Snake Oil (Dark Champions - New Venice)

The Needle

Background:

Benson Reed was born and raised in Free Town, New Venice. He grew up on an agricultural plantation inherited by a group of freed slave families from Henri Dubouis, a prominent, abolitionist philanthropist, who willed the property to their community as a "new beginning for a new age". The families have largely intermarried over the years forming a sort of tribe.

Benson had little formal education growing up, but rather received hands-on instruction in agricultural trade skills from an early age. Beatrice Reed, the unofficial "tribal" matriarch and his aunt, judged during his adolescence that due to his slight frame and curious nature he would be best suited specializing in the traditionally female role of gardening. As a result, he was unpopular with boys his own age, and spent most of whatever free time he had embracing his special role in private study even to the point of expanding his niche to herbal medicine and soil science, much to the benefit of his extended family.

From his time in public libraries he developed and implemented plans for farming earth worms, managing and selling decomposition, irrigation, crop cycling, and whatever else his eager, thriving, green thumb could find to do. His contributions greatly improved harvest sales profits, all of which funneled into the community fund operated by the matriarch based on need, so much so his plantation and tribe became the "go-to" for all matters agricultural. In turn, they became the wealthiest and most influential in the area, even unto becoming a sort of unofficial, representative, local government. Throughout all this, Benson neither earned nor wanted a single ounce of recognition, preferring the tomes of his recorded findings and his earthworms to politics or actual human company.

In early adulthood he befriended Min Tzo, an equally shy, local, Chinese girl, whose immigrant family had also been greatly reduced to physical labor. His exposure to Chinese culture through her, and his shy romantic interest led him to expand his medical repertoire, which then consisted of only herbal medicine, to include the pseudo-sciences of acupuncture, massage therapy, and chiropracty. His admiration for the reserved Asian culture was such that Min's brother Jun So, even instructed him in the basic arts of Tai-Chi to "better protect his little sister".

Benson's romance never reached fruition, when Min So was married away to a wealthy, inner city family of bureaucrats in her early twenties, "for the welfare of her family." He maintained his relationship with Jun, in part, out of an obvious pretense for occasional updates on Min, the "prettiest flower" he had ever known.

Further tragedy struck when his father was killed and his mother blinded by over-exposure to an experimental, crop insecticide issued by a agricultural subsidiary of Viper Security Consultation. Benson became even more withdrawn, spending more and more time in seclusion within his green house. Trusted with the sole responsibility of caring for his blind mother, he "adopted" Tamara, his cousin, exchanging her living expenses for her tending to his mother's needs.

"The Needle" originally began as an alter ego for Benson, allowing him the feeling of compensation for his perceived failure in the protection of his mother, father, and the object of his affection. He would dress in costume and patrol the byways of Free Town, presumably protecting it from the cruelties of his experience. He never thought he would actually have to act as a guardian. A similar incident of the experimental insecticide in a more prominent neighborhood resulted in its being recalled. One night on patrol he discovered Viper employees illegally disposing of the failed product in a marsh on the outskirts of Free Town. Finding an outlet for his rage, and projecting his personal injuries onto the mercenaries, Benson "The Needle" Reed gave the employees a taste of their own poison, literally. Their bodies were never discovered and the incident was never spoken of due to its nefarious nature. It was written off as an accident. Remorseless and liberated from a feeling of helplessness, Benson sought out new opportunities to fulfill his self-proclaimed mandate of "keeping Free Town free" as "The Needle".

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Appearance:

Benson Reed is a thin, black male in his early thirties with green eyes and graying, short black hair. On his home plantation he is usually seen barefoot in rags for his daily work. He has poor posture due to much time spent bent over books or plants. He remains unseen as much as possible, and people genrelly don't notice him due to his plain features and timid demeanor.

"The Needle" wears a black, silk, traditional Chinese robe with a gray, embroidered heron on the back. He wears matching black slippers and a black-colored "false face" mask with blank expression. His green eyes are visible beneath it, and his black skin is visible on his hands and face, which seems unusual considering his Chinese attire. He wears a black, silk shoulder sash filled with herb compounds, and his needles are bound in rows on a black, leather bracer on his left forearm, the pins of their heads color-coded according to their affect. Oddly, "The Needle" has excellent posture.

Characteristics:

• VALUE CHARACTERISTIC EXPENDITURE
• 10 STR 0
• 17 DEX 14
• 20 CON 10
• 10 BODY 0
• 18 INT 8
• 20 EGO 10
• 10 PRE 0
• 4 OCV 5
• 5 DCV 10
• 6 MOCV 9
• 7 MDCV 10

15 PD 13 15 ED 13

4          SPD                20
8          REC                 4

40 END 4 30 STUN 5 10 BODY 0

           RUN 15m             3
           SWIM 6m             1
           LEAP 6m             1

Skills/Talents:

Non-Combat Language: English 3 CK: Free Town 3 AK: Agriculture 5 (Farming, Gardening, Botany, Horticulture AK: Civil Engineering 3 (Crop Cycles, Irrigation, Landscaping, Greenhouses) AK: Soil Science 3 AK: Animal Taming 3 (Earthworms) Survival 3 Operate Vehicle 2 (Pick-Up, Farm Equipment) Streetwise 3 Shadowing 3 Stealth 3 Deduction 3 Perfect Pitch 3 (Harmonica) Boosted BDY (+10) 8 (Growth Hormone) Boosted CON (+5) 4 (Pain Killer) Boosted REC (+5) 4 (Anti-Biotics)

Combat Martial (Tai Chi) Martial Dodge 4 Martial Escape 4 Martial Disarm 4 Martial Block 4 Weapon Element 1 (Acupuncture Needles)

Fast Draw 3 Concealment 3 D. Maneuvering 3 Paramedics 3 4x Favors 2 (For Reed Plantation Contributions)

Powers: Mutipower IIF 40 (Herbal Skills) Drain Needle(+1/2) 4 (Reduce Enemy Stat) Healing Needle (5d6) 4 (Heal) Throw Needle (5d6) 4 (EB NND) Numbing Needle (3d6) 4 (Paralysis) Dark Needle (3d6) 4 (Blind) Boost Needle (3d6) 4 (1x CHARx4; -1PT/MIN) Enhance Needle (1d6) 4 (1x CHARx2; HOURS) Developed Resistance 4 Increased Immunity vs Plant-based ailments

Disadvantages: Superstitious 15 Dependence on Brewed Teas 10 NPC: Briana Reed (Blind Mother) 10 (Common; High) NPC: Tamara Reed (Niece/Housekeep) 5 (Uncommon; Moderate) NPC: Jun Tzo (Friend) 5 (Uncommon; Moderate) NPC: Min Tzo (Childhood Friend) 10 (Rare; High) Rube 5

Total 300