Nick Balthasar

> When you get back to whatever Hell you crawled out of, you tell 'em it was Nick Balthasar that sent you back
>
> -Nick Balthasar

Nick Balthasar is a resourceful exorcist and occult detective from North England. He's deceitful, anti-social, arbitrary and has a tendency to help people despite how often he tells the unfortunate people around him that he can't get involved. He reasons that keeping away from people is in their best interest most of the time- as he brings misfortune everywhere he goes.

He typically avoids superhero types (thinking of them as pretentious sorts) and the few superheroes who know of him avoid him in return- mostly because he has somewhat callous and Machiavellian tendencies and a pragmatic worldview. In the magic community he is a known troublemaker and rogue, many mages (including some heroes and more than a few villains) have grudges against the man for a number of reasons.

Best to be on the same side as Balthasar- just don't let him get too close or you might find you've been stabbed in the back and don't stick around for too long or else you'll suffer the Balthasar bad luck.

## History

### Vatican

Alerted of a planned attack on the Vatican by an unknown enemy, Balthasar got called in to help defend the Vatican as a personal favour. Balthasar was split on the idea- thinking it could be a trap set by the church for one of his past offences and he also considered the very real possibility that setting foot on such hallowed ground would cause him to spontaneously combust.

When the Seven Deadly Sins attacked the Vatican, Balthasar was on the lookout away from the commotion- correctly believing the attack was a simple distraction he incorrectly asserted that Bo and Jorek were the perpetrators when he found them reeking of brimstone and way beyond the swiss guard line. During his fight with the brothers he realised the two weren't cunning enough to have set up such a distraction and left the fight in the hands of his smoke double.

In the Vaults of the Vatican he found the true culprits- he injured a few members of the tactical strike force he encountered and petrified one on the spot before he got shot. He slowly bled out in the vaults until Bo and Jorek came down looking for information on the First Weapon after their battle with the Seven Deadly Sins was concluded. He asked the brothers what had taken them so long and told them that the Sins were a cover for the true attack. He spoke with the brothers and the archivist and agreed to send them to Tunisia with a spell when he wasn't feeling quite so delirious from blood loss.

The next day after having received medical attention, Balthasar performed an adjusted spell sending them instead to Alexandria. But not before getting Jorek to part with several pints of his Hyperborean blood and information about Ragnarok- which he played off as being impossible due to Jörmungandr's death and subsequent failed resurrection. Secretly though he was not so sure.

## Powers, Abilities & Equipment

### Pyrokinesis

Balthasar's fighting is done primarily through use of pyromancy, in particular Balthasar favours the use of smoke in battle. Obscuring the battlefield and creating complex constructs out of magical smoke.

### Skilled Exorcist

Balthasar is first and foremost an exorcist- skilled at casting lesser demons out of unwilling hosts and ghosts out of locations where they are unwanted. He is also capable of banishing people from the material world into the astral plane for a short time.

Balthasar is one of very few exorcists capable of exorcising demons and spirits from his own body- this talent is most often ascribed to the man's stubbornness by his enemies but his sheer force of will shouldn't be underestimated.

### Bad Luck

Balthasar brings bad luck with him wherever he goes, he can't control it and can't prove that it's supernatural but he knows it's there.