Learned about this quest/succeeded it pretty much by accident. I hadn't even been to the Checkpoint Rest town yet, and was wandering and exploring caves and roads on the way when I wandered into the Putrid Cave and killed the wolves. Rodge immediately spoke with me and acted as if I'd already met his grandfather and accepted the quest. I escorted Rodge back and I think I received the full reward. I was worried about him getting stuck so I carried him the entire way, and never had the known bug.

This whole quest was buggy: on my way out, I got pulled into the “Tensions on the Highroad” mission. Then my Pawn who knew the way stopped tracking it. Then my other Pawn stepped up, but also stopped tracking. I luckily found Putrid Cave but all that was left was his clothes. This quest was just one huge headache. Not to mention I ended up having to fight a freakin Phantasm too lol.

I just went to the cave immediately after accepting the quest to just find the boys clothes. I didn't rest before going to the cave. This must be a glitch.

Rodge was not in cave when I arrived, just a tattered shirt. Still completed quest, don't remember what reward was for not bringing him home safely.

The bug happened to me too. I got into town and he just poofed...

I lost him when heading to sphinx by chance so I should go back to the cave.

Make sure you stay on the path leading in/out of the Putrid cave. Otherwise he will get lost.

Had the bug too, on pc. I think I lost the kid when exploring The Ancient Battleground zone. Or the Worldsend Cavern within. Returning to the shop/Morris without him didn't update the quest. But the boy had returned to it's cave, even if no marker was there. Thx!