Rat insurrection! The rats of Lankhmar are plotting to take over the world, starting with Lankhmar. Their first step, destroy Lankhmar's alliances by scuttling their grain shipments to their allies. This is where Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser come in.
The two adventurers are hired by the overlord of Lankhmar to ensure the latest shipments make it to their destinations. No one is quite sure what has been causing the previous shipments to be lost at sea.
On board the ship is the chief Lankhmarian grain merchant's daughter, Hisvet, and her twelve trained white rats. The rats wear clothes, use weapons and perform on command.
Just as with the previous shipment, the grain convoy is attacked. But the attackers turn out to be hundreds of rats, launched from the enemy ship, and intent on gnawing holes in the hull of the grain ship causing it to founder. But the attack is thwarted by the fortunate arrival of a two headed dragon with a huge appetite for rats.
With the grain successfully delivered, the two heroes split up, with Fafhrd staying at their destination and the Gray Mouser heading back to Lankhmar. But when he gets back, he finds that Hisvet and her father have been badmouthing him to the overlord. It has become quite clear to the Gray Mouser that Hisvet and her father are behind the grain shipment sabotage, for reasons not yet clear to him. Seeking help, he visits his patron wizard who gives him a magic potion.
This potion, when consumed, shrinks the Gray Mouser down to rat size and he sneaks into the city of rats that exists under Lankhmar. There he stumbles upon the vicious rat plot to enslave humankind and make themselves rulers of the world.
Next to the short story, Lean Times in Lankhmar, this is my favorite Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story, only this is a full length novel. Like most of the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, it is a combination of action, adventure, magic, drunkenness and the strangeness typical of Nehwon.
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