Rat killing in the sewers

You see one, and sigh out loud. It is the most cliche start to an adventure, even more than escaping prison. There is a contract for killing some large rats in the sewers. Figuring this is a decent starting spot for your career, being both in your home city and the irony of cat killing mouse, you accept. You take the ad off the board, and show the receptionist. She marks it down in your newly created file and says “smart starting small. Good luck, and don’t get killed.”

On that morbid note you leave the guild and head to the main sewer entrance in your section of the city. Climbing down the rusty metal bars that pretend to be a ladder, you are grateful for your natural low light vision, as the old stone sewers are barely lit. There are pathways on either side of a deep waste river, and the smell overwhelms you at first.

Letting yourself get accustomed, you grab your main knife in your dominate hand, while carrying a throwing dagger in your other. You are mostly ambidextrous, but still favor your left as a dominant.

Slowly walking forward, you remember the contract. Kill 10 large rats to complete the contract and earn full pay, with an additional 5 copper for each more rat. Proof was by the tail tips, which would need to be cut off. In such a large city, the sewers went on forever, and these contracts were necessary to quell the population of pests and disease carriers, and normally funded by taxes.

After a few minutes, you spot your first rat. In this area, the rats were normally about 10 lbs... but this was a big one. The size of a dog, it was likely about 25 lbs, with matted fur and a large scar on its back. It is chewing on something large, and hasn’t spotted you yet.