Lingering Smoke

From Lavosbyssals

Lingering Smoke is a Midnight Caste. Before his not-quite-death, he was- oddly enough- a tomb robber, and an unusually effective one at that. This might be because of his relentless bravery in the face of danger. It might be because of his ability to wheedle information out of even the most secretive of artifact dealers and lore collectors, and even to inspire others to work for him, unusual for such a mercenary business. It might be because he's a lucky prick who loves exaggerating his exploits. According to him, his success is entirely due to his skill in entrepreneurship; he simply saw a need, and he filled it.

His name was Mark. As a young wannabe punk, he had a small epiphany: what makes tombs so damn hard to take from? Because often, no living soul knows where they are or what's actually in them. How does one solve that while doing the least possible amount of work? Why, one could find someone else to ask than the living. He learned how to talk to the dead- and how to protect himself from them- and though it ended up being considerably more work than he'd expected, he ended up with a nice little business trading favors for ghostly knowledge. Fortune (much of which goes to pay medical expenses)! Treasure (a lot of which is unusable and damn near uncarryable for mortals)! Fame (just enough not to get stabbed in the night)! It wasn't a bad life at all, he thought.

Sadly, one can't spend that much time around people, even dead ones, without developing a bit of sympathy for them. Okay, a lot of sympathy. Eventually, Mark's little favor-trading business had him doing things for ghosts who couldn't possibly have anything useful to say. Going out of his way for them. Even actually... helping them. The horror!

That was what eventually got him. He was off on some damn fool quest he still refuses to talk about- something about "a kid" and "shut up"- and ran into someone who was rather insistent that he not be allowed to make good on his word. Long story short, he ended up pinned to the wall by something very sharp and painful, and someone decided to make him an offer he couldn't refuse...

Character Sheet

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Lingering Smoke
Midnight Caste
Motivation: Find and protect the knowledge of the past and present from those who would abuse it.
Anima: A flowing dome of green-and-black smoke, with vague blocky shapes and the occasional glitter in the "background".

Attributes:

Str ** Dex *** Sta **
Cha **** Man ***** App ***
Per *** Int *** Wits ***

Abilities:

(Midnight)
Integrity ***
Performance ***
Presence ***
Resistance *
Survival

(Favored)
Lore ****
Occult ****
Bureaucracy ***
Larceny ***
Dodge **

(Other)
Melee **
Athletics *
Awareness **
Stealth **
Investigation **
Socialize *
Linguistics * (Flametongue- Native, Old Realm)

(Specialties)
Occult (Ghosts) **
Bureaucracy (Shady/Pseudoillegal) *
Bureaucracy (Bribery) *

Virtues- Cmp ** Con ** Val **** Tem *** | Flaw: Foolhardy Contempt
Intimacies: Never Admitting He's A Nice Guy, His First Artifact ()
Essence- *** Personal (16/16) | Peripheral (32/32) | Committed-
0 1 1 2 2 4 I | Exp: 0 Spent: 0 | Willpower- ***** **

Merits/Flaws:
Born to Rule (+2), Eternal Vow (+3)
Favor (-3), Permanent Caste Mark (-2), Known Anathema (-1)

Charms: (unfinished)

Backgrounds: Allies *
Artifacts ***
Contacts **
Influence **
Whispers **
Underworld Manse **

Descriptions and Elaborations

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