Creepy Things in the Sewers, Part 3 (rats and rats)

After defeating two waves of kruthiks above ground and two ochre jellies below, the PCs continued their search for whatever was behind the kruthik invasion of the town.

Down the passage, around a bend, they came to another door. When they opened it, the paladin and ranger were immediately swarmed by rats. The ranger took bite damage and discovered she took more just for starting her turn in the rats' space. She was not happy. She was less happy when the tiefling wizard's response to her cries for help was "How much fire damage can you take?"

The wizard came to her friends' rescue, unloading area-effect fire spells in their general direction. The ranger survived, but was not feeling well at all. More targeted blasting from the wizard and some smashing from the paladin finished the rest of the rats.

There was another door inside the rat room. A stellar listen check was rewarded with the sound of squeaking on the other side. They decided to take these new rats by surprise by tying a rope to the door latch and getting behind the wizard. They yanked the door open and the wizard unleashed Burning Hands, wiping out two giant rats and seriously damaging two more swarms. She then won initiative and spent an action point to hit the swarms with two Scorching Bursts. Then the paladin stepped into the doorway to block the rats' advance. Two rounds later all the rats had been destroyed except one dire rat that sat in the back of the room, watching them.

The last rat turned out to be a wererat, who decided to talk to party rather than engage them. When he found out they were looking for kruthiks, he told them there were gnomes behind the trouble, and happily ratted them out.

Analysis:
Jen's wizard got to shine here - she was really on fire. As far as the wererat hanging back instead of engaging - I was trying to see the situation from his point of view. The rats had an inkling that something was on the other side of the door. Before they could really investigate, the door flew open and three fiery blasts (and a dwarf) came through it. What do you do when your front door flies open and an inferno erupts out of it?