The players have made it into the sewers, and encountered both the Rat King (and mongrelmen in their "faction"), as well as fought the CHUDs used as shock troops by the wererats. Meanwhile, above ground, the elderly orc who is Harry King's second in command is going through employees with military experience and who don't have loving families to form a militia, and just storm the sewers themselves, killing anything that gets in their way. They became aware of this latest NPC action after having lunch with Mr. King at the poshest place in "The Tops"[1] I have determined that without PC intervention, this will succeed, albeit with a high casualty rate, and a lot of collateral damage. Suffice it to say, the mongrelmen are pretty much innocents who have an unfortunate symbiotic relationship with the Rat King,[2] and even the CHUDs are being abused and exploited by the wererats who dominate them with a mixture of fear and awe, and on their own, too fractured to be a real threat. The party as a whole plans on helping Harry's men after largely determining that the Rat King and mongrelmen aren't really bothering anyone, and will at least be able to direct the small army towards the wererats' forces, while they sneak into the keep and go for the head of the beast. Of course, the Token Evil Teammate has other plans, may drag the paladin into it, and make even more of a mess of things than a rampaging orc-lead militia would do on its own. Thing is, that she's an shadow elf Inquisitor. Her entire raison d' etre is to rid the world of anything associated with the Rift,[4] as well as their influence. Good and noble aims, but her evil isn't out of greed or malice, but in the sort of methods that the Inquisition is willing to use. After the paladin used his slaydar on the Rat King, and got knocked on his arse by the power of the thing's aura, and her own detection methods had similar results, she knew that the party couldn't face the Rat King on its own, especially with most PCs having a fairly relaxed attitude towards a creepy extraplanar hive-mind that is fairly content to "Watch and Wait" for an indeterminate time, and unknown reason.
The mongrelmen are caught up with it, because occasionally, it needs hands, and in return, provides safety and directs them towards vital resources. Now, the Inquisition is officially over in this human-dominated country, ever since the shadow elf occupation ended a decade ago. However, her people, like their more good, or at least neutrally-aligned human counterparts to the west, show little regard for things like "jurisdiction" and "national borders" when it comes to pursuit of their mission. They're empires, dammit, so very few people that matter will say anything about it. Now, she wants to call down the wrath of the Inquisition to cleanse the sewers of this evil influence. Given that they're religious fanatics, and still *do* have frequent strike teams encountered in this country, they'll have no compunction to invading the underground where no one on the surface will raise a stink. Given the resources at their disposal, it'll only take 2-3 days for a team to travel the couple hundred of miles and make quick work of things. Problem is, that their idea of a holy cleansing will mean not only killing the rat king and as much of the swarm as they can, but also start killing mongrelmen in order to purge the evil influence entirely. The wererats and CHUDs aren't even on the Inquisition's radar. Now, if the paladin gets dragged along with this (and he's the most likely to support going after a Big Evil, he'll need an atonement when he finds out how many innocents will get killed along the way. Unlike the orc-lead militia, the Inquisition will not negotiate with any group, nor show qualities such as "restraint" or "mercy.". They'll be satisfied with getting rid of the wererats and scattering the CHUDs back into just being an annoyance, rather than a threat, which cannot be said for the elves. Malhul (the orc) is also perfectly willing to negotiate a treaty between Harry King and the Rat King for mutual benefit, which is probably the most peaceful solution. The wererats are power-hungry and impatient, and the sister is rapidly infecting as many drunken men who are looking for a date as possible.[5] If the party really screws things up, pretty much all of the sewer dwellers will be wiped out, and business in the over city will return to normal, with very few people being any wiser as to what happened. If the party succeeds, Harry will be grateful, and provide a powerful patron in the City, Malhul will be grateful (and generous) at the prospect of losing far fewer men, as well as the chance to make work underground far safer.
Sad thing is that if the Inquisition does go down there, even with the party helping Harry, it's still not a "best ending", since the surviving mongrelmen will be forced to become refugees topside, and even more miserable, since now, they won't have their own homes, and instead be paying rent and working whatever jobs are available to those who look like they're cobbled together out of spare parts.
[1] The nickname for Elfrest, which is an enclave within the ultra-wealthy Lakes District.[3]
[2] A literal rat king made up of dire cranium rats who is at the heart of the swarm.
[3] also home to the University
[4] An big tear in the fabric of reality in her homeland, which has smaller satellites popping up elsewhere, and from which spew evil extra planar things, sapient undead, and the dark fae
[5] Her brother is running the startup in the streets, and she is trying to take over the sewers and establish a fiefdom there. The leverage they use against those she infects is the promise of a "cure" for any who serve them. Any others are disposable, and likely to become CHUD chow.