The Missing Road Patrol
The Missing Road Patrol
Read aloud
Four wardens hired to patrol the older eastern road from Greyhaven have not returned. Their employer offers 160 gold pieces for answers and asks you to bring home any survivors. The last reliable sign is a patrol marker pointing toward the overgrown road.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Locate the patrol's last position and find the abandoned tollhouse.
- 2Rescue the surviving wardens from the tollhouse nest.
- 3Report the outcome to Mara Venn.
- 4Recover stolen patrol equipment and notes.Optional
The clock
Each full day after the party reaches the road, the captives grow weaker from thirst, exposure, and injuries. After two days, one captive is at serious risk of dying without care. Use this as pressure, not a forced outcome: a direct route, a successful lead, or good planning can preserve time.
Scenes
- 0:00Four Who Did Not Return
- 0:25The Trail in the Cut
- 1:20Under the Old Tollhouse
- 2:50The People at the Bend
- 3:35A Road Accounted For
Cast
- Mara VennQuestgiver
- Tomas ReedAlly
- Hesta BrannWitness
- The Tollhouse BroodmotherAntagonist
The hook
Set the scene
Mara Venn meets the party in a Greyhaven roadside office. She shows them the old eastern road on a hand-drawn map, explains that four hired wardens missed their check-in, and offers 160 gp for the job. She has one useful fact: a traveler saw the patrol's marker turned toward the overgrown road two days ago. Give the party time to ask questions, buy supplies, and choose whether to start with the road or question travelers.
How Mara Venn asks
Mara asks for a discreet, prompt search and emphasizes that rescuing survivors matters more than punishing whoever or whatever caused the disappearance.
She offers 160 gp for the job, payable on the party's return with survivors or credible evidence. She can also provide a rough map and basic trail supplies if available in the campaign.
Rumours
Scenes
about 4 hours0:00
25 min
socialThe table is here
1. Four Who Did Not Return
Mara Venn's roadside office in Greyhaven
Mara presents the job, the map, and the last known sign. Players can ask questions, prepare, and choose their first lead.
NextThe party sets out along the eastern road. A successful inquiry among travelers or a careful reading of the map can identify the stream crossing as the best search point.
0:25
55 min
exploration
2. The Trail in the Cut
The wooded road cut and stream crossing
Show signs of a hurried retreat: a broken spear, a blood trail, old webbing, and a patrol marker that has been turned. Tomas is nearby and can be found by following his faint trail, calling for help, or checking the drainage ditch. If the party misses him, the trail still leads toward the tollhouse.
Webline AmbushNextTomas gives the party a practical route to the tollhouse and warns that two wardens may still be alive. If he is not found, the webbed trail and signs of dragged gear point the same way.
1:20
90 min
combat
3. Under the Old Tollhouse
The abandoned tollhouse and its cellar
The party reaches the tollhouse. They can scout, approach quietly, use bait or fire as a distraction, or force a direct assault. The cellar and broken roof create multiple approaches; the captives can be heard or seen if the party searches carefully.
The Webbed TollhouseNextOnce the nest is no longer an immediate threat, the party can free the captives, search for the dead warden and patrol notes, and decide whether to pursue the bandits or return directly.
2:50
45 min
social
4. The People at the Bend
A rocky bend and dry streambed on the return route
The party encounters the bandits near the streambed, or finds their camp after following the moved marker. Their leader can trade information or stolen supplies for food, coin, or safe passage. The party can bypass the camp entirely.
The Roadside ClaimNextWith the survivors, evidence, or recovered notes in hand, the party can take the safer marked route back to Greyhaven.
3:35
25 min
social
5. A Road Accounted For
Greyhaven, at Mara's office or a local healer's room
The party returns to Mara and reports who survived, what was recovered, and what risks remain on the road. Give the wardens time to reunite, grieve, or receive treatment before closing the job.
NextMara pays the agreed fee. The party can take a rest, continue their travels, or decide whether to help Greyhaven address the old road's future.
Behind it
What people believe
Four hired wardens vanished while patrolling the older eastern trade road from Greyhaven.
The road is overgrown, travelers report misleading trail markers, and an abandoned toll station lies somewhere beyond the last reliable sign. Mara Venn will pay 160 gp for answers and the return of any survivors.
Background
Prep aid only, not established campaign canon.
The older eastern trade road from Greyhaven runs through wooded, rocky country and has fallen out of regular use. Its abandoned toll station and drainage culvert provide plausible shelter for a nest of giant spiders. Adapt names, distances, and any setting details to the campaign without changing existing lore.
The stakes
Two wardens are alive but trapped without food or medical care; another has died, and the fourth is injured and hiding.
Delay, careless fire, or a failed rescue can cost lives. The road remains dangerous to travelers until the nest and misleading markers are dealt with.
Encounters
3Webline Ambush
Combat
A narrow wooded cut on the old road, with low branches, waist-high webs, a shallow ditch, and several trees that provide cover but restrict movement.
Foes
2 giant spiders
ComplicationThe webbed path is difficult terrain, and the spiders try to separate a character from the other. A trapped patrol warden is visible but not immediately reachable.
ScalingFor a less punishing opening, use 1 giant spider and several harmless web-snared carcasses as evidence. If the party is fresh and handling the fight easily, add 1 giant wolf spider. Avoid having both giant spiders focus fire on a restrained character for multiple rounds.
The Webbed Tollhouse
Combat
An abandoned stone tollhouse with a collapsed roof, broken counters, web curtains, a narrow stair to the cellar, and suspended cocoons. Clear paths between the entrance and captives allow movement choices.
Foes
The Tollhouse Broodmother (use giant spider statistics)
2 giant wolf spiders
ComplicationThe broodmother can retreat into a narrow ceiling gap that Medium creatures cannot enter. Burning the nest may free captives quickly but risks harming them and setting the dry structure alight.
ScalingFor a lower-risk climax, use the broodmother alone and have the wolf spiders flee when it is bloodied. For a stronger party or unusually effective tactics, add 1 giant spider arriving after 2 rounds. The captives are threatened by the environment, not used as automatic damage targets.
The Roadside Claim
Combat or social
A rocky bend beside a dry streambed, with a low fallen log, scrub cover, and a clear retreat route into the trees.
Foes
3 bandits
ComplicationThe bandits are hungry and wary, not committed to a fight. They may demand food or a safe passage in exchange for directions; if attacked, one tries to escape with the patrol's route notes.
ScalingThis is an optional encounter. The party can negotiate, intimidate, or avoid the bandits. If combat is desired but the party is depleted, use 2 bandits; if they are fresh and the scene needs resistance, add 1 bandit who arrives late.
Cast
4Mara Venn
QuestgiverQuestgiver, Greyhaven road contractor
WantsRecover the wardens and learn why the patrol disappeared. She has authority to pay the promised fee but cannot risk sending another group herself.
““I hired four people to watch that road, not vanish into it. Bring back whoever you can, and tell me plainly what happened.””
Tomas Reed
Ally, escaped patrol warden
WantsKeep the other captives alive and escape. He knows the patrol's last route and can point out a safer approach to the toll station.
““The old tollhouse is webbed over. We heard someone answer from below, then the spiders came back.””
Hesta Brann
Witness, captured patrol warden
WantsSurvive and get his captured companions out. He is willing to negotiate with the party or the spiders if it buys time, but will not knowingly abandon captives.
““We were paid to keep travelers off the road. No one said we had to die for it.””
The Tollhouse Broodmother
Antagonist, giant spider
WantsDefend its nest and secure food. It is an animal predator, not a mastermind; it may retreat or be distracted by prey, fire, or a clear escape route.
““Take the noisy ones. Leave the wrapped ones.””
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A surviving warden's serviceable shortsword, shield, or travel gear, if the party requests it and the warden agrees.
Optional: a small cache of bandit-stolen road supplies, such as rope, rations, and two healing kits. These are mundane supplies, not magic items.
On a win
The party returns with any survivors and a truthful account of what happened.
Mara pays the promised 160 gp and can arrange medical care for the wardens. The immediate rescue is complete whether the party killed the spiders, drove them off, or negotiated a safe release.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party withdraws from the tollhouse without freeing the wardens.
- The captives remain in the nest. The broodmother moves them deeper into the cellar, making another rescue attempt harder but still possible; Mara does not pay the rescue portion until the party returns with evidence or survivors.
- The party fails a tracking or navigation challenge.
- If the party loses the trail, Tomas's marker or the bandits' directions provide a fallback route after a delay. The captives suffer another night without care, and the party spends extra food and daylight.
- The party ignores a rescued warden's urgent injury or cannot manage the return journey.
- A rescued warden may die from untreated injuries during the return. Stabilizing and carrying the injured costs time and may require leaving equipment or taking a safer, longer route.
- Negotiations with the roadside bandits collapse.
- If the party attacks the bandits after they offer terms, surviving bandits may report the party to nearby travelers as dangerous. If the party accepts their terms, the wardens are still recoverable, but the bandits keep any stolen patrol supplies.
Complications (d6)
- 1A cold rain swells the road's shallow stream. Crossing the ford now requires a group check or a slower detour; a failed crossing wets supplies and costs several hours.
- 2Fresh web strands cross the trail at ankle height. A careless approach alerts nearby spiders, giving them time to prepare an ambush.
- 3A wounded deer thrashes in a roadside snare. Cutting it free quietly can provide bait or food, but its cries draw a nearby predator if the party delays.
- 4A patrol marker has been turned to point down a washed-out ravine. Following it costs an hour and risks a fall; examining the ground reveals that someone deliberately moved it.
- 5One captive begins to struggle against the webbing while the party is within earshot. The noise alerts the nest unless the party quickly calls out, cuts a path, or creates a distraction.
- 6A gust tears loose part of the tollhouse roof. The resulting crash changes the approach: it opens a breach, but also draws the broodmother toward the sound.
Media
0 imagesNo images yet.
Turn The Missing Road Patrol into a sheet
A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.
