And the third episode of Rumbles from the Rifts is in the bag folks......that's a WRAP peeps...

And the third episode of Rumbles from the Rifts is in the bag folks......that's a WRAP peeps...

For your pleasure here is it Darrel Miller,Rory O'Connor,John Fiore,Virginian John,Tina Trillitzsch,Karl Hendricks,Aleksandar Battreps

RftR Episode 3 “Lassoes Away “

Setting - Thunder Rift, North of Melinir in the foothills
Tone - Basic DnD seriousness, deadly, but can be kind of silly

Danger Scene - a location, a threat attached to location and threat is pursing someone or something
Location - Bridge Icon, A bridge crossing a medium sized tributary of the Drake River
Threat - letter icon, a Message bearer
Pursuing someone/something

At a bridge, north of Melinir in the foothills, a message bearer is pursuing someone/something

4 Danger Scene Questions

What is the message bearer pursuing? A goblin mounted on a warg

Why is the message bearer pursuing the goblin? The goblin has a key entrusted that was entrusted to the message bearer.

How did the goblin get the key? The goblin snuck a poison into the message bearers flask, however, the brandy weakened the poison, only causing the message bearer to sleep for a brief moment, by all appearances dead.

Who gave the key to the message bearer? The key was given to the message bearer by the Flightless Arrow.

Heroic Entrance

Sige is the hero for this episode. Sige is the resident Gray Patch, the local constabulary for the Melinir Hills area. Sige trained as a Ranger and is a mighty fine hand with his lasso.

4 Actions for the Danger Scene -

Preamble - Making my way over the latest hill in front of me I come over the top and look down into a glade where a branch of the Drake River is forded by a small bridge. Normally there isn’t much that goes on in this neck of the wood, but not today. Racing across the bridge, in a comical sort of way, is a goblin on a warg, chasing this sight is a rather tall lean, boring looking man on a very nice horse. Since a goblin running from a human is not a normal occurrence I figured I better investigate the matter.

1. I am going to try to intercept the goblin by cutting across country to head him off at the pass?
Reaction - green card, sweaty face and a BUT

I take a long set of strides, managing to eat up the ground under my feet. Catching up to the warg isn’t much of an issue as he looks tired, but as I get close to the point where we would intercept the wolf lunges at me.

2. I want to catch the warg and tie him up by using my lasso.
Reaction - green card, embarassed face and a BUT

I manage to lope the lasso around the wargs feet, but as I do I haven’t set myself properly and the speed at which the warg is travelling pulls me off my feet. The warg goes down, gets tangles in my rope whilst I stand up and dust myself off.

3. I want to knock the goblin out by hitting him on the head with the pommel of my short sword.
Reaction - red card, neutral face and BUT

I come upon the goblin, who looks to be stunned, but as I free my sword from my scabbard the little monstrosity jumped up and ran to the Drake wherein he jumps in. The rider on the horse stops besides me, wanting to know who I am. I tell him my name is Sige, a member of the Gray Patch, out keeping an eye on the area. The man, doesn’t give me his name, which makes me a little suspicious, nor any information about what is going on…..

4. I want to find out what is going with this man and goblin by asking questions of the man by using deception, guile and good old fact finding questions?
Reaction - green card, gotcha face, and AND

Using skills that I have honed over years of talking to and at people I get the man, named Barious, to tell me his name (which you just learned), the fact that he was on a mission to return a key to his master when he succumbed to an odd sensation that made him sleep deeply for a very short time, during this conversation an odd thing was mentioned, the key is important to an organization named the Flightless Arrow, which Barious immediately realizes was a little too much information. He reverses himself, told me it was king’s business and best left to him. I doubted that was the case, but I kept that to myself…..

Intrigue Scene - A Terrible Secret attached to the someone or something, in this instance the goblin.

Keyhole icon and dice - the goblin stole the key because it will allow his masters, the Crooked, to unleash a magical wave of utter randomness into the Rift.

3 Questions for the Intrigue Scene

Who are the Crooked? They were at one time keepers of the justice, but their effects have seen been perverted.

How is the goblin going to get the key to the Crooked? By using the Astral Path, a series of gateways, that if known lead to many different places and dimensions.

How is the wave of utter randomness going to be unleashed? By stealing the Shared Light, breaking the Light and shining it on a captured Dragon.

Conflict Scene - new location, the same or new threat is attacking Sige
Location - padlock icon, The Abandoned Mine north of Torlynn
New Threat - Campfire icon, an adventuring party looking for adventure

2 Questions for the Confrontation Scene

Who is the adventuring party? They are members of the Black Flamme.

Where is the goblin at? The goblin is conversing with the Black Flamme troupe, they are the known as the Darkened Glass.

Preamble -
I knew that Barious was being less than honest with me, but Barious was able to cajole me into helping him track the goblin to the Abandoned Mines north of Torlynn (Barious knows the Gray Patch’s reputation, which is to maintain peace in the hills and plied me with this information.) At my core even though I knew that something didn’t seem right, the man still had been stolen from and it was my responsibility to help track down the suspect.

Barious was chatty during the ride, but he didn’t let much else slip to me, he was definitely on guard about what he was saying to me now.

I have been in the Abandoned Mine and there ain’t much there but mold and the occasional Orge. Arriving at the entrance it was easy for me to track the goblin to a large cave. Barious is like a lumbering oxen, bumbling through the mine passageways, but once we found the goblin, and a group of men, I wasn’t surprised they hadn’t heard us. I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, so I stepped from the shadows and introduced myself….

4 Actions for the Confrontation Scene
1. I want to demand the goblin be turned over to me by exerting my Gray Patch authority?
Reaction - red card, hadn’t seen that face and a BUT

I stepped from the darkness and told the men and goblin, who I was. The men immediately reacted by turning and unsheathing their weapons, but as the did this Barious, who had readied a crossbow, sent a quarrel towards them. It erupted from the lead man’s chest. This as expect caused the rest of them to charge us, unfortunately one of the men in back looked like a spell caster.

2. I want to stop the spellcaster in back from casting by using my lasso to grabbed him around the neck.
Reaction - green card, surprise and BUT

I whip my lasso off my belt and give it a couple of goods spins before tossing it at the mage in the back, but as it flies through the air the mage moves, it catches him around the left wrist. I yank hard and it dumps the hapless fellow to the ground, pretty sure it yanked the arm out of socket. The mage starts screaming and writhing on the floor. Whilst doing this the remaining 2 members of the Darkened Glass engage me.

3. I want to kill the 2 remaining members of the Darkened Glass using my short
sword.
Reaction - green card, smiling face

Yanking my short sword free of its scabbard, I just manage to deflect a blow aimed at my head. As I follow through I stab one of the men in the throat. The second man fumbles over his companion and as he flails into me I grab him by the head and ram my sword into his belly. I glance over to where the goblin had been and noticed that he is slinking out of the cavern. I walk over to the mage writhing on the ground. I slam my sword into his chest and turn to go after the goblin….

4. I want to catch the goblin by running him down
Reaction - green card, nervous face and a BUT

I manage to catch up to the goblin. The goblin doesn’t put up much of a fight, but he does start blabbering about the Astral Path, the Crooked, the Flightless Arrow (which peaks my interest) and the end of the Rift. I start questioning the little git about this when I feel a sharp rap to my head. The world goes dim and blurry. The last thing I remember is being pushed to the ground as my world goes dark …….

Revelation Phase - Orchestrating the Evil idea all Along - I am going to pull Barious over as he is a natural choice.

1 Question for the Revelation phase

Why was Barious chasing the key? The Crooked were hoping to start a war with the key that would ravage the Rift allowing the Crooked to seize control of Thunder Rift.

Showdown Scene - a location (possibly the 1st one), 2 Threats attacking the hero

A location - the river bridge
2 Threats - the Black Flamme and the Crooked
The hero arrives in the middle of the conflict.

Preamble -

I work up with the worst headache I have had in years. Barious was nowhere in sight. The goblin, however, had been cut from neck to navel. The key and the pouch were missing. I had bled a lot (head wounds do that), but I was feeling up to the task of at least tracking Barious down. It wasn’t all that hard. Barious made little effort in concealing his tracks. I manage to follow him out of the cave. He was headed back to the bridge from what I could tell. I made my way overland (I know all sorts of shortcuts). Sneaking up on the bridge I see quite the battle going on between 2 groups. I am betting it is the Crooked and likely the Black Flamme. Get in, Get the key, get the hell out and get it too my superiors, that’s the plan at least…….

6 Actions for the Showdown

1. I want to get to Barious and the key by climbing in the river and floating down to the bridge.
Reaction - green card, ecstatic face and AND

I manage to slip into the river, no one notices, they are too busy killing each other. I glide down the river towards the bridge. I see Barious on the bridge holding off what looks like a Orge. I look at him and slung across his chest is the bag holding the key. As I near the bridge I unsling my lasso, give her a good whirl and manage to find a place for her to tie onto. The river is moving fast enough that I use the force to propel me up and over the bridge. I land, on my feet, right next to Barious…..

2. I want to cut the pouch case and grabbed it by using my short sword.
Reaction - red card, angry face and AND

I make a loud squish as I land on the bridge. I didn’t think Barious heard me, but as I make a swipe at the strap of the bag Barious dispatches the Orge in front of him with a might swing of his sword and turns to face me……

3. I want to stab Barious by using my dagger
Reaction - red card, arghh face and AND

I make a thrust at Barious using my dagger. He deftly knocks my blade aside. Making a counter attack he manages to catch me in the side, knocking the wind out of me and cutting me open.

4. I want to grab the bag from Barious by distracting Barious with my lasso.
Reaction - red card, sad face

I whip my rope at Barious, who snatches it out of the air and proceeds to cut it in half, dropping the ends to the ground.

5. I want to hurt Barious by throwing my dagger at him.
Reaction - red card, crying and AND

I toss my dagger at Barious, it was a poor attempt on my part I will admit, Barious’ sword flicks, he strikes my dagger and sends it back towards me. It strikes me in the shoulder and as I fall off the bridge I make one last attempt to grab the bag…..

6. I want to grab the bag and get away
Reaction - green card, hmm face and BUT

I reach out and grab the bag, but as I do it tears open. I see a small cylindrical item fall out. I am able to grab it just as I slip over the edge of the bridge. Hitting the water didn’t really hurt, but I manage to remain conscious as the current whisks me away. Barious orders his men to follow, but they are engaged in a death brawl with members of the Black Flamme, no one but Barious noticed the whole thing as I vanish out of view. A couple of miles downstream I am able to get out of the river, now it’s off to headquarters at a quick clip….