First thing about the rat mom - What level are you/your party? On level four, it's hard as all hells, level five party can do it just barly; personally, I never tried that quest before level six (the amazon was usually about to hit level seven by that time).
I ran through that battle twice now and this is what I found to work:
-Stand as back as you can (where the orange crystals rise up from the ground, blocking your way back). Target one of the rats near the rat mom with an archer (the amazon should do the trick). This will usually draw the smaller rats to you, but the big momma won't immediately attack you.
-If the above worked, you can also try placing some traps in front of you before you draw the big rat over (optional, but I found it useful, somewhat). Then use the same tactics to draw the big rat and spare no endurance and astral power attacking her.
-Unlike what you did, whenever the mom rat summoned her minions, I always dispatched the smaller rats first before going back to hacking at her. hat way, I didn't have those small pests biting my behind all the time. If your mage or the giggly girl (Gladys, btw) are still standing by that time, you can use the two of them to buff/heal the dwarf and the amazon while they're killing the smaller rats.
-The rat mom will summon the small rats three times, so repeat this three times. After that, just give her all you've got one final time and she should be down. By this time, I either had just the amazon or just the dwarf still standing, but s/he was able to bring the rat mom down just fine in the end.
-The key thing is to have enough healing potions on everybody and to max out the willpower on all your party memebers - that way, they're less prone to falling down or getting wounded and, consequently, dropping dead.
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The guild - In Wagoner's Home, opposite the tavern and right next to the huckster merchant there is a shed-like thingy (that looks like a privy, really). Just enter it.
