Old Middy

Old Middy is a True Fae hag who represents the death of the young.

Overview
"Oh, bless me, but aren’t you the sweet young thing for coming to visit a lonely old lady. Come on in, child. I did some baking yesterday, so let me get you something sweet."

Born old, this hag is hungry for youth and believes that if she devours enough of the young, she will become so herself. She usually plays the dotty grandmother routine, leaving her door open for potential prey to come by, stealing their flesh and breath when she can. When prey is scarce, her cats go hunting, stealing breath for her.

Appearance
Middy’s Mask is of a slightly-overweight elderly African-American woman with blue-silver hair, thick glasses and a preference for faded floral-print dresses. She moves slowly, but seems to still be in decent health. She speaks with a moderate Deep South accent, difficult to place precisely. She smells like wood and dust and old cloth, and even a bit like decaying magnolias and wet earth. Beneath the Mask, the Other's flesh is a pale brown more like a rotted tree branch than any human skin tone, carved with innumerable wrinkles. She has three good teeth — one of copper, one of silver and one of gold — all three hard and sharp as steel knives. Her knotted frame is almost apelike, no longer overweight, with disconcertingly long arms and legs bowed almost to the point of deformity. She wears a sackcloth gown that is immodestly ripped here and there, with wilted flowers woven into the threads.

Character Sheet
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 4, Resolve 5 Physical Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 4, Stamina 6 Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 4, Composure 3 Mental Skills: Academics 1, Crafts (Baking, Knitting, Bonecrafting) 4, Investigation 2, Medicine (Poisons) 3, Occult 3 Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl (Claw) 4, Larceny 3, Stealth 4, Survival (Hedge) 4, Weaponry (Knife) 2 Social Skills: Animal Ken (Cats) 2, Intimidation (Unmasked) 3, Persuasion (Wheedling) 3, Subterfuge (Playing Harmless) 3 Merits: Danger Sense, Fast Reflexes 2, Hollow 5 (Size 1, Amenities 4) Willpower: 8 Virtue: Charity Vice: Gluttony Initiative: 9 Defense: 4 Speed: 14 Health: 11 Wyrd: 5 Glamour/per Turn: 14/5 Armor: 2/2 (tough skin) Weapons/Attacks:

Fae Aspects
• Cannibal Glamour: Old Middy regains her Glamour pool by eating flesh and inhaling stolen breath. Each Health point’s worth of damage she devours gives her 1 Glamour if taken from a child; if taken from a young or middle-aged adult, she regains 1 Glamour per 2 Health points. If she inhales breath stolen by her cats, she regains 1 Glamour for every two “points” stolen (see below) from a child, and 1 Glamour for every four points stolen. However, the flesh or breath of an elderly person is poisonous to Old Middy (see above).

• Immortal Flesh: Like other True Fae, Old Middy doesn’t age, and is resistant to many of the shocks that would afflict mortal flesh. She is immune to bashing damage and mundane poisons, as well as any detrimental effects from consuming goblin fruits. Cold iron inflicts aggravated damage, however, even if delivered by a blunt instrument.

• Grotesque Vitality: Old Middy can heal wounds quickly by spending Glamour. She may recover one point of lethal damage for every Glamour point she spends, up to the maximum allotted by her Wyrd. Healing in this fashion is a standard action.

• Careful Mask: Old Middy has worked long and hard to preserve her Mask from the casual eavesdropper. By spending one Glamour point at sunrise, she strengthens it for the entire day; other Fae cannot see her true mien without using a supernatural power, and all other supernatural beings suffer a –6 penalty to rolls to penetrate the Mask, rather than the usual –3. However, she cannot strengthen the Mask at night. In addition, her shadow still reveals her true form.

• Ruled by Passion: As one of the True Fae, Old Middy has a supernatural connection to her inmost desires, and only a faint philosophical half-interest in the concept of altruism. Old Middy regains one Willpower point from indulging her Virtue, but refreshes her whole pool when satiating her Vice.

Overview
The cats Old Middy keeps, roughly the size of racoons, are as fae as she is. Underneath the Mask, they are clearly two steps removed from mortal. Their ears are particularly long and come to curved points reminiscent of horns. Their tails are thick and flatten slightly toward the end. Perhaps most disturbingly, their muzzles are faintly humanlike; they can purse their lips to simulate a kiss, something they do as they steal the breath from a sleeping child.

Character Sheet
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 4, Resolve 2 Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 4, Stamina 2 Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 1, Composure 2 Mental Skills: Investigation 2 Physical Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl (Claw) 3, Larceny 2, Stealth (Skulking) 4, Survival (Hedge) 2 Social Skills: Animal Ken (Cats) 1, Intimidation 2 Merits: Direction Sense, Fighting Finesse (Claw), Fast Reflexes 1 Willpower: 4 Initiative: 7 Defense: 4 Speed: 13 (species factor 7) Health: 5 (Size 3) Wyrd: 1 Glamour/per Turn: 10/1 Armor: 1/1 Weapons/Attacks:

Fae Aspects
• Steal Breath: To steal breath, the cat must crouch over the sleeping person’s mouth and nose for a full minute and spend a Glamour point. An Intelligence + Wyrd roll is then required. The victim takes one point of bashing damage for each success. The cat can repeat this as often as necessary, but each cat can only store up to five “points” worth of breath before it must return to Old Middy. As supernatural damage, it’s quite possible to kill a child during this process, if the child is ill, hurt or if the cat continues to steal breath long enough to suffocate the victim.

• Open, Locks, Whoever Knocks: Despite their lack of opposable thumbs, Old Middy’s cats have a supernatural way with locks and latches. By placing one paw on any closed door, window, container or the like and spending a Glamour point, the cat can compel the mechanism to open. This power circumvents security systems and even rusty hinges; the door opens as quietly as the cat pads in.

• Wordless Communication: Old Middy’s cats can communicate with one another and with their mistress without words. They have an effective telepathic bond with a range of 100 feet, and an empathic bond that stretches out for a mile. The death of a cat sends shocks throughout the empathic net, inflicting one point of bashing damage on any other of Old Middy’s cats or Old Middy herself, if within a mile. This damage bypasses Old Middy’s usual immunity to bashing damage.