

Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 150/150
STR: +7 (16/24), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +7 (14/24), INT: +4 (18), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +2 (14)
Tough: +7/+10, Fort: +7, Ref: +7, Will: +8
Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+7), Bluff 10 (+12), Concentration 8 (+10), Disguise 6 (+8/+48), Gather Information 8 (+10), Intimidate 8 (+10), Investigate 8 (+12), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 8 (+12), Knowledge (streetwise) 8 (+12), Notice 8 (+10), Search 4 (+8), Sense Motive 4 (+6), Stealth 8 (+11)
Feats: All-Out Attack, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Dodge Focus 5, Endurance, Equipment 6, Evasion, Jack-of-All-Trades, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Ritualist, Startle, Takedown Attack 2, Uncanny Dodge (Visual)
Powers:
Fanatical Determination (Enhanced Constitution 10) (+10 CON, Feats: Diehard, Endurance)
Fanatical Strength (Enhanced Strength 8.) (+8 STR)
Super-Movement 1 (swinging)
Protection 2 (+2 Toughness)
To Cloud Men's Minds (Magic 8.) (glamour; Check Required (Arcane Lore))
Dazzle 8 (Alternate; affects: two sense types - vision, DC 18)
Emotion Control 8 (Alternate; DC 18; Cone Area (80 ft. cone - General); Limited to Emotion (Fear), Sense-Dependent (Vision))
Healing 8 (Alternate; DC 18)
Morph 8 (Alternate; morph: broad group - humanoids, +40 Disguise)
Battle Skar (Strike 1) (DC 23; Mighty, Thrown (Range: 50 ft., incr 10 ft.))
Snare 8 (DC 18)
Stun 3 (DC 13; Burst Area (15 ft. radius - General), Range (ranged))
Heavy Pistol (Blast 4) (DC 19; Accurate 2 (+4), Knockback 4)
Both Heavy Pistols Blazing (Blast 4) (DC 19; Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Accurate 2 (+4))
Equipment:
Grappel Gun [Super-Movement 1, swinging]
Multi-Tool
Protective Costume [Protection 2, +2 Toughness],
Utility Belt array
-(Battle Skars [Battle Skar (Strike 1), DC 23; Mighty, Thrown (Range: 50 ft., incr 10 ft.)]
-Binoculars
-Bolos [Snare 8, DC 18]
-Concussion Grenade [Stun 3, DC 13; Burst Area (15 ft. radius - General), Range (ranged)]
-Flash-Bang [(Dazzle 4, DC 14; Burst Area (20 ft. radius - General)]
-Flashlight
-Heavy Pistol [Heavy Pistol (Blast 4), DC 19; Accurate 2 (+4), Knockback 4]
-PDA
-Second Heavy Pistol [Both Heavy Pistols Blazing (Blast 4), DC 19; Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Accurate 2 (+4)]
-Smoke Grenade [Obscure 2; Cloud Area (10 ft. radius - General)]
Attack Bonus: +12 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +12, Grapple: +19)
Attacks: Battle Skar (Strike 1), +12 (DC 23), Both Heavy Pistols Blazing (Blast 4), +16 (DC 19), Dazzle 8, +12 (DC Fort/Ref 18), Emotion Control 8, +12 (DC Staged/Will 18), Flash-Bang, +12 (DC Fort/Ref 14), Heavy Pistol (Blast 4), +16 (DC 19), Smoke Grenade, +12 (DC 15), Snare 8, +12 (DC Ref/Staged 18), Stun 3, +12 (DC Fort/Staged 13), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 22)
Defense: +10 (Flat-footed: +3), Knockback: -5
Initiative: +3
Drawbacks: Disability, common, minor, Limited Sense of Touch -2 to PER Rolls For Touch and -2 to Fine Manual De, Disability, uncommon, minor, Monstrous Appearance
Languages: English
Totals: Abilities 32 + Skills 23 (92 ranks) + Feats 22 + Powers 32 + Combat 34 + Saves 10 - Drawbacks 3 = 150
Terrified chattering sounded outside. The Warlock Shorer looked and saw smoke pouring out of a window across from his. The Rat-servitors who'd garnered up the courage to return to the sorcerer's side had been steeled against human foes, even those who used magic and technology to harm them. But the thing coming from the corner was something they couldn't deal with.
"No," Shorer gasped, dropping Skaramine. The masked vigilante coughed, able to breathe once more, but the panic slicing through the circular room in waves was too much for him to catch more than a single lungful.
Skaramine struggled to his feet, seeing a hideous face framed in the doorway. Some primitive instinct froze him at his core - its visage even more terrifying as his own concealed, badly burned features. "What the hell?"
"The Hound of Tindalos! I am undone!" Shorer howled. "Please! Help me!"
Where a moment ago stood a scarecrow-like, towering menace now resided a frightened old man, pleading for aid. On the street below, the homeless that Shorer had taken for bait to draw out his last remaining blood relation stood beside Darlene, looked up at the monstrosity from the dawn of time.
Though Shorer had named it a hound, it must surely have been because of its tracking ability, for the face was nothing like a canine, brawny shoulders dissolved into sinewy tentacles which split at the end into large, writhing starfish in obscene mockeries of human hands. The hound stretched out of the window, pulling along its serpentine torso along with it, insectile hind legs climbing up onto the sill. Smoke billowed around it, and its lungs heaved out a blasphemous screech of rage.
"We've all seen it," Shorer said. "And it has seen us. It will not stop feeding, for its belly is limitless. It has hunted me from the dawn of time, striding across millenia. My only buffer was this blasted neighborhood. It could not help but peer through every corner, millions of them laid out at my whim. I thought I had more time..."
Skaramine shook off his fear, pulling his pistols. He didn't know the efficacy of modern lead and copper against a creature which swam through the timestream after its prey, but there was nothing else he could do. He jumped up, filling the curved windowsill, and screamed back his own feral response. "No one else dies today!"
- From The Hunters in the Corners, by Douglas Wojtowicz, appearing in Cthulhu Unbound 2, from Permuted Press.
- My man, Skaramine, a man with a little bit magic, a little bit Street-Level Powerhouse, and a gun-wielding Costumed Detective. I use his name as a screen name in a lot of places, and he is the starring character of my first published short story. He is a hero who came to me in a dream, drawing his name from a character's morbid joke about herself as Servalan's daughter in my Blake's 7 fanfiction back in the 1980's. He's grown, and become one of my favorite mystery men.
- Skaramine was originally another vigilante called Firehound (aka Specialist Joshua Rycerz), a gun-toting Punisher wannabe who engaged in an indiscriminate rampage against criminals after almost all of his family were killed. Only his sister had survived, and the soldier had come home to wage war. It was too much, and too wrong, eventually ending in an assault where his sister and dozens of innocent bystanders were killed. Horribly burned and burdened by regret over his violence, he sought death, but could not perish. Nursed to health and educated by a kindred soul named Kent, he was taught arcane arts to enhance his abilities.
- With a combination of illusory magicks and modern technology, Skaramine became an effective warrior in the field. His intellect and equipment are only one part of his true potential, however. His guilt and willingness to protect people from harm have given him the strength of a fanatic. While he doesn't possess impervious skin, he's tougher and stronger, his physical might enough for him to lift 700 pounds easily. Between this muscle and his gear, he can be all manner of fierce on the battlefield. He prefers not to use his two Colt 1911's (a gift from his mentor Kent) on targets who can't take it. He's learned not to kill, but also realizes that sometimes lethal force is justified.
- Skaramine's spells are slightly offensive minded with Dazzle and his Fear, but for the most part, he prefers not to use "combat magic." The throwing irons and his two Colts are good at a distance, and in hand-to-hand, he's there to inflict pain with his fighting style. The Fear Control is visually based as it is based upon the projected image of both his terror at seeing his destroyed face and the fearful dread as he recognized his sister's charred corpse and realizing it was his fault. That's a brain-cutting knife intended to fillet the fighting spirit of entire groups of thugs, softening them up for his Move-By-Action and Takedown Attack. With Ritualist and Arcane Lore, he can do things like Telelocation, Telepathic Contact, or a Mental Transform which can pluck the things man was not meant to know from the minds of innocent bystanders.






