“Missing Patrol” is balanced for characters of 7th level, although characters of 8th level should also find the quest challenging.
This quest is suitable to play after the characters have rescued Leilon in “A Normal Day in Leilon,” but before they find all the clues that lead them to the final quest: “Thunder Cliffs.”
A half-orc stonemason named Breltora Red-Eye approaches the characters one morning, a worried expression on her face. She is friends with one of the soldiers, Private Vester Jessup. He works under Sgt. Yorrum, and he was set into the Mere of Dead Men as part of a regularly scheduled patrol. Vester told Breltora that Yorrum has them patrol the stretch of the High Road that runs along the edge of the terrible swamp to ensure that no dangerous creatures have established lairs there.
Since the reestablishment of Leilon, none of these patrols have spotted anything more dangerous than a nest of snakes or a random alligator. For the first time, however, a patrol has failed to return. The latest patrol, comprised of four soldiers, including Private Vester, is a full two days late. Breltora asks the characters to find out what happened.
If the characters talk to Sgt. Yorrum, he brushes off their concerns with a lazy wave of his hand. He says he can’t spare any more of his troops to look into the missing soldiers, especially with the recent threats from the lightning worshippers and the undead. He tells the party that they can look for the missing soldiers if they want. If they ask for more information, he sighs and makes a production of pulling out a map to show the party the normal patrol area.
Location Overview
The Mere of Dead Men is an expansive marsh that has been a bane to travelers along the High Road for centuries. All attempts to tame the wild swamp have failed, as countless threats call the area home: young dragons, trolls, lizardfolk tribes, swamp beasts, and even more aberrant monsters. At best, the forces of civilization hope to keep the High Road safely passable to facilitate trade and travel between Waterdeep and the lands of the north.
Recently, a relatively peaceful lizardfolk tribe living in the vicinity of the High Road was forced to relocate when a group of rot trolls attacked their home. This attack pushed the lizardfolk to move closer to the High Road, putting them into conflict with travelers who assumed that their appearance was an attack. The lizardfolk defended themselves, taking human prisoners, including the four soldiers from Leilon.
The lizardfolk use most of the prisoners as a means to keep the rot trolls away from their traveling village. Prisoners are left tied up in cages, then the lizardfolk move in the opposite direction, hoping the trolls leave them alone in favor of the offering.
Quest Goals
To complete the Missing Patrol quest (see “area Leilon Quests"), the adventurers must find and defeat the leaders of the lizardfolk tribe, fight off any pursuing rot trolls, and rescue the humans taken prisoner. Some of these objectives can be achieved through negotiation or trickery, especially when dealing with the lizardfolk tribe.
Travel in the Mere
As the party moves south on the High Road from Leilon, they don’t find anything of import right away. Once they find evidence of trouble, they must move off the main path and deeper into the Mere of Dead Men to investigate.
Traveling within the Mere requires ability checks to follow the lizardfolk’s trail and avoid hazards and threats (see “area Tracking the Lizards” below). Any time the party fails at one of these ability checks, roll on the Mere Encounters table below.
Mere Encounters
| 2d6 | Event (see below for details) |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | area Yuan-ti Scouts |
| 4-5 | area Pit of Snakes |
| 6-8 | area Quicksand and Alligators |
| 9-10 | area Troll Brawl |
| 11-12 | area Hydra Wranglers |
Encounters in the Mere
The adventurers might have the following encounters as they search the marsh for the missing soldiers.
Yuan-ti Scouts
A yuan-ti expedition from the serpent kingdom of Najara has been exploring the Mere of Dead Men, assessing it as a location for colonization—and then to serve as a launch point for attacks in the north.
A yuan-ti abomination acts as an advance scout for these expeditions. The party comes upon him as he devours a large elk. The abomination does not wish anyone to know of the yuan-ti’s plans in this area, so he attempts to kill anyone who sees him. If there are five or more characters (including sidekicks), add a second abomination.
Pit of Snakes
The characters lose the trail and wander into an area where swamp gas has built up beneath the surface of the Mere. Characters who succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (
A pit of snakes opens to the right of the characters as they pass, and one giant constrictor snake, plus an additional snake for every character, including sidekicks, emerges from the pit looking for a meal.
Any magical or normal fire larger than a torch could ignite the swamp gas. Whenever a fire-based spell or effect is used, roll a
Quicksand and Alligators
As the party loses the trail for a moment, they stumble into a dangerous part of the marsh with a 10-foot square, 20-foot deep pit of quicksand. Unless the character doing the tracking succeeds on a DC 18 Intelligence (
If the creature isn’t completely submerged in quicksand, it can escape by using its action and succeeding on a Strength check, DC 10 plus the number of feet the creature has sunk already. A creature that is completely submerged in quicksand can’t breathe (see the suffocation rules in the Player’s Handbook).
A creature not sunk in the quicksand can pull another creature within its reach out of a quicksand pit by using its action and succeeding on a Strength check, DC 5 plus the number of feet the target creature has sunk into the quicksand.
While the party deals with the quicksand, a giant crocodile and its young (one crocodile per 2 characters) emerge from the swamp and attack.
Troll Brawl
While following the trail of the lizardfolk, the party comes across three Troll fighting over the remains of a lizardfolk who died at the hands of one of the rot trolls. The trolls claw and bite each other, trying to take possession of the tasty lizardfolk remains.
When the characters find the trolls, they are each at half their starting hit points. If the characters can remain quiet, the trolls beat each other up even more, until they are all down to a quarter of their starting hit points.
The first troll to die carries a sack, and in it there are three
Hydra Wranglers
After hearing rumors of a hydra lairing in the Mere of Dead Men, a Waterdhavian circus owner hired a band of mercenaries to go into the swamp, locate the hydra, capture it, and bring it back to Waterdeep to be the main attraction in the circus. Little did the mercenaries realize that one does not simply capture a hydra.
The adventurers lose the correct trail and pick up on the trail of the mercenaries. When they arrive on the scene, several mercenaries are dead, and the remaining three are preparing to flee.
The hydra has a number of active heads equal to the number of characters and 30 hit points per character, excluding sidekicks. The mercenaries are of little use in the battle. They do, however, carry five
Tracking the Lizards
When the party arrives at the area where the map shows the start of the patrol route, they come upon a worrisome scene. Use the read-aloud text below to describe the area:
The map shows that the area you now travel is where the High Road runs into the edge of the Mere of Dead Men. The Leilon soldiers start their patrol into the Mere here. Just off the path, the wet earth is dug up by battle, and bloodstains dot the ground.
An examination of the area finds a broken cart half-buried in the mud, a broken sword blade, and some buttons from a jacket worn by Leilon soldiers. An obvious trail also leads west, deeper into the Mere of Dead Men.
With a successful DC 10 Wisdom (
- A large number of tracks are apparent. Most are made by bipedal lizards of various sizes. Some are booted prints the size of humans.
- There are strange ruts in the mud that look like dual-tracked sleds. The ruts are deep enough that the sleds are probably pulling a great deal of weight.
- On top of the mud along the tracks are several trails of slimy residue, like those created by snails as they move.
Following the Tracks
Most of the time, the tracks are easy to follow. However, occasionally the trail runs through very swampy water, and tracking becomes more difficult.
In order to catch up to the lizardfolk tribe, the party must succeed on three DC 15 Wisdom (
After three successful
Fighting the Lizards
Use the Missing Patrol Map for this encounter.
The characters have braved the swampland, tracking the lizardfolk tribe and their mobile village. The lizardfolk have finally stopped to rest, giving the party the chance to catch them. As the characters come upon the lizardfolk, use the following read-aloud text to set the scene:
Ahead of you, the sound of murmuring and hissing voices rises above the droning of insects. Several carts fitted with sled rails are being pulled by giant snails with thick appendages protruding from their heads. Most of the carts carry lizardfolk of various ages and size, but two of them bear cages. Each cage contains four humans, and you recognize four of them, by their uniform, as the soldiers you were sent to rescue.
A tall lizardfolk addresses the fifty or so of his fellows, and they scatter, performing the tasks of setting up camp. A larger, bestial-looking lizardfolk moves closer to the leader, as if waiting for directions.
Adventurers who understand Draconic learn that the tall lizardfolk is the leader. He is ordering his followers to feed the prisoners and see to the needs of the rest of the group. He also orders the large lizardfolk next to him to go off into the swamp, scout for enemies, and bring back something to cook.
The eight humans inside the two cages include the four soldiers from Leilon, one of whom is Private Vesper, as well as four humans who were part of a merchant caravan that foolishly attacked the lizardfolk when they saw the creatures moving through the swamp.
Lizardfolk Forces
The leader is a lizardfolk subchief (see appendix A) called Hissain. The large lizardfolk with him is a lizardfolk render (see appendix A) whom the others call Slosh. The warriors who follow Hissain’s orders are normal lizardfolk, and there is one per character, including sidekicks. The sleds and cages are pulled by Flail Snail (see appendix A), but only one of those creatures' attacks (the one next to Hissain), unless they are attacked first. The rest of the lizardfolk in the tribe are young, elderly, and other noncombatants.
The Unfolding Situation
The party might handle this situation in several ways. If they are a typical adventuring party, they charge in without a plan. However, they might favor caution and knowledge over brute force.
A more cautious party can better catch the lizards unaware and might even learn more about the tribe’s own troubles. The subchief Hissain orders one of the lizardfolk to start boiling a pot of water to “leave the trolls a distraction.” He then discusses plans, after the tribe has rested, to leave the cooked human here, and take the traveling village in a different direction to keep the tribe safe from the rot trolls. This could give the party some information on a peaceful resolution.
If the party approaches peacefully and succeeds on some DC 15 Charisma (
A Rotten Way to Die
When you, as the DM, feel it is most appropriate, the interactions between the party and the lizardfolk tribe are interrupted when one of the Rot Troll (see appendix A) infesting the area shows up, looking for dinner.
If the adventurers slaughtered the lizardfolk combatants without trying to parley, they have no assistance in fighting the rot troll. If the battle is still going on, all the remaining lizardfolk combatants immediately turn their attention to the troll. This new situation might be the impetus for a peaceful resolution to hostilities between the lizardfolk and the party.
Defeating one rot troll is a good start, but in order to peacefully release the prisoners, the lizardfolk insist that the characters defeat a total of three rot trolls. They can accomplish this by hunting the remaining two trolls in the swamp, or they can wait until the trolls come to them, which doesn’t take more than 24 hours after killing the first.
Aftermath
The party can rescue the prisoners either by defeating the lizardfolk tribe, finding common ground with the tribe by defeating the rot trolls, some combination of the two, or by coming up with a solution of their own.
If successful, the characters can free the four merchants, who offer a total of 500 gp for their rescue, and also lead the soldiers back to Leilon.
If the characters were able to strike a deal with the lizardfolk tribe, they might even convince them to move closer to Leilon, where they can establish a mutual defense pact, trade of goods and food, or some other beneficial and peaceful coexistence.