D&D Adventures 19: Bullywug
The mayor of the small town of Lushin asks the party to investigate some missing people in the swamps to the south. As the party delves into Lushfel swamp, they are attacked by Bullywugs.
They are then greeted by an old druid who says he’s seen omens and that something is wrong in northern Lushfel.
Back at the town, the major will inform the party that the druid isn’t right in the head. He apparently has cried wolf multiple times on different kinds of disasters that turned out to be nothing. He takes the bullywug threat very seriously and asks the party to kill them, sending a group of militia and one of their leaders to accompany them. It is clear that missing people were taken by them and this should be the solution to their problem.
However, if the party does investigate the swamp further by talking to the druid further or exploring the northern part, they’ll find that 1) There are Lizardmen in the north 2) the swamp does indeed grow fast and in a foul way too.
The major will insist on the party to attack the bullywugs, going as far as accusing them of being the bullywugs’ allies if they refuse to focus on them.
If the party explores further, they’ll see that the an unusually large number of Lizardmen have come together under a very strong leader. The major dismisses lizardmen with unconvincing reasons, eg because they are stupid, not as strong as bullywug, because they don’t seem to be close enough etc. which very quickly should raise suspicion.
The truth is that a younger Black Dragon made its lair in the swamp and is served by the lizardmen. However, the Bullywugs also have a strong leader that brought them together and they are causing problems for the lizardmen. Furthermore, the Dragon hopes that taking care of the bullywugs will take some attention off the swamp.
So he intimidated or persuaded the major to direct any adventurers to do his bidding.
If approached, the bullywug leader will be amicable for cooperation against the lizardmen.
Will the party work with bullywugs against the powerful force of lizardmen? What do bullywugs do once the deed is done? Will the party even find out what’s going on? How does the druid play into it?
There are a lot of ways to take this story toward and it can be everything from a medium-size side quest to a full-fledged story arc.
