For how sudden and violent the exchange had been, man and beast wrestling for this little plot of land irrelevant in the greater scheme of things, it was an affair that was as wild as it could be until the end. As while the other rats were dispatched, having died with little more than a loud gasping squeak and shriek, the remaining survivor kept at its attack. It swept around their feet in the now far more flattened grass, avoiding the goliath's blade as it went for blood. This time, far more prepared, Renault saw his attacker coming and its foremost, yellow, worn teeth, and fearing another bite he shunted aside the creature with a turn of his body, using his shield to protect his flank the entire way. The rat had failed, and as it rallied to bite again, it now had the attention of the entire group of invaders. All of their steely swords, their metal truncheons, their hardened staves, and their strengthened fists, there was no hope for such a pitiful creature but that did not mean it was soon to surrender. It would defend its lair like the rest or flee back to it soon enough, but for now its worn pink toes grasped the ground under it and it shrieked and snapped again. The crack of an arrow whipping through the air past the paladin put an end to that, the rat flopping over itself and into the dirt. It moved and writhed for a moment, thrashing very briefly, and then was done, no more. Tracan lowered her bow and stepped silently over to the creature, collecting her arrow from it. The elf didn't say anything other than giving them all a look as she stood. They knew what she wanted to say, how this wasn't what she wanted to do and that these rats were defending their home as much as the people who had lived here before them did; until the banditry of the land slaughtered them just as they did these vermin. Wiping the arrow clean, flitting it between her fingers, she returned it to her quiver and simply let the atmosphere of what had happened settle in. Elves were not shy of words but they had a way of making their point with a simple look or shift of their lengthened ears, much like the beasts they were known to consort with. [hider=Effects] The last remaining [i]dire rat[/i] takes a 5ft step and attacks Renault but fails to hit him. Tracan fires an arrow from her longbow and despite shooting into melee combat and the concealment, still hits the creature and kills it with 5 piercing damage. Combat has ended and Tracan collects both her arrows she fired. All of the party members gain 100 experience points.[/hider] [@BangoSkank][@Hellion][@Lauder][@Lord Wyron][@TyrannosaursRex]