The Ordered Rats of Martira Bay

Hook

Rats in Martira Bay moved along unnaturally straight routes as though following an unseen network.

Multiple rats ran in straight lines rather than scattering naturally.
A badger summoned from Carver’s Bag of Tricks killed two that appeared to be ordinary rats.
Further skittering led to a nest and a rat hole entering a nearby house.
A human-sized head moved behind the house’s window after Rage knocked.
Kargatane enforcers dismissed Rage’s warning but noted the address for later.
Vidic provided information about creatures capable of assuming ratlike forms, though the precise advice was not recorded.
After the Pale Lantern gathering, Rage struck a passing rat with a handaxe and saw it rise onto its hind legs.
Two more joined it, and the three fought with coordination and ferocity far beyond mundane rats.
They nearly killed Ignatius before Rage killed one and Carver restored the monk.
One escaped; Rage knocked another unconscious and captured it alive.
The captive was confirmed as a wererat serving Alcio “Baron” Metus.
It belonged to the Kargatane’s second circle and described the party as members of the outer circle.
It confirmed that the rat-connected house was a gang hideout.
Rage killed the prisoner after the interrogation and removed the heads from the alley.

Are the rats trained, controlled, transformed, or merely following something imperceptible?
Who occupies the connected house?
Are the routes part of a surveillance, communication, or feeding network?
Why did the enforcers discourage investigation while preserving the address?
What purpose does Baron Metus’s wererat network serve?
Did the escaped wererat report the party’s actions?
Are the festering, foul-smelling houses connected to the network?