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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8238328" data-attributes="member: 30538">Ezra Blake<img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-m6cqfBR/0/3fc6bbc7/M/AV-N4_01-M.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Ezra<img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-X6m2ZZZ/0/b4a22b69/S/the_familiar_by_beekakke_dco8ouj-fullview-S.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Nekoshee (Art by <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/beekakke/art/The-Familiar-766310347" target="_blank">beekakkee</a>.)By rights, Ezra Blake have lived the life and one day died the death of an anonymous peasant in the dimly lit streets of Sunnswall, capital city of the Dragon Empire. He was born of ordinary human ancestry and without any sort of sorcery, and so started life with two strikes against him, then earned the third at fifteen when his father and mother's restaurant offended the Guild of Hospitality. The Guild expressed their displeasure by hiring a sorcerer to burn the building to the ground, who then threw in burning his parents in the street when they had the audacity to escape. Ezra only escaped the conflagration by virtue of visiting his grandmother, a housekeeper for one of the city's temples to the Minister of Winds and Rains.Of course, his grandmother could not take him in, which left him no real option except to join one of Sunnswall's gangs and begin descending through the ranks of the underworld. He was a talented thief, but the anger he felt over the fate of his family often led him to take risks in order to do greater injury, whether material or physical, to members of the fifteen Guilds. This attracted more heat than most of his fellows wanted, and so Ezra found himself increasingly isolated even within the supposed family of crime.And then, two years after his family's death, while engaged in what was supposed to a confidence game in which he posed as a witch in order to extort money from some noble half-wit, the strangeness began. What was supposed to happen was that he'd say some sort of mumbo jumbo and one of his partners would bring about the miraculous appearance of some sort of phantasmal creature (faked up, of course.) What did happen was that Ezra said the mumbo jumbo, felt a sudden heat in the middle of his head, and then saw, where the 'phantasmal creature' was supposed to appear, some sort of cat appear from nowhere -- then look around in abject confusion, then say, in oddly accented Atelane, "What in the world just happened?"The cat, whose name was apparently Nekoshee, had somehow been called from one of the Upper Planes by whatever it was that Ezra had done, and was now bound to his service. He was less than enthused about this situation, and became even more unenthused as he found out that Ezra was not a good-hearted sorcerer, as most of those who called upon his services had been, but a rather callous rogue and ne'er-do-well. Since Ezra had no way of sending him back whence he'd come, Nekoshee thus found himself somewhat forced into a role as the young man's moral adviser, trying to steer him onto a better path.It's actually working. Ezra has started to confine his depredations to those members of Sunnswall's society, whether guilded or not, who have committed serious offenses against others, rather than just those who annoy him. The downside is that he was glimpsed by a keen-eyed witness, who was able to describe him well to a sketch-artist employed by a rather clever thief-taker, and so now there's a bounty on his head and his face is well known. He's responded by going out in disguise, generally, and has also been taking more and more jobs outside of Sunnswall, where the lawmen aren't quite so well-organized.Ezra's powers are as much of a mystery to him as they are to anyone else. Things just happen, generally to his benefit, but sometimes in a way that hinders him. He can't count on them, and so he's focused on training his skills as a thief and swordfighter rather than exploring the limits of this strange power. Understandably, the thought that he's some new type of sorcerer really disturbs him.It's not that he hates sorcerers; that would be stupid. He's gotten a lot of help from those five sorceresses who keep showing up at odd moments, and quite enjoys their company. (Especially the one who calls herself Gebure; when he talked about how his family had ended, he thinks he saw her regarding him with, and wonders whether she might have gone through something similar.) Of course, they are all way, way, way out of his league, and so he doesn't have any sort of romantic ideas about them. Or at least Nekoshee keeps telling him not to get any sort of romantic ideas about them, and he tries to follow his cat's advice. Not all that well, sometimes.Other than them and Nekoshee, Ezra's closest tie is still with his grandmother, now very elderly and semi-retired as a housekeeper. She has some idea about what he does for a living, and doesn't really approve, but also thinks that he's started to go back to being the sweet-natured child he was before her son and daughter-in-law died. The cat probably has something to do with it, though she doesn't know that Nekoshee is more than just a cat.(Nekoshee, as it happens, has more or less figured out who these young ladies are, and is absolutely petrified at the thought that the Ascendants are showing this much interest in a simple mortal boy like Ezra. Which would suggest that he's not all that simple or possibly not all that mortal ...)Ezra Blake -- PL 8Abilities:STR 3 | STA 3 | AGL 3 | DEX 4 | FGT 6 | INT 3 |AWE 2 | PRE 2Powers:HOW-DID-YOU-DO-THAT?: Variable 5, Uncontrolled - 30 pointsDefault:Odd Coincidence: Perception Range Damage 8, Subtle - 25 pointsAdvantages:Equipment 2, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Sidekick 24, Uncanny Dodge.Equipment:Sword (Strength-based Damage 3), Throwing Daggers (Ranged Multiattack Damage 1), Armor (Protection 3).Skills:Acrobatics 4 (+7), Athletics 6 (+9), Close Combat: Sword 4 (+10), Deception 6 (+8), Expertise: Criminal 6 (+9), Expertise: Magic (INT-based) 4 (+7), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+9), Perception 6 (+8), Ranged Combat: Throwing 4 (+8), Sleight of Hand 4 (+8), Stealth 6 (+9).Offense:Initiative +7Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 3)Sword +10 (Close Damage 6)Throwing Daggers +8 (Ranged Multiattack Damage 1)Defense:Dodge 8, Parry 10, Fortitude 5, Toughness 6/3, Will 7.Totals:Abilities 60 + Powers 25 + Advantages 30 + Skills 27 + Defenses 15 = 157 pointsComplications:Thrills--Motivation. Family (grandmother.) Sarcastic. Wanted Criminal.Nekoshee -- PL 8Abilities:STR -2 | STA 2 | AGL 4 | DEX 1 | FGT 5 | INT 2 | AWE 3 | PRE 2Powers:Claws and Teeth: Strength-based Damage 2 - 2 pointsExalted: Immunity 11 (aging, life support) - 11 pointsGaseous Form: Linked Flight 5 (60 MPH); Linked Insubstantial 3 - 25 points"Not All Who Wander are Lost": Senses 1 (direction sense) - 1 pointSpeak with Animals: Comprehend Animals 2 - 6 pointsTiny Size: Permanent Shrinking 8 (Dodge +4, Parry +4, Stealth +8, Strength -2, Speed -1); Speed 0 - 9 pointsAdvantages:Acrobatic Feint, Defensive Roll 2, Evasion, Jack-of-all-Trades, Move-by Action, Set-up, Uncanny Dodge.Skills:Acrobatics 3 (+7), Close Combat: Claws and Teeth 3 (+8), Expertise: Magic 7 (+9), Insight 5 (+8), Perception 5 (+8), Stealth 3 (+15).Offense:Initiative +4Claws & Teeth +8 (Close Damage 0)Defense:Dodge 8, Parry 9, Fortitude 5, Toughness 7/2, Will 7Totals:Abilities 38 + Powers 54 + Advantages 8 + Skills 13 + Defenses 7 = 120 pointsComplications:Benevolence--Motivation. Friendship (Ezra.) Sarcastic.</blockquote>

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