You Don’t Have To Leave Wolfy Behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' Your Companions Level Up With You!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8140590" data-attributes="member: 30538">Emanuel Cardona<img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-b9b9g2z/0/d5f21049/S/jean-reno-S.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Born in Morocco in 1951, Emanuel Cardona emigrated to France with his family in his early teens. It was as a seventeen-year-old vocational school student that he first encountered la Belle on one of her first appearances. He's never discussed the circumstances of that meeting with anyone, never said whether he was caught up in a protest or took part in one willingly, but he will say that she saved his life that night, and he has spent decades trying to repay that debt. And then he found out exactly how much that was going to cost.At eighteen, he underwent compulsory military service, serving a bit more than the then-mandatory year. In the aftermath, he returned to Paris and went to work for the Prefecture of Police, frequently crossing paths with la Belle and her rival/parner, la Bête -- with whom he had a much more unfriendly relationship. He rose through the ranks thanks to cases closed with their help, and lent them whatever limited aid that he could as an inspector. The years passed, and they remained exactly the same as Cardona grew older. That didn't bother him, or at least he told himself that it didn't.He married in 1989, and had a number of children whom he loved almost as much as he loved his job. In 1998, he was recruited by Argus to serve as an implanted agent in the Paris police, and also the handler for France's famous heroes. He viewed this as the best way to ensure that la Belle, at least, had an ally inside Argus. Nothing changed, really -- he'd always provided the police with all the information that he knew about the two of them, if not always what he suspected, and now he was just duplicating those reports for another interested party.In 2004, he was assigned to work with a new partner, the much younger Helene Remarque, who'd achieved some distinction while assisting la Bête on one of his cases. Cardona found it divertingly amusing that her opinions of the duo were exactly the opposite of his own, but came to respect her sharp intellect and courage. He thought she was probably going to go even further in the police service than he had, as he was looking forward to retirement by that point.A bit more than a year later, Cardona, Remarque and la Belle were all attacked by what he eventually learned were renegade Argus agents, part of the conspiracy that shook the world that year. La Belle was critically injured, and Cardona helped both her and the less wounded Remarque to a safehouse where he hoped they'd be able to recover. Despite his best efforts, though, he saw his beloved heroine take her last breath ... and then dissolve into golden dust.And then he heard a strange noise coming from the bed where Remarque's unconscious body lay. Slowly, he turned, and watched, in stupefied horror, as her body was altered to make it an exact duplicate of la Belle's. When she awoke, a moment later, she even asked where Remarque was, if his partner was all right. He stammered out that she hadn't made it, and the look of genuine grief on her face convinced him that she knew less than he did about what had just happened.Nothing, not even the death of his wife in 2009, has ever shattered Cardona as much as what he learned that day. He has never passed on this secret to anyone, not even to Argus, from which he retired in 2011. Every time one of them suffers a life-threatening injury, he quietly waits for his own end, fully expecting that as the person closest to them both, he is doomed to become a new host for these strange beings. It hasn't happened yet. Perhaps it never will. And so he keeps on helping them, in any way that he can, now that he's an old man whose children rarely visit.But he looks back on the sheer number of times that this must have happened, and is appalled at the price that has been paid for all their heroism. Emanuel Cardona -- PL 5Abilities:STR -1 | STA -1 | AGL 0 | DEX 1 | FGT 1 | INT 3 | AWE 4 | PRE 3Advantages:Assessment, Connections, Contacts, Defensive Roll, Equipment 3, Fearless, Languages 2 (Arabic, Basque, English, French, [Spanish is native]), Well-informed.Equipment:Light Pistol (Ranged Damage 3), and 9 points of equipment as needed.Skills:Deception 6 (+9), Expertise: Streetwise 7 (+10), Intimidation 6 (+9), Insight 4 (+8), Investigation 7 (+10), Perception 5 (+9), Persuasion 4 (+7), Ranged Combat: Guns 6 (+7), Treatment 2 (+5), Vehicles 5 (+6).Offense:Initiative +0Unarmed +1 (Close Damage -1)Light Pistol +7 (Ranged Damage 3)Defense:Dodge 3, Parry 3, Fortitude 1, Toughness 1/-1, Will 5.Totals:Abilities 20 + Advantages 11 + Skills 26 + Defenses 8 = 65 pointsComplications:Responsibility--Motivation. Elderly. Secrets (ex-Argus agent, knows the secret of la Belle et la Bête.)</blockquote>

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