Samuel Fischer

Art by InitialVelocity.

Sam is one of MacLaughagan's Tainted, and an ex-member of the Church of Saint Anthony.

## Description

#### **Personality**

Sam's Catholic upbringing forms the basis of his moral code, though his time on the City's streets has drawn into stark focus how idealized this worldview can be. While Sam doesn't make a habit of attending parties, he does enjoy spending time with groups of people he knows, and getting to know everyone was one of his favorite things about church. He is most comfortable in familiar situations, and as such it has been taking him a long time to find his footing on the supernatural side of things. Sam has constantly felt out of his depth, and this fact combines horribly with his impulsive tendencies, leading to him often making poor decisions. He has a habit of ignoring anything he doesn't want to think about, often to his detriment.

Sam has no formal combat training, but has found himself able to hold his own in most fights, a fact he takes some pride in. Since his death and resurrection, his self-preservation instinct tends to go out the window in dangerous situations, particularly when his is not the only life on the line.

#### **Appearance**

Sam's most notable feature is the scar left from his throat being slit, which he typically wears a blue-grey scarf to hide. At just over five and a half feet, with his standard outfit of t-shirt, jeans, grey-and-red hoodie, and battered red Converse high-tops, he cuts an unassuming figure that belies the adrenaline-fueled strength he exhibits in dangerous situations. He wore a silver cross engraved with a lily, the symbol of Saint Anthony, until it got mangled in a fight.

In the party's final encounter with Walz, Sam's right hand was bitten off. It has been replaced with scavenged parts from an android, and Sam has consequently picked up the habit of wearing gloves.

As part of accepting his place on the supernatural side of things, Sam bought a sturdy dark jacket, which he layers over his hoodie. A set of boots and a pair of studded fingerless gloves, combined with a distinct lack of the scarf concealing his slit-throat scar, completes the outfit Sam wears whenever he expects to find trouble.

## Abilities

His brush with death made it far easier for Sam to reach for his fight-or-flight instinct, giving him access to hysterical strength that he found helpful on the dangerous streets of Toska Gorod. He is nothing resembling a trained fighter, but with the benefits of his demonic employment contract he gets by. Sam's reclaimed form was tempered by his quest for vengeance and is fueled by hellfire, leaving him harder to wound than the average person, as well as immune to fire and the Hunger.

The contract with MacLaughagan that provided Sam a return to life was founded on vengeance against people who wronged him. The demon who killed him, eventually discovered to be Valefor, topped this list, though Walz spent time on it.

Sam's Tainted contract with MacLaughagan pulls the hellfire front and center, granting him access to a demonic form with smoldering eyes and smoke-based accents.

## Relationships

#### **MacLaughagan**

MacLaughagan brought Sam back after he was killed, in exchange for the eventual murder of the demon who killed Sam. Sam regarded the demon as a general nuisance, though one that has proven himself to be useful on occasion. He appreciates the second chance, though he'd never admit it to Mac. In recent history, Sam views the demon as an unlikely ally, and is formally one of his employees.

#### **Benjamin Richards**

Sam met Ben close to a year ago, and they've been dating for most of that time. Since Sam's death, he has been living in Ben's apartment. Ben, while just trying to get through med school, has been supporting Sam as best he can, which has included patching him up on numerous occasions when Sam has stumbled through the door late at night and covered in blood. Sam has been trying to keep Ben uninvolved in the supernatural affairs of the City, an effort shattered by Walz coming to the apartment in search of Sam. Since then, the relationship has been strained. Sam finally moved out after taking the job as a Tainted, and doesn't expect to see Ben again.

#### **Anthony Wilson**

Pastor Anthony Wilson was one of Sam's father figures, after taking over the church. Sam died at Anthony's hand, and Sam had been under the impression Anthony made up his Revenant caul. Despite the urging of MacLaughagan, Sam was reluctant to kill Anthony, as Anthony helped raise Sam. Sam's discovery that Anthony has been leading a cult and sacrificing members of the Church left Sam rattled, driving him to finally kill the priest--an act he immediately lived to regret.

#### **Kitty and Silas Vance**

While Sam's first meeting with the Vances coincided with the destruction of their shop, Sam volunteered to help clean up, and was summarily adopted in the way only people who pick up grandchildren can. Sam has been working as "hired help" around the shop, which mostly consists of doing chores for Kitty. He appreciates the excuse to be out of the house while doing something other than trying not to get killed, and the Vances remind him of his adopted parents, so he enjoys their company--even if Kitty's cooking is nothing like Beth's.

#### **Nyx Fletcher**

Even though their first meeting involved Nyx more or less kidnapping Sam, circumstances have kept the two running in similar circles. Nyx is one of a few people Sam knows on the supernatural side of things, and she has proven herself knowledgeable, making him willing to put up with her idiosyncrasies. The two have a symbiotic relationship where they keep each other from sulking too much, though they have been known to get drunk and complain together.

#### **Asa Meiri**

Sam and Asa were initially at odds, due to the fae's blasé attitude towards murder. However, Asa has proven himself a worthy ally, and as Sam's moral restrictions loosen he has grown closer to the grumpy faerie. Sam enjoys Asa's appreciation of his cooking, and knows he will always have his back in a fight.

#### **Colby Reed**

Since Colby is from a different church than Sam, and Sam had heard of Colby's reputation as someone blessed, Sam was initially against him. However, after spending some time together and getting to know him, Sam quickly accepted Colby into the group of people he would do almost anything for.

#### **Kuno Fernweh**

Kuno checked on Sam after the Nite Lyfe incident, which was kind of him. Sam regards Kuno with an air of skepticism, but has grown fond of the old man.

## History

Sam was raised in the Church of Saint Anthony since the age of 5, when he was adopted by the Seytons. His adopted father, Pastor John Seyton, died of natural causes when Sam was twelve. Heartbroken by her husband's death, Elizabeth Seyton moved away, leaving the Church in the care of Anthony Wilson.

The church has never been able to boast of a big congregation, but they fell on hard times under Anthony, diminishing to only a handful of attendees at one point. The congregation started growing again, about a year ago, at roughly the same time Anthony began to include more references to demons in his sermons. Sam had noticed a few long-time attendees leaving in that same window, but Anthony always had good explanations, and Sam didn't question it.

One of the new members to the congregation was Benjamin Richards, a med student looking to do community service. He and Sam hit it off, and have been dating for close to a year.

Mid-August of 542, Anthony asked Sam to stay behind after a service to talk about his plans--wasn't he looking into seminary?--and murdered Sam in a stone circle in the church basement.

Sam was surprised to wake up in an alley behind the church after dying, a circumstance which was explained to some degree by the massive crow with teeth and human eyes offering him revenge. He has been living with Ben since, and avoiding doing the murder MacLaughagan has requested.

In mid-April, Sam finally succeeded at killing Valefor, fulfilling his caul. Having become embroiled in the City's affairs, and with MacLaughagan still in need of hands on the Prime Plan, Sam agreed to sign a Tainted contract and act as said hands when needed.

## Quotes

"Welcome to the club of things that shouldn’t exist and yet insist on doing so."

"You must know what it's like to be young and idealistic."

"What about anything makes you think I have any say in what MacLaughagan does?"

"We've seen weirder than people who look similar."

"I got customer service from a demon."

"It would be far less than ideal to have to do the getting murdered in an alley thing again."

"A little more reasonable than, kill your ex-fiance? For funsies?"

"Where do I need to sign, and can I actually read the contract, this time?"

## Trivia

* Sam is one of two transgender player characters, along with Nyx.
* Sam's death left him running cold, noticeably different from the furnace he was when first alive.
* The kitchen knife that killed him, and used to be his primary weapon, is now a pile of slag in the burnt-out husk of an upper-middle class cafe. It has been replaced by a set of astronomical-ring-style brass knuckles pilfered from Hell.
* Sam learned to cook at the heels of Elizabeth Seyton, which makes cooking one of his favorite nostalgically calming activities.
* Sam thinks of the dark jacket he bought as his "crime jacket".