(Scraps gets 1 new XP, and takes -1 forward.)

You are in that grassy place where you fought that cat and his mistress. The signs of the battle are everywhere-- broken windows, broken buildings, burnt places where that Lizard Man breathed on things...

But it's night. The sky is overcast.

And you are alone. Your master is not there, it's just you.

You and that cat.

And he speaks! Like a human! "You can't help your master now," he tells you. "You've been separated, and there's nothing you can do about it. You're just a foolish, helpless puppy."

Scraps was SO excited to see his friend again that he raced towards Mr Whiskers with a happy bark ... his tongue and tail wagging about in the breeze.
When he got to Mr Whiskers, he began jumping enthusiastically on his friend, licking him to show how glad he was to be here with the cat.

The cat dodges easily, with a grace and speed that he never had the last time Scraps met him... "I know you can understand me, foolish puppy. I am not here for you to play with, this time..."

Scraps barked happily as the cat dodged.
Then, he crouched his head down low to the ground, with his tail way up high behind.
“Bark Bark”, he called, challenging the cat to catch him instead ... then took off at a break-neck speed in multiple directions at once, zigging and zagging and bounding about.

The cat hopped up onto the hood of a police car, all of its windows shattered. "By my dark mistress... you really are this unintelligent, aren't you... This is going to be easy, then..."

Scraps wasn’t sure what was going on here, but he knew it smelt fishy.

Speaking of smelling, he thought it might be a good idea to sniff around a little, and see what was ‘going on’.

Figure things out
When you take the time to understand someone, to investigate, or to figure things out, roll +Insightful.  On a 10+ hold 3, on a 7-9 hold 1.

You may spend hold 1:1 to ask questions from the following list during the scene:
--Why does this person want to help me?
--Why does this person want to get in my way?
--What is at risk if the plan as I understand it goes ahead?
--What pieces of the plan am I missing?
--How can I protect other people?
--How can I protect myself
--What haven’t they taken account of?  (If the GM/Editor can’t answer this you are allowed to make anything up you like)

Remember that heroes and villains alike are conflicted individuals and even Dr. Doom will have reasons to want to help Reed Richards, or the Joker to help (or at least not kill) Batman.  This doesn’t mean those reasons are dominant, although they can normally be used.

- rolled 4 using 2d6 with rolls of 3,1.  Figure things out.

(Oops. Scraps' nose isn't immediately helping him in this situation... Scraps gains 1 xp but takes -1 forward...)
This message was last updated by the GM at 13:48, Sat 13 Apr 2019.

With nothing better to do, the pup decided that he might as well play some ‘rough and tumble’ while he waited for Gil.
Suddenly, he sprang towards Mr Whiskers, in an effort to tackle the mean kitty.
- rolled 7 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 6,2.  Clobbering Time.
- lYou avoid most of their retaliation (-1 Stun)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:17, Tue 16 Apr 2019.

Scraps scratches the kitty just a little... but it healed right back up. Well, that's how it was before, too. "Bah. You just don't get it, do you? This isn't something you can just bite your way out of..."

When Scraps scratches the kitty, though... he had a brief whiff of his master... and Lizard Man... and his new friend Storm Girl who was so pretty and friendly...

How could that be? How could attacking the cat make his nose tell him his friends were near...?

Scraps knew (like all dogs) that what he could smell was much truer than anything he could see.
Now ... if only he could follow that scent, he felt confident that it would lead him right back to Gil.

But the smell had come from the cat.
Maybe Gil was in the cat!

Scraps went barreling again into the cat, in the hope of causing that whiff to occur again ... so that he could latch onto the scent trail.

- rolled 6 using 2d6 with rolls of 3,3.  Insight.

Scraps tried to barrel into the cat-- but the cat smacked Scraps on his nose as punishment. Owww! Scraps's nose hurt too much to pay attention to possible smells right away...

(Scraps gets 1 new XP, but takes 2 stress.)

Scraps was a little confused now ... not sure what to do.
But he knew that he needed to get back 'to that smell'.  That smell was where Gil was ... that smell would get him back to Gil.
And so Scraps continued trying to get that smell the only way he knew how; he tried to whack it out of the kitty.

- rolled 5 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 2,4.  Clobber Mr Whisker's again.

Scraps gets smacked again for his trouble. "This isn't that kind of battle," sneers the cat.

(Scraps gets 1 new xp, but takes 1 new stress, and -1 forward to his next roll...)

Scraps growled, and felt both sad and frustrated.

The cat still wasn’t playing Scraps’ games ... nor was it letting Scraps sniff Gil again.
So Scraps suddenly sat.     Good boys sit.   Sit, Scraps.

See Scraps sit.
See Scraps glare.

Scraps glared at Mr Whiskers:   It was time for a showdown of dominance.
It was time Mr Whiskers learned who was boss.
It was time .....
         - rolled 4 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,2.  Confidence roll to STARE EM DOWN.
Ooohh what’s that.
Was a ....   YES IT WAS .... it was a ball.  Over there in those shrubs.

Scraps went racing over, tongue and ears flapping in the wind, to play with the ball.

(Scraps gets 1 new xp, but takes -1 forward)

The cat sighs. "Look, this isn't really working out the way it's normally... I tell you what. Let's start smaller." The cat comes over and bats the ball away from Scraps. "Now I have the ball. Try and take it from me. You can try it by force, or by speed, or go away and come back and try to sneak up on me and surprise me, or try to scare or startle me, whatever. But give it a try... You get the ball, you get a hint... or better..."

NOW THATS WHAT SCRAPs WAS TALKING ABOUT .... haha, that stoopid cat had fallen right into Scraps’ trap.
That Cat had been sucked in good, and was now playing ball (proverbially and literally).

Scraps was so happy that he could hardly contain himself. He began barking and running around like a mad dog.
He even got to chasing his own tail for a moment there.
Then, he remembered the ball, and he stopped (kinda; as much as a puppy ever stops).   He crouched his front end, and stuck his back end right up in the air, like a wolf creeping through the savannah wilderness ... his tail waging madly.

Then he pounced.
- rolled 7 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 3,2.  Rescue the ball LIKE A ROMANTIC IDIOT.
--You leave them somewhere precarious (if out of immediate danger)
--You take significant time to rescue them
Landing on the ball, he immediately had to give chase, as it rolled away across the grass.
Hahahhhh that cat was so slow.  It didn’t even chase the ball; probably didn’t even know that Scraps had rescued it yet.

Scraps picked it up, and trying not to bark in delight, scampered off into the shrubs ... where he dropped the ball, and ...

What was that smell?
WHAT.  WAS. THAT. SMELL??

Scraps went barrelling off to investigate the smell.

The smell led to a hole! A hole in the ground! It was big enough to fit through! It smelled like his master and Lizard Man and Storm Girl!

Scraps dove into the hole, and squirmed his way down it!

After several feet... Scraps plopped down onto a black floor.

Everything was black, in fact. Scraps couldn't even see the hole he must've just fallen out of.

There were only two things to see.

1. A big, bright tear in the blackness, over about 50 feet to the right, about 5 feet high and about 2 feet wide.

2. The cat... oh! And he had the ball!

"You forgot something," says the cat. "The point of the game was to keep the ball away from me, remember? Now you have to get it back. If you can take this ball from me again, and carry it through that hole in reality over there... You'll get back to your master and your friends."

"If you can't, though..." The cat purred and extended his claws.

Scraps wasn’t entirely sure what was going on here, except for the realisation that the dastardly cat had Scraps’ ball again!
Dognammit!

Alright then, Scraps would just have to run the ball even further away this time.
And maybe bury it somewhere.

Scraps darted forward and snatched the ball up in his mouth, again.
Again, SEE SCRAPS RUN!
Scraps ran in the only direction he could see that would let him get far away from the cat.
Scraps took off like a shot through that tear in the darkness ...
          - rolled 10 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 4,3.  Rescue the ball again, like a ROMANTIC IDIOT.