Vanessa

Basic Stats

Name: Vanessa Evelyn Baker
Species: Rabbit or Hare, variable
Classification: Undead. Subclass: False Lich
Occupation: Professional assassin, saboteur, and spy

Headcannon Voice: "Pins and Needles" by The Birthday Massacre

Physical Appearance

Because Vanessa has the ability to just from one body to another either through dedicated ritual or through a shorter form suitable for field use, her appearance will vary based on who she claims as hers. While it is possible for her to use any body that held a soul, she prefers to remain in the realm of rabbits and hares with a strong preference for specimens if moderate to excellent physical condition. Rarely if ever obese, she has been anywhere from varsity athlete to business woman catching the gym a few times a week. She is not known to use male bodies though it is unclear if this is due to preference or compatibility.

Like her bodies, her clothing varies wildly from expensive business suit to cut of jeans and t-shirts. The only constant appears to be a set of one to three metal bangles she keeps on one wrist. The rest tends to be made to suit whatever persona she is using at the time.

Undead Characteristics

Undead Durability

Vanessa's bodies are no more durable that they were when they were alive with the exception that they can continue to function even with extensive damage. In general, Vanessa can hold sway over a body so long as the head is still attached. Removing her limbs is one of the few ways to trap her in a form. Physical movement only requires attachment and not necessarily proper muscle groups meaning that she can, in theory, operate a skeletal body. She has never done such. A body Vanessa occupies almost always appears a few shades darker or grayer than the original.

Without the constraints of living, many poisons and toxins no longer affect her. She cannot be drown or suffocated. She can be slowed by some metabolic poisons but they won't stop her from functioning. Most diseases won't take either althrough there are sure to be new ones. Her vitality is sufficient that she never decays on her own or smells like she is dead.

Enhanced Physical Abilities

Vanessa was trained to physical perfection in some ways before her first body jump. She has almost limitless endurance and exceptional speed and agility. Her strength is only slightly more than a normal mortal body would possess. Considering this, she uses momentum, misdirection, and surprise in most of her attacks.

Body Jumping

Vanessa has two modes of body jumping. The first is a quick ritual that is used in the field. A body is captured intact and immobilized in front of Vanessa. A long dagger is then thrust through the target body's heart and into Vanessa's. Vanessa then ejects the soul from the target body and leaves behind the broken shell of her old body. She normally dismembers the empty shell to prevent other forms of undead from using it. The ejected soul goes on its own way. There is no soul capture or use that goes on after the transfer.

The second form of transfer comes when her body is completely destroyed or she is otherwise ejected from her host body without being able to take a new one. In this case the entirety of her soul is sent back and retained in an artifact, a pendant, that is kept by her boss. They will then go 'shopping' for a new body, capture it, and bring it back for a more detailed soul transfer ritual that has the same effect in the end.

Soul Sanctuary

A fragment of Vanessa's soul i used to animate her bodies, but most of it remains in a special pendant much in the way that a lich has a phylactory. The only way to truly kill Vanessa is to destroy the pendent.

Typical Loadout

Vanessa does not have the ability to cast magic on her own, but she can use magic items. She typically stores her weapons and tools in custom made bangles or other clothing pieces that are mean to hide their magic signature and keep her weapons and tools summonable.

Short Bow

Most would not think of a bow as being powerful at all until you consider that the arrows can be enchanted with spells to make them fly further, eat armor, and even explode dramatically. They can also carry more subtle payloads like sleeping gas or poisons. Unlike certain video games, no one has walked around long with one of her arrows in their head.

Rapier

Vanessa's workhorse, this is a light, elegant blade made in a time when people lived and died by them. Sometimes poisoned, she keeps it dreadfully sharp, and its balances means it moved in combat as swiftly as she does.

Grooved Dagger

smaller secondary blades used mostly to poison people or for more delicate work such as interrogation.

Ki Focus

This is a small pendant that Vanessa usually wears and keeps hidden. While not necessary for her work, it helps to focus her spirit and turn her attacks into something more powerful we she injects some of her own spirit into the strikes.

History

Vanessa comes from a city where magic was status, and the only thing that could save you as someone without magic was being a merchant or someone with enough money and political power to at least negotiate with the mages. Vanessa was not part of either group. Having no magical aptitude, she was condemned to a live of either slavery and / or being target practice. There was no crime for killing a non-mage in the city. Unlike most, Vanessa belonged to a small group that operated withing the city and assassinated mages in an effort to break the system. While it seemed a noble task, the forced allied against them were just too great. Vanessa eventually found herself facing death at the hands of a mage after a rather ugly fight that left her winded and wounded.

This man was a sorcerer but also a druid, and that second half made him an outsider. The practitioners of the old ways were not just targets but at war with these mage cities, so his presence was unusual. Rather than try to kill her, he offered her the ability to survive any battle, to return time and again to lay waste to her foes, and it would cost her only two things: fealty to him and the binding of her soul. As to the fealty, he said only that she would be supported and that, in return for his gifts, she may need to do some jobs for her. He also promised, in a very predatory way, that she may well like those jobs.

After some convincing, Vanessa accepted the terms. She had no ability and no desire to study magic which was perfect for her tasks. Instead she was provided with nearly any equipment she needed for her jobs, and she was never shorted on materials. Her boss kept her busy but also kept her happy even if it took a few murders of select populations to secure it. Over time she became more a partner rather than a servant, and her tasks and the freedom of how to execute them broader until there simply was no master and servant. There was only the guardian of her soul and their common goals.

Vanessa has burned villages and forests, slain high elven dignitaries, brought down city governments, and sent shock waves through higher governments with assassinations both of life and sometimes just of character.