Dead by Daylightis no stranger to bizarre and eccentric killers. After all,its current rosterconsists of a sword-wielding ghost, a crow-summoning painter, and Freddy Kruger of all people. That said, the vast majority of these killers are supernatural in some way. Almost all of them possess an ability that makes them seem otherworldly and unrealistic. The Skull Merchant, however, is different.
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In comparison to most of the other killers, the Skull Merchant is by far the most human, both in terms of her appearance and ability. Where the others usesupernatural powers, she uses drones and other tech to find and capture her prey. This alone makes her stand out and people wonder who is, or rather was, the woman behind the mask.
Humble Beginnings
Before she was the Skull Merchant, she was Adriana Imai. Her father, Seita Imai, was a talented illustrator who had moved to Fortaleza, Brazil to gain inspiration for his work. There, he was commissioned to design the logo for a local jazz club by its owner, a woman named Belinda. The two’s relationship was solely business at first, but soon blossomed into romance and, after a couple of years, they had a daughter.
Growing up in a home filled with art and music helped to hone her mind to a level many would covet. She excelled in school, her intellectcatapulting her to the upper echelon. By middle school, she had already been sought out by a fancy private school, impressed by her intelligence and drive. She was consistently top of her class and had a fierce competitiveness that pushed her to be the very best. However, it was this obsession that would eventually lead her down a dark path.
Early Obsessions
Adriana didn’t just have the desire to be the best,she was obsessed by the need to be the best. For her, anything less than the top was an insult, and she wasn’t the type to be insulted. Adriana was constantly reprimanded for her overly competitive and, occasionally, violent behavior during class and everyday schoolyard play.
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Her mother tried to steer Adriana along the right path, but her words were contradicted by her father’s own obsessive behavior. Like his daughter, Seita found himself obsessed with the manga project he was working on, Adi Valente. The tale of a young girl saving others with her robot sidekick enthralled a young Adriana, and she adored the time her father spent showing her his creation.
Hard Times
Adriana’ssimple life was, unfortunately, not meant to last. Seita had lost his job at the cannery and, while this allowed him more time to develop his precious Adi Valente, the money wasn’t as plentiful as before. He managed to find a small publisher that would publish his manga, but this in turn led to more work than the man could feasibly handle.
During Adriana’s final semester of middle school, her father requested higher royalties for his manga but was denied. More than that, it was decided that the series wasn’t receiving the revenue that they wished for, and it was cut. No longer able to pay for the expensive school, Adriana was pulled out.
Her mother Belinda was able to negotiate for an early graduation, citing Adriana’s exceptional grades prior, but this had an unfortunate consequence. Because she was forced to leave early, Adriana’s spot at the top of the class was given to another student.
This infuriated the girl. That was her spot.Shewas supposed to be at the top of the class, not this random nobody. Despite this decision being out of her control, Adriana couldn’t let this go. Over the summer, shebegan stalking the student. She learned everything about him. Where he lived, who he hung out with, his likes and dislikes, everything. She constantly toyed with the idea of ruining him with the knowledge that she had gained, but, in the end, she let it go.
A Young Businesswoman
Her father retreated further into isolation. He became obsessed with a new manga, one inspired by the vivid nightmares he had been having as of late. It was a far darker story than Adi Valente named Sonhadores Sombrios. It depicted a woman in a nightmarish world who hunted down the weak for sport. With Seita being in such a state, Belinda became the family’s only means of financial income. Looking to make her own money, Adriana started a website devoted to Brazilian manga.
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This proved to be a near-instant success as advertising provided her with more money than she knew what to do with. While she had no interest in writing for it, Adriana was able to convince other kids to provide content, allowing her to earn money with minimal effort. She would later receive an offer for the site, and she sold it off without a second thought.
Proud of her work, she went home to show her family all that she had gained, but she never had the chance to show her father. The man walked out on her and her mother that very morning and never returned. The only thing he left was a stack of unpublished manuscripts about his new horrifying huntress, the Skull Merchant.
Cutthroat Business
With her father gone, Adriana taught herself economics and soon tripled her money. By the time she was 18 Adriana had already become a self-made millionaire. With her money, Adriana bought out several small companies, companies that she would then gut and replace with non-union workers, and sell for a profit.
By her mid-20s, Adriana was regularly flipping companies in this manner. This would change, however, when attempting to flip a real estate firm. Two members of the board moved to block Adriana’s attempt, citing the horrible conditions she had left her previous acquisitions in after she had flipped them. Enraged, Adriana fell into her old habits. She obsessed over the holdouts and eventually found them and, unlike with the student she had stalked, she acted upon her impulses.
The First Kills
Through manipulation, Adriana lured the holdouts to a conference in Switzerland and, while they were isolated within the Alps, she struck. Inspired by her father’s last character, she hunted the two hapless men, tracking with a homemade drone and dismembering them with a crude two-bladed weapon.
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At that moment, Adriana felt elation. She had successfully hunted down her prey and taken vengeance upon them for denying her the rights to their firm. She felt powerful and in control. At that moment, she was on top of the world and nobody could deny her.
The Birth Skull Merchant
Since her first kills, Adriana devoted herself to the hunt. She purposefully targeted businesses with larger-than-life CEOs that she could pull into her next hunt. She had hoped that they would provide a challenge, but they would just disappear without a trace like all the others. This twisted cycle would continue for years until one fateful night.
Her quarry was the manager of a fireworks company in her home country of Brazil. She lured him into an abandoned airship hanger and began her hunt. At first, there was nothing to differentiate this hunt from her others, but then the feed she received from her drones began to cut out. Annoyed, Adriana went out to figure out what was happening when she stumbled upon something unexpected.
She found her quarry, but they weren’t alone. They were reaching out to someone in the seemingly growing shadows. A witness. Without a second thought, Adriana cut down her prey and turned her attention to the witness. Shechased them into the darkness, hardly noticing that everything began to warp into something not unlike her father’s Sonhadores Sombrios. By the time she realized things were different, it was too late for her. She had fallen into the Entity’s clutches and Adriana Imai ceased to exist. All that remained was the Skull Merchant.
