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Keep the sluice gate shut - AI-generated fantasy Encounter

Keep the sluice gate shut

Encounters
Hold · Low · 4 players, level 3

Keep the sluice gate shut

If the chain is cut, the road and its nearby cottages flood before anyone can reach the gate.

Run the fight

Round
1
3–5 rounds
Creatures
5
Low

This round

Nothing planned.

Win The party secures the chain or drives off the goblins before they cut it

Lose The goblins cut the chain

Party 4 players, level 3

System D&D 2024

Cheat sheet

Hold

Close the sluice gate before the goblins pry its iron chain loose and send the road under water.

Win

The party secures the chain or drives off the goblins before they cut it.

Lose

The goblins cut the chain, or the party abandons the gate while it remains open.

If it goes badly: The goblins flee into the rushes once the chain is secured or their group is badly hurt; the wolf follows.

Forces

  • 4 × GoblinAC 15 · HP 7 · CR 1/4
  • 1 × WolfAC 13 · HP 11 · CR 1/4

Rounds

  • 2The gate shudders; each creature on the platform must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or slide 5 feet toward the channel.
  • 4Water surges through the channel.

Read aloud

Say this

A goblin saws at the sluice chain while three more loose arrows from the rushes. Their wolf snaps at anyone who reaches the gate lever. The stream is already spilling over the road stones.

Forces

2

  • Goblin

    Skirmisher

    4 of them
    AC
    15
    HP each
    7
    CR
    1/4

    Nimble Escape · Scimitar · Shortbow

    Opens
    Two fire shortbows from cover; the other two rush the chain, using Nimble Escape to duck away after attacking.
    Targets
    A character operating the gate lever or guarding the chain.
    Flees
    Flee if half the goblins are down or the chain is secured.

  • Wolf

    Skirmisher

    1 of them
    AC
    13
    HP each
    11
    CR
    1/4

    Keen Hearing and Smell · Pack Tactics · Bite

    Opens
    Charge the nearest character who threatens the goblins at the chain; bite with Pack Tactics when an ally is beside the target.
    Targets
    The character closest to the goblins working on the chain.
    Flees
    Flee when reduced to 5 hit points or fewer, or when no goblins remain.

What happens

3–5 rounds
  1. 2

    Round 2, at initiative count 20

    The gate shudders; each creature on the platform must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or slide 5 feet toward the channel.

  2. 4

    Round 4, at initiative count 20, if the gate is still open

    Water surges through the channel. Creatures in it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed 10 feet downstream.

The battlefield

Zones

  1. 1

    Rushbank25 ft

    The old net-drying trade gave this bank its name. Wet rushes hide the narrow approach; the ground is difficult terrain.

  2. 2

    Sluice channel25 ft

    A stone channel carries the stream beneath the road. The edges are slick; a creature shoved in must spend 10 feet of movement to climb out.

  3. 3

    Gate platform25 ft

    A low timber platform holds the gate lever and a coil of rope. A creature here can operate the lever as an action.

What the party can use

Kick the sluice latch: the next creature to cross the spillway must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone.
Cut the mooring rope: the tied skiff drifts 10 feet downstream at the end of the round.

Scaling

XP budget250 of 1,600 XP
Weaker

Low

One fewer Goblin

Remove the wolf.
As written

Low

Stronger

Low

One more Goblin

Add one goblin archer on the gate platform.

Treasure

The goblins carry a small purse of mixed coins and a serviceable iron saw.

Media

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