The Disturbing Darkloch

The Disturbing Darkloch


Character Name: Darkloch
Quote: "You really need to calm down before we get into something we'll both regret!"
Power Level: 10 (150pp)
Concept: Stretchy, blobby, creepy street-level superhero
Occupation: Musician, superhero
Real Name: Darren Peterson
Legal Status: Legal citizen of the United States
Identity: Secret
Place of Birth: Chicago, Ill
Marital Status: Widowed
Living Relatives: Albert and Jean (Parents)
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 180lbs
Eyes: Green
Hair: Black

Background:
The child was an unusual one. No one is completely certain how it showed up on the doorstep of the orphanage, just that he was there, dropped off on a particularly black and storm-filled night. The skies above the city of Blackwater had turned completely black, despite the crash of distant thunder that didn't even penetrate the cloud layer - or at least that's what everyone told themselves. Sure, there were hushed stories of monsters being sighted, battling in the streets and on the rooftops, but those were crazy stories.

Weren't they?

Darren was adopted by Lou and Sue Peterson, and a few years later, they adopted his "twin sister" - a girl orphaned by a southeast Asian conflict. Darren grew up relatively normal until on his 15th birthday, he discovered he possessed superhuman abilities. While exploring his newfound powers, he eventually got in trouble. Granted, it wasn't solely his fault that there was property damage at the scenes he was discovered at. A teenaged crimefighter protecting his secret identity, he ended up in enough trouble, developing a considerable record.

Darren, Lou, Sue and Michelle all combined their resources to investigate what he really was, but there was no precedent for him in the world, even among a growing population of superhumans. Darren realized he had a special gift, and had to use it to help people. Eventually, he developed the identity Darkloch, and found himself dividing his heroic efforts between "normal" people and the "citizens" of Underside, a community of outcasts struggling for survival in ancient underground tunnels.

He's met other creatures similar to himself, able to transform from a nondescript person into an alien monstrosity. They too were orphans, clueless to their true origins, but a couple of them have prophetic dreams driving them, warning them of a time when Darkloch and his otherworldly kin will be on the front line of a war of Liberation.

Darren dreads that coming day, but until then, he aquits himself as a hero of Blackwater, to every citizen, above and below ground.

Personality:
Beliefs:
1 - With great power comes great responsibility.
2 - The love of my family has given me the strength to protect the world, despite their fear of me.
3 - I am a protector, not a murderer. Death is the absolute last resort, and I will not use my power to suffocate foes.

Ideas:
1 - Music is my refuge from stress, allowing me to recharge my soul from my struggles.
2 - Biology means nothing. Nurture trumps nature. I may not be human by birth, but I am human by the power of my parents' love.
3 - Not everyone has been gifted with amazing abilities and a loving family. I will do what I can for those not so blessed.

Powers and Tactics:
Darkloch is from an ancient race of creatures, blessed and cursed with the ability to transform into a superhuman form. Darkloch's ability is to make himself into a fluid-like mass which can either take the form of a cohesive humanoid or stretch and flow like an oil slick. Even without transforming, his nonhuman metabolism allows rapid healing and recovery.

In his fluid form, he can flow up walls and across ceilings, disappear in shadows, stretch to amazing lengths, and form his fists and feet into bludgeons capable of deforming even iron plate. His own nearly fluid form is quite resilliant to physical harm, and he possesses a disturbing ability, able to take chunks of his fluid mass to blend them with an injured human or animal. The liquid biomass then conforms to the wounded party, taking on coloration and texture as necessary, even forming in as muscle mass, nerve tissue and blood vessels. The process is painful to Darkloch, and can prove nauseating to an injured ally.

Darkloch can flow through the smallest cracks, but is still vulnerable to physical and energy attacks in his fluid form - he simply is proportionately more resiliant to harm as he can flow and bend with the attack, even if he should somehow be restrained.

Darkloch is a capable combatant, and his fluid form enables him to restrain opponents easily as he wraps them in his oozy self.

Campaign Use:
Darkloch is an update of my favorite character from the Palladium Game Nightbane. His transformation entailed turning into a humanoid mass of dark, clotted blood. Darkloch has been with me through several game systems, and can be a player's gateway into the Nightbane universe of oddities. As such, Hunters, Hounds and Darklords can make formidable foes for any super-team. His origin can be altered so that he is simply a mutant of some sort. Darren/Darkloch can be encountered either on patrol, protecting non-powered freaks and mutants, or in his civilian identity as a bar musician (the pay isn't the best, but he gets to engage in his other great love, music).

- Bar-room Superbrawl: The PC's are present in a nightclub owned by a superhuman (known or unknown to them) when someone sidles up to the bar and begins a drunken brawl. Unfortunately, both participants are Powerhouses or Paragons, and have a long history of violent conflict. Darkloch enters the fray to minimize the damage, but the battling pair are more than he can handle himself.

- The Underside: The PC's learn of a subterranean colony under their city, made up of homeless people with a large population of mutations and extremely low-powered metahumans. They've come under attack by a predatory force, and Darkloch approaches the team, requesting their aid in finding out who is attacking the helpless freaks and misfits under the city.

- Invasion Ascendant: Creatures from a shadow dimension are seen chasing Darkloch across the city's rooftops. The inhuman hunters are big, strong, and heavily armored, pushing the Ebony Slick to the limits of his survivability. It turns out that Darkloch's particular race is actually native to a parallel shadow universe, and the monsters after him are the advance guard of an invasion, seeking to eliminate his kind's presence on Earth as they are natural enemies. A springboard to an epic war-setting, with no need to utilize actual Nightbane setting materials. The hunting creatures are a mix of PL6 Powerhouses or PL8 winged Paragon lieutenants, while their shadowy overloards are Energy Masters, with an emphasis on Shadow Energies.

Appearance:
Darkloch is a disturbing creature, made of black, oily fluid that shifts its form as it moves, even in full humanoid shape. It's eyes and mouth glow an eerie bluish-green and are simply surface-tension shapes which move in an approximation on a smooth, featureless headpod.

Darren Peterson is a nondescript young man with green eyes and black hair, and of average height and build.