Poor communication is a killer.

The basic strategy is pretty straightforward: rush in there, gank the rats. It can't be that hard, right? They're just normal Sewer Rats, no fancy tactics necessary. Not that there’s a ton of strategy options available to you anyways; you’re all low-level weaklings with no special attacks beyond the thoroughly underwhelming Cat’s Claws, no ranged weapons, and no magic. The only thing that’s important, you stress to the others, is that you all attack the same target in order to trigger the Pack Tactics buff.

So of course, everyone immediately attacks different rats. Ratty goes straight for the largest one, Jitter attacks the smallest one, and you take on the one closest to the door. You realize the mistake, but too late; Jitter misses entirely and Ratty does a paltry four damage to the Large Rat, while you manage a crit and bring your Small Rat to half health. Now, though, you have seven pissed rats on your hands, and they look really nasty now that you’re close to them.

A second later and the rats are on you; Ratty is bowled over by two of the large ones, while Jitter’s leather bracers are the only thing saving his forearms from getting shredded. Pain shoots through you as the rat you stabbed sinks its yellowed teeth into your shin; you scream, stabbing and clawing at it wildly until it’s killed with a ‘ding’ and lets you go. Before another rat can attack you, you leap over to Ratty and help her fend off the pair; as you stab at the large rats, you hear another ding when Jitter finishes off his. He rushes over to you, and finally the Pack Tactics status pops up as you both get simultaneous crits; one of the large rats is dead, and the three of you make quick work of the other one on Ratty.

Now that you’re working together, the combat goes much more smoothly. The remaining small rat is dead in seconds, and it doesn’t take too much longer to get rid of the two large rats with all of you working together. Once the last dings sound, you’re panting and wincing in pain; the bites you took were deep, despite the comparatively-smaller size of the rat. Taking a quick look at your group, it’s clear that even as weak as the rats were, without Pack Tactics they’re far too dangerous for your group. Ratty is torn up something fierce, blood matting her fur even more than it already was, while Jitter is limping and shaking so hard it’s a wonder he can keep a hold on the pocketknife. The bite marks show clearly on his bracers; giving those to him was definitely the right decision, or he might not have made it through the fight.

As for loot, it looks like you’ve gotten five Jagged Teeth, a handful of Small Bones, and eleven units of Strange Meat (Raw). Hardly anything splendid, but hey, they’re just rats after all. If one of the three of you can think of how to start a fire down here, you can probably cook and eat that meat, too; it's hardly going to be the best thing you've ever had, but it's certainly not the worst either. The real prize is the potential experience they dropped, but you wait to check your sheet until you all are back in the room you hope to claim and the three of you are somewhat patched up.

Most of Jitter and your wounds are merely scratches, already scabbed over and no longer bleeding, but Ratty took some serious bites; her already-ragged shirt is practically reduced to shreds, preserving her (admittedly barely-existent) modesty in only the loosest sense, and she's still bleeding in some places on her arms. You tear off some scraps of the lower edge of your tunic to use as bandages, which Jitter—the only one of you with any Medicine skill, although hardly a high number—applies to staunch the bleeding for now. Once that's settled, the only thing left is to check your character sheet.