Found a rat gnawing at the wiring in the Serpent's storage shed today. The four-legged kind, for once. Stares at the ancient, wheezing generator it had been chewing on. It's a metaphor, I think. For this town. Something vital is always being slowly, methodically eaten away while everyone's looking the other direction. The little guy was just hungry though. Gave him some cheese and sent him on his way. A more honest creature than most of the two-legged vermin I have to deal with.