GM: Nightshade
Players: Nightshade, Joker
Synopsis: Joker finds a puppy!
Date: October 2070
When we last saw Joker he was at the bottom of a long spiral slide, dumped into a room with a blocky climbing wall made of one and two meter high cushioned cubes that at one time must have slid forward and back to knock people back to the puffy floor, the cusions show signs of claw marks, knife marks and casual grafitti. In the dim light behind Joker, something is breathing.
Joker steps forward twice quickly before he turns to put his back to the nearest wall, glancing back toward the breathing. His sword comes up to hover between himself and whatever threat happens to be there, every muscle tense, sense straining.
In the dim light coming down from high above you can just barely make out the shape of a large dog, the creature looks emaciated it's ribs showing clearly under it's skin. You can hear the rasp and rattle in it's breathing, this does not appear to be a healthy animal at all.
«OOC» Joker says, "is the dog large enough it could have climbed out of the place, as far as my initial glance of the room suggests."
«OOC» Joker says, "or is it possible it's trapped?"
«OOC» Nightshade says, "The slide would be near impossible for a dog to get up, it could probably climb up the cushions but you've seen no sign of an open door at the top. The little light coming in comes from windows high above that are much to small for the dog to fit through and do not appear open. It is very possible it's trapped."
Joker stairs thoughtfully at the dog as he holds the sword between it and him. He checks for signs of rabies, fome coming from the mouth, that sort of thing. He really isn't concerned that it could be a threat, he suspects it might just be trapped in the room. Experience has told him always to check out even the smallest threat.
«OOC» Joker says, "just going to watch it, find out if it's an attack dog…GRR."
The dog sniffs the air, despite the gloom it seems to have no trouble focusing it's gaze on Joker, it slowly moves around the room, going behind the slide, it's eyes fixed on Joker at it sizes him up.
Joker turns to edge toward the climbing blockes out, moving at about the same speed as the dog, sword still up. He will start to climb the steps carefully, keeping an eye on the dog as he heads up them.
The dog moves over to the wall of cushions maintaining about the same distance, as Joker starts to move up the wall it puts its front feet up and tries to jump but it's hind legs scrabble and the front paws don't hold so it slides back down to the ground. It lets out a sharp whine as it falls then goes quiet.
Joker sighs and, against his more promenant instincts, steps down a couple steps so he is closer to the dog. "come on boy." he mutters, clicking his tongue and patting his leg, maybe six or seven feet from the dog now, "If I got to come down there and get you, and you bite me, I ain't gonna be happy. Come on now."
The dog jumps again but appears too weak to climb the cushions again, its front claws tear another set of ruts in the cusions, judging by the series of ruts already there this dog must have been up and down the cushion set many many times.
Joker sighs and quickly steps down the remaining steps. He attempts to move faster then the dog can react and grab it by the ruff of the kneck in his free hand, hoisting it up before he turns to head back up the steps.
Joker mutters, "Bit me and I ring yer neck, little man."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Give me an unarmed combat attack roll."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "You can use combat pool"
«OOC» Joker says, "self defence or attacking?"
«OOC» Joker says, "i'm guess this counts as an attack. I'm aikido, so that's one less dice."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Attacking."
«OOC» Nightshade nods.
«OOC» Joker says, "hold on and I'll roll, messed up connection."
«Auto-Judge[]» Joker (#4235) rolls Aikido + 3 (CP) - 1 vs TN 4 for "time to catchde puppy":
2 2 2 5 5 5 5 14 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Nightshade (#3173) rolls 5 (Snap) vs TN 4 for "Surprising a hungry dog?":
1 2 3 3 4 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Joker (#4235) rolls Charisma vs TN 9 for "bite me and you die, puppy.":
2 5 5 7 = 0 Successes
Joker keeps a ferm hold on the dog as he walks swiftly up the steps, moving as silently as he can with the squirming dog. For some reason the damn dog makes it harder to become one with the shadows, but he takes the risk.
At the top of the cushioned staircase is a large door mocked up to be the back side of the gates of hell. "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." is written above facing out. There is a giant brass ring painted onto each half of the door but no obvious way to pull it open, from the bottom of the door up to about one meter it is heavily scratched and torn, the dog appears to have been trying to dig through it with no luck
Joker steps up to the door and thrusts one foot right toward the center, attempting to just kick the damn things apart or down. A dog in one hand, sword in the other, he is glad he has Supernatural Balance to help him make this happen.
Joker kicks the door…hard…and the things barely wiggle.
Joker grunts in irritation and stops, still holding the dog as he studies the area, looking for a way to open the things.
«Auto-Judge[]» Joker (#4235) rolls Intelligence:
2 3 4 5
«Game» Backup to offline storage commencing. Game may freeze for a bit…
«OOC» Joker says, "kids can find this button…shouldn't be too hard."
After a few minutes working at it you're still unable to find a way to open the exit, what you do find however is that the doors do not appear to open in the middle, the entire door is solid from top to bottom and appears to be joined to a plate in the floor below the cushions.
The dog appears to have ceased struggling and now hangs motionless, it's breath rasping in and out.
«OOC» Nightshade says, "The meter square cushion block you're standing on matches up to the meter wide door painted to look like gates, they appear to be joined at the bottom."
«OOC» Joker says, "damn I'm good!"
«OOC» Joker does a little dance.
«OOC» Nightshade watches the funny dance.
Joker sighs and steps back off the cushion that is matched with the door, muttering, "Alrighty little buddy, here you go." He drops the dog into the middle of the square, then sticks his sword tip in the crack he knows should be at the edge of the square to use it as a lever and flip the dog threw the trap.
«OOC» Joker prays he is right.
«OOC» Joker says, "if the dog is flipped threw the trap, I want to see what I can see onthe other side."
The dog looks rather unhappy as the cushion starts to lever up but as the gates fall forward showing a path out it starts scrabbling up the door. The entire piece rotates slowly a big cushioned wheel that given the amount of resistence you're feeling must have been motorized at one time the dog starts nears the top of the gates as you continue levering upwards then, startles and starts scrambling backwards…away from the darkened exit at the same time your levering becomes easier, in fact the mechanism seems almost to be turning itself.
Joker suddenly reaches back behind him to slip out one of his Tomahawks and use it as a prop to keep the wheel from rotating fully, he wants to keep the dog in his sight, see what spooked it. He puts the head of the tomahawk against the wall over the door and the end of the handle against the wheel, hoping the handle can stand the strain.
With the wheel braced it stops moving, ahead appears to be 'heaven' a clear floor with clouds painted on the walls and what looks like a /long/ fall to a tiny earth far below. The optical illussion is fantastic, if you weren't sure this was a funhouse you'd think that stepping off the gate of hell would leave you falling forever…it is an optical illussion right?
Joker reaches down into the gap to smack the dog up and into the next room if it likes it or not, using it as a test subject for anything else that might be in the next room.
«OOC» Nightshade says, "That'll need another attack, it's not wanting to go in there."
«OOC» Joker says, "so, I was smacking the dog around, that's the last thing I saw."
«Auto-Judge[]» Joker (#4235) rolls Aikido + 3 (CP) - 1 vs TN 4 for "Obey me, you little stupid dog!":
1 2 3 3 3 3 5 5 = 2 Successes
«OOC» Joker says, "or not."
«Auto-Judge[]» Nightshade (#3173) rolls 5 (Biting the hand that smacks) vs TN 4 for "Arf!":
2 5 5 5 8 = 4 Successes
«OOC» Joker says, "yeah…man, he bit the shit out of me."
«OOC» Joker says, "what it's STR?"
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Damage is 6M staged to 6S by successes. Reduced by your impact of 4 to 2S."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "If you get killed by a starving dog…I'm gonna laugh so damn hard…"
«OOC» Joker says, "how the hell does it have 6 str?"
«OOC» Joker says, "that's like freekish."
«OOC» Joker says, "that's like a fully grown, fully strong 250 pound dog."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "4 str, +2 str M damage on it's bite."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Teeth hurt."
«OOC» Joker says, "starving dog with…I'm going to drop it, just drop it."
«OOC» Joker drops it.
«Auto-Judge[]» Joker (#4235) rolls Body vs TN 2 for "for I hate you pooch!":
3 4 4 5 5 9 = 6 Successes
«OOC» Joker says, "no damage."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Nice…and I just realize I staged you twice. It's 6L damange staged to M..so you only needed 4."
Smacking doesn't fly and the dog chomps down on Joker's hand, but between his armor and his reactions it doesn't break skin.
Joker curles his fingers around the dogs snout as his hand is bit and squeezes, hard, to show the dog who is boss. He gives the dogs head a couple of shakes, then lets go and pulls his hand free, attempting to grab the dog by the fur and push him threw the crack again, "Move yer ass now, or so help me god I'm gonna skin you.' he hisses threw gritted teeth, pissed.
«Auto-Judge[]» Joker (#4235) rolls Willpower for "Obey me, you stupid dog, I'm your master now!":
1 1 5 8
«Auto-Judge[]» Nightshade (#3173) rolls 5 vs TN 8 for "Dogs reaction (Successes are bad for Joker).":
2 2 4 5 7 = 0 Successes
It seems the dog isn't quite as stubborn as Joker and starts backing into the other room, more afraid of him than of the potential fall behind it, it keeps skittering it's back legs back in little scootches trying to get as far back on the edge as possible.
Joker figgers that if something dangerous was in the room it would have done something now and gives the dog one last push to knock him threw. If that is a success he'll pull out his tomahawk from the wall and attempt to maneuver himself threw the revolving wheel.
The dog gets shoved onto the empty air which seems to support it. A quick scramble backwards and it encounters a hanging curtain of cloth it yelps as it moves through those and you see the bright line of sunlight streak in for a moment before the hanging cloth falls back into place after being disturbed. It appears you're at the exit.
Joker slips threw the revolving door and follows after the dog, sword still in his hand this hole time. He attempts to keep his ears peeled for noise and moves quickly to catch upwith the dog before it can cause any trouble.
The dog is lying down just outside the door, it's face is down in a mudd puddle which it is lapping at slowly trying to get water from the damp dirt.
Joker snaps his fingers as he walks by the dog, attempting to get it's attention. He keeps his sword out, but beckons to the dog and says, "Come on boy, might have food and water for you, come on." He speaks softly, trying to keep noise down.
The dog growls, despite being freed it doesn't seem to have appreciated the smacks and shoving. It turns it's body so that it's behind the puddle but still tries to get some moisture with it's tongue as it keps an eye on you.
Joker squats slightly and beckons again, saying more sternly, "Come, Now. You got to learn some respect, and some loyalty. If you listen, you don't got to get smacked." he explains simply, voice stern and commanding.
«Auto-Judge[]» Joker (#4235) rolls Willpower for "your pushing your luck, pup.":
2 3 3 8
«OOC» Joker says, "yeah, I'm seriously attempting to parent a stray dog I pulled out of an abbandoned haunted fun house"
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Give an etiquette on that one, willpower won't really apply."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Charisma, sorry, you don't have et."
«Auto-Judge[]» Joker (#4235) rolls Charisma for "mangy pooch, you belong to someone, probably me!!!":
2 2 2 7
«Auto-Judge[]» Nightshade (#3173) rolls 3 (Resisting pack mentality) vs TN 5 for "Successes are bad for Joker.":
1 3 3 = 0 Successes
The dog goes subservient, but it's still weak tired and hungry.
Joker motions to the dog and starts to lead it from the park, heading at a slow pace back toward Nightshade. He realises there is more work to be done, but this pooch needs taking care of, he can't do it, and if he keeps it with him it might get in the way. He also doesn't ever leave a team amte behind, and the dog is now his team mate.
Nightshade is waiting by the gate, she glances over at Joker, then at the dog trailing slowly along behind him. She looks from it to him and back again then just asks, "Clear?"
Joker shakes his head and turns to the dog, motioning with his hand for it to stay and saying firmly, "STa, Sit." He isn't sure if it understands, but turns back to Nightshade anyway, "Got any water or food on you? I'm going back in, but I like this one, I can't have him following me 'round in there though." He gives Nightshade a level look, sword still in hand.
Nightshade reaches into one of the pockets on her jacket and pulls out a small ration pack and into another to pull out a small water pouch, she considers the two packets for a moment, "One hundred Nuyen for the ration pack…but I'm not dog sitting and that thing will /not/ be here to frag my pay…this park is to be /clear/."
Joker stairs at Nightshade for a moment. He then stoops to pull his bills from his boot and counts out one hundred Nuyen bill, passing it to her. As he stoops and slides the bills back into his boot he says, "Give me the food. Me and the Dog will walk. You ain't dog sittin, I ain't workin. Clear the place out on your own, or drag someone else in here to wade threw the shit. I cleared out the haunted house in presant land, I'm sure you got on your big girl panties, go do the rest on yer own."
«OOC» Joker says, "by the way, I'm standing by the gate post."
Nightshade blinks, then takes the cash and offers the food packets to Joker. "Alright…" She points along the outside of the fence, "You're not on the team now, so if you walk back into the park I'm clearing you out…stay on the far side of the fence and we got no issue."
Joker nods and motions the dog to follow as he sheaths his sword and unwraps theration packet, getting it ready for the pup.
Nightshade shrugs and settles in apparently unconcerned about Joker's leaving, so long as he stays on the proper side of the fence.
Joker takes his dog away, feeding it pieces of food as he goes. He walks down the mane road on his way out rather then take the back woods, apparently not concerned with gangers. He doesn't look back at Nightshade as he leaves, their business over.
«OOC» Joker says, "can I keep the dog as an RP pet?"
«OOC» Joker says, "I have an apartment I could sneak him in to."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Ok, is that where you're taking it?"
«OOC» Joker says, "yep."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Ok, what building is it in?"
«OOC» Joker says, "mountain hills."
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