Cheng-Lou

Aged Chinese Sorceror
Agility: d8, Smarts: d8, Spirit: d12, Strength: d4, Vigour: d6
Skills: Fighting d8, Guts d8, Curses d10, Knowledge: Battle d4, Notice d4, Persuasion d8, Repair d4, Shooting d6, Survival d6, Taunt d8.
Parry:6, Toughness:6, Pace:2, Charisma:0, Reason:0, Status: 2/0, XP:114
Edges: Gypsy Curse, Arcane Background (Curse Magic), Alertness,
Level Headed, Beast Bond, Power Points (x4), Tough as Nails
Powers Known: Lower Trait, Curse of the Snail's Pace, Curse of Indecision, Curse of Lost Sight,
Curse of Supernatural Weakness, Misfortune, Curse of the Weary Soul.
Starting Hindrances: Elderly, Quirk (Plays the Flute), Stubborn, Delusional (Speaks to Inanimate Objects)
Hindrances Gained Through Play: One Leg
Languages: Cantonese, English, Mandarin.
Rippertech:
Background:
Cheng's childhood was not out of the ordinary. He was the son of the local police chief in his little village of Dunhang. Back then his father was able to home school him, to which Cheng found great joy with mathematics
Cheng, aged 61(or 71 havent made my mind up which is most accurate), belonged to the village of Dunhang which had tradings with East China to supply the western cities of the silk road. Cheng was a local trader with his own Mulberry farm spanning 2 acres with over 30 workers.
===Morning of Mayhem===
That morning before dawn, he was loading up the carts with raw silk to be sold at market. After praying to Buddah for a good day's trading, he led the carts to markert and set up his stock. That afternoon a westerner in a black military uniform and two other men in less glamourous clothes arrived at the market. While Cheng was selling his wares, they approached him demanding his cloth for the cheapest price. Cheng been a reasonable trader gave them a modest amount for the price they had offered.
However, this did not suffice for the man in the black uniform. He then said "Give me all of your cloth and the cloth you produce next harvest or else." Cheng being a paitent man offered for them to pay up front for half the amount and he would be more than happy to take down his order, but the westerner was being unreasonable. "A thousand brush strokes with great paitence amkes a masterpiece" Cheng said to the westerner. After much more arguing and demands from the man, Cheng finally had enough and calmly told the man to find trade elsewhere. When hearing this the man nodded to his two chinese hencemen who tipped the cart over, through his wares on the floor, stamped on them stainging them ending with spitting on his nicest threads. The man looking up at Cheng after spitting, smiled showing great enjoyment in the vandelism, but Cheng was paitent. The hencemen turned their heads when their leader walked away laughing. Cheng could see that they were part of the Dragon clan when he saw the red dragon tattoed on the mans's neck.
Gazing into the distance in frustration, the man in the black uniform tapped on a door of a carriage, to which a hand appeared with a geen ring. The hand tapped the window pane of the expensive carriage which was decorated in gold leaf and red laqured panels. AFter a short discussion with the man, the hand waved his hand for the man to leave and then slowly slid like a snake, behind the red silk curtain of the carriage. The man then faced Cheng and shouted "We'll give you a thousand brush strokes, old man!" Cheng paid the man no further attention.
===Return to Ruin===
That night after the market had packed up. Cheng loaded his wagon which now had new rich wood hew where the henchmen had splintered the cart. Money would be needed to make the repairs to the cart, as he felt it Cheng felt the coldness of the gash in the wooden plank of the cart. He stroked, shocked of the internal wood, glowing with the youth the cart once was when Cheng had bought it.
As dusk fell, Cheng hit the road. The clouds had gathered and looked like there would be a ngiht of rainfall, which was a blessing in Dunhuang, little water outside apart from the lush oasises was rare, making rich farms like Cheng's seem out liek a sore thumb in the barren red and magenta sand in the setting sunlight.
However, there was not just the clouds in the sky. There was a dark black soot spiralling into the sky as Cheng looked up. Drawing his gaze to the horizon towards his home.
It was then that the words of the rude man at the market echoed in his ears
"We'll show you brush strokes" he had said.
===Broken Brushstrokes===
Cheng gallored his donkey over the hill to see his farm fields and servant quarters a blaze, while the silk station was a smouldering site and his own house looked destroyed.
Rushing to his front door, with all his strength he burst through. The place was empty. Entering the courtyard where his daughter would play with her pet monkey Mai, the plants were piles of ash and kindling husks of the once colourful trophies they once were.
Running thorugh the fields shouting for his family, he stumbled over body after body of his servants. When he returned to the station, the ash glowed a dull amber as he trudged through the remains. Sitll no sign of his daughter and wife, a huge relief. Moving boards delicately he searched for anthing he could salvage. The safe which was ripped open at the hinges and no reserve supply of silk was there. All of the looms were either splintered or smoking.
Suddenly, there was rummbling inside a cupboard. Moving some loom parts to the side he saw that one of the cupboards had a stick shoved through the handles. The doors of the cupboard bowed and an angry snarling came from within. Picking up a part of a loom from the floor, Cheng cautiously withrdrew the stick.
At once a dark brown small shape sped for cover behind some rubble. Making agitated noises a pair of eyes appeared over the top of some brickwork.
"Mai you silly girl ..." Cheng sighed with relief lowering the makeshift club "...where is your mistress?" He asked cuddling the monkey when she realised he was a friendly face.
Searchign the rest of the house was unfruitful. Cheng exhausted, sat in the entrance to his house, staring at the painting he had bought of a humble looking house. A reminder of where life had started, to keep his mind focussed, to prevent money wasted on things he didn't need. All of a sudden as the sweat poured down his face, a blurred dark object in the painting had drawn his attention to focus in.
Scampering to his feet, he didn't know what to make of it. Then he noticed Mei was sight silently looking up at the painting. Walking to the painting he could see that there was movement. A woman and a daughter were running backwards and forwards throwing buckets of water on the singed edge of the paiting.
As he extinguished he noticed it left a strange powder on his fingertips. As the powder floated to the floor, there was a heap of this coloured dust which felt cold to the touch. Looking back at the painting, Cheng finally realised, he recognised this mother and daughter all too well, as they cried in each others arms.
==Equipment ==
Cheng is a accomplished musician. He is also a learnt curse magic from the buddist temple which he later found out to be the meeting room for one of the Chinese Ripper lodges. Combining the two Cheng is able to curse individuals with the notes he plays.
Cheng has 2 flutes.
One is made of banboo which is the one he carries aroudn with him, in his robes through out the day.
On a trip to Iceland, when looking for a pillar of Atlantis, Cheng stumbled upon a new flute.
A femur bone with demonic letters for finger holes.
===Wand===
Cheng was lucky enough to find an Atlantian wand, which holds 10 power points
for him to use on his curses, all he has to do is wave it.