Noni Jabulani

Noni (Made with HeroForge)

Former South African special operations soldier, and Syker Legion member that served on Banshee. She's also River's girlfriend, and a member of the New Wells Six.

## History

### Pre-campaign

Noni was born in South Africa in 2062. Her family was poor, living with limited access to electricity and no internet. She lived with her mother, father, and two sisters. When she was fourteen, some roaming journalists caught her lighting piles of cigarettes with her mind, and it wasn't long before the South African military tracked her down. She was forcibly conscripted into the army's Black Lightning skyer program, and the rest of her family was forced to serve as well.

Her mother became the head of janitorial duties, her father a pilot, and both sisters became field medics. Her military career mainly took her oversees before she was

In 2076, she was deployed to Banshee to help in the war against the planet's native Anouks.

In August of 2082, Noni boarded the Unity with the rest of the Banshee squads, and started her journey home. After a rocky re-entry, she took to wandering the wastes.

In late 2095, Noni was investigating an airbase 29 miles East of Plainview, Texas. While looking through the ruins, Noni was possessed by a manitou and completely overtaken. It used her to kill travelers they came upon for days, until they were confronted by a scrap gain and taken prisoner. The scrap gang later decided to hold up a small caravan. They found resistance in a Templar traveling with the group, River Mortem. Noni was tied up in the back of a camper. One of the caravaners, William, found her, with River later joining him, and the manitou jumped to the man. River chased after him, leaving Noni alone. Without the manitou to disable her, she broke free of her bonds and made it outside.

There she found River, possessed, killing members of the caravan she had been protecting. Noni used her powers to rip River's right arm off, taking away her sword hand and disabling her. River was then able to win a battle of wills against the manitou, and the creature fled her body. Noni confronted River, checking if the demon was still in control. After verifying the demon had gone, Noni offered her a hand. River healed the stump of her arm with her magic, and accepted the help, before proceeding to knock Noni on her ass and interrogate her about what had happened. Noni spilled everything that had happened, all the while flirting with River and offering to travel with her and help her out. River accepted the offer, and the two started wandering together.

Sometime during the few months between Noni meeting River and River joining the NW6 in March of 2096, the two started dating. They later got into a fight and decided to take time away from each other, deciding to go their separate ways for the time being.

#### Arc 8: Redwater

On April 27th, Noni wandered into Redwater, Utah, looking for a place to sleep. She'd found some friendly people, and took refuge there. It was there that she met Mac. Not long after, the Combine showed up, started roughly questioning the townsfolk. Noni and Mac pushed the Black Hats out of town, but not before they took most of the town's adults. Noni and Mac stayed to guard the kids left behind, preparing for another Combine assault.

On April 28th, while planning to disrupt Combine plans, a group of strangers wandered into the town. Mac went out to confront them, only to find friendly faces. The NW6 met with Noni, and, trusting Mac's confidence, briefed the group about what had happened since she'd arrived in town. Mac told them the Redwater military base was a former weapons lab that got hit in the war by at least two bombardments, and they held nuclear weapons there. A maelstrom was covering the downtown and the base.

River then made herself known, stepping out from the back of the group, quipping that she knew Noni had already looked the town over. The two walked up to each other and embraced. For an awkwardly long time. Noni proved River's point, elaborating she'd found battlements around the base, and the downtown swarming with walking dead. Noni volunteered to map out the storm to help guide them through, drawing out a map.

While most of the group split to head towards the base, Noni and Mac stayed behind to guard the left-behind teenagers. After a short while, River returned to them, hesitant to cross the ghost rock storm without protection. The three remained there until River received a message from Addie: she'd found her father. River threw her prior caution to the wind and set out for the base, Noni following at her side. Both of them sustained a few lashings from the storm, but made it to the base in one piece. They found a group of downed Combine soldiers, along with a broken automaton. Combine reinforcements were coming close behind, and both Noni and River rushed the doors of the base. They were let in by Addie, who proceeded to seal them again. Addie immediately healed River, and after a humored jab from Noni, offered to have Gregg heal her, but she refused, saying she was fine.

After River briefly confronted her father, the group, now including the rescued adults of Redwater, made their way into the base's elevator, and headed down to the labs. During the ride, they were ambushed by Black Hats. Addie was stunned by a flash bang in the fight, and was stabbed. Noni, in retaliation, ripped the soldier's spine from his back with her syker abilities. Afterward, Noni aided Gregg in prying the elevator doors open so Choc could throw out an active grenade. After the fight was over, Noni pulled out the knife jabbed in Addie's back.

Later, after the group made their way behind the base's vault, Noni helped to repair the vault door by heating up the metal while Addie bent it back into place, in order to hold the Combine's backup off.

After River spoke to Dick, Addie pulled her aside, with Noni tagging along. Noni looked Addie over again, saying River didn't mention she was dating her. The two of them reassured River she'd have help if her mom showed up. She helped the group fight their way out of the base with the nuke and the relic they'd found within. When Team Pancakes confronted Dick over their past grievances, Noni ambushed a waiting Cassidy, walking her back to her group with a rifle barrel between them. Once the tension subsided, Noni found a moment of calm with River, prodding her to talk to her father and ask him what she wanted to know. The two were interrupted by Gregg threatening Dick's life, and both ran over to figure out what was going on. River tackled Dick to the ground, while Noni took aim with her rifle at Gregg. Atom quickly stepped between them, trying to intimidate Noni into lowering her rifle. Noni complied without resistance, dryly remarking on his dramatics.

Noni returned to Junkyard with the NW6, sitting in on their meeting to discuss what to do with their information on Hellstromme, and what their next moves should be. When approached by Choc, she agreed to help him find a buyer for his Bubbly Fizz.

#### Arc 9: The Goat, The Witch, and The Warden

On May 5th, Noni left Junkyard with Mac and Dick, trying to find more information on Mab and her witches. A few days after, Dick was ambushed by Mab, and after he, Noni, and Mac fought the witch, had the Abyssal Maw stolen from them. The group made their way to Boise to meet up with the NW6, only to find it was under assault from a mix of Combine and their walking dead. They aided in defending the town, barely avoiding Choc's friendly fire.

While the bodies of the fallen were burned, Noni slipped Addie a mission report, and informed her they'd lost the Maw. She later met up with the rest of the group outside Boise. When the topic of Cassandra came up, Noni mentioned she'd run into her before, knew some of the artifacts she'd collected. She mentioned the witch tended to keep to herself.

The group set up camp for the night outside. A short time after settling down, River came to see Noni, inviting her with the rest of the group to find shelter in Addie's old home, back in Sumpter. She disclosed to River that Mac and Dick were likely dating, to River's shock. She reassured River that he really did love her mom, having taken a peek inside his head.

During their first night in Sumpter, Noni took a full walk of the property, looking for threats. She found a crow resting on a tree in front of the inn, acting strangely, seeming to speak under its breath. At the arrival of Addie and River, the crow began to speak. It said it was Dick's familiar, Ellis, who'd been taken by Cassandra three days prior. It told them that Cassandra wished to parley, and she'd return the Maw if she was brought the heads of both Matthew Greene and Walker. Addie whispered to Noni, questioning if she could check the bird's mind and find if Cassandra was spying on them through it. Noni agreed to take a look, and found Cassandra had made a connection, allowing her to watch through Ellis's eyes. She violently cut the connection, Addie unwilling to wait for subtly, and Ellis fell from the tree, having to be caught by River. Shortly after, the bird shook it off, returning to Dick.

Noni, Addie, Gregg, and River met up with Mac and Dick to discuss what to do about Cassandra. Noni suggested that she could learn an illusion-like ability, called One Man Army, to help fight fire with fire. Addie agreed they should look into it, and she, Addie, and River headed off to bed.

The next morning, Noni went off to find her syker contacts and learn the ability. Later that night, on her way back to meet with the group, she ran into trouble. While taking a break at a rest stop, a group of apparent scavengers looking through the place. All of them wore robes and gas masks, all around the same height. They locked in on her when she made some noise, and they immediately trained their weapons on her. She was able to escape, running into an abandoned kitten along the way and taking it in, She lost her jeep in the rush, making her way on foot, and used her telekinesis to give herself temporary spurts of flight. She was able to find new shelter, but was again awoken by the same scavengers. This time, she laid traps, started playing a game of cat and mouse with them. During this time, she was contacted by Choc through the Net, and was able to send a video message back, giving a short brief on her situation before telling them not to worry. She later made her way back to Sumpter, collapsing from exhaustion at the Inn, kitten in tow.

The next day, Noni brought Addie into her and River's mindlink, making it a three-way connection. The day after, Addie begged Noni to help her forget Adeline, the child her father had adopted and abused, and had subsequently been taken by Toussaint to Denver. Noni complied, repressing the memory for a time.

In early June, Addie asked Noni to start giving Anne therapy with her abilities.

Noni was with Addie and Horado as Addie completed the ritual to seal Baphomet, receiving the Maw from Addie as she went to check on Simon.

#### Arc 10: The Summit

Over the course of June, Noni continued to work with Anne, helping her confront her guilt and trauma, slowly making progress.

On June 12th, Noni was introduced to Addie's mom, newly reunited with her daughter in Boise.

On June 23rd, Addie spoke to Noni and Mac about creating defenses for Sumpter. Noni took to laying non-lethal traps around town to alert to intruders. While walking down to meet with River, Addie asked Noni if she made a massive mistake in letting Anne live, in letting River deal with the consequences. Noni replied she would've put a bullet in Anne's skull, but in the end, it wasn't about what she or Addie wanted, it was about River. After Anne shared a childhood memory of River with Addie through a facilitated mind link, Anne started to grow more and more unsettled, unable to place her own spot in the memory. Noni dug into her thoughts, and found that Throckmorton had rewritten some of her memories, made personal edits. The imprint of memories were still there, but she was taken out of them. Noni mentioned there were sykers who specialized in working with memories, though it required someone with fine attention to detail, and it wasn't her area of expertise.

### Arc 11: Damocles

During Murphy's attempted scouting of Sumpter, he was caught in one of Noni's rope traps, setting off a siren that brought the NW6 to his location. Noni kept a lock on him with her rifle during the encounter, even when Choc drove him to his waiting vehicle.

Before a team left with Murphy to investigate a Damocles bunker, Addie met with River and Noni to discuss giving Anne a gun to help defend Sumpter if it came to it. Noni agreed Anne was well enough to carry a weapon, despite River's resistance to the idea.

### Arc 12: Tiger Claw

Noni went along with Mac, Dick, Ian, Addie, Levy, Choc, and Na-way to hunt down one of Ian's old squadmates, Tony. After speaking with the croakers, the group were able to secure a boat to head out onto the coast. While the rest of their companions were gathering supplies and preparing to sail off, Addie asked Noni if she could use her syker abilities to help rehabilitate the croakers. Noni seemed open to it, but picked up on Addie's fear through their link and questioned what was getting under her skin. Addie deflected the question, telling her she'd get the job done regardless. Noni received vague impressions through the link, one that seemed like a memory of drowning and another of loss. Noni agreed she'd get the job done, but it was time to consider stepping in before she burnt out. Addie brushed the words off, affirming her own support of Noni, and the group set off after Tony.

While riding through an outlet to the coast, the group was attacked by humanoid crocodile creatures: the mutated croakers. Addie was able to grapple one, and asked Noni to take a look at their mind. Noni snuck a peak, and relayed that they carried a very primitive mindset. Most of what they understood was obeying orders. They didn't seem to remember anything beyond the ship they were born on, the Temptress, and Corporal Tony, their leader.

After facing off against Tony and his croakers on the Temptress, Noni warned Choc from harming the downed croakers on Addie's command. Choc proceeded to try and shoot one, sending a burning bolt through his back. Choc collapsed, and Addie had to heal him.

While the group was speaking with Harkon aboard Turtle Isle, Noni suggested they make bone bullets from the Ningyo bones brought up. While infiltrating Rancor's oil rig, Noni set the group up with a mindlink before touching down. She aided in the fight against Rancor.

### Arc 13: The Denver Swarm

On September 1st, Noni received word from Addie to help gather everyone for a group meeting. Noni obliged, tracking down Joel and bringing him back to the inn. After the briefing, Noni went with the NW6 to Denver, serving partially as Anne's keeper. When they made it to the Agency building, Noni was ordered to remain outside with Anne. She stayed back to watch her.

When confronting the Hartman soldiers in Saint Vrain, Noni commented these were the same people who'd chased her a few months back, on her way back from her power training.

### Arc 15: Chasing Coyotes

On November 23rd, Noni attended Addie and River's wedding, partially serving as security. She noticed Ghost wasn't on the guest list, and promptly warned him away from the property.

## Trivia

* When she was younger, she had a pet turtle named Mr. President