Rudolph Fillian
High Concept: Sorcerous Vagabond
Template: Sorcerer
Trouble: The Corruption of Absolute Power
Where Did You Come From?
Aspect: Drifting
Rudolph’s own memory of his childhood is very foggy. He may have had a family, but to Fillian, they are not memorable. His most distinct recollection is constant traveling at an extremely fast rate. Always on the move, going from place to place, his life was lived with the itinerants. As Fillian got older he realized he would never have any stability as long as he lived.
What Shaped You?
Aspect: The Railroad Less Traveled By
Tired of walking the dusty highways that crisscrossed America, Rudolph hitched rides on trains for over a year. On one particular locomotive journey he met a crazed hobo, with the most extraordinary abilities. The man could control fire, shape water, and move the earth itself. He even whispered about his control over death. Long into the nights did Rudolph talk with the man about how he came across his otherworldly powers, and Fillian learned much about the secret world hidden by the mundane. The ability to control the craziness around him appealed to him. Fillian’s sessions with the man ended abruptly when he awoke one morning to find that the Sorcerer had vanished.
What Was Your First Adventure?
Aspect: Standing Firmly on a Slippery Slope
Rudolph had just begun to develop his own abilities when he meets a charismatic leader of supernatural biker gang. The gang leader is an accomplished warlock who maintains an iron fist over his violent group of criminals. Cruel, vicious, and extremely sadistic, the leader realizes Fillian’s potential. He promises to reward the young sorcerer with his own considerable knowledge, if only Rudolph would join him. Initially, this offer appeals to Rudolph. What could be freer than roaming the country, doing whatever he pleased, along with promises of greater power? So Rudolph joins the gang and follows them in their brutal travels. Soon, he begins to realize the error of his choice. The gang leader is more monster than man. Fillian watches as he commits the most heinous of crimes such as rape and murder. Wondering why such a powerful man could be so monstrous, Fillian confronts the gang leader and kills him in a massive display of uncontrolled evocation magic. This act firmly places Rudolph on that slippery slope. The man was a monster, but he was a person as well. As the gang leader slips into the embrace of death, he relates to Fillian the Laws of Magic and tells the young Sorcerer that he sees himself in Rudolph’s eyes. Those words haunt Fillian to this day.
Whose Path Have You Crossed?
Aspect: A Gambling Man
Story Title: What a bunch of animals
Guest Starring: Lucky Barlow
The biker gang took over a local hangout while passing through. The leader maneuvered a young lady of minor magical powers into a bad situation. Enjoying his absolute control over her, he even gave her a way out, a game of chance to get her out of the jam. She convinced a stranger into helping her. A self-proclaimed professional gambler. The leader didn't care, since he would be able to control the game with his magic. Or so he thought.
He ended up losing to the gambler and lost his power over the girl. After he lost, he ordered his guys to make an example of the gambler. Rudolph was getting pretty fed up with the bikers at this point, sabotaged their efforts and helped the gambler and the girl make their escape.
Skills:
Conviction (Superb)
Endurance (Superb)
Survival (Great)
Fists (Great)
Alertness (Fair)(+4 for determining initiative [Inhuman Speed])
Athletics(Fair)(+1/+2 when sprinting [Inhuman Speed])
Guns (Fair)
Discipline (Good)
Drive (Good)
Resources (Average)
Contacts (Average)
Intimidation (Average)
Lore (Average)
Stealth (Average)(Difficulty Factor -2 [Inhuman Speed])
Supernatural Stuff: [9/10]
Evocation [-3]
Thaumaturgy [-3]
Lawbreaker First [-1]
Wizard’s Constitution
Inhuman Speed [-2]
Familiarities:
Air
Fire
Earth
Specializations:
Thaumaturgy [?Transportation? Complexity]
Evocation [+1 Power (Air)]
Focus Items:
The Definitive American Atlas: Expanded 50th Edition [+2 Complexity +1 Lore (Transportation)]
This tattered old tome was discovered discarded on the side of some secluded country road. For many months Rudolph sat and stared at the Atlas and thought of its purpose. Rudolph eventually came to use it as a guide to control and learn about quickly traveling from place to place, and perhaps walking between worlds...
A Golden Locket [+1 Discipline (Air)]
Rudolph took this piece of jewelry off the biker gang leader after he died. Thinking that he could sell it for spare change, Rudolph pocketed it and didn't look at it until much later. Eventually, while low on cash, he remembered he had the trinket. Taking it out, he tried to rub the blood off the exterior, with no success. Opening it up, he was shocked to discover a picture of a young biker leader smiling, wearing a suit, and kissing a young women in a white wedding dress. Horrified, Rudolph dropped the locket and realized what wretchedness power can bring. Fillian kept the locket to remind himself of that dark path, but to this day he still can't clean the blood off.
[spoiler](I’m really sorry about the length. I kind of got into it. It’s 1,000 words long, yeah. It’s also riddled with grammatical errors. I added a summary under the spoiler if you don’t want to read it all. RJ- If something doesn’t fit with your character, just let me know, and I’ll change it, okay? Also, if something is incorrect according to Dresdenverse cannon, I'll change it too.)
(click to show/hide)
Dyers has a lot on his plate at the moment when a vampire summons a demon to take him out. Rudolph discovers the summoning chamber and gives chase. Dyers is attacked and manages to fend off the demon but falls off the side of his office building. Rudolph saves him through teleportation. The two manage to banish the demon. Fillian, being pursued by a warden leaves. Dyers gets a nasty headache.
Augustine Dyers
Whose Path Have You Crossed?
Story Title: Eternal Complications
The Red Court gangs were getting bolder and more violent by the night. His company was in the middle of negotiating a large business deal, White Council affairs were becoming an increasingly strenuous affair, and now, to top it all off, Augustine was beginning to believe that the Vampires were up to something utterly evil. Dyers just couldn’t seem to focus. It was all so maddening.
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It was some time after the incident with the Gambler and Rudolph’s murder of the gang leader. Fillian was fleeing from something dangerous. He didn’t know what it was but it only began to pursue him after he broke the so called first Law of Magic. As he ran, Rudolph thought of the mad hobo who had disappeared after gloating about his necromantic abilities. Rudolph did not want to vanish, so he kept fleeing from his unnamed assailant. And it was because of this panicked state that Rudolph did not notice the St. Louis Police CAUTION tape around the large hole in the ground.
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Dyers felt a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He wasn’t a diviner, but he knew something was going down tonight. Standing up from a desk crowded with paperwork, Augustine exited his office and went out onto his balcony overlooking the city. Something just wasn’t right.
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Fillian woke up floating in a pool of water. He was in some sort of cave network. The hole he had fallen through was not visible. The water must have carried him away from the cave’s roof entrance. Rudolph waded to shore and collapsed in shock. He had broken his leg in the fall. Suddenly, he heard chanting. He was no expert but it sounded like a very powerful, and dangerous, summoning. Rudolph, wanting to learn more about whoever was attempting to summon something so hazardous, hobbled his way towards the noise.
A conversation echoed down the corridor as Fillian limped down the cave system.
“Why have you brought me here?” The voice sounded utterly otherworldly as if it were spoke by something not used to oral communication.
“Let us make this clear. We know your True Name. We don’t want to have to hurt you, but we will if you won’t cooperate.”
There was a long pause. The second voice sounded cold and calculating, a voice without remorse or compassion. Finally the summoned creature spoke, “Very well. What do you wish of me?”
“We want you to kill Augustine Dyers, a wizard who resided right here, in St. Louis.”
“And the payment?”
“Whatever you wish, within reason. After the deed is done.”
Another long pause followed. Then the creature said, “Very well. Let us adjourn.”
________________________________________________________________________
Augustine Dyers felt something move into his office behind him. He turned to face a handsome man wearing an expensive suit and pants. Dyers instantly recognized him as one of the numerous Red Court Gang lords that operated within St. Louis.
“Hello, Mr. Dyers,” the man said curtly.
“Your attempts to kill me have all failed before, what makes you think it will work now?” Dyers asked as his hands reached for his tie and wand.
“We never killed you because we never brought decent company,” the vampire spoke as the door to Dyers’ apartment blasted off its hinges and demonic ooze entered into the room.
“You fools,” Dyers whispered as the vampire gang lord transformed into his alternate bat form and bull rushed him.
________________________________________________________________________
Rudolph eventually managed to haul himself into the summoning chamber. Looking around, he was compelled to study the symbols drawn on the cave floor and the various magical items scattered around the room. However, he was more obliged to helping the wizard these horrid beings had targeted.
Rudolph followed a trail of slime, presumably something the creature left in its wake, out of the cave network onto the surface. He was in a park next to an office building somewhere in St. Louis, supposedly. The ooze led into the building. There was a sign on the door that read Dyers Corporation. Looking up into the night’s sky, Rudolph could see some commotion on a balcony on one of the upper floors. Limping to building entrance he could see the doors were locked and the elevators off. He had no choice, he had to journey through that “other place” to get to the balcony. He didn’t know its name but it was a dimension that the summoned creature would probably call home. He had only been there once, and he knew it was dangerous, but he had no other option.
________________________________________________________________________
Dyers was tired. He managed to block off the balcony with a shield, effectively trapping the demon in his office. But the vampire just wouldn’t go down. It was wearing him down and he didn’t know how much longer he could fight.
With a flurry of motion they suddenly both fell against the balcony guardrail tumbled off the side whilst grappling with each other.
Dyers felt gravity take effect and began to plummet through the air. In his panic he let go of the vampire. Before he could collect his wits, somebody speared above him.
________________________________________________________________________
Fillian messed up the reentry. After avoiding all the nastiness in that “other place”, he entered back into reality five feet from where he wanted to be. Instead of standing on the balcony, Fillian was standing next to the balcony in open air. Luckily for Dyers this placed the sorcerer in a position to save the wizard’s life. Grabbing on to the railing, Fillian managed to catch Dyers’ flailing hand. With great effort he hoisted Dyers up to the side of the balcony. Looking down, both of the men watched the vampire thrash its flightless wing as it plummeted through the air and smacked into the ground.
Both sorcerer and wizard looked at each other in contemplative silence. They shook hands and introduced themselves. Then they looked at the terrible monster wrecking havoc in Dyers’ office. Wordlessly, the two got to the business of banishing the creature. With their combined effort they worked through the night and managed to send the demon back from where it came.
Shocked at the price the vampires were willing to pay to control his innocent city, Dyers sat down at his desk while Fillian sat looking at the city. Perhaps he would come back someday, but he just couldn’t stay. His hunter was still on his trail. So he bid goodbye to the wizard and set out once again.
________________________________________________________________________
Dyers woke up in morning with the biggest headache. He had, had the most tumultuous night. Vampire, demons, sorcerers, and now he had to talk to a warden about some lawbreaker. Was life ever going to become simple?
[/spoiler]
