Of all the adventures I’ve run, Danger at Dunwater is one of the most difficult to approach.

Why is that? It’s because it’s very hard to discern the shape of it. You’ve got an adventure that well could be entirely played as “you walk up to the lizardfolk, talk to it in Draconic, and part friends”. That’s what happened the first time I ran it. That was as part of a home game, so I wasn’t too concerned, but approaching it as part of organised play, you want to offer something more (if only to get the required hours so characters can gain a level).

The additions and subtractions from the original text are fascinating. In the original text, the adventurers are likely to kill a number of lizardfolk before realising their mistake and can pay a weregild to atone. In the revision, killing a number of lizardfolk is likely to mean the mission is failed. In the revision, killing lizardfolk likely means the mission is failed, and there’s no option of weregild. Instead, upon gaining peaceful relations with the lizardfolk, you need to gain the trust of each of the various groups before they’ll agree to help you against the real enemy – the sahuagin.

The trouble is that there’s scant information about role-playing this out. Yes, there’s a set of DCs for each group which must be attained with Charisma checks, but I’m not enthralled by rolling dice with no real decision-making.

If you’ve got the time, determine how the players will role-play with each group, create mini-encounters, and go from there. Expand on the clues in the text, and design a set of role-playing challenges that mean you can do more than just roll dice. The tension between the priests and the sovereign provides a good starting point, but I must admit I’m not sure the best way to handle this!

For my own play of the adventure, I went with an approach similar to the original. The characters were made fearful of the role of the lizardfolk, and so upon entering the lair, they misinterpreted the actions of the lizardfolk and attacked!

Weregild. In Germanic societies before the 12th century, if someone injured or killed a person, or damaged or destroyed an item, they were made to pay money as restitution. You can see the concept in the Saga of the Volsungs, as well as in Tolkien.

This led to several sessions of raids on the lizardfolk, with the adventurers retreating after each raid. For third-level characters, they’re very likely to need to withdraw. This leads to the other section missing from the reprint: the Lizardfolk Replacement of Losses. A summary of the original advice:

• After the first expedition, 50% of lizardfolk (only) losses are replaced, there’s a 1 in 8 chance of random encounters rather than 1 in 12. Lizardfolk can’t be surprised.
• After the second expedition, 50% of lizardfolk losses are replaced, the chance of random encounters increases to 1 in 6.
• After the third expedition, no more lizardfolk are replaced, but the remaining lizardfolk warriors find the adventurers’ camp and attack it.

So, with those factors in mind, the party attacked against a weakening defense each time. It wasn’t easy, and their first expedition got no further than the initial guard room, but by the party’s third expedition, they were finally able to break through into the throne room, where they were confronted by an angry queen who spoke Common.

A note: the party attacked the first two times through the side door (area 1) before coming in the main entrance (through the giant lizards) in the last foray, which meant the lizardfolk weren’t expecting them from that direction! The lizardfolk had a limited reactive defense in each time, as their lair isn’t set up very well for alerting the rest of the guards.

Luckily for the plot of the adventure, the characters listened to the queen, and reacted with shock when they realised that the lizardfolk weren’t their enemies. If I played per the revised text, the adventurers would have no chance of making an alliance; however, as I was basing the play off the original text, we moved to a period of bargaining. Despite the lizardfolk losses, the ability of the adventurers to fight the lizardfolk gave the Queen hope that they’d be able to use those talents against the true enemy – the sahuagin!

For, as it turned out, the lizardfolk buying weapons from the smugglers was not to attack humanity, but instead to reclaim their stronghold which the sea devils had taken from them!

I used the additional quest – the Queen commanded the characters to kill a giant crocodile that laired in the swamp. This wasn’t easy – the crocodile attacked with surprise while they were distracted by other features around its lair – but eventually they were successful. The adventurers returned to Saltmarsh, where the council began its deliberations on whether to join the alliance against the sea devils.

It would be a few adventures until we reached The Final Enemy. There’s some side missions to take in the meantime!