A giant plague rat in Black Burrow

[Malik_Gynax]

I remember the plague rat from classic, but I don't remember it being hostile. My memory of 20 years ago could be faulty, of course. I just remember seeing a red con weird looking rat path the upper level of Blackburrow that was dubious and me being amused by it.

I provide no evidence, simply my own anecdote!

[Telin]

Originally Posted by Malik_Gynax [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I remember the plague rat from classic, but I don't remember it being hostile. My memory of 20 years ago could be faulty, of course. I just remember seeing a red con weird looking rat path the upper level of Blackburrow that was dubious and me being amused by it.

I provide no evidence, simply my own anecdote!

You are correct! The rat will be dubious after patch.

Source:
https://thesafehouse.org/forums/foru...to-blackburrow

[Worry]

Blackburrow is my favorite low level zone, I remember grouping there on Live.

Oddly enough coming back to it on P99 I felt there were too few mobs to have a real group there. Maybe it's just a foggy memory or people were just more open to grouping for less XP back then.

[Furinex]

Telin the real MVP

[rajax]

Originally Posted by Worry [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Blackburrow is my favorite low level zone, I remember grouping there on Live.

Oddly enough coming back to it on P99 I felt there were too few mobs to have a real group there. Maybe it's just a foggy memory or people were just more open to grouping for less XP back then.

I also restarted play recently and went through BB, the respawn zone timer seems incredibly overlong for a new character dungeon zone at 22 minutes. Me and a couple other rusty weapon and patchwork geared characters could clear 90% of the place and still be waiting for spawns.

The titled aggressive plague rat seems to share a spawn patrolling the the 2 entrance zone lines with a grizzly bear, burly gnome and Trannix Darkpaw.

Seems a bit out of balance with say Crushbone which I recall having something much faster paced probably due to smaller size around 7 min respawn but at least the only things murdering new players at the zone lines in CB were fort trains players brought there themselves.

[Ennewi]

Originally Posted by Scrumtick [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

There is also a named gnoll that occasionally roams the top as well. It may be that the rat is his PH. I suspect these appeared post-patch because I’ve leveled many toons there and never seen these until recently.

https://web.archive.org/web/20000229090549

--Submited by: Calaf On: 7/1/1999 1:09:13 PM
Sometimes a grizzly bear replaces the plague rat in Blackburrow

https://web.archive.org/web/20000229073309

--Submited by: Kamorf of Brell Serilis On: 9/7/1999 4:30:47 PM
IMPORTANT!
Do NOT kill the giant plague rat. EVER. At ANY level. Tranixx Darkpaw spawns immediately upon his death, thus virtually cutting off passage from Halas to Qeynos. Even if you plan to kill Tranixx as soon as the plague rat is dead, chances are he will nab two or three victims before you can take him out.

--Submited by: Faerun On: 9/14/1999 7:19:01 PM
....this is confirmed? Once the rat dies - Tranixx is gaurenteed to spawn? Hmmmm - this could be fun. I've been waiting for that Gnoll dirt-bag for days....

--Submited by: Jeskola Corpseshredder On: 9/16/1999 11:14:58 AM
ok.. I was bored so i decided to test out the plague rat/tranixx theory while helping the BB people with their trains. This is what transpired:
Killed the Plague Rat.. waited about an hour or two, a Grizzly Bear spawned. Killed the grizzly, waited another hour or two, a Brown Bear spawned. Killed the brown bear, waited another hour or 2, Tranixx spawned. I'm not sure if its ALWAYS like that, or if it is Random who spawns in that place between those 4 (rat, grizzly, brown bear, tranixx)

By an "hour or two" I assume the player is referring to in-game hours. Also, even though it's already been confirmed, the same site lists the plague rat as being non-hostile.

Aggressive Tendencies:
None