Session 4 — the deck fight
The route packet at the berth, at night · only if the party move on it
At a glance
- Who
- Ambrose Kettle, called Tinderbox (×1), and two deckhands (×2). Casks can add specters. Oswin Tuck is on the quay and does not fight. Four characters at 4th level.
- How long
- ~40 minutes. Everyone is on the deck or the quay from round 1.
- How it ends
- The deck is won, and Tuck is caught or gone.
- The one rule
- Full casks are aboard, and the cask rule applies: fire bursts, slashing or anything else lets out a specter. Tinderbox’s own spells set them off.
This page holds the deck fight’s numbers. The session 4 sheet links here. No read-alouds are written yet.
The roster
Ambrose Kettle, called Tinderbox
Ambrose Kettle, the packet’s master
Reskin of the Mage (MM) · Medium humanoid (human), any alignment · no house tweaks
Saving Throws Int +6, Wis +4 · Skills Arcana +6, History +6 · Senses passive Perception 11
Spellcasting. 9th-level caster, Intelligence, spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks. Cantrips (at will): fire bolt, light, mage hand, prestidigitation. 1st (4 slots): detect magic, mage armor, magic missile, shield. 2nd (3 slots): misty step, suggestion. 3rd (3 slots): counterspell, fireball, fly. 4th (3 slots): greater invisibility, ice storm. 5th (1 slot): cone of cold.
Actions
Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft or range 20/60 ft, one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.
- The cargo brake: he protects the casks. He does not cast toward them unless he is desperate. Below 20 hit points he stops caring.
- What his spells do to casks: fire bolt and fireball burst them and destroy the souls inside. Ice storm and cone of cold split them and let out specters. Magic missile never hits a cask.
- Who he goes for: not decided.
- When he stops: not decided.
The deckhands
Deckhand (×2)
Reskin of the Thug (MM) · Medium humanoid (human), any non-good alignment · no house tweaks
Skills Intimidation +2 · Senses passive Perception 10
Pack Tactics. Advantage on an attack roll against a creature if an ally is within 5 ft of it and not incapacitated.
Actions
Multiattack. Two melee attacks.
Mace. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft, one creature. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage.
Heavy Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, range 100/400 ft, one target. Hit: 5 (1d10) piercing damage.
- Who they go for: not decided.
- When they stop: not decided.
The casks
Full casks are aboard, mid-loading. How many is not decided. The rule is the warehouse’s, written once on the warehouse fight page.
Oswin Tuck
- He drops the lantern and runs up the quay steps for the town, with the tally.
- Whoever breaks off to catch him makes one check: DC 13 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics). On a success he is caught. On a failure he is gone into the town, and Kestrel knows by morning.
- Caught, he is frightened and gives up everything with no roll: the tally, and that Kestrel signs for the casks. He thinks the cargo is contraband, not souls.
Scaling
The written roster: 2,500 raw XP × 2 for three creatures = 5,000 adjusted. Deadly for four at 4th is 2,000, so this is 250% of Deadly, and Deadly under both the DMG and Improved Initiative. The roster holds 104 hit points with no resistances. Round-by-round output is about 31 until he casts toward the party with fireball, which is 28 to everyone in it.
One more character: add one deckhand. 2,600 raw × 2 = 5,200 against a Deadly of 2,500 (208%).
The ceiling: two cask specters make 5,800 adjusted (290%). Four make seven creatures, the multiplier steps to ×2.5, and it is 8,250 (412%). That is where it stops being survivable. Keeping him away from the casks is the brake.
Environment
- Light. Night. Tuck’s lantern goes down when he runs. The packet’s deck lamps are the rest.
- Footing. A wet deck and one gangplank to the quay. Anyone knocked over the side is in the harbour.
- Cover. The casks lashed on deck give half cover.
- Loose. The casks. The gangplank can be kicked off the quay.
Environment prompt
Generate an image that is a D&D battle map in 16-bit pixel art, in the style of Chrono Trigger. A wide, zoomed-out overhead view of a two-masted sailing ship moored at a long stone quay at night. A wooden deck with lashed casks and deck lamps on posts, a gangplank to the quay, stone steps up from the quay, mooring bollards, dark water on the far side. The ship fills only the middle third of the map, with open quay and water around it. No people. No grid lines, no text.
How it ends — on Kestrel’s name
Winning the deck is not the payoff. Tuck is.
- They win. The deck is theirs and Tuck is caught. He gives them the tally and says Kestrel signs for the casks.
- They half-win. The deck is theirs and Tuck is gone. Kestrel knows by morning.
- Nobody made it. Not decided.