Mu

Mu is a transplant from early 21st-century Gothic Earth; a young woman who ran into a burning house in search of either two old people or a grimoire (she is herself uncertain which it is), only for the smoke to turn to Mist, and for her to be deposited in Barovia.

Appearance

Fair-skinned, red-haired and green-eyed, Mu is beautiful, in part because her progression along the Path of the Concubine (her path of corruption) has enhanced her looks to the point that she draws unwanted attention. She has an athletic figure, owing to an active training regimen, but prefers dowdy clothes and often wears disguises in an attempt to be unnoticed.

Personality

Mu is heavily traumatised by her experiences in the Demiplane of Dread, and it shows. While intellectually brilliant, she is emotionally warped; unable to trust most people, paranoid and hostile, wretchedly lonely yet incapable of establishing meaningful interpersonal connections. She is also viciously determined once she sets a goal for herself, and has been working on attempts to return to Gothic Earth since her arrival to the Demiplane.

History

In the Brightwell Legacy (Quoth the Raven issue 22), Mu reveals she was recruited as a child by the Brightwell Coven on her home world to translate the cult's prized grimoire. She fled once she realised their true nature and swore off magic, but as a young adult was drawn to rescue either the coven's elders or their tome when the coven's headquarters caught fire.

Mu was transported to Barovia, where locals brought her to the Asylum of Broken Souls. The therapist in charge of her case inflicted unspecified cruelties on her in an attempt to break her when she feigned agreement with his 'therapy' that she was suffering a dissociative episode, rather than that she should be an actual Outlander. Matters came to such a head that Mu broke her solemn vow and reclaimed her magic, allowing her to escape the Asylum. She was discovered by the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins after she had lashed out at the Asylum's staff. The twins managed to calm her down somewhat, and arranged for a lavish financial settlement for Mu, who desisted from further attacks and went off into the wider Demiplane to find a way home. She is hampered in her quest by memory loss; she can remember neither the name of her home world, nor her own true name. Mu is an assumed name - one of many, as she has created numerous identities throughout the Core out of a paranoid need for security.

Mu's exploits since include: investments in both the Boritsi and Carlysle Trading Companies and travels throughout the Core; an episode in Lamordia that reinforced her traumas and ended with her having to flee the country; an episode in Hazlan involving the Vistani, which ended with Mu 'staining her hands with murder'; the events of the Brightwell Legacy.

Powers & Abilities

Mu is proficient with firearms and the sword cane; she admits she is not a champion at armed combat, but she is proficient. As both a Witch with the Strength Patron and a Bard, Mu is powerful and versatile, and easily capable of dominating the battlefield with either ranged spells or (after applying various buffs and wielding self-made magical weapons) martial combat. Mu is skilled in the creation of magical items (although she disdains the use of stat-boosting items for herself), scrolls and constructs, is a profound linguist, and has a wide range of artistic skills to draw on. At heart, Mu prefers to think of herself as a scientist, and she has a hard-won knowledge of maths and physics in addition to her storehouse of planar lore. She is primarily associated with the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins as a source of mechanical and planar lore. Mu instinctively distrusts and loathes arcane magic, be it because of her experiences with the Brightwell Coven or due to the influence of the Red Death on all arcane magic on her native Gothic Earth; she wishes she could focus on pure science instead of having to rely on spells. Mu's cat familiar Tom-Cat enables her to recruit veritable hordes of natural cats in or near urban environments, and she has been known to pay them with food to perform a number of duties, such as bodyguard work, reconnaissance, and even tactical assaults. Mu wears several holy amulets associated with Catholic Christianity, including a crucifix, which should enable her to ward off some supernatural threats. It is unclear how she reconciles her faith with her practice of arcane magic and witchcraft and her progress along her Path of Corruption, however.

Path of the Concubine

Crimes not yet detailed have set Mu on a path of transformation. Her beauty is enhanced, her fingernails are weapons, and her dance can confound the minds of those who watch. In trade, those who talk to her are prone to see seduction where none exists, and she grows fiendish wings whenever she takes flight. Although Mu is wholly devoid of sexual desires, the Path appears to be slowly transforming her into something alike unto a succubus...

Statistics

Chaotic Neutral female human Witch 9 / Bard 4