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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Shadow" data-source="post: 4941984" data-attributes="member: 16760">ErebusI'll also say a word about Erebus, though I can't speak for his player.He was a museum curator specializing in Greco-Roman antiquities who was cleaning and preparing for display a well-preserved set of Roman cesti.  (Spiked bracers, basically.)  The cesti had somehow been imbued with power from the Shadow Realm, a vanishingly rare thing in this dimension...  The power rushed into him and tried to take over his mind, but he successfully resisted and bent it to his control.  However, his personality was undoubtedly warped by the constant struggle for dominance.The Shadow Realm is a vicious place inimical to Earthly life, and indeed, virtually any life.  The native creatures largely prey upon each other, as they don't have enough life-force to sustain themselves for long... there do not appear to be any pure autotrophs there, at all.  The intelligent inhabitants (whom we encountered only late in the campaign) wield shadow-magic and engage in constant battles for supremacy;  the Realm is divided up into the territories of various warlords.Erebus had the ability to scry through shadows, and also to open up portals connecting shadowy areas.  (Such portals travelled briefly through the Shadow Realm, so occasionally he had to fight off hungry predators to make it back.)  He could also open up portals to the Shadow Realm itself, he and the Phantom used this ability to follow Jessica when she fled there.  [In the original campaign, this led to a series of extradimensional adventures for just the two of them as we mostly lost contact with the other players.  Though in that continuity, unlike this one, they stayed in periodic touch with home base.]Erebus could also manipulate shadow-magic in a variety of ways, though he found this difficult and draining.  Notably, he could throw "darts" of black, hungry energy.  (Jessica seems to have used a more powerful version of this on Photon.)  He was also prone to charging up his cesti (which he always wore) with similar energies.  Finally, he was a retrocognitive, able to pick up the traces of past events.  It is not known how this tied into his Shadow-based abilities;  perhaps he was latently psionic before gaining his powers?  Or perhaps all shadow-mages can do the like.  (It's hard to tell, as Erebus appears to be the only human shadow-mage.)Erebus... did not play well with others. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Though fiercely loyal to his teammates, and zealous in defending the innocent, he did not hold the lives and well-being of his enemies in high esteem, to say the least of it.  Though he didn't rack up too high of a body count, let's just say that the kills he did make were the ones where he was unlikely to get caught.He was also undoubtedly the most quotable member of Shadow-Force.  His favorite exclamation when angry was, "I'll hand him his SPINE!"  He could go back and forth between such statements and a calm, erudite, courteous discussion of the issues at hand with alarming ease.Another great Erebus line:  The group has just escaped from a villain's individually-designed deathtraps, and one of the villain's brainwashed stooges has injured him badly - he is going into cardiac arrest.  A government agent who has just arrived implores us to save him so he can be questioned.  Erebus:  "Gee, I seem to have forgotten my CPR card.  Sorry, can't help you.  It just wouldn't be proper."[I could go on and on and on with Erebus quotes, but I'll stop now. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  He and Jessica together were always good for laughs.  Can't... resist... OK, a couple more <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />]Erebus receives word of a villainous situation while with Jessica.  "Darling, I must go."  "I'm coming with you!"  "No, you're not."  "How're you gonna stop me?"  "I'll duct-tape you to your car."  "You wouldn't DARE!"Suffice to say, a round later Jessica had her wrist neatly duct-taped to the side-mirror of her car. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  After that, when Jessica got stubborn about super-danger, all Erebus had to do was hold up a roll of duct tape and grin disturbingly. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />On another occasion, Jessica had come *that* close to being killed in scary psionic-from-a-distance fashion by the Doctor, only to be saved at the last second by the Phantom.  Erebus arrives, concerned and relieved.Jessica, in syrupy sweet tones:  "Erebus?"Erebus:  "Yes, my dear?"J:  "My birthday's coming up.  Would you get something for me?"E:  "Of course, darling.  What would you like?"J:  "I want his spine.  BRONZED!"[No, she didn't get his spine, bronzed or otherwise.  The guy did die, though, and believe me, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":P" title="Stick out tongue    :P"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":P" />  Nor was there really any viable alternative - imagine Hannibal Lecter as the most powerful telepath and mind controller EVER.  Only he doesn't think small like Hannibal, genocide is more his style.]</blockquote>

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