Jangling Jack

From Gothpoodle

Wanderer

Jack spends his time wandering through the hedge looking for newly-arrived Lost or humans who need assistance.

Description

A tall (6'10") humanoid covered in reddish-brown hair with an extended muzzle filled with sharp teeth, dark eyes, and a prominent brow. He wears a long black oilskin coat which jingles slightly when he walks from keys stitched to its interior and a black silk tophat. Underneath, he wears a green flannel shirt, blue jeans, and hiking boots. He has an unpleasantly animal musk and glints as if he were wearing shiny metal. He walks with a slightly hunched lope. He has a hard to pinpoint aura of sunlight.

Mask

A tall, hirsute man with worn features and long reddish-brown hair and full beard.

Storytelling Hints

Hunch over and peer out from under your brow. Growl words a bit.

Stats

• Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 3
• Physical Attributes: Strength 4 (pumpable), Dexterity 2, Stamina 4
• Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 2 (no 10-again)
• Mental Skills: Crafts 1, Investigation (Hedge) 3, Medicine 1.
• Physical Skills: Athletics (Climbing) 3, Brawl 3 (pumpable), Drive 2, Stealth 3 (9-again), Survival (Hedge) 4 (9-again), Weaponry (Axe) 2.
• Social Skills: Empathy 1 (from Motley Oath), Intimidation 3 (pumpable), Persuasion 2, Streetwise 1.
• Merits: Danger Sense 2 (from Motley Oath), Direction Sense 1, Fae Mount (Giger Motorcycle, "Sheila") 4, Hedge Gate Sense 1, Iron Stamina 3, Mantle 3, Resources 2.

Advantages

• Willpower: 5
• Health: 9
• Initiative: 4
• Defense: 3 (+1 from Mantle 3)
• Armor: 2/1
• Speed: 11

Changeling Traits

• Clarity: 5 (-1 to Perception, canceled out by Mantle 1)
• Wyrd: 4
• Glamour/per Turn: 13/4
• Contracts: Dream 1, Oath and Punishment 1, Smoke 2, Stone 5, Wild 2.
• Pledges: Commendation (Leo the Griff), Motley Oath (Fat Betty, Phoebe, Father Horace)

Weaknesses

• Flaws: None
• Derangements: Hedge-Calling (severe)
• Frailties: None

Equipment

Coat of Keys (Hedgespun Rainment 2), Hoarfrost Spine (Token 3), Ice Ax (2L, AP1, 9 dice)

Background

Mortal Life

Marcus Hollenbrook was the idealistic son of a wealthy stock broker from New York who came west after college to get away from his family and find himself in the mountains and deserts of Nevada. He spent a lot of time hiking and mountain-climbing, taking considerable risks to test himself against the world. He went too far shortly after his twenty-fifth birthday in the winter of 1990 and was caught high in the mountains alone during an unseasonable blizzard. Exhausted and half-dead of exposure, he finally found a small cave that turned out to be an entrance to the Hedge.

Durance

He was captured by a sasquatch-like who dragged him to its mountainous domain of eternal winter where he only barely remembers being forced to endure frigid temperatures, starvation, beatings and falls, and vicious bare-handed fights with creatures for food and defense. It is just a blur of brutality in his mind and only barely remembers his escape, a torturous trek through the brutal wilderness into a forest of piercing alpine pines growing from sharp rocks which became the hedge and, eventually, the sandstorm-wracked hedge near Las Vegas where he stumbled on Sin City and found his way through.

Changeling Life

He stumbled back into his life in the spring of 1994. His father was in poor health and there was no fetch in place (either none was left or it died in the mountains), so he returned to New York briefly to make peace with his family. It went poorly, his appearance and demeanor off-putting, particularly given the long disappearance which he couldn't adequately explain. Nonetheless, when his father died, he received a sizeable inheritance. He returned to Las Vegas and joined the Sun Court, hoping to help others, and donated most of his inheritance to Fat Betty so she could build and maintain the Halfway House. He isn't particularly social and spends too much time in the Hedge for his mental well-being, but feels disconnected even from other Lost. He has few friends outside of Fat Betty and Phoebe. He has good working relations with Back-Alley Sam and John Noir and doesn't tend to think poorly of the Moon Court, as a whole, though particular members disgust and offend him. He has a good rapport with Pops (whose nickname for him stuck) and The Thirsty Dog is one of the few places he can be seen socializing.