The first thing she did was ask for my Servant to Blood Amulet and "fixed" it so I could return here without the long swim, re-enchanting it to the Servant to the Sea.

"There," she said, "that should make your return here a little less wet.

"Return?" I said. "I only just arrived."

"Well, this is no picnic." she replied, not getting the joke. "One of our necromantic interrogations turned up just the sort of thing we'd hope to find. There is a wererat to be found in a place called Los Christabel."

"Excuse me." I asked, "A what?"

"Proteus rodentia verminus, the wererat. Agile, cunning, and quick, they are somewhat lacking in physical prowess. They're better suited to live in a civilized environment that the werewolf or werebear, hard to find here, but you'll be more likely to find this creature in Vvardenfell."

"I see." I replied. I had heard rumors of werewolves in Solstheim, but had never heard of rats with that ability before. "What am I to do about this creature?"

"Los Christabel is an island with a lighthouse located just north of Dagon Fel. According to the spirit we questioned, he was the lighthouse keeper - and he was murdered by a cowardly wererat who has taken over the lighthouse. The order wishes you to travel to Los Christabel. Trying to capture this creature is too risky, so simply kill it. Bring me it's skull, along with any papers or orders relating to him that you find. This is a rare opportunity, so don't screw it up."

Well, that was a friendly send-off.  

After a quick run to Laurenna, letting her know I had to rush off to Dagon Fel, I ran to the boat docks and took the first ship out of Sadrith Mora.

I arrived at Dagon Fel as night was falling, and asked the boatman for directions to Los Christabel.

"Ah, that would be the lighthouse we passed on our way into the bay here." she replied, pointing to my right.   

I could see this was either going to be a long water-walking run, or a short flight as a cliffracer. I chose the flight - I didn't really fell like running.

The flight was only 3 minutes, much easier than running, and not as hard on an old man like myself.   

I set down on the dock at the bottom of the stairs, and changed back into my extremely handsome self. After I made sure there were no other creatures around, I proceeded up the very long set of stairs to the front door.   

Once inside, I found myself attacked by what seemed to be dozens of rats. I was glad that I had brought my Ring of Weapons with me. Even so, it was one rat after another, and seemed like hours before they were all dead.

Taking a moment to catch my breath, I noticed a body in the corner. Apparently, he had not faired so well against the rats.  

I headed up the long stairway to the tower room, finding a few more rats along the way.

I could hear the squealing of something large up ahead.  

At the top of the stairs, I was attacked by the largest rat in the world. It was the wererat that I had been told to expect. It was much larger than I thought it would be, and had huge fangs to match the claws it was attacking me with.

My shield deflected it's claws away from me, and I ducked just in time to have it's fangs miss my shoulder.

I remembered being struck by vampires, and then ending up as one. I didn't really want to end up as a wererat. I knew that Laurenna certainly wouldn't put up with me as a rat, either.

With several slashes of my broadsword, I finished the creature off, and tucked it's skull away to return to Romana Corvus. I also found some books and papers that she said to bring back if any were found.    

I used the amulet that Romana had given me to return directly to the undersea base, and handed the requested items to her.

"Excellent!" she said, "Say, these notes are interesting. I see they mention a 'Council of Vermin.' It would seem that the wererats are organized."

She was very happy with my work, and increased my rank to "Inquisitor of Sacred Untruths." I thought it was an odd title, but a title is a title.

I bid her good evening, and used the new teleport ring to arrive just outside my new home in Sadrith Mora.

The one nice thing was that even though I'd be an hour late, I'd still be home in time for dinner.