4 Yarthmont - Rats as big as cats?

 With the sour taste of the wine still in his mouth, Broneslav headed back into the big chapel and out of the opposite door. A short way up the corridor he was now in, there was a junction to the left. Pausing to look around at the junction and wary of ambush, he suddenly noticed a difference in the wear patterns on the floor. Further investigation revealed a secret door that took him little time to open. Being a secret door, Broneslav assumed that it hid something of interest to him, so he went through and followed the corridor.

The door at the end opened into a room that looked like it had once been a guardroom at the top of some stairs but was now repurposed as living quarters. Four beds were arranged along the walls. A table occupied the centre of the room. One of the tables hit the floor as Broneslav stepped in. It's occupant was a person dressed in red robes and wearing a rat mask. The other three people in the room were also dressed in like fashion.

The people looked at each other just as Broneslav began to greet them tentatively. Then they leapt for him, transforming into human-sized rats as they did so. Broneslav was borne back under the onslaught but still managed to fend off all bar one of the wererats (1 DAM). His response was to crush the skull of one of the rats. He followed that up by slaying another of the monstrous rats and badly wounding a third. Furiously using his shield to block them, he then cut and smashed at the creatures who died quickly in succession.

Broneslav bandaged his wound and searched the room, finding what he presumed was a reasonable hoard of ill-gotten gains: 350 silver coins and 4 gems worth about 100 royals each. He then checked the stairs, but found them blocked by rubble just a short way down. Nothing for it but to head back out and along the other corridor.

Broneslav has now gained enough experience to go up a level. He gains +1 Attack, 4 HPs and 1 trait point. I am tempted to give him a point in 'connections in Cynidicea' or even Cynidicean as a language to memorialise this adventure, but I decided to increase his Keen Vision trait because he has done moderately well at spotting secret doors in this dungeon. I assume he has learned from this and will be even better at spotting them in the future.