern, Signpost

City – Rat Wheel, Sewer Top

Person – Stinker, Walking Filth, Rubbish Farmer

Bad Smells – Grey Air, Sewer Fragrance, Morr’s Fart, Privy Perfume

So for example a rat catcher might say he was on a trap and strangle in the filth hole when he noticed some vile privy perfume. However the rubbish farmer was paying good rat tails so he decided to get on and find the cursed tunnel pigeon.