The story of Char Dreaming

Parts 1 & 2:

Char started her career as a Hellion controlled Streetwalker on the docks of Port Oakes.
She got her nick 'Dreaming' day-dreaming about something better while plying her trade on the docks and pacifying the third rate Lieutenant that had claimed her as his doxy. It was after her beau got trampled by a Random Brute that Char caught the interest of Cinder, Dockside Hellion Boss. Char suspected then and still does, that the order of events was in fact Reversed.

It was when Cinder started "hiring out" Char to friends and contacts uptown Cap au Diable on a pro bono basis that Char decided enough was enough and it was time to stop dreaming. From one of her Johns, one Dr Krylov, she obtained an untested mutation genome catalyst that, in theory, would allow her to absorb a victim's Powers through prolonged physical contact and at the expense of the victim's life. That was a No-brainer for Char that spelled Cinder's doom. Char's only regret is that the Pig died with a smile on his face. Char immediately set out on a quest for power and freedom and vengeance on her former Hellion 'Blood Brothers'.

A few months and one jail-bust later a second mutation occurs when...

deep in the bowels of the power-plant Mt Diable, Char lies dying from wounds inflicted by the devastating powers of Arachnos' MU servants. Char had been immensely enjoying her new-found power and liberty so far. She'd not gotten clear of the law initially, though she'd fled to the mainland. But soon she'd been busted out of jail by another ex-John named Burke, who'd put her to work as a heavy. Working of a debt was not something Char enjoyed, but she reveled in the new ways she could do so. Soon she felt ready to confront the Hellions and other denizens of Port Oakes again and did so with gusto.

It wasn't until working for 'old soul' Peter Themari in up-town Cap Au Diable that she got her first real taste of true evil power. Betraying, corrupting and ultimately seducing in a whole new way, one of those cloyingly good Heroes. Oh the thrill of it all, This was true power, this was true liberty. And the exquisite pleasure of the agony she caused was just to delicious! Char was running high on success and decided to take on jobs for Arachnos Agents themselves.

Arachnos however, harbors true artists of the betrayal and backstabbing game and soon Char was caught up in plots involving no lesser individuals than Ghost Widow, who seemed to share a certain report with the former street-hooker, and the time-encapsulating projects of Dr Aeon. It was on a job investigating the latter's activities under Mt Diable that disaster struck in the form of one too many MU agents coming from one too many sides at once. Char had been set up!

Dying, her body still twitching with electrical currents from the devastating blast lies on the cold floor when a slow, cold and utterly evil voice speaks to her, whispering promises of power, life and pleasure to her. The price, one day the fiend under the mountain so sorely abused for the Ilses' energy needs, will rise again. Then Char will serve him as one of his Morigans or Succubi. Not really seeing any options and not wholly believing her own delirium Char agrees and immediately a new current rises through the floor and through her body. Char feels herself lifted of the ground and starts to slowly rotate while she feels 'things' moving around and being relocated inside her body as well as hearing the ripping of cloth.

A new sense of power permeates her as she regains her feet and, to her utter amazement, flexes her little bat-wings. It takes but little experimenting for her to realize that small as they may seem, they are strong enough for her to fly, provided she uses her originial powers to create a thermal column to take advantage of. Not a big problem for a Fire/Warmth Corruptor. Some further experimenting and a crash into a now crumbling building teach her to use the tail she now appears to have for a rudder. Two tiny horns sprouting from her forehead in conjunction with the pointed ears she's picked up from the Doc's Catalyst complete the picture of a human/devil hybrid. A good thing some of her johns are into that kind of look and, to be frank, so is Char herself.

The voice never speaks to Char again, and after a while she starts to wonder whether what she experienced was a true pact made with the Diable, or her own Hellionite mind subconsciously guiding the path of a mutation spurt triggered by a mass overdose of energy, provided by the MU agents who'd ambushed her. After a while, she manages to firmly convince herself of this explanation. It takes yet another mutation spurt to make her doubt her origins again as she finds herself at Death's Gate as the result of a run in with Freaks, deep in the bowels of Hellsforge. She falls, dying of her wounds, on the rim of one of the huge melting furnaces, currently full of slag, heated to a salmon-pink color. Char is no stranger to heat or fire, but as she is once again mortally wounded by electrical power ravaging her body, she succumbs to the heat and looses consciousness. In the depth of her benighted mind she hears the slow, angry voice of Diable scolding her for something.

It seems like hours later when she wakes again, lying on the now stone-cold, rime-crusted rim of the furnace. Turning her head immediately informs her something has changed as the now huge abominable horns sprouting from her forehead inform her that she'll have to build up some new neck-muscles, soon. Looking down at her body, Char notices with some alarm that the lightning-charred areas of her body have been replaced with what appears to be coagulated metal that somehow gained the same flexibility as the rest of her body. In fact, it wasn't all that bad looking in a ignore-the-humongous-horns smoking-wings and devils-tail kinda way. For that was another change, her wings had gone through a growth-spurt it seems, and gotten a bit singed in the process. In short, Char had made another step on a path that was slowly turning her into the image of a servant of Diable, or the false demons the Hellions worship, or maybe its that both are one and the same? Char is going to be the first to find out it seems.

And it has given her a purpose, a quest. To find out what is going on. It's not that the thought of being Man's eternal torture is an unappealing prospect to Char, it's just that she'd rather be sure and not making a fool of herself. She now spends part of her time not reveling in her powers, but searching for information and people who can tell her more.