Tales of Xadia: Ekkers
Oh holy cats, I love this guy! Meet Ekkers, a canon character from the upcoming Tale of the Corrupted Core! He's a Katolian Army captain who has defected to help the Sunfire elves.
Ekkers was there when Viren brought his enhanced staff to his armies in order to transform them into Sun magic beasts for the Battle of the Storm Spire—only instead of playing along, he cut and ran.
Deeply sympathetic to the situation in Lux Aurea, Ekkers is encountered by the players on their way to Lux Aurea. Will players find his old-fashioned optimism charming, or inappropriate for the dire Sunfire elf setting? That’s for players to decide!
I love this guy's ad hoc look. He's been bringing us a shrubbery (with his head), his facial hair is on point, he seems to have a grappling hook made out of a carabiner, his tattered cape is half tied in place, and he's pretty chuffed with himself! He's giving me big Sir Phineas Kirst vibes.
And guys, the bird, the BIRD. Look at this boi. It's some kind of mechanical construct, and the purple color suggests it could be powered to "life" by dark magic. Is it a dark magic telephone, a spy, a messenger bird, a harmless wacky companion full of bird jokes? I don't know, but I adore it!
Whatever has created this cute lil guy is canon, too, so there could be more of this exact creation, or more of this kind of tech/magic, out there in the world of TDP. It could be the dark magic version of Ethari's lighthawk arrow, or something completely different, but you know I thought of my favorite craftsman right away when I saw this cute stabby birby boy.
I wants one, precioussss.