Name: Kaiban
Psychic Power – Kaiban is a potent medium, able to perceive and communicate with the spirits of the dead. Although he is fairly soft-spoken, he is also particularly persuasive to these restless dead, and he can even help draw spirits back into this mortal world. The spirits of the dead are usually happy to help him, and they can offer aid in mechanically simple actions (such as throwing a vase, locking a door, or pulling a lever when given a command.) The most-complicated action that they are able to take is, perhaps, managing to keep a vehicle driving on a straight path, while driving through off-road terrain.
Assault Rifle – Kaiban has an assault rifle and two spare mags of ammunition. Each of these three magazines carry 30 rounds of ammunition.
Exorcising Revolver – This revolver is plated with decorated silver, which he has gone on to have blessed. Although the engravings give no tactical advantage, the material itself allows Kaiban to strike spirits with the weapon itself. The bullets are blessed, and dangerous to spirits and flesh alike. The revolver itself can hold six shots, and Kaiban carries an additional six shots on his person.
Spirit Partner Walden – Following his murder, Walden did not rest quietly. Instead, Walden forged a partnership with Kaiban, a young spiritualist. Walden can manifest only for brief periods at a time, and he is able to separate from Kaiban. He can scout ahead, as well as launch additional attacks. Walden is capable of manifesting physically either as himself, with his sword to help defend or launch an attack from an unexpected angle; or as one of his wolves, usually to make a quick, mid-ranged rush.
Possession – Walden is able to possess targets of weaker willpower, as well as those who willingly allow it. Unconscious targets are generally easy prey for this ability. While possessing an individual, Walden has control of the target’s body, as well as access to the target's thoughts and memories. Walden is capable of using a less invasive form of possession, in which he can look through the target's senses, and read surface thoughts, but otherwise remain hidden to the target.
Weaknesses
Kaiban only has so much ammunition that he brings with him, and once that is expended he loses the ability to participate in ranged combat.
Kaiban lacks remarkable strength, agility, or endurance, being quite average physically.
Personality Notes
Kaiban was more or less shanghaied into an agreement with Walden, tasked with hunting down the one who gave Gin the order to kill him. Kaiban is quite subservient to Walden, even as Walden tries to reign in the influence he has, to some degree.
Kaiban is a charitable man, generous with what he has and generally willing to help others.
At the same time, Kaiban’s vice is envy, and there’s something gratifying about knowing that other people are needing his help that keeps him going.
Although he's willing to defer to his master, Kaiban can be cocky, in part because his understanding of the supernatural essentially only goes as far as his and Walden's own abilities, and the existence of spirits. He considers himself a man grounded in "the real world" and is willing to explain away the fantastic in more reasonable, though likely incorrect, terms.
Appearance Notes
Kaiban is 5’9”. He has somewhat tanned skin with blonde hair. He has an athletic build, brought on from doing most of his business on foot, as well as some time spent doing home exercises to maintain his body. His clothing is a comfortable mishmash of blues and greens. He also owns a gray business suit that he wears with a nice, white button-up shirt and red violet tie, for when more-formal attire is necessary.
About/Story
Kaiban was born a medium, socializing with ghosts and growing to consider them friends. His family was perfectly accepting of the whole thing, but he still felt an outcast in society. That is, until he met Walden, a spirit hunter that took him under his wing. While Walden sought to force spirits out of the material world, however, Kaiban found that he would go on to seek out ways to let them cross over on their own. Often, they would have something that he wanted, and for the price of some material trifle, he would go on to help them. Eventually, he and Walden parted ways. Kaiban developed his own powers, until he found that he had a talent for controlling spirits and convincing them to do his will. Spirits would cross over, because he asked them to, and they would give up their most closely guarded secrets with a quiet please. He was living comfortably, until he met his old master, again. Walden had been killed, and so he came to Kaiban to find the ones that had ordered the hit.
Kaiban pushed the door open carefully, sweeping the light attached to the end of his rifle across the room. The room was clear, it seemed.
“Do you see anything, Master?” Kaiban asked, lowering his rifle as he did so.
“Nothing. Watch out, though. He’s probably around here, somewhere, still. The trail couldn’t have gone cold that quickly.”
“I don’t smell any burning, here. I can’t even smell smoke. I wonder if he even went this way.”
Kaiban saw the red-orange glow before he heard the sound of ignition. He spun around, but only just in time to see the jet of flame being projected directly for him. Kaiban rolled to the side, shielding his face with his arms as he went.
“Idiot! This whole building is one big tinderbox, and now you’re caught!” the hooded man shouted, throwing a fireball into the room to follow up on his attack.
Half the room was ablaze by the time that Kaiban got back on his feet.
“Hey, kid.” a voice nearby, said. “Watch out for that guy. He doesn’t just throw fire around. He can teleport through it, too.”
Kaiban turned to look at the source of the voice, and was unsurprised to see the charred face of the man squatting down next to him. He must have been a victim of that man’s violence, to know what he was capable of so intimately.
“Kid, make sure to aim for his heart. If you extinguish the coal he has in place of one, you’ll knock him out. But be careful, he’ll wake up again. That’s what got me.”
“Hey, thanks. I’ll be sure to help you cross over, as soon as I beat this guy.” Kaiban said, drawing his revolver.
It would only take one shot to deal with this. Wildfire was running straight for him. Carefully, Kaiban steadied his aim, and then squeezed the trigger. Kaiban watched as the man burst into flames, and stood up, feeling satisfied with himself.
“Behind you, Kaiban!” Walden shouted, the voice rippling through Kaiban’s mind.
Before Kaiban could react, he heard the sound of a blade being drawn. Walden had manifested, extending his body out of Kaiban’s own back to strike at Wildfire, before he could complete his attack. The sword cut off Wildfire’s hand at the wrist, and he hissed in anger, before vanishing in the flames that he had started just behind Kaiban.
“Kaiban, this situation is getting out of hand real fast. We should pull back.”
“What’s wrong, Master? I thought a gentleman never turned his back on an undefeated opponent!”
Wildfire appeared ahead of Kaiban, and the medium ducked underneath the burning man’s haymaker punch. Before he could retaliate, however, he had vanished into the flame again.
“Hey, spirit. Are you still here?” Kaiban asked, brushing off a burning piece of ash that had fallen onto his suit’s sleeve.
“Yeah, kid. Looks like he’s kicking your ass.”
“He must have done something to shut off the water to this building. Do you think you can get it back on?”
“Turn a valve? Sure thing, kid. Anything to see this chump get taken down a notch.”
“Quit talking to yourself! You’re pissing me off!” Wildfire shouted, and Kaiban ducked underneath a kick that had been aimed for his head. The temperature was rising, and Kaiban thought that the attacks were coming faster.
“Oh, this is going to be expensive…” Kaiban muttered to himself before he saw Wildfire bursting out of his wall of flames behind him. This time, Kaiban caught the fighter around the arm, and he threw him to the floor, before dropping on a knee, squarely in his back. Immediately, Kaiban felt the flames beginning to set his suit alight.
“You little punk!” Wildfire raged. “You think you can hold me down? Think again!”
Kaiban felt his knee drop to the floor, and he realized that the flames he was kneeling in were no longer those of Wildfire, but the ones he had left behind. He heard the sound of hissing flames, followed by a curse from Wildfire. The thick cloud of smoke that suddenly washed over his face told him that the spirit had done his part. The belief was confirmed by the cool spray of water on his face.
Looking over, he saw Wildfire slumping over, as if trying to protect his heart from the water.
“Hey, you! I’ve got a few questions for you.” Kaiban said, walking over to the seemingly defeated Wildfire.
“Go to hell.” Wildfire spat.
Kaiban kicked him in the head, knocking him backwards, and exposing his chest to the pouring water. Wildfire twitched under the deluge, before falling still, as his heart was extinguished. He walked over and tore a sleeve off of Wildfire’s hoodie, before wrapping the wet coal in it.
“That ought to keep him down for a little bit, once we’ve moved him. Master, you said you had a safe place?”
“That is correct. At least, it used to be a safe place. We’ll see just how safe it really is, once we get there.”
Battles
[Scheduled] Kaiba vs Abra
Score
0/0/0/0
This seemed a useful place to just hold any questions that have been asked and subsequently answered, here. Quicker reference than crawling through the thread.
Do all dead people become ghosts?
The way I've been doing it, all dead become ghosts, but not all ghosts are spawned stuck on the material plane. Ghosts result from deaths that occurred in great emotional strife, such as deep regret, fear, anger, despair, etc.
And are mediums/spirit hunters small circle were everyone knows/knows of each other?
As far as Kaiban knows, he and Walden were the only ones with supernatural abilities. If there is a tight circle, Kaiban's unaware of it.
