Session 7 — the register fight
The strand at dawn, by the offering stones · Tuck comes to arrest the burners during the Miriam scene
At a glance
- Who
- Sai’s enforcer (×1), a veteran (×1) and two thugs (×2). Oswin Tuck comes down the strand with them and does not fight. Miriam Dol fights on the party’s side as the fifth character, and takes the second thug (Jack, 2026-10-10). Four characters at 5th level, plus Miriam.
- Why now
- The dead men from the warehouse cellar need a Speaker’s entry in the burial register before they go into the sea. Tuck comes at dawn with Kestrel’s writ to have Miriam enter them as murdered and name the burners. He finds the burners standing with her and arrests them on the spot. Refusing him starts the fight (Jack, 2026-10-12; it was a fight over the register itself).
- Where
- Out on the strand at dawn. Miriam clears the offering stones herself every morning, and that is where the party find her. Her house is at the edge of the map (Jack, 2026-10-11).
- How long
- ~30 minutes. Both sides start in the open.
- How it ends
- A character is taken or nobody is, and Tuck is caught or gone.
- The one rule
- The writ names “the four who fired the Ferrante shed,” and any one of them will do. If a Sai man drags a grappled character off the top of the map, up the strand toward town, that character is taken to Kestrel’s counting-house.
This page holds the fight’s numbers. The session 7 sheet links here. No read-alouds are written yet. Names for the enforcer and his men are still to come.
The roster
Sai’s enforcer
Sai’s enforcer
Reskin of the Gladiator (MM) · Medium humanoid (human), any alignment · no house tweaks
Saving Throws Str +7, Dex +5, Con +6 · Skills Athletics +10, Intimidation +5 · Senses passive Perception 11
Brave. Advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Brute. A melee weapon deals one extra die of its damage when he hits with it (included below).
Actions
Multiattack. Three melee attacks or two ranged attacks.
Spear. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft or range 20/60 ft, one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage, or 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack.
Shield Bash. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft, one creature. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Parry. He adds 3 to his AC against one melee attack that would hit him. To do so, he must see the attacker and be wielding a melee weapon.
- Who he goes for: whichever character is closest. He grapples (Athletics +10) and drags them up the strand at half speed.
- He does not touch Miriam. A dead Speaker brings the Inquisition.
- When he stops: at 40 hit points. If he has someone grappled, he keeps dragging.
The veteran
Sai veteran
Reskin of the Veteran (MM) · Medium humanoid (human), any alignment · no house tweaks
Skills Athletics +5, Perception +2 · Senses passive Perception 12
Actions
Multiattack. Two longsword attacks. If he has a shortsword drawn, he can also make a shortsword attack.
Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage, or 8 (1d10 + 3) slashing damage if used with two hands.
Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage.
Heavy Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 100/400 ft, one target. Hit: 6 (1d10 + 1) piercing damage.
- Who he goes for: whoever goes after the enforcer and his prisoner.
- When he stops: at 20 hit points, or when the enforcer goes down.
The thugs
Sai thug (×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.
- The first thug’s job: with the veteran, keep the prisoner’s friends off the enforcer.
- The second thug’s job: keep Miriam out of it. He is Miriam’s fight. He beats her down; he does not kill her.
- When they stop: at 10 hit points, or when the enforcer goes down.
Oswin Tuck
- He comes down the strand with his men and the writ, and asks Miriam politely to enter the cellar dead as murdered and name the burners. Before any dice, Miriam chooses: sign, or refuse him in front of the party. Either way she is not the target. When it turns, he runs up the strand for the town.
- 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 writ is Kestrel’s, Kestrel signs for the casks, and he reads the register for her. He thinks the cargo is contraband, not souls.
- If he is caught here, he is not on the deck fight.
Speaker Miriam Dol
Speaker Miriam Dol
Reskin of the Priest (MM), as an Animist · Medium humanoid (human), sixty · no house tweaks
Skills Medicine +7, Persuasion +3, Religion +4 · Senses passive Perception 13
Divine Eminence. As a bonus action, she can expend a spell slot to cause her melee weapon attacks to magically deal an extra 10 (3d6) radiant damage to a target on a hit. This benefit lasts until the end of the turn. If she expends a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the extra damage increases by 1d6 for each level above 1st.
Spellcasting. 5th-level caster, Wisdom, spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks. Cantrips (at will): light, sacred flame, thaumaturgy. 1st (4 slots): cure wounds, guiding bolt, sanctuary. 2nd (3 slots): lesser restoration, spiritual weapon. 3rd (2 slots): dispel magic, spirit guardians.
Actions
Mace. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage.
- Who she goes for: the second thug. That is her fight.
- If a character is grappled, she goes for the enforcer.
- The enforcer does not touch her. A dead Speaker brings the Inquisition.
- The fifth chair is one chair. She is the fifth character for this fight only.
Scaling
The written roster, with Miriam as the fifth character: 2,700 raw XP × 2 for four creatures = 5,400 adjusted. Deadly for five at 5th is 5,500, so this is 98% of Deadly. DMG: Hard, right under the Deadly line. Improved Initiative: Hard (5,400 is under 5,500).
Damage check. The roster holds 234 hit points with no resistances. Its best round is about 70 damage (enforcer 33, veteran 18, two thugs 11 each), and an expected round is about 45. Miriam and the second thug tie each other up, so the party’s own fight is the enforcer, the veteran and the first thug: three to four rounds at 5th.
Without Miriam fighting: drop the second thug. 2,600 raw × 2 = 5,200 against a Deadly of 4,400 for four at 5th (118%). Deadly under both.
The brakes: nobody fights to the death, and the enforcer runs at 40. The nets cut both ways. The grave fight may come later the same night.
Environment
- Light. Dawn. Grey light, good enough to see the whole strand.
- Footing. Shingle. The mooring pier is wet planking out over the water: anyone shoved off it is in the sea and spends their next turn climbing out.
- Cover. The beached boats and the offering stones give half cover. The house walls give full cover.
- The house. Small, at the edge of the map, one door.
- The top of the map. The strand runs up to the town there. A grappled character dragged off that edge is taken.
- The drying nets (Jack, 2026-10-11). Fishing nets hung on wooden frames along the top of the strand, three frames. Cutting a frame’s rope takes an action with a blade. The net drops on the 10-ft square in front of the frame: everyone in it makes a DC 13 Dexterity save or is restrained. A restrained creature can use its action to make a DC 10 Strength check to break free, or anyone can cut the net (AC 10, 5 slashing). Either side can use them.
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 long pebble beach at dawn. A wooden pier running out into the sea near the middle, with three thick mooring posts at its end. A row of flat stones laid on the shingle above the pier. Three wooden frames hung with fishing nets along the top of the beach. Two small boats pulled up on the shingle. A small stone cottage with a roof at one edge of the map. The features are small, with open shingle between them and the sea along one side. No people. No grid lines, no text.
How it ends — on the arrest and Tuck
- They win. Nobody is taken. Tuck is caught and names Kestrel.
- They half-win. Nobody is taken, and Tuck is gone. Kestrel knows by morning.
- They lose one. A character is in irons at Kestrel’s counting-house. That is a rescue, or a negotiation for Haxami.
- The strand saw it. Dawn on a working beach: the fishermen saw Sai men try to arrest the party for burning the warehouse. All of Onda hears it.