Zed Sadler

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Zed is an apprentice Technomancer operating in Ontario.

Personality

Claimed that he's an extremely curious person, willing to fight the Kennet Trio for the right to satisfy his curiosity.

Has stated that he's committed to freedom of information, unwilling to strike deals that require he not share what he learns.<ref>“What about a deal that you could study, but you couldn’t share that knowledge, or use it against the Others here without permission?”
“Not good enough,” Toadswallow murmured, off to the side.
“I don’t operate that way,” Zed told them. “Freedom of information is a personal precept of mine.” - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6 </ref>

Relationships

Apprentice to Rad Ray Sunshine.<ref>“Zed, apprentice to Rad Ray Sunshine, and I was curious. This sort of thing is my jam.”
“Uh huh,” Verona said. “Verona. Avery. What thing is your jam?”
“Website, music, strange signals. New-ish Others.” - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6 </ref> He noted that he would get in trouble with Ray if he gave Brie anything too substantial.<ref>You insisted on doing this, and this is all I can give without giving up

so much that my teacher gets mad at me.  Temporary and spare stuff. - [3.7] Confiscated Items</ref>

A student of the Blue Heron Institute, meaning he's bound not to pick fights with other students.<ref>“Are you a student at the Institute?” Verona asked.
“Might be. What’s it to you?”
“So are we,” Verona told him.
“And students are forbidden from attacking and harming one another. I see your angle.”
“I’m going to tell you now, we’ve made promises to protect this area. If you intrude,” Verona told him, “then you do so knowing it provokes violence.”
“From you.”
“But it provokes violence. That seems against the spirit of things, if not the letter.”
“Nah,” Zed replied. “It’s against the letter.”
- excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6 </ref> Familiar with various local Practitioners such as the Belanger Circle.

Rescued Brie from the Hungry Choir, working with her to find a way to tame it.

Appearance

Described as 17-18, short and stocky, light-brown skin, with slicked-back hair shaved at the sides.<ref name=":0">The practitioner leaned against the hood. Maybe sixteen or seventeen, he wore a wife beater, jeans, and had a denim jacket tied around his waist. He was short, stocky, with light brown skin, and hair

that had been shaved at the sides and grown longer on top, slicked

back. A bandanna sat around his neck, red. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6</ref>

On one occasion he wore a wife-beater, jeans, denim jacked tied around his waist, and a red bandanna around his neck.<ref name=":0">The practitioner leaned against the hood. Maybe sixteen or seventeen, he wore a wife beater, jeans, and had a denim jacket tied around his waist. He was short, stocky, with light brown skin, and hair

that had been shaved at the sides and grown longer on top, slicked

back. A bandanna sat around his neck, red. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6</ref>

Abilities and Art

Zed is a Technomancer with a "retropunk" aesthetic. Focused on technology (especially older technology), music, and newer types of Others.

Tools

He has an old station wagon with wooden sides<ref>The car was at least ten years old, a station wagon with wood panel sides that had seen better years, with an antenna sticking out the top.

The headlights were bright enough to illuminate the dirt road. - excerpt from [on a Limb 3.6|Out on a Limb 3.6]</ref> that he's very fond of. The vehicle seems to be enchanted to have enhanced durability.<ref>It served to incapacitate the mullet man, giving John the opportunity to
twist around and fire bullets into the hood of the car, apparently

aiming at the cassette player from the outside. The bullets bounced off

the hood, hit the windshield, and sparked there too.  - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6</ref> It has a casette player he can use for magical purposes, and seems to be able to take voice commands to some extent.<ref name=":4">“Cassette!” Zed kicked the bumper of the car, and the car radio kicked on, blaring the opening sting of some old music.

“Crying…!” the radio blared, top volume.
John dropped his gun to point at Zed or Brie, when he twisted. He was tackled by a man with a mullet, a wispy mustache, a tight shirt, and

short-shorts.

“…cold tears!” the radio continued. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6 </ref>

He employs a variety of minions:

ghosts trapped inside cassette-tape songs somehow. They can be copied, although the copies & ghosts will be increasingly degraded.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />
A group of figures - "voices in the static" - surrounded by both audio and visual static, conjured from radios playing white noise. The radio volume seems to be tied to how clarified & powerful they are. At high volume they whisper-babble about a wartime transmission to nowhere.<ref>A radio from the car buzzed, ninety percent static, overlapping with the

static from a smaller radio that sat on the hood of the car.  He

reached over and adjusted the dial. More television static than shadow,

with very faint edges, a silhouette appeared by the car.  He adjusted

again, and it became three.
[...]
Zed turned up the volume on the radio. The static images clarified, the grey dots becoming stark white ones, the outlines firmer. Now the static-y figures were making a static sound themselves. In the midst of

the static, Verona could hear murmurs, moans, and angry shouting, as if
from far away, almost drowned out.

[...]
“That sounds ominous,” Zed told them. “Let’s say that if you try that, I’ll end up turning this volume knob up all the way. And the voices in the static here will get agitated.”

[...]

Zed had grabbed the radio, and cranked up the volume.

A static figure manifested out of nowhere, bright, and loud with static.

“Wartime, people everywhere scared, loss of life, and fear, panic-” the static man whispered at her.

The figure grabbed her wrist.

“We’re cut off from everyone, we’re surrounded by darkness, it’s hopeless, and this message can’t get out,” it whispered.

- excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6 </ref> Unlike the casette-ghosts, these static-men are immune to blinding lights, although loud noises can interfere with them.<ref>John and Avery both covered their eyes. Zed and Brie didn’t. The card flashed, lighting up the area.

It served to incapacitate the mullet man, giving John the opportunity

to twist around and fire bullets into the hood of the car, apparently

aiming at the cassette player from the outside.

[...]

The flash hadn’t affected the static figures, but it had affected the goblins. They were being overwhelmed with the static radio at full volume, swamped and swallowed.

[...]

If the flash didn’t bother them… maybe the bang?

She threw a card, aiming to get it as far from her as possible. The wind caught it, and it didn’t fly perfectly straight.

She threw herself sideways into the ditch.

The card exploded into a ball of flame. Static figures flickered and paused. Free of the interference of the static men, Avery had reached the car. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6 </ref>

A serial killer type, surrounded by VHS-style flickering, able to manifest weapons for the others to use.<ref>Zed wasn’t idle. In the background, flickering like a bad VHS, was a

tall man, muscular, with a ruined face filled with splinters and bits of

wood, until it looked like an explosion in progress.  He carried a

serrated saw, like the kind two men would use in concert to bring down a

giant tree.

[...]
The VHS flickering extended from the man with the saw. The side of the road began to look like a cabin interior, with tools on the wall.
He reached up, grabbed one, and gave it to a static figure. A giant,

gently-curved spike.  The next one got a mallet that had been smashed

through a skull, part of the skull still intact around the head. It came away as the static figure gave it a shake. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6 </ref> The first Practice he ever performed was crafting a "jammer" capable of interfering with technology, from computers to guns, from a button which survived a technological accident. He has a couple and always carries one.<ref name=":3">Jammer
Any beginner technomancer is going to be making one of these. My teacher had me on the task in my first week. It’s the kind of thing you use when the ghost in the machine starts howling a little too loud or the gremlins flip a positive charge to a negative. If there’s moving parts and a power source, it should jam it up some.
I keep mine around because it’s useful in a pinch, as you saw with the gunman last night.
I don’t want to be a pain about this, but even though this is my spare, if you break it or lose it, I’m going to want you to find a replacement, a nice big button that survived a crashed elevator or plane

when little else did.  Not so easy, trust me. - [3.7] Confiscated Items</ref> It briefly interferes with his own technology when used, of course, but can still be useful against a foe foolish enough to employ anything mechanical against him.<ref>He pressed the gun to the window.

“Don’t kill them!” Avery warned.
The car headlights, the static, and the blaring noise of the cassette

player all stuttered at once.  Many of the static figures disappeared.

An advantage? Had someone figured out something to do?
The gun made a dull sound as John pulled the trigger. He looked down at it, then cast it aside.
A trick on Zed’s part. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6 </ref>

He was able to equip Brie with a large variety of spare and disposable technomancer trinkets:

Several ghosts trapped in casette tapes<ref name=":2">This is a copy of the original, so expect some corruption. He should buy you time or give your enemies a few solid punches

[...]
It’s a song recording off a tape so the quality’s not all there, but Bessie Lee is quality enough to make up for it. Most ghosts are miserable, but she’ll cheer you on and help you with your cardio.
[...]
This is the original, so it’d be swell if you didn’t lose it. When you hit that yellow button, you might think it’s broken. It’s not. It takes a little while to start, but when it does, all hell breaks loose.

The band struggled so hard to record this track.  Blood, sweat, tears,

and even fratricide. Never did figure out why it when that way. Left a whole bunch of ghosts behind

and no explanations.  We looked for the complete set of ghosts and

didn’t find ’em. Did find the music though.
- [3.7] Confiscated Items </ref>

A card carrying a supernatural computer virus<ref>Computer Bug

If you get to a computer, and it’s an old fashioned one with a disk drive or cd drive then stick this in. Ignore the ick factor. If you can find a computer or something that’s related to the devouring song, then this might get us in. It will do the work for you,

dredging stuff up.

- [3.7] Confiscated Items </ref>

A keyboard capable of conjuring Gremlins<ref>Grungy Keyboard

Another big red ‘escape button’. When dealing with some magic stuff,

sometimes you need ugly to deal with ugly.  We know there are goblins

in town, so when those little blighters show up, grab this nasty piece of work and smash the most expensive thing you can get to before the goblins can get to you.
There’s also a chance that if the devouring song kids show up, the gremlins that this thing will bring running can deal with them. A small

chance.  They’ve got some techy know-how to how they’re put together,

if they’re using the internet, and gremlins wreck tech. The gremlines will give you a hard time, but not so hard as our Kennet foes will. - [3.7] Confiscated Items </ref>

Key for travelling along wires via "the digital landscapes", but at the cost of electrocution. Can be used as a taser.<ref name=":1">Enter Ke

A failed project. Was a way to open doors and passages, but I got greedy and tried to tune it to the digital landscapes. The good? It’ll

carry you to somplace distant.  The bad?  There’s a lot of bad.  You

use it by sticking it in a light socket. It will do pretty much exactly

what you expect if

you stick something metal in a light socket. Then technology will sorta fritz around you for the next week or so, you’ll have electric spirits sparking through your head, yadda yadda. If you aren’t dead from the whole electro-cuton thing. Also works as a crummy tazer. Wear the gloves I gave you while using. - [3.7] Confiscated Items </ref>

Insulating gloves.<ref name=":1">Enter Key

A failed project. Was a way to open doors and passages, but I got greedy and tried to tune it to the digital landscapes. The good? It’ll

carry you to somplace distant.  The bad?  There’s a lot of bad.  You

use it by sticking it in a light socket. It will do pretty much exactly

what you expect if

you stick something metal in a light socket. Then technology will sorta fritz around you for the next week or so, you’ll have electric spirits sparking through your head, yadda yadda. If you aren’t dead from the whole electro-cuton thing.
Also works as a crummy tazer. Wear the gloves I gave you while using. - [3.7] Confiscated Items </ref>

A "jammer" capable of interfering with technology, from computers to guns.<ref name=":3" />
"Mildly cursed" sunglasses that grant a mild form of Second Sight as long as they're placated with music.<ref>Sunset Specs

Owned by a pretty hip guitarist, he only took them off to sleep. They’ve pick up a few things in their time on the road. A little moody and a teeny bit cursed. Keep music playing to keep the specs happy, and

they’ll reward you with a gnarly headache and a lightshow that lets you
know the ambient mood. - [3.7] Confiscated Items

</ref>

History

He helped Brie when she came to her final night in the Hungry Choir ritual with injuries too severe to possibly win. With his help, she did win, resulting in the death of the other seven contestants.

Brie pursuaded him to help her investigate Kennet and the Choir.

References