Nicky "The Match" Pantusso

Name: Nicky "The Match" Pantusso Type: Mesmerist Allegiance: Boss Grifasi Origin: Criminal

Physical	Social	Mental	Character	Inspiration:(7) Pool(7)
Strength:1	Charisma:1	Perception:3	Virtue:Hotshot	Intuitive:2
Dexterity:3	Manipulation:1	Intelligence:4	Vice:Survivor	Reflective:
Stamina:2	Appearance:1	Wits:4	Willpower:6	Destructive:5

Physical: Brawl (1) Athletics (3, run surprisingly fast) Firearms (2) ( )

Social: Disguise(1) Savvy (3) Subterfuge (2) Etiquette (1,mob etiquette )

Mental: Awareness (3) Engineering (4) Intrusion (3) Science (3, fire physics ) Drive (2)

Backgrounds: Backing (2) Cipher (2) Reputation (2) Resources (3) Devices(5) Sanctum(2)

Knacks: Flame Conjuration, Thermal Manipulation, Omen Sight

Initiative(9) Soak (2/0) Movement:Walk (Dex+2m) Run(Dex+12m) Sprint(DexX3+20m)

Bruised (-0) Hurt (-1) Injured (-1) Wounded (-2) Maimed(-3) Crippled (-4) Incapacitated,

Weapon	Damage	Accuracy modifier	Rate/Clip/ Conceal	Notes:
Puny Revolver	3 lethal	0	2/5/pocket

Equipment: Nicky has a lab which contains nearly every sort of combustible chemical on earth. He is also a fairly competent engineer and is capable of manufacturing his own detonators and explosive devices. at any given time he might have explosives and or fire-based weapons on his person.

Appearance/Clothing Tendencies: Nicky is a skeevy little fella with a perpetual hunch. He is slightly balding, wears coke bottle thick glasses and he is missing a finger on his left hand and part of an ear lobe. He has dark piggy eyes and is surprisingly wiry.

House, Circle, Influence: Nicky enjoys the protection of the Grifasi mob and a reputation as a fella who can do any kind of arson job. other details on the guy are somewhat sketchy as he is something of a recluse.

What has gone Before: At times, a person finds their destiny...and it's not always a good one. Nicky was an altar boy growing up and even ran a little track in school. He wasn't a muscular guy but he was smart as a whip and during the war, there wasn't a whole lot of physical requirements. Nicky ended up training for EOD in the army... He didn't get to use a lot of his acumen in the war. 

...And this was a problem. Nicky was fascinated with fires. Explosions were good too. You might even say that he got off on a good fire. It excited him. He didn't know why. He just knew that this was the way his life was going to go. He briefly considered becoming a fireman but he just couldn't stand it. So he started setting fires. At first for fun. But later he realized that he could make money at it. This, of course, brought him to the attention of Boss Grifasi. Who decided to "Wet his beak." from Pantusso's burgeoning little business. In return for a percentage, and the occasional job at the Boss's behest, he would enjoy the protection of the Grifasi family and be allowed to continue living.

Story Uses: 

Restless Firebug: Nicky is a total nutjob. While he doesn't like to kill (and prefers to torch empty buildings) he has in the past and will again. He is a reign of terror in whatever city he is operating in. At Grifasi's request, he can make a person's life miserable by burning down their home. Maybe with them in it! Nicky is certainly not hard to disable but he is hard to catch. He runs really fast for such a little guy, Has Omen Sight so he's difficult to sneak up on, has a high inspiration so he might slip the noose any number of ways, and if push comes to shove he'll start tossing around fireballs from his mitts with a maxed destructive facet. Even in a car chase, he's difficult to keep up with. Tossed grenades and a nitrous bottle attached to his engine will do that. Not to mention, he can make YOUR engine overheat.

State's Evidence: If Nicky has a weakness, (other than his sheer punyness) It is his tendency to rat people out to save his own skin. The players might be put in the unenviable position of having to protect Nicky from other mobsters in order to put them away.

Uninspired Threat: Hey, Nicky is plenty dangerous even without his ability to lob fire at people with his mind. If you'd rather have the players realize the threat that an uninspired person can be, just get rid of Nicky's Knacks and Inspiration. He's still capable of wreaking massive havoc if he's not stopped.

Twitchy Ally?: After a jolt in stir. Nicky might try to go straight. He might even succeed too. (maybe getting a job as a stress tester for an insurance company or as a Demo expert on a wrecking crew. If the players handled him decently, he might occasionally be willing to be a consultant. He would certainly be valuable against another arsonist and of course, he knows quite a bit about explosives, detonators, accelerants and other interesting toys. Characters who have somewhat shady pasts could also know him from the neighborhood or from their former professions. Characters who have a somewhat shady present might be babysitting Nicky on orders from the Boss.

Avatar of the Burning God: If Nicky is not stopped, He will eventually begin to change slightly. Some trauma or other could cause the skeevy little worm to have a complete psychotic break. Nicky might undergo a complete personality change and become some horrifyingly cold-blooded maniac with an itch to set fires so large that the gods will notice him again. Those who have tangled with him in the past may be utterly shocked to find that instead of the rat-like little man they knew, he's become some kind of atavistic force of nature with powers to match. They'll be shocked when he doesn't run. but only turns to enwreath them in hot, buttered, Holocaust.

Nikolai

Name: Nikolai Type: Daredevil Allegiance: Poniatowski    Foundation Origin: Outlaw

Physical	Social	Mental	Character	Inspiration:(6) Pool(6)
Strength:3	Charisma:3	Perception:3	Virtue:Hot Shot	Intuitive:2
Dexterity:3	Manipulation:4	Intelligence:4	Vice:Hot Shot	Reflective:2
Stamina:3	Appearance:2	Wits:4	Willpower:8	Destructive:2

Physical: Might (2) Athletics (4) Firearms (4) Legerdemain (3) Martial Arts (4) Melee (4) Stealth (4 ) Endurance(3) Resistance (3)

Social: Disguise(6*) Savvy (2) Subterfuge (3) Etiquette (2) Perform (4)

Mental: Awareness (4) Investigation (2) Academics (2) Intrusion (3) Linguistics (3) Survival (3) Drive (3)

Backgrounds:Ally(2) Backing (2) Cipher (6*) Reputation (2) Resources (4) Devices(6) Sanctum(4)

Knacks: Death Defiance, Indomitable Will, Instant Expert, Lightning Reflexes, One Man Army, Universally Deadly, Relentless,

Initiative(9) Soak (5/2) Movement:Walk (Dex+2m) Run(Dex+12m) Sprint(DexX3+20m)

Bruised (-0) Hurt (-1) Injured (-1) Wounded (-2) Maimed(-3) Crippled (-4) Incapacitated,

Weapon	Damage	Accuracy modifier	Rate/Clip/ Conceal	Notes:

Additonal notes: Nikolai possesses an ability mastery in Disguise. (Which even allows superscientific advancements in disguise creations.) He also posseses the background enhancements Enigma and Stockpile.

Equipment: Carries a bewildering amount of weapons of all types. the only thing they tend to have in common is concealability. Also, carries a small disguise kit at all times. Has created a machine in his sanctum which creates a liquid latex/cellulose compound for use in creating full face and body appliances. (just like the IM force masks.)

Appearance/Clothing Tendencies: Nikolai appears to be a man of middling sized frame with light brown hair and brown eyes. His musculature appears unremarkable but it is very strong and flexible from isometric exercises. Nikolai's only revealing characteristic is that when he is impatient he fiddles with things in his hands. It is not known if any person has ever seen Nikolai's true form and lived to tell the tale.

House, Circle, Influence: Nikolai works alone, the rumors about him are many. That he is served by a small (false) army of cut-outs and go-betweens seems to be the way he takes on outside jobs. It is also rumored that he has never failed in a contract. He has a large home in Moscow which houses his truly frightening armory and his collection of props, costumes, and make-up. His 1 major ally outside of his Poniatowski handler is Hercule Beachamp (for obvious reasons.)

What has gone Before: Nikolai is the Poniatowski Foundations most secret weapon. A product of the soviet secret police, He has become since his inspiration one of the most formidable assassins of the modern age. He is a master of nearly every type of weapon, his combat and survival skills are formidable and there are few others in the world who are capable of the mastery of disguise that he has achieved. In fact, Nikolai routinely sends messages to targets telling them the exact time he is going to kill them. The Foundation uses him to rid themselves of serious threats to their operations but they also use him to create massive distractions while they carry out a dozen separate operations. Occasionally, he takes on interesting outside contracts and has been known to have an amused friendly rivalry with fellow assassins. The fellow assassins rarely are amused or friendly in return. Yoshida Himitsu and many others hate and fear him and would do much to be rid of him.

Story Uses: 

The Sword of Damocles: The Foundation has decided to kill a certain person and the players find out about it and have to somehow stop him from doing it. The most likely method of doing this particular storyline is if the players are members of Branch 9 and they are told that they are to protect the President from this horrific threat.

The Master has entered the Field: Any sort of employer who is hiring large numbers of talented assassins for a particular target will find Nikolai seeking him out to enter the contest. The PC's will only know that a dozen assassins are killing themselves trying to kill them and finding that someone is quietly offing them as they go. Can the players escape Nikolai's clutches?

The Nikolai Gambit: Once Nikolai has developed a certain amount of professional respect for the players he will, of course, seek them out in order to play against them. This is doubly so if they are constantly screwing up the Foundations antics. Nikolai will contact the players by phone and inform them that he has secreted 10 canisters of mustard gas, each with a time delay detonator in multiple locations around the city. The Players are free to stop them from detonating the canisters if they can find them in time. Each canister has a clue, in rhyme no less, to the next one. While the characters are tearing around trying to stop this holocaust from happening (with Nikolai watching them and pot-shooting at them occasionally) the Foundation will be hitting dozens of libraries and museums to steal objects of interest to them. If the Players put 2 and 2 together they might figure out that Nikolai and the Foundation are working together. This, of course, will give them a place to start looking for him to exact revenge.