Heather Gilligan

Character

Name: Heather Lorraine Gilligan
Player: Breefolk
Campaign: Changeling: The Lost
Concept: Monstrous Hag
Virtue: Charity
Vice: Gluttony
Seeming: Ogre
Kith: Gristlegrinder
Court: Summer

Appearance

Mask: Heather is a relatively plain, caucasian woman in her thirties. She stands approximately 5'4", which is usually boosted to about 5'6" by heels. She has hazel eyes and hair that appears to be dyed black.

Mein: Looking beyond the Glamour that hides the Fae world reveals a very different creature altogether. Heather becomes anything BUT plain. Her skin is pale white and has an almost scaly texture to it. Her hair becomes a raven black, with many greasy, snake-like locks that seem to writhe around her head and down her back, her hazel eyes transform into yellow, reptilian orbs, but most notably her teeth become needles that a lamprey would be proud to bear. She is somewhat shorter than her Mask would suggest, being about 5'2" (5'4" with heels).

Backstory

Okay, Heather Gilligan was a mother who lived with her husband Michael and their daughter, Sarah. Heather had begun to doubt her marriage when she found herself becoming bored during the day shortly after Sarah started kindergarten, and she had begun having thoughts about starting an affair with her neighbor, Rich. Before long, however, Sarah began to become scared by a "monster" in her closet. This concerned Heather, and she was starting to wonder if kindergarten wasn't becoming a challenge for her daughter. One night, as she inspected Sarah's closet to assure her that there was no monster, the "monster" showed itself to Heather, and carried her off, leaving a Fetch in her stead.

Ten years she was forced to serve as the troll, Vrangr's, wife, cooking whatever foul meat he brought home to their cave, gathering firewood and vegetables, and always speaking in Old Norse, a language that took her several years to master. She began to lie to her "husband" and manipulate him, and even occasionally intimidate him, but if she pushed too hard he would beat her. After so long, it was no surprise that she had mastered the subterfuge that it took to keep the vicious old troll in check. Finally, she managed to trick him into taking a nap, then rigged a pot of boiling water next to the sleeping giant so that when he awoke, the water would spill over his head. As he continued to sleep, she crept quietly out of their hovel and fled through the woods and into the Thorns.

When she reemerged in Southern California, not far from her home in Orange County, she was bewildered, but after her ordeal felt no fear, for little could threaten her that was anywhere as deadly as the creature that had held her captive. She walked until she came to her home, expecting to see Sarah, the one thing she could have held onto to keep her sanity, all grown up and having forgotten about her, but that was not what she found. After what had seemed like ten years, her daughter had not grown at all, and her husband didn't even look like he'd needed a haircut. She could go back to them if she wanted to, destroy the hideous imposter that posed as their mother and wife, but should she? She looked down at herself, her ragged appearance and finely toned muscles. She knew, in her heart, that she was a changed woman, and that the thing that pretended to be her was closer to what she had been than she was now.

She found herself a part-time job, took to living in a small apartment and began to rebuild herself. She took up boxing as a hobby, and began spending long weekend afternoons in the gym. She was introduced into the Los Angeles freehold, where she made a few contacts and learned the basics, even became a member of the Summer court, but all the while she intended to leave as soon as she was able. She needed a new life, and that meant a new home. She spoke to other members of the freehold and asked them if they knew anyone in other cities, and that was how she came in contact with the Chicago freehold. She gathered her things, had her car shipped up to Chicago, and boarded a plane. It didn't take her long to start buying drinks for a young real estate agent she met named Irene Vu, and the two soon became friends, often getting drinks on Friday evenings together, though Heather's true intentions are to use Vu as a springboard into the real estate business. She still fears that Vrangr may come for her. Other changelings' keepers may be horrible and cruel, but she knows deep down that Vrangr is the worst. And he's always hungry.

Vital Characteristics

Health: 5
Willpower: 4/4

Wyrd: ●
Glamour: 5
Clarity: 7

Size: 5/10
Speed: 9
Initiative: 3
Defense: 1
Armor: 0/0

Glamour Spendable per turn: 1
Goblin Fruit Inventory: 0/3
Vows: 0/4
XP: 5

Inventory

• 1999 Ford Mustang Convertible (Black)
• Blackberry

Apartment

Her apartment is well kept and tidy, with a small work desk in the corner and a bookshelf covered in three-ring binders. She keeps a number of clothes in the closet for all occasions, including casual wear (mostly pastel-colored button-up shirts and capris) and business attire (primarily suits of various "power" colors). It seems like a fairly normal set-up for an up-and-comer in the business world with one exception - a punching bag hung up beside the dresser.

Statistics

Attributes

Mental

• Intelligence ●●
• Wits ●●●
• Resolve ●●

Physical

• Strength ●●●
• Dexterity ●
• Stamina ●●

Social

• Charisma ●●●
• Manipulation ●●●
• Composure ●●

Skills

Mental (-3 Untrained Penalty)

• Academics ●
• Computer ●
• Crafts ●●
• Investigation
• Occult
• Politics ●●
• Science ●

Physical (-1 Untrained Penalty)

• Athletics
• Brawl ● (Boxing)
• Drive
• Firearms
• Larceny
• Stealth ●
• Survival ●
• Weaponry ●

Social (-1 Untrained Penalty)

• Animal Ken
• Empathy ●● (Children)
• Expression
• Intimidation ●●● (Veiled Threats)
• Persuasion ●
• Socialize ●●
• Streetwise
• Subterfuge ●●● (Lying)

Advantages

Seeming Boon: Spend Glamour to increase Strength pool
Seeming Curse: No 10-again on Composure checks and -1 to Composure defense.
Kith Boon: Bite is 2L.

Merits

• Mantle (Summer) ● - Inducted into the Summer court. +1 on Social dice pools dealing with Summer Courtiers and adds 4 dice instead of 3 when using Willpower for a Strength-based roll.
• Court Goodwill (Autumn) ●● - Sees eye-to-eye with many members of the Autumn Court. +1 to Social dice pools dealing with Autumn Courtiers.
• Language (Old Norse) ●● - Vrangr was a very traditional troll. Can fluently speak and read Old Norse.
• Iron Stomach ●● - Heather had to eat a lot of things during her durance, not all of them identifiable. +2 to Survival rolls dealing with finding and eating food for herself, +3 to Stamina for means of deprivation.
• Contacts (Real Estate) ● - Has been spending time getting to know the real estate market of Chicago.
• Striking Looks ●●●● - Terrifyingly beautiful. +2 on checks using appearance.
• Allies ● - Irene Vu, a middle aged real estate agent and casual friend.

Contracts

Dream

• Pathfinder: 1 Glamour, Wyrd + Intelligence. Locate paths, Hollows and other fixtures in the Hedge. Free if the Changeling has shed a drop of blood while plucking a thorn from the local Hedge within the past day.
• Forging the Dream: 1 Glamour, Wyrd + Wits. Alter events and setting in subject's dreamscape, even when not inside. Free if standing or sitting beside subject, touching their own and subject's temples.

Hearth

• Fickle Fate: 1 Glamour. Give someone -2 penalty on next roll. If used on target more than once per hour, affects user instead.

Fleeting Summer

• Baleful Sense: 1 Glamour, Wyrd + Wits. Sense the greatest nearby source of wrath. Free if character is angry.

Fleeting Autumn

• Witches' Intuition: 1 Glamour, Wyrd + Wits. Learn one of the subject's fears. Free if subject does not know Changeling's name.