Virgil Gugasian

Description:



ASPECTS:

HIGH CONCEPT: Bounty Hunting Kleptomantic Sorceror

INVOKE: Hunting Bounties and stealing things including magic.

COMPEL: The bounties he chases are important and the magic he has stolen has put him on the radar of a lot of people.

TROUBLE: The Conclave of Emerald Owns Me

INVOKE: As a pawn of the Conclave, he has to follow their rules and pursue their interests.

COMPEL: Virgil has a contract with the Conclave written in his own blood. He cannot get out of it and doesn’t know all of its terms.

ASPECT: Former Modern-Day Robin Hood

INVOKE: All things illegal.

COMPEL: Virgil considers himself the good guy. He has standards and a code of ethics.

ASPECT: My Stolen Magic and Knowledge Power the Worldsplinter

INVOKE: Using magic with his custom stave, the Worldsplinter, as a focus. Being bound to him, the Worldsplinter can be summoned to him.

COMPEL: His magic and knowledge is stolen and magically loud. Once he uses it, it is difficult, if not impossible to conceal.

ASPECT: High Risk, High Reward

INVOKE: To take on risky gambles that can have high payouts.

COMPEL: High Risks can really bite him when they fail.

APPROACHES 15/15

Great +4: Intellect

Good +3: Guile, Force

Fair +2: Focus, Haste

Average +1: Flair

Mediocre +0:

MANTLE

KLEPTOMANCER (Supernatural Scale)

You can absorb magical energies, both ambient and active, and use them to power your own abilities.

UNIQUE CONDITIONS

Exhausted (sticky): [ ]

Mark this condition to boost your magical power, as described by the Magical Talent stunt. When you are Exhausted, the GM has one boost to use against you in any scene in which your fatigue may be used against you. The GM may claim this boost at any time during a relevant scene. Clearing Exhausted, of course, requires an active effort to rest. The GM may allow this recovery to occur between any two scenes involving a sufficient time jump.

Burned Out (lasting): [ ]

Mark this condition to further boost your magical power, as described by the Magical Talent stunt. If Burned Out, you cannot use magic, period, until fully recovered. Begin recovery by eating, meditating, or otherwise deliberately resting as per the Exhausted condition. Recover fully at the end of the following session. One-trick ponies are terrifying when they can sic legions of ghosts on you. Mr. Lindquist is one of the most underestimated practitioners alive. Like I said.

Indebted in Blood (sticky): [x][x][x][x][]

Debt is to the Conclave of Emerald. As per normal (page 117), but the debt can be compelled and not bought off until all the boxes of debt have been cleared.

CORE STUNTS:

Magical Sponge:

You naturally absorb (inadvertently or not) magical energy. You get Armor:2 against magical attacks and +1 to overcome magic-based obstacles with Force.

Kleptomancer:

Mark Exhausted. For the rest of the scene you can duplicate any magical power you witness or have used against you, mimicking their approach and action. You are capable of “borrowing” more than one spell or power in a scene, but can only retain one at a time for continual use. For example, if a necromancer strikes you with a flesh-rotting bolt of entropic energies, you can do the same to him until such a time you choose to abandon that magic for some other spell you see in action (Fuego!, for example).

Into the Abyss:

Mark Burned Out to make any zone in which you are currently inhospitable to the use of magic. If anyone attempts to use magic in your zone they must add +2 to the opposition; if their magic doesn’t prompt opposition, they must first overcome Fair +2 opposition to use it. It’s as if their magic is just sucked into nothingness. This lasts until the end of the scene or sunrise, whichever comes first.

ADDITIONAL STUNTS:

Thaumavore:

Absorbing magic empowers you. When you successfully defend against magical attacks or overcome magical obstacles using your power, in addition to other effects, you gain a Filled With Energy boost reflecting the sort of magic you absorbed. You may only have one such boost at a time.

Evocation:

As a sorcerer, you can cast magical spells comprising the five elements: fire, air, earth, water, and spirit. In game terms, you may perform any of the four basic actions with spectacular magical effects such as defending with a shield of ice or creating an advantage by shifting earth beneath the opponent’s feet. Your actions may have scale (page 182) at the GM’s discretion. If desired, push yourself to increase the spell’s effect as follows:

  • Check a stress box for +1 or two boxes for +2 on any one magical action. You may check only two boxes at a time.
  • Mark Exhausted to add +4 to any single magical action or to attack multiple targets magically without dividing your roll (page 190).
  • Mark Burned Out to gain +2 to all magical actions for the rest of the scene or, if Exhausted is already checked, to attack multiple targets with magic without having to divide your roll.

These benefits are cumulative: if you mark two stress boxes and both conditions, you could do a single magical action at +8, and then have +2 to all magical actions for the rest of the scene.

Spell Thief:

Virgil has learned how to copy the spells of other casters. Spend the Boost gained from his Thamavore ability to increase the scale of his spells to Supernatural Scale and beyond. If he Defends against magical attacks or overcomes magical effects he can boost the Scale of his spells to match that of the opposition. This means that if Zeus zapped Virgil with his Godlike Lightning Bolt and Virgil somehow survived he would have the ability to use the boost generated from that to cast a single spell of Godlike Level. There is a reason Kleptomancers are feared and loathed by wizards and sorcerers.

Cold Reader:

You know how to study and learn about people. Once per session, you may ask the GM to tell you an aspect of any character you interact with in a scene without having to roll an action.

Smooth Talker:

Because I am a Smooth Talker, I get a +2 when I use Guile to create advantages when I’m trying to deceive someone I am talking to.

Slick Intruder:

+2 to use Guile to Overcome Obstacles when dealing with security obstacles such as Locks, Cameras, Alarms, and Traps.

CONDITIONS:

In Peril (sticky): [ 4 ]

You may mark the In Peril condition whenever you are hit by an attack. Negate up to four shifts of damage from the attack and then create an aspect that describes how the attack causes damage not easily shaken off (such as a Broken Leg or Shattered Reputation). Whoever inflicted the condition is awarded a free invoke on that aspect. Recover from In Peril when you act deliberately to resolve the peril: medical attention for an injury, a bribe to erase the slight on your reputation. This typically entails overcoming an obstacle against an opposition of Great (+4) or higher.

Doomed (lasting): [ 6 ]

You may mark the Doomed condition whenever you are hit by an attack. Negate up to six shifts of damage from the attack and then create an aspect that describes how the attack has rendered you almost helpless, such as Bleeding Out or Ready to Embrace the Dark Side. Whoever inflicted the condition is awarded a free invoke on that aspect. Recover from Doomed when you act deliberately to resolve the doom: emergency medical attention, the intervention of a White Council healer skilled in mental magic, or something similar. This typically entails overcoming an obstacle against an opposition of Great (+4) or higher. Clear out Doomed at the end of the next session after you’ve started recovery. If Doomed is checked and you are taken out (page 189), death is one of the possible outcomes.

STRESS: [ 1 ] [ 1 ] [ 1 ] [ 1 ] [ 1 ] [ 1 ]

CURRENT REFRESH: 2
Spent Refresh: 5

Bio:
Virgil Gugasian 3x3x3

BACKGROUND

Virgil Gugasian was born Wyatt Joseph Avila in Seattle as the third son to a Federal Prosecutor Father obsessed with his conviction rate instead of Justice (and throwing poor people in jail) and a Defense Attorney Mother who loved to get rich people out of jail.

This conflicted upbringing drove Wyatt to crime, taking the name Virgil Gugasian. This led Virgil into the orbit of one of his mother’s clients, Jack Youngblood, jr. Virgil and Jack taught each other the ropes of clever crime, but Jack kept magic away from Virgil. When Jack eventually left the game due to family matters, Virgil struck out on his own and built his own crew.

Virgil specialized in high-end burglaries, thefts, and forgeries but dipped his toe into almost every non-violent white-collar crime there is a law for.

But Virgil had standards. He never stole from small businesses, common people, or honest public servants. Virgil did however engineer several revelations of evidence to local police of the corrupt, rich, and powerful including at least one police detective.

But that all changed when Virgil planned a heist against Trevor Radcliffe. During a stakeout for the heist, Virgil fell asleep. That same night the Red Court died. The Paranet called it the Night of Bad Dreams…

Virgil awoke to find his eyes opened to a world he never knew existed. Monsters were real. Magic was real and in him.

Virgil’s Robin Hood act was just getting started.

RISING CONFLICT

Virgil found the Paranet and developed his Magic and knowledge of the supernatural enough to find a new niche he could exploit. It turned out that most supernatural powers underestimated or ignored the abilities of mortal thieves. He also found out about the Laws of Magic and the grey areas he would have to stay in for the White Council to leave him be.

Virgil left his old crews behind and built a new one through the Paranet. A collection of just the right Talents. A crew that together could steal anything from anyone in the mortal or supernatural world. In theory at least.

For two years, Virgil and his crew went on a spree of thefts all throughout the West Coast. Seattle. Portland. San Francisco Bay. Los Angeles. Las Vegas. They stole spellbooks and items of power. They stole legendary materials from the vaults of the powerful. They also stole money in various currencies.

All the while, Virgil’s crew was able to evade capture and add little bits of stolen knowledge and power to their bags of tricks.

The crew ran into the White Council a few times, but they knew the Laws of Magic well enough to escape their watching eyes. They did buy some goodwill by leading the Wardens to a warlock that had evaded them for decades after they had taken all of the valuables that weren’t blacklisted by the Council.

Until the day the Peter Kirk Syndicate hired Virgil and his crew under false pretenses…

Virgil doesn’t remember exactly why they took the job. He does remember it was for “retirement levels” of money and resources in exchange for their exact memories of the events. Virgil still can’t remember what he did or where he went for a three-month period.

Virgil did remember that he and his crew stole a book from, “an old house on a hill” and brought it back to the Peter Kirk Syndicate. It wasn’t until after the book was delivered to his clients that Virgil’s crew discovered that their target was under the protection of Monoc Securities when Hrolf Helgarson was waiting for them in their safe house with a Valkyrie.

At a meeting of the Conclave of Emerald, every major supernatural faction in Seattle wanted a piece of Virgil and his crew.

Out of options, Virgil hired the famed Attorney David Clay to represent him in the arbitration and cut him a risky deal for his freedom. Virgil would chase bounties on behalf of the Conclave and in exchange, his crimes against the nations would be forgiven…in time. There was no shortage of bounties being sponsored by the community including the bomber of Aunt Bee’s clinic.

Virgil found himself in a new position of a Bounty Hunter for Emerald and a part-time Security Specialist for Monoc Securities.

THE STORY

STORY TITLE: The Book Return
GUEST STARRING: Jack Youngblood and Fergus Mac Cormaic

One of Virgil’s first bounties was for Monoc Securities. As part of the deal for his release, he had to retrieve the book his crew stole for the Peter Kirk Syndicate.

Always up for a good heist, Virgil decided to visit his old friend, Jack Youngblood. As a Warden of the White Council on thin ice already, Jack grilled Virgil to see if he was running another con. It was only after a Soul Gaze that Jack found he could still trust his old friend.

Virgil recruited Jack and a few others to be his crew, and together they robbed the Peter Kirk Syndicate.

GUEST STAR

STORY TITLE: DEMON SQUARE
STARRING: Hiroko Noshimuri
ALSO STARRING: Kerouac

When a group of school kids play a game they read about in an old book they found in the Kinokuniya bookstore, they inadvertently summon a demon in the middle of their school.

Hiroko finds herself in just the right place to save the children while Virgil was looking for a new apartment with Kerouac.

Guest Star Redux

STORY TITLE: Coyote Rescue
STARRING: Orenda Peshlakai with Virgil Cole

When her father Virgil Cole goes missing hunting a bounty, Orenda sets out to find him. When her search is interrupted by corrupted wolves, Orenda hires fellow Bounty Hunter Virgil Gugasian to help her retrace Cole’s steps and find where her father was being held.

Gugasian’s assistance allowed Orenda to find Cole’s captor and the corrupter of the wolves, an acolyte of the dark god Chernabog. Together, the three defeated The Corruptor and his tainted wolves and rescued the captive elder Hunter.

Virgil Gugasian

Dresden Files Accelerated: Emerald City: Requiem Lanodantheon