Time Skip: The Quiet Years (1952 – 1957)
If anyone asked Elena Marsh about her son, she would smile nervously and say, "Adrian is... a great child. But he has terrible luck."
That was the understatement of the decade.
Between the ages of two and six, Adrian Marsh became the statistical anomaly of the Derry Emergency Room. But Adrian didn't see it as "bad luck." He saw it as the town trying to spawn-kill him because his stats were getting too high.
• June 1953 (Age 2): A ceiling fan detached itself. Adrian rolled out of the way not out of panic, but with a calculated dodge roll. (Agility Check: Critical Success)
• August 1954 (Age 3): A delivery truck's brakes "failed." Adrian scrambled up a fence, annoyed that the truck had ruined his chalk drawing of a maximized skill tree. 'Can't even grind quietly in this town.' (Stamina Check: Passed)
By the time he started First Grade in 1956, Adrian was bored.
He was six years old. He looked like an angelic, dark-haired boy. Inside, he knew the horror of this world.
[ STATUS UPDATE: September 1956 ]
Name: Adrian Marsh
Age: 6 Years
Level: 5 (Survivor)
Strength: 14 (Gymnast)
Agility: 22 (Parkour Novice)
Intelligence: 48
Points: 115
The first day of First Grade at Derry Elementary was a disappointment.
Adrian sat in the back as a boy walked in late. Buzzcut. Sneer. The classic generic mob design.
[ TARGET IDENTIFIED ]
Name: Richard Bowers
Role: The Bully / Mob
Type: Brute.
Threat: Negligible.
Adrian sighed internally. 'Of course. The villain spawns on time. Typical.'
Richard marched down the aisle. He stopped at a random desk where a small, bespectacled kid (just a random background extra) was sitting. As he then knocked the kid's pencil case onto the floor.
"Oops," Richard grinned. "Clumsy."
The room went silent. The other kids looked away, the instinctive not my business behavior.
He thought of his "Low Profile" strategy. Then he looked at the XP potential of humiliating a Bowers.
'I guess...' Adrian decided.
Adrian stood up. He picked up his metal lunchbox (Captain Midnight themed, heavy tin).
He walked up the aisle. And then tapped Richard on the shoulder.
Richard turned around. "What do you want, Marsh?"
Adrian activated Professional Side-Eye (Level 5).
"Butch," Adrian said, his voice dripping with condescension. "Your zipper is down. It's embarrassing..."
Richard blinked, his aggression short-circuiting. He immediately looked down.
'What a loser.'
[ COMBAT INITIATED ]
Move: Critical Strike (Shin).
Adrian swung the metal lunchbox. He didn't put his back into it; he just let gravity and the sharp metal corner do the work.
CLANG.
"GAH!" Butch howled, clutching his leg and hopping like a flamingo.
"Mrs. Vane!" Adrian called out, masking his smirk with a mask of wide-eyed innocence. "Richard fell! I think his shoelace were untied'
As Mrs. Vane scolded Richard, Adrian walked back to his seat. He sat down and opened his notebook, writing a single line: To-Do: Find better minions.