Art Demon

Context

This character is an original creation, by me. I have created them solely for the Halloween 2016 Random Magical Character Creation event.

This character is randomly generated, with a few tweaks permitted, using the Random Magical Character Creation system.

This character was left entirely unchanged, except for the one AP boost allowed. I have built my character around my results.

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Background

Powers & Abilities

Damien Rich is a natural when it comes to weapons. He has been training to fight with all types of weapons ever since he was a child. He is naturally very athletic, and has never had a problem when it comes to running, which, on occasion, has come in handy.

Art Demon gets his powers from the demon that has possessed him. After practicing enough, with plenty of error, he finally learned how to partially control the demon possessing him, to access his powers. Using the demon’s possessive powers, Art Demon can command the demon to possess images and bring them to life, pulling them into reality.

The demon that possesses him can often take over, resulting in some very bad consequences. When the demon takes over, Damien automatically transforms into demonic form. The demon, when taking over, can also control Damien’s emotions, which can range from slight anger issues, to Damien having a complete emotional meltdown.

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History

October 1^st, 2012

Damien Rich, a 24 year-old millionaire weapons distributor, had decided the time had come to use his skills for the greater good. He started training that day, to become stronger and more able.

October 29^th, 2012

After a month of non-stop training, Damien Rich had finally finished mastering his skills with weapons, and using his naturally able, (but fragile), body… He had turned himself into a superhero. The time was right, Damien Rich, would now become: “Firearm” (no relation).

October 31^st, 2012 (part 1)

Damien Rich was out on his first patrol as Firearm…
“Okay…” Said Damien, “I’ve already saved a cat out of a tree, and it’s only been ten minutes… This is going great!” Damien turned at the the intersection to head into the residential district.
Just then, Damien heard voices… They didn’t seem like much, but as he looked further, he heard more. ”No, please… Don’t hurt me! Yelled the first voice.

As Firearm ran in the direction of the voice, he heard something else. ”It is time to die, mortal.” The voice said, in an earsplitting crackle, that could be considered a voice. As Damien came up to the door, he peered through the window to see a six foot seven, hulking figure. It seemed to be some form of a demon! Immediately, Firearm destroyed the door, and barged into the room.

“Leave him alone, NOW!” Yelled Firearm, pointing his gun at the demon. The demon slowly turned his head towards Firearm. Three long spikes protruded from the mask, covering the right half of its face. ”You dare threaten me?!” yelled the demon. The demon turned back to raise his clawed hand at the demon.

Firearm didn’t hesitate. He pulled the trigger of his gun, to shoot the demonic creature in the back of the head. The room went silent. ”I said, leave him alone.” said Firearm. The demon turned to face Firearm. His hulking figure making Firearm look small. In a second, the demon rushed towards Firearm. Firearm made a swift dodge and shot the demon three times in the back of the head.

October 31^st, 2012 (part 2)

The demon roared. He turned back to Firearm, only to receive three bullets to chest. The demon rushed forward. As Firearm turned to dodge the oncoming attack, the demon slashed the side of his face with his clawed hand. Firearm opened his eyes as blood trickled down into his right eye. He drew the sword at his belt and pointed it toward the demon.

“You cannot defeat me.” Breathed the demon. ”Then I’ll die trying.” They rushed at each other, both slashing. Firearm ducked as the demon clawed at his face. Firearm swiped his sword towards the demon’s torso. The demon roared as Firearm’s sword went through him. The demon fell to the ground, clawing at the wound from Firearm’s sword.

The demon screamed, an ear splitting roar that split the air, as it fell lifeless to the floor. Firearm turned to the man, frozen in the corner of the room. ”Are you okay?” Asked Firearm, as a low rumble resonated from behind him. He turned back to face where the demon’s body lay. The demon’s body exploded into a wave of flames that engulfed the house as the demon’s spirit rushed towards Firearm.

He tried to avoid it, to no avail. The demon’s spirit contacted Firearm and immediately disappeared. Firearm yelled. Pain flowed through him as the demon started possessing him. His body flashed from pale, to red. His eyes turned red, his hands and feet transformed, he was turning into the demon! Then, all of the sudden, the world went dark…

Firearm woke to the sound of shouting. ”Hey, man. You’ve got to get up before the cops get here.” said the man Firearm presumed to be the man from before. Firearm opened his eyes to see that the fire was gone, and there were firemen outside the building. ”You… You kept them from taking my mask off?” “Yes.” Said the man. ”I told them you were the one who saved me.” Firearm sat up. ”Thanks.” The man nodded. ”It was the least I could do.”

“Anyway, I should probably get going now.” Said Firearm as he began to stand up. ”Oh, one more thing… Is there a back door I can use?”

Later that night…

As Damien Rich got out of his car, he noticed his head had started throbbing. ”Gosh, where the heck did this headache come from?” Said Damien, as he stumbled out of his car. He walked into Rich Enterprises, as the headache was getting worse, and stumbled for the elevator. Luckily, everyone had taken the night off, so no one noticed him.

As he got out of the elevator, he walked into his training room. His headache wasn’t letting up. It got worse as he made his way to the desk, and he began to feel lightheaded. He tripped onto the floor and glanced over towards the mirror behind the desk. He had transformed into the demon, again. He panicked. He tried to stand, but his body wouldn’t let him.

He began to feel dizzy, and then, he fainted…

November 1^st, 2012

Damien woke up the next morning on the floor of his training room. He slowly began to remember the events of the previous night, the fire, the demon, the headache… The transformation! Damien stumbled to look at his reflection. He had transformed back into his human form. ”Good.” He sighed, as he made an attempt to stand.

Futile. He attempted to stand, only to feel excruciating pain through his left leg. He reached for the edge of his desk. Maybe. He thought. He managed to pull himself up. As he leaned against the desk he pondered what to do about his leg… His eyes drifted towards the large rifle sitting on the desk. Perfect!

He grabbed the rifle and positioned it, like those guys with canes did. He took his weight off the desk and immediately, fell on his face. He had NO idea how to use a cane… After about an hour of practice. (And a lot of bruises.) Damien finally began to figure out how to walk. Now he just had to come up with an excuse for his injury…

Damien went about the rest of the day acting as normal. When people had asked him what had happened, he just responded with, “A little accident.” Later, he thought. I might need to do a little research…

November 2^nd, 2012

It was late, too late. It was two o’clock in the morning and Damien sat at his desk reading an article about demonic magic. He had been sitting in the same spot for the past four hours. So far he had not found much… He had found that demons could possess things, and that was pretty much it. He began to nod off.

He thought of what could happen if the demon took control of him. He thought of what he could do to stop it. He began to wake back up, determined to keep researching. But then, he began to have a headache. This time, it was much worse. His head was throbbing, his eyes were dry, he couldn’t move.

He started to think he was hallucinating when the lion came out of the painting on the wall. He wasn’t. The lion rushed at him, tearing through the furniture. Damien gripped his rifle. As the lion rushed towards him Damien raised the gun, and shot it in the head. The lion rolled across the floor and stopped in front of him. Damien began to feel light headed and, once more, fainted.

November 3^rd, 2012

Damien woke up the next morning fully expecting to find himself asleep at his desk. But in fact, he woke up on the floor in the middle of the room. He stood up, with the support of his gun, of course. He looked around the room. The painting was still there, the lion back inside of it. But the furniture, it was all destroyed, from last night.

He decided to take a break that day, and study more about demonic magic. Surely there was something in his library that could help…

November 5^th, 2012

Nothing. Damien had searched his entire library and found nothing. Not a single book on demonic magic. Not a single book on magic at all, for that matter. How? He thought. How am I to learn anything about my power? Damien sat at his desk, contemplating what to do… ”Maybe…” Whispered Damien. He rushed, as fast as he could, to his computer and searched for “demon history books”.

“Aha!” He proclaimed. If he didn’t have any books now, he certainly would soon.

November 6^th, 2012

That night, after finally purchasing every book about demons he could find, Damien decided to retire for the night. As he slept, images rushed through his head. He tried to make sense of them but he just, couldn’t. Damien woke up. He lay in bed thinking of what to do next. And then… ”Oh no…” Proclaimed Damien. ”Not again!” His headache had returned.

He sat up to look in the mirror. Sure enough. He had transformed into the demon. He turned to the painting on the wall. A picture protruding a wolf howling next to a lake. The wolf began to move. It leaped gracefully out of the painting. The wolf growled at Damien. It lurched at him, but Damien dodged it, barely.

He grabbed the rifle from his bedside and shot the wolf. Man, this thing is coming in handy. He thought. His vision blurred, and he fell asleep…

November 7^th, 2012

Damien woke up to the sound of the doorbell. He very slowly got out of bed. Damien turned to look in the mirror. Thankfully, he was no longer in demon form. He slipped his shirt on and rushed to the door. Damien opened the front door for the delivery man. ”Gosh, that was fast.” He mumbled. Damien signed the papers, and waved towards the delivery man.

He took the surprisingly large box of books and sat it on his desk. ”I’ll have to do this later.” He said, with his hand on the box. ”For a man who owns his own company, I work too much.”

November 9^th, 2012

Damien woke up to find himself standing in the middle of his library. Everything was still there, but something seemed out of place… The furniture… It had moved again. ”Did it happen again?” Said Damien, completely puzzled. ”I don’t even remember it happening this time…” Damien shuffled over to his desk, his body still weak from the previous night.

“What was I working on?” He reached for the open book on his desk. ”Demons have the ability to sense fear.” Damien put the book down. ”Well, I can certainly sense mine…” Damien sat down in the chair at his desk. What if he couldn’t learn to control his power? What if he was doomed to this life forever?

Damien shook his head. He couldn’t let that happen. He wasn’t sure how he was going to fix this, but he had an idea…

November 15^th, 2012

After announcing that he was going away for awhile, and leaving his company in the hands of his CEO. Damien Rich had given his full attention to his research.

January 9^th, 2013

“I wonder.” Said Damien, as he stood from the floor of his library. ”Could I pull images from the television?” He went back to his research as if nothing had happened. This is the tenth time Damien had been attacked this month, and he had gotten quite used to it.

February 1^st, 2013

“I still can’t control it!” Damien yelled, as he shot a hole in his desk. The previous night Damien had made an attempt to animate an image on purpose, only to nearly die in the process.

February 17^th, 2013

Damien had recently read that demons can only be overpowered by will. ”So…” Said Damien. ”If I want to do it enough, it will work?”

February 20^th, 2013

No, it didn’t work. Damien tried to take control over the demon, but it failed. He was attacked again, and once more, nearly died.

March 30^th, 2013

Damien had decided he would research his power more before trying to control it.

August 27^th, 2013

As he sat in his library, Damien had begun to have another headache. The images came out of the walls… He transformed into the demon… The world went red… ”Enough!” Damien yelled. ”I will not let you take control of me any longer!” The images retreated back onto the walls. Damien transformed back into a human.

“There.” He said, brushing the dust off of his shoulder.

April 1^st, 2014

Damien’s research continued over the next year. As well as his practice. As he learned to control his powers more, the attacks began to happen less frequently. The more he trained the less it happened. ”Seems like a pretty good deal to me.” He said.

June 12^th, 2015

Finally, his research was complete. After three very long years, Damien had finall y learned everything he could about demonic magic. After practice with controlling his powers, he had learned that he could transform into his demon form at any time, which could become potentially useful.

September 1^st, 2015

After learning to control his powers, and the demon that possessed him, Damien Rich had decided to go back to his old life.

September 4^th, 2015

When Damien Rich had reappeared, the media, who had begun to spread rumors that he was dead, was shocked. Damien tried to avoid the media, as to not give hints to what he had been doing for the past three years.

September 8^th, 2015

Damien sat at the desk in his library. The paintings on the wall coming to life all around him. ”Maybe I should take another shot at fighting crime…” He said, petting the wolf at his feet. ”I mean, what could go wrong? It’s not like I could make things worse.”

September 13^th, 2015 (part 1)

Damien sat, listening to the radio in his car, a brand new, red Bugatti Veyron. (Just because he’s new to this, doesn’t mean he can’t have a cool car…) He had switched to the police channel, hoping to find a robbery he could attempt to stop. He wasn’t in costume, but that didn’t matter. With his new abilities, he could change into costume whenever he wanted.

His thought was interrupted by a loud voice on the radio. ”There’s been a robbery at 4000 Michigan Rd.” An art museum. That was ironic. Damien didn’t care. He gunned it to the art museum. They don’t arrest superheroes for going over the speed limit… Right? Damien pulled up to the art museum. Thankfully, the police had not arrived quite yet.

As he stepped out of the car, Damien transformed into his demon form. Something felt different this time… For once, he felt normal. There was no threat, no pain. Damien shook his head. I don’t have time to soak it in now. He thought, as he headed for the museum. Damien sneaked in through the back door that the robbers had so kindly opened for him.

Damien snuck through the museum to find the criminals. ”Hmm…” He whispered to himself. ”I should come here more. Ooh, I like that one.” Damien began to hear voices. I must be getting closer! He thought. Or that’s the demon messing with me again… Regardless, he proceeded.

September 13^th, 2015 (part 2)

Damien stood at the entrance of a large room, covered in artwork. He examined further. Broken glass cases everywhere, missing artwork. The thieves definitely came through here. He snuck through the room, trying not to step on any glass. He started throbbing. ”Really? Now?” He grunted, hurrying through the room. He had finally made it to the other side when he heard voices.

“You’re going to open the door, or the wall’s gonna get a new paint job.” Damien peered around the corner. Three robbers stood around a security guard on the floor, one with a gun aimed at his head. ”Now!” Said the robber. The guard reluctantly stood. The robber shoved him towards the vault’s keypad. The guard started typing.

“Alright, time to come up with a plan…” Damien said, looking around the room. ”I don’t think I could get close enough to use my sword before getting shot…” Damien spotted a painting of a large tree. ”Plan B then.” Damien rushed into the hallway. ”Hey!” The robbers panicked, all reaching for their guns. ”Let him go.” Said Damien.

The leader pointed his gun at the guard’s head. ”Not a chance.” Damien sighed. Bang! The robber screamed, clutching the bullet wound on his now broken arm. The other robbers scrambled to shoot at Damien, only to be blocked by tree branches and leaves. ”Fascinating.”

Damien summoned a lion out of the painting next to him. The lion rushed through the tree and attacked the robbers. The robbers screamed and where knocked unconscious. Once the paintings returned to normal, Damien tied the robbers together. The guard, still speechless, attempted to thank Damien before he disappeared.

September 14^th, 2015

Damien sat on his couch, watching the news. ”Breaking news! Art museum robbery foiled by superhero!” Damien turned up the volume on the television. ”Yes, there was a hero there last night.” said the guard. ”He looked like a demon, but he controlled art! He was like, uh… An, Art Demon!” Damien raised an eyebrow.

It wasn’t the best name… But he could live with that.

Description

Damien Rich is a naturally fit person. He is very dexterous and hasn’t ever had much trouble running.

However, after being possessed, the physical restriction given to him by the demon, limits his ability to walk. So, instead of using a cane, like a normal person, he came up with a more… practical solution, a large rifle. He uses this rifle as a support when walking, much like a cane. He has gotten into trouble with this before, but has somehow managed to get out of it every time.

Damien also could be described by the unique scar on his face. The scar reaches from his eyebrow, to his cheek, and is very distinctive. However, rather than cover it up, he embraces it. The scar symbolizes his very first attempt at being a hero, in which, he had sacrificed himself for another.

Personality

Thaumaturge: “So, how does this thing work?”
Art Demon: “It’s fairly simple… You put your finger here, and pull the trigger. Oh, and don’t aim it at your face.”

After his exile, Damien Rich, a formerly fun loving man, becomes very strict and direct. Even though he’s often too direct, he still makes jokes at times. Damien also owns a very expansive collection of art. He is very proud of his collection, and enjoys looking through it daily. Damien has a very good eye for art, and it’s value, which makes art collecting very easy for him.

Quotes

Demon: “You cannot defeat me.”
Damien: “Then I’ll die trying.”

“To quote a friend of mine… “Well, crap’.”

By Gideon Roark.

Source of Character: Magical character creation contest, Halloween 2016.

Special Thanks: Miles Morey.

Writeup completed on the 14^th of September, 2016.