(Following: 2. House of Thalivar )
Rescuing the Missing Patrol
A half-orc stonemason that has been a good hard worker alongside Tallon the Tall (named Breltora Red-Eye) approaches the party one morning, a worried expression on her face. She is friends with one of the garrison 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.
During the rebuilding in the past year, these patrols have not spotted anything more dangerous than a nest of snakes or a random alligator. But for the first time, a Leilon patrol has failed to return - Private Vester was among the patrol’s four soldiers, now a full two days late. When she approached Sgt. Yorrum, he brushed off her concerns, insisting 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. Breltora hopes you might find out what happened - she has a map that Yorrum tossed to her, suggesting maybe someone else might address her complaint.
(Ahead of this mission, the party gathers some information on the swamp, see part-1 of History of the Mere of Dead Men)
Into The Swamp
The party travels along the High Road southward, toward Mere of Dead Men - plenty of crocodiles and pythons (each from man-sized to enormous), a team of powerful hunters in the distance fighting a huge many-headed beast called a hydra (Ujio notes parts of the creature are used by alchemists), quicksand pits, and a variety of humanoid-things adapted to this environment:- Lizardfolk (not evil, nothing like the Kobalds that attacked Phandalin, basic tribespeople)
- Bullywugs (Evil frog-humanoids)
- Yuan-Ti (Evil snake-humanoids)
Piecing together some lore between
Willow speaking with the
Lizardfolk and the rescued merchants, the
Yuan-Ti are ancient and wicked and apex of these races. Once ruling empires in time forgotten, and now spread throughout the world in cults and temples to dark gods, including most certainly close ties to the
Cult of the Dragon. While unable to challenge the physical or sorcerous strength of the Yuan-Ti, the
Bullywugs consider themselves the rightful rulers of all swamps. They are thoroughly evil, murderous, untrustworthy and spiteful - viciously competing for made-up titles to make them feel lordly even in the muck of their bog kingdoms. Bullywugs’ strength lies in their sheer numbers and ability to organize; able to speak over long distances and with the amphibians of their lands.
Last, the Lizardfolk are a primitive people who generally keep to themselves, rarely even trading with other races. They are not really able to think in terms of good or evil, they are very basic. Though they speak Draconic, their ties to dragons are not really known - other than, as with the Yuan-Ti and Bullywugs, they can be easily intimidated into serving strong masters - and so sometimes are forced to be the patrols, servants and even soldiers for dragons.
The missing patrol from Leilon was captured by a band of Lizardfolk, who apparently used trespassers as distractions to lure the swamp’s trolls away from their village, which had been repeatedly attacked. A group of merchants had also been captured, and the Lizardfolk were dragging both the Leilon patrol and the merchants in cages pulled by giant snails (one of which was a “Flail Snail” - somewhat terrifying!) Willow was able to converse with the tribe’s leader and convince them to release the prisoners if the party eliminated the troll threat.
Ultimately, this was done, and one of the merchants even suggested the tribe could relocate closer to Leilon and they could share in the defenses of each other. This became the plan after the party fought and killed the three massive trolls causing the immediate threat. Promising to speak on behalf of the tribe, the party returned to Leilon with the patrol and the merchants (whose guild rewarded the party with 500 gp!) and the Lizardfolk tribe packing up to shift to re-settle some 10 miles southwest of Leilon inside the Mere.
On the return, one of the merchants tells a tale of the Mere of Dead Men (see: History of the Mere of Dead Men).
(Next: 4. The Scaly Eyes - which follows the party's engaging The Dragon Queen story)
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