Character Sheet: Jacob Baum Appearance Prelude Journal Entries:
Name: Jacob Baum Player: Corey Spillis Status: N.P.C. (Player Removed) Chronicle: Santa Cruz/Mage Essence: Questing Nature: Visionary Demeanor: Director Tradition: Sons of Ether Mentor: Brutus Cabal: Saratoga ATTRIBUTES: Physical: Strength-1, Dexterity-2, Stamina-3 Social: Charisma-4, Manipulation-2, Appearance-2 Mental: Perception-4, Intelligence-3, Wits-3 ABILITIES: Talents: Alertness-3, Awareness-2, Intuition-2, Streetwise-1, Subterfuge-1 Skills: Drive-3, Meditation-1, Research-1 Knowledge: Computer-3, Cosmology-3, Culture-2, Enigmas-2, Law-1, Occult-2, Science-2 SPHERES: Life-1, Mind-1, Matter-1, Prime-1, Spirit-2 Backgrounds: Arcane-3, Avatar-2, Dream-2, Influence-1, Node-1 Merits & Flaws: none Arete-3 Willpower-7 Quintessence-7 Paradox-0 Appearance: About 5'6", stocky with blondish-red hair and reddish-brown stubble. Dressed casually. Prelude: (to be added later) Thursday June 1st, 1995 3:03 p.m. Having restocked shelves from the U.P.S. shipment, Jacob watched the comings and goings of the people who filed past his shop or who came in. Occasionally someone would stop and buy a pack of game cards or a comic book or two - mostly recent releases. And then occasionally, someone in the know would stop by and ask for something special and Jacob would produce a rarer title from his reserve stocks and the sound of the credit card machine could then be heard zipping away. And then, sometimes, someone would arrive to sell something. Mostly it was junk. Kids from Beach Flats would come in with worthless titles or comics torn or in bad shape. Still, many of the kids from the Flats, young Hispanics mostly - some who couldn't even speak English - they didn't have much money at home and Jacob was known for being a soft touch and would usually give them something - even if it was just a quarter for a game or sometimes a few dollars for a decent meal. Often the amount given was more in proportion to their need at the moment rather than any consideration for the worthless value of what they offered. Jacob managed to recoup some of these losses by salvaging the comics that were just damaged - restoring them to mint condition. Of course, this could be said to be unfair to his competitors, but then being a Son of Ether had to have some advantages and Jacob felt one might as well take advantage of them. On trips over the hill, to the Chantry in Saratoga, Jacob would take boxes to his friend, George Brutus - or Brute as he was called. Brute had developed a reconstitution machine that could glean particles from reality to restore damaged or nearly destroyed material objects. All that was needed was a perfect copy of the item or, failing that, a reasonable facsimile. Of course, Jacob kept copies of nearly every comic that he sold on hand, so that usually wasn't a problem. There were a few times that he had to "borrow" a comic from a competitor to use as a restoration guide. Joe, at Atlantis Fantasyworld, was said to have spies all around the Boardwalk, trying to find out what Jacob's source was for all his mint older editions. In fact, it was said if you wanted it mint, Jacob was your man. The Emerald City was located in a small area underneath the pool tables and upper arcade and located just near the entrance to Neptune's Kingdom Miniature Gold Course, past some of the food courts. There was a lot of foot traffic in the area and Jacob's flashy displays lured many a wayward kid into his shop to dispense with any excess cash that the parents had given them. Even the parents were not immune, buying Star Trek pins and toy phasers. Of course the specialty of the shop was Wizard of Oz paraphernalia. Jacob did a thriving business and had he been a mere sleeper, he might have been content.to wile away his hours making money and watching life go by. But Jacob was a Son of Ether, and though there weren't that many Sons on this side of the hill, Jacob had found himself a Node, a great commodity in Santa Cruz, and he intended to develop it and use it to explore the Umbra and found his own reality - either already in existence or to create it himself. For this reason, Jacob was avidly seeking some help, some kid he could hire to watch the store for those times that he needed to be away. But, with the peak season of summertime here, there hadn't been any good prospects. Most of the kids with the attributes he wanted did not want to spend their summer hours stuck in a comic book shop, so Jacob resigned himself to plugging away at the more mundane until the freedom of winter came and allowed him to at least have weeks off. That day, Carlos, a frequent "customer" came in again carrying something under his arm. Carlos was off of "parole", meaning that having been caught trying to steal something in the shop and having been caught, Jacob once again allowed him back in with the understanding that no further thefts or bad behavior would be tolerated. Still, though somewhat forgiven, Jacob always kept a sharper eye on his "parolees." "Whatch'a got, Carlos?" Jacob asked the kid, eyeing his bundle. Carlos looked around the shop. It had been a while since he had been in. "You know, this shop looks a little bigger from the inside than it does from the outside." The observation had been made before. Mostly from the assessor of the Surfside Company, which owned the Boardwalk. When charging enormously high rents for square footage, it had never ceased to amaze the assessor how much stock Jacob had managed to bring into his relatively small space. Of course, the awkward angles of the rented space helped hide the fact that it really was bigger inside than out - another bit of assistance from Jacob's friend, Brute and the "Spatial Periphery Altering Machine - SPAM unit - that Brute had installed under the counter. Utilizing ether as fuel, the machine chugged patiently away, running day and night under Jacob's feet. Of course, there would be hell to pay in paradox if Jacob ever forgot to refuel it. Fortunately, it didn't need refueling that often. "Well Carlos," Jacob continued. "Are you here to chat, or are you here for something? I'm a busy man, you know." Carlos, turning back to the matter at hand, drew forth his bag of goods. It looked too bulky to be a gun, so Jacob felt that robbery was not the motive. But the predatory look in young Carlos' face did not bode well. However, when revealed, the contents turned out to be harmless, yet quite a surprise. In his hands, not even protected in a plastic cover, Carlos was holding onto a mint first edition Gold Key Comic's Magnus Robot Fighter, Number 1. And then, in order, Carlos produced from his bag, numbers two through ten, all mint and crisp as if just newly made. Of course, they couldn't be new. Gold Key Comics had been out of business for years. Jacob wondered how much Joe at Atlantis would freak if he could see what the kid was offering Jacob. And of course, Magnus Robot Fighter had been a particular favorite of Jacob's since he was a kid. It was that mix of fantasy and science that probably had first led to the Sons in the first place. Taking the top comic, Jacob held it under what looked to be a normal halogen lamp, but what was in actuality a reality strobe that Jacob had created, of course with help from Brute. The strobe told him that the comic was the actual item and that surprisingly it wasn't even stolen, though where Carlos could have gotten it was anyone's guess. "How much?" Jacob asked. Regretfully, the kid seemed to be more up on his prices than Jacob would have given him credit for. With a sigh, Jacob took the ten comics and popped open his cheque book and when Carlos was handed the cheque, the kids eyes just about bugged out of his head. "What are you going to do with all that money?" Jacob asked, just about to suggest to Carlos to open a savings account for college. Instead of answering Jacob's question, Carlos blurted out, "Say, what if I could get you ten more, just like the one's I gave you? Would you give me this much again?" "Well, sure," Jacob laughed, thinking that the kid was dreaming schemes of repeating his coup. Then Carlos just ran off and Jacob was left with a nagging doubt that he hadn't perhaps done the right thing. A few minutes later, Carlos reappeared holding ten more comics, this time not even in a bag. They had sweat stains on them, from the kids excitement, but nothing that Jacob couldn't fix in Brute's reconstitutor, now that Jacob had the other ten as well. Checking these, Jacob found that other than the sweat damage, they were just like the other ones. "Where did you get these?" Jacob asked, incredulous that Carlos could have happened on a gold mine like this. But Carlos remained mum and Jacob handed him another cheque, this time quite a bit smaller due to the sweat damage, but still, a small enough fortune that was putting severe strain on Jacob's ready financial reserves. He would have to turn at least one set around right away to recoup his money, and then some. Though disappointed in the lower amount, Carlos still seemed overexcited and just about ready to burst. "Say, Jacob! How much you give me for a full set of those comics! - all mint?" Carlos seemed so excited that his hands were shaking holding on to the cheque. Jacob knew the kid had never even dreamt of that much money and that it had gone way over his head. "Cmon, Carlos. There can't be but a handful of full of sets anywhere in the world and I doubt that any of them are all mint." "Then they would be worth a fortune, yes?!" Carlos seemed almost panicked in his excitement. "Well, yes, but" Jacob never got to finish as Carlos tore out of the shop. Then Jacob realized what had happened. Carlos was a mage - an Orphan! He had probably only recently awakened and had been using his power to create the comics. But he had created mint copies, when such were extremely rare and by doing so had invited great paradox. Jacob was amazed that the kid hadn't fried from the first attempt, yet alone creating two sets of the ten first copies of Magnus, all in mint. The paradox buildup must be enormous, Jacob realized, and now going off to create a full mint set! "Oh No!" Jacob slapped his forehead. Others in his store looked over at him, wondering what was the matter. When Jacob heard the sirens, not by any means uncommon in the violent Flats, still, he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Saturday, June 3rd, 1995 3:30 p.m. A couple of days had passed since the unfortunate incident with Carlos. Jacob felt like a changed man, no longer did he dream of finding Oz to satisfy his own curiosity. Now he dreamed of leading the lost ones into its shimmering beauty. He recalled his "discussions" with fellow Sons of the possibility of finding and training Orphans. Jacob lost such "discussions" as such an effort would prove to be cost ineffective to make worthwhile. Damn them all and thier unfeeling hearts, he thought to himself bitterly. Opening the door to the Emerald Palace, Jacob carefully entered his shop and cast about to see if any intruders might be about. Noticing no one, he walked over to the front window and placed a new sign there. "Help Wanted - Inquire Within" Soon, he thought. Soon someone will walk through that door and I will train them in the art of Magik. I will rescue them from thier pitiful existance. He clicked on the lights and setteled in for a long afternoon. Saturday, June 3rd, 1995 7:05 p.m. "Hi, I'm here to inquire about the help wanted sign," the young man pointed at the window to Jacob's shop. He appeared to be in his late teens, early twenties, somewhat thin with acne scars on his face. The most engaging thing about him however was his eyes, hazel with green flecks. They seemed to dart all around the place, taking everything in at a glance. "You know, this place seems bigger than you'd think from the outside." "Just illusion," Jacob assured him. "No, no, there's definitely something about this space. You wouldn't notice it because of all the weird angles, but, naw - I guess that's crazy." "Jacob," Jacob said, offering his hand, hoping to change the subject. "Victor," the young man nodded. "So, what do you do, Victor? Are you from around here. I've never seen you in here before." Victor shook his head. "No, I'll be starting up at U.C.S.C. in the fall. I just got here early to have a bit of vacation before I hit the books and thought I'd scare up a weekend job and maybe work through part of the summer. What's the job pay?" "Seven-fifty to start," Jacob told him. A little light went on under the counter, informing Jacob that he had a message coming in on the etherscope. "Excuse me, Victor?" "Yes?" "You're hired if you can start right now. Why don't you start by monitoring - uh, excuse me, by just watching the store and making sure nothing gets stolen." "Alright! Sure," Victor smiled, coming up behind the counter. "Say, how do you work these things?" he asked, referring to the cash register and credit card machine. "Don't worry, you'll figure it out," Jacob assured him. "I'll just be in the back room if you need me." "There's a back room?" Victor was shocked. "This place is trippy!" Jacob ignored the comment and disappeared to the even larger space of his backroom, being careful to lock the door behind him. Jacob walked back through the actual stockroom and pushing aside a shelf that pivoted in the wall, he entered his lab. There were two etherscopes there so he turned one on, and focused it onto the store, watching Victor stand at the counter. Apparently, he had mastered the register and was ringing up sales. Jacob also heard the sound of the credit card machine going. Resourceful lad, Jacob thought. Turning the other etherscope on, Jacob saw the face of his friend, Brutus, materialize. Brutus wasn't his real name but he was called that because of an uncany resemblance to a cartoon villain. Jacob just called him Brute. "Hello Brute," he smiled. Brutus smiled back. "Hello Jake. How's things on your side of the Hill?" "Fine and dandy," Jacob replied. "Except that I don't seem to have enough time to manage the day with." "No?" Brutus seemed surprised. "Well, when I can finally get my time expansion cube down to a manageable size, I'll have to build you one." "Thanks. So, what's up?" Jacob asked. "Not sure. I, and some of the boys on this side was wondering if you could check it out for us." "That being?" "There's been a big Paradox burn up your way. We register it materializing somewhere in the mountains above Boulder Creek. It's hard to say what it is but it could be a Paradox spirit materializing." "Or a gate?" Jacob asked. "No, we think it's too mobile for a gate. Actually it first hit our scopes around Santa Cruz and made a beeline for the hills. Anything funny happen around your way of late?" "You mean other than the usual run of murder, disappearances and mayhem - no, not really." "Gee, you have all the luck," Brutus teased him. "We never get that kind of action over here. All we do is study and develop." "Want to trade?" Jacob asked. "Sure, you sit on the doorstep of the Technocracy and see how you like it. I takes a bit of subtlety, you know." "Thanks," Jacob smirked. "I'll try and develop some." "Anyway," Brutus went on, "see if you can check it out for us. Whatever it is, it burned the ether right off out of our scopes." "Do you think it's the werewolves?" Jacob asked. "Or do you think our erstwhile brothers and sisters, the Verbenna are up to something." "Frankly," Brutus said, "We don't know. I wouldn't put it past those blood magi to be cooking something noxious up in their vats. The idea is repulsive. Whatever it is, if they're behind it, it's probably aimed at the Technocracy. They hit the Verbs pretty hard last year and no doubt those witches are out to even the score. We just don't want to get caught in the cross fire." "I'll find out what I can," Jacob promised. "I know you will," Brutus said. "See ya." Jacob nodded and the screen went blank. Things were definitely heating up, he thought. Saturday, June 3rd, 1995 7:40 p.m. Packing the few items he might need, Jacob prepared himself for a hike in the wilderness. He grabbed enough gear to go camping overnight, as well as a few items of uses unknown to sleepers. As an added afterthought he added in a copy of The Wizard of Oz. "You never know what you might need when entering the unknown." he said to himself softly. That done, he left his back room and carefully locked the door. He made his way towards the door through a throng of people, stopping long enough to greet his regulars, and to excuse himself. Glancing in the direction of the register and the crowd of customers, he called out to Vic. "I have to go out and run some errands. I will probably be gone the rest of the night, do you think you'll be okay??" "Yeah, sure I've got this covered." came Vic's reply from under the pile of customers. "Great thanks, just fill out one of the applications in the top left drawer and leave it on the counter when you leave. Here are a set of store keys, the round one locks the front door. My pager number is posted on the register if you need any help call that." "Got it! When should I show up for work next?" "Go ahead and show up tomorrow morning at 9:45. I would like to go over the opening procedures with you. However, if I for some reason fail to show, I trust you can figure out what to do. I have the upmost faith in you." With that Jacob headed out the door, across the street and made for his car. His old black Tucker sat right where he left it earlier. Starting the car Jacob glanced at his shop, wondering if this might not be the last time he saw it. "You made the decision, old boy, to keep a hold of the magic of youth. Now you have to pay the consequences." Quietly he pulled his car out of its parking space and headed for the hills.
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