New Salem Character #29: Ernie Souchak

Ernie Souchak 

Experience level: 3

Affect/Gimmick: Crusading newspaper report on the crime beat, who just happens to be legally licensed to support a Bald Eagle, a gift from his wife in the Rocky Mountains. 

Gang?: No 

Status: He's a thorn in the side of the 3rd and 4th tier of the Conspyramid, investinging their larger organizations, but not too much of a concern for the upper levels. He hasn't turned his attention to the 5th and 6th tiers, though if he decided to focus on one of them he might cause them lots of problems. Souchak is protected by the mid levels of the corruption pyramid, who love reading his work in the daily paper, and also because his wife is is a nature themed super hero Divide. She never comes to the city, but she will if Souchak is wounded, any no one wants to deal with that. 

Powers: 1

1. Pet: His very intelligent Bald Eagle, Blaire. She always has eyes on him from somewhere overhead, or is roosting nearby him, and can intervene at any time. Use Eagle stats but due to her magical background increase her HP to 20, her Power score to 70, and her basic HTH to 1d8.  

Weight: 220                Basic Hits: 5    Agi Mod: +0

S: 10          E: 10        HP: 8

A: 13          I:  15        Pow:  48

C: 15                          Move: 33

Accuracy: +1

Damage Mod: +2

Reactions Mod: +2

Carrying Cap: 220    HTH: 1d4

Inventions: he invented Souchak Shorthand, which is treated as a complex code when it comes to cryptography. 

Background/Origin: A long time dogged investigating reporter looking into criminal corruption in New Salem, after a warning attack his supervisors sent him on a trip to the Rocky Mountains until the heat died down to do a story on a reclusive nature researcher. Once he found her he a) fell in love and then b) discovered she was a nature-themed superhuman, Divide, who protected the mountains. Eventually he had to return to New Salem, where he continued his investigative reporting, just now with an eagle-eyed companion in the form of one of his wife's bald eagles, Blaire.

Is this me doing the strangest Expy ever by brining in the John Belushi (and by extension Blair Brown) character from the Michael Apted movie Continental Divide? I do believe it is!  The remainder of this month will also be 'heroic' 'normal' NPCs in the setting, but the PCs will remain the only super-heroes.