Barefoot

Barefoot

Wakyambi Barefooted Adept
Follower of Elephant
Metatype	Human
Street Cred	0
Notoriety	0
Public Awareness	0
Titles and Awards	0
D.O.B.	January 8, 2068
Approved?	No
Priority	Metatype - D Attributes - A Magic/Resonance - B Skills - D Resources - D

Character Information

Summary

Wakyambi physical adept on his dreamwalk, not certain he's going to go back.

Goals

Enjoy himself while he can, and master as many martial arts as he can, before he eventually returns to his tribe.

Personality

Barefoot loves Seattle, and being a Shadowrunner, because both grant him ample opportunity to exercise his skill in martial arts and go through novel experiences that he knows he won't be able to enjoy forever. He's an adrenaline junkie, prone to risky stunts and gambles, but often comes across a little strange, partially because of his cultural unfamiliarity, but also because of his being a little burnt out on the combat drugs he takes. Nonetheless, he follows Elephant, and her influence has rubbed off on the young wakyambi, giving him a strong protective instinct towards his 'herd'.

Appearance

As a Zulu elf who stands at the height of a troll, Barefoot tends to stand out in a crowd. His sharp, elfin features combine with his lanky frame to make him look a little fragile, but in practice that is rarely borne out.

Clothing

Barefoot dresses fashionably and flashily, though not in a particularly distinctive way. He adjusts the look of his Sleeping Tiger to ape looks he sees on the trid that appeal to him.

Background

Hailing from Southern Africa, the young Velaphi Dhlomo lived the stereotypical life of a wakyambi, in accordance to the tribal traditions. Even after awakening, the boy's life was carefree, training diligently under the watch of Elephant to defend the tribe when he grew to maturity. Excitable and enthusiastic, Velaphi developed his powers quickly, but found himself stuck, always sensing a portion of power that was just out of his reach.

When he went on his dreamwalk, choosing Seattle as his destination, everything went off the rails. As his plane touched down at the SEA, a run went wrong spilled onto the runway, leading the curious young man to pursue them, his natural speed allowing him to catch up easily to the team of tired runners. Interested in the impressive abilities of the group's adept, and willfully not understanding their pleas to leave them the frag alone, Velaphi followed along with the runners as they ran down a former NeoNET executive and stole his commlink, fighting their way through his security as they did. Impressed with Velaphi's impressive display of kicking skill against the security, who naturally assumed he was a runner, the team set Velaphi up with their fixer. When the newly-christened Barefoot pressed the adept for instruction on how he used his powers, Velaphi found himself taking wholeheartedly absorbing the information, unlocking spellcasting ability by embracing the Buddhist practices of the other adept. Barefoot has been running ever since, fully embracing the free spirit of his dreamwalk to enjoy himself to the very fullest.

Narratively Significant Qualities

Mentor Spirit (Elephant): Barefoot, while he may not practice the same tradition he used to, still follows Elephant, as he has for many years. When his teammates are injured, he can fly into a berserk rage, attacking relentlessly until all threats have been eliminated.

Poor Self Control (Thrill Seeker): Barefoot runs primarily for fun, and is loath to let an opportunity for high-paced action antics slip by.

Big Regret: Barefoot, at the dawn of his shadowrunning career, fell in with a group of capoeira practitioners, from whom he learnt to strike accurately with his feet. He was ejected from the group when, while sparring, he accidentally killed his sickly partner with an overcharged Knockout.

Dependent (Nuisance): Barefoot likes gambling, it gives him the same thrill he gets from running the shadows. If the job takes him to a casino, he might get a little distracted, and he's not very good, either.

Favoured (Martial Artists, Biased): While he's always practiced fighting unarmed, thanks to his awakened gifts, Barefoot appreciates the breadth and depth of the Seattle martial arts scene very much, having been used to the insular and limited style of his tribe.

Prejudiced (Mystic Adepts, Biased): Barefoot has never really liked mystic adepts, viewing them as spoiled by their gifts in such a way as to leave them unfocused and as a result unskilled.

In Play

Legwork: Knowledge and Stealth

Velaphi, while not a Seattle native, has a few key areas of expertise where he can show his worth before the run proper begins. Knowledge (Bars & Clubs), (Crook Hangouts) and (Sports) make him well-suited for runs to do with the more casual, fun-loving side of running the shadows. His hard-earned street knowledge of Magic Traditions and passing understanding of Government Procedures will find more general use. Though not a native English speaker, Velaphi's native Zulu is unlikely to come up on a run, unless it takes him to his continent of origin.

When information is better hid than that, Barefoot resorts to physical infiltration, utilizing his skill at Sneaking, Locksmithing, and Pilfering to get at documents or devices.

Barefoot and Deadly

While well-versed in the use of his shock gloves, what truly makes Velaphi a danger in close combat is his use of the quality Barehanded Adept, which allows him to cast offensive touch spells through any exposed skin on his body (Usually his eponymous bare feet), despite his lack of spellcasting skill. Casting with Unarmed Combat is made even more effective with his Improve Ability (Unarmed Combat) power, using reagents to make his Knockout, Shatter, and Nauseate spells more effective. With these, Barefoot can bypass his foes' armour and disable targets, allowing him to punch (or rather, kick) significantly above his weight class.

When targeted by his foes, Barefoot makes good use of his Agile Defender quality, allowing him to add to his defense roll with Agility rather than Willpower.

Serious Weaponry

While he prefers to fight in close quarters, Barefoot strives to be useful at all ranges. Skilled in the use of Longarms, he can use burst-fire on his shotgun, while the imaging scope on his Marlin X71 allows him to threaten distant foes. Faced with an hard target, Barefoot can load APDS into his SPAS-24 to utilize the called shot (Bulls-eye Burst), giving him a little extra oomph for dealing with things like cars or heavily-modded drones. Stick-n-shock rounds are also available for both the shotgun and the sporting rifle, giving him a solid non-lethal option at range. Utilizing the different choke settings with his shotgun allows Velaphi to be difficult to dodge at any range.

Drugs, Drugs, Drugs

While his adept powers and sheer skill are not to trifled with, Barefoot is embracing the philosophy of the brave new world he finds himself in by augmenting himself further with substances. The most common one he uses is Cram, which enhances his Reaction and initiative. He can also use Betakami or Kamikaze, more powerful drugs with much less forgiving durations and crash effects. While Betameth enhances Reaction and Intuition, Kamikaze boosts Velaphi's Strength, Agility, Body, and Willpower, making him more durable, giving him more turns, making him more accurate and evasive, and helping him resist drain.

Blessings of Elephant

While many of Barefoot's powers can be "always on", in combat he turns to three forms of 'boost' to make himself more effective for short bursts of activity. First is Adrenaline Boost, which grants him +8 to initiative, while causing him drain for each combat turn he uses it. He tends to use it to ensure he gets additional initiative passes, allowing him to act more often than he normally would. Next are his Attribute Boost powers, which (separately) increase his Agility and Reaction. These are temporary, but make him much better at landing blows and avoiding them respectively.

Run History

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Affiliations

Contacts

Contact	Connection	Loyalty	Archetype	Profession	Aspects	Chips
Rick Rampant	4	1	Fixer	Talent Scout	Club Regular, Corporate Connections, Criminal Contacts, ID Forger, Seattle Native	Even
Lionel Leroy	2	3	Gear	Undefined	Ganger's Quartermaster, Talismonger Connections, They actually still owe me from last month...	Even

In Character Information

SINs

Christopher Pogo: Adept and Hobbyist Hunter (Rating 3)