Stories began to surface of towns being overrun with rats. Droves of them, some as large and brazen as hungry wolves would burst up from the ground, having burrowed like moles. A flood of them would run rampant through the streets of a town or village, their chittering noises calling to each other, smarter than run of the mill rats. It wasn't long before these infestations grew, carrying with them a pestilence which made one's chest burn with every breath, their skin becoming inflamed and covered in blistering boils and blood red pustules. This, we called, the Red Plague. In time, entire cities were lost to the plague, and it was said that once overrun, a different breed of these rat things could sometimes be found there, walking upright like men, speaking in vaguely human tongues, but still bearing the form of their verminous origins.