Save the Dockworker Before High Tide
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Fish MarketWatch PostRiver Lane
Roleplay EncounterDND5E 2024Party L2 · 4 PCs
Save the Dockworker Before High Tide
Read Aloud
The Harbormaster slams a wet ledger onto the watch post desk. Outside, the market crowds around a chained dockworker while river bells mark the last hour before high tide. “Give me one reason,” she says, “not to let the river wash this whole mess away.”
The Scene
NEUTRALInvestigation and negotiationBase DC 15Stakes An innocent worker loses his freedom, and the river will destroy the only evidence before nightfall.
20 to 30 minutes
NPC Goal
Free the innocent dockworker only if she can keep order and avoid condemning her brother without proof.
Leverage
The party can offer the Harbormaster a defensible way to protect her office without publicly accusing her brother.
Player Approaches
- The wet ledger has a missing final page.
- The dockworker's rope burns show he was tied up, not caught stealing.
- A fishmonger saw a ferry crewman move the grain crate.
- The river tide will erase footprints at dusk.
NPC Gambits
- Present physical evidence and ask focused questions.
- Offer a public statement that preserves the Harbormaster's authority.
- Appeal to the dockworker's family waiting outside the post.
- Threaten to expose the missing ledger page.
- Ask for a supervised search of the ferry office.
NPC Reactions
- Helpful evidence lowers her voice and earns a short private consultation.
- A threat makes her call for guards and mark one failure.
- An insult toward her brother ends the conversation unless the party produces proof.
- A sincere offer to protect the dockworker earns advantage on the next social check.
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