Marquise Tistresse

Overview

Once little more than a mindless spider hobgoblin, the Scarlet Widow became intelligent when she captured and ate an unobservant True Fae passing by. The influx of fae power granting her self-awareness, the Widow began hunting in the human world; she took the name Marquise Tistresse, and made certain that her presence threw up red flags in the eyes of the powerful. Unfailingly hospitable, she now weaves a social web that draws useful prey toward her, consuming them in the hopes of gaining the strength necessary to capture Others without having to rely on good fortune.

Appearance

To mortals, the Marquise is an elegantly lovely, dark-haired woman of exotically mixed parentage. One can catch glimpses of Asiatic ancestry in her eyes, a faintly Middle Eastern or North African glow to her caramel skin, or fine Nordic bone structure in her cheekbones. Her speech is virtually unaccented, and she has the peculiarity of never speaking in contractions. Beyond her Mask, her skin takes on a glossy sheen, her fingers are long and delicate, and her belly tattoo becomes intricate organic markings. Similar markings adorn her brow, like extra rows of eyes. She might be taken for a Venombite easily enough, or a Darkling of some sort.

The Scarlet Widow’s true form is not so subtle. In this form, she swells to the size of a horse. Her chitin is a mix of reddish black and dark red, organically patterned like Rorschach blots across her cephalothorax and abdomen, and she is carried on slim legs that are still steel hard and strong enough to support her body. Two of her eyes are larger than the other six, and all are arranged symmetrically; each orange iris bears a human pupil. Apart from her size and eyes, the Marquise’s only other departures from mundane spider anatomy are the small, chitinous fingers that can unfold from the underside of her chelicerae, allowing her to manipulate items with human dexterity. Her size does not penalize her grace.

Fae Aspects

• Goblin Spider Form: The Marquise may shift back and forth between her human and spider forms as a reflexive action; she may change forms once per turn. When in her spider form, her Size increases to 7 and she gains the traits in parentheses listed above.

• Immortal Flesh: As a creature of Faerie, the Marquise is immune to many of the shocks of mortal flesh. She does not age, nor is she subject to mundane disease or illness. She does not take bashing damage at all, unless the source is iron. An iron weapon inflicts bashing damage as normal; a cold iron bludgeoning implement will inflict lethal damage. A cold iron slashing or piercing implement inflicts aggravated damage.

• Gossamer Snares: The Scarlet Widow’s of web-spinning stock, accustomed to weaving sheets and funnels of webbing for her home. Her webs are generally Durability 2, and can have anywhere from 4 to 12 Structure, depending on the size of the web in question (a single cord having 4 Structure). At her pleasure, she may spin sticky silk; the adhesive is Strength 4 and remains potent for up to a day. She can attempt to ensnare a target of her own Size or smaller as an instant action, rolling Dexterity + Athletics to catch her prey. It costs one Glamour point to create such a snare. She may use this power in either form. When in her human guise, her spinnerets are concealed in her navel — one of the reasons she favors clothes that bare her midriff when she can get away with them.

• Wall-Crawler: Marquise Tistresse can move up sheer surfaces or even across ceilings at her full Speed, without the need for an Athletics roll. She retains this ability in either form.

• Envenomed Kiss: In either of her forms, Tistresse is highly venomous. Her bite attack delivers a Toxicity 7 poison. She is immune to the effects of her own venom, and it does not “spoil” a corpse for her purposes (though she complains slightly of the aftertaste). The Marquise possesses enough venom to make four such attacks before she must replenish her supply, which takes roughly a day’s time.

• Ingest Powers: Marquise Tistresse can devour the corpse of a supernatural being, ingesting and manifesting some degree of its previous abilities. It takes her roughly five minutes to consume a corpse in full, and she must begin within half an hour of the victim’s demise. Once she has entirely devoured a corpse, she may then spend a dot of Willpower to permanently gain one of the victim’s special powers. From her True Fae victims, she has already gained the ability to enter and leave the Hedge like any changeling, an infallible sense of direction and the ability to take on a humanlike form. Other powers she may already have taken before entering a story are at the Storyteller’s discretion. These powers work as they ordinarily would, although altered to match Tistresse’s Traits. She spends Glamour instead of Essence to activate a stolen Gift, for instance, and would roll her Wyrd where Primal Urge was called for. However, she does not compensate for missing Skills in this way; if using a power that requires an Academics roll, she does not get to substitute another Skill in its place.

• Ingested Skills: In addition to ingesting and internalizing the supernatural powers of her prey, Marquise Tistresse is also able to draw up ingested memories, augmenting her own skill set. The Encyclopedic Knowledge Merit mechanically represents part of this power. In addition, she may spend Glamour to increase any of her Skills on a one-for-one basis; thus, she could spend three points of Glamour to gain a Drive 3. Skills gained in this fashion last for one scene. The Marquise cannot use this ability to raise any Skill in which she already has a specialty; her own abilities are too innate to override in this fashion.