Holly Grant

Background and Trivia

 * Draws power from the highs gained from pushing your body to its limits
 * In a long-distance relationship with Vivienne
 * Second character to accrue Paradox (episode 1)
 * Intoxicated on magic (tass) mushrooms as of episode 2
 * First character to suffer Paradox backlash (episode 4)
 * Gained Resonance that made it easier to cast Magick out of wrath, and harder to cast it out of benevolence, after killing Rex in episode 4.

Character Biography
In 2023, Holly ran a small local gym, called Core Zen, in San Francisco. She struggled to expand her business, and possibly turn it into a franchise, all while dealing with steroid (HGH) abuse (some condoned, if not encouraged, by her staff).

After receiving and ignoring a bouquet of flowers from her associate Issac, she went to pick up her girlfriend from the airport. The plan was to have dinner with Vivienne's friend Paisley and her wife Bex, neither of whom she'd met before. Having been separated for a while, they quickly made up for lost time with some passionate car sex (7 successes!).

Vivienne and Holly were first to arrive at the venue Paisley chose for dinner, though they were momentarily confused that it was called Johnny Wu Family House instead of Red Star Noodles.

They eventually met Paisley and Bex and started to have a pleasant dinner before being interrupted by Anthony 'Tony' Wu, a SFPD Bomb Squad officer and Council member who apparently knew Bex from her days as a Hollower (a past colourful enough to get her banned from the establishment). After a short and increasingly awkward conversation, Tony said his goodbyes. As an apology, he offered to cover their drinks (a gesture that was subsequently expanded to their entire meal). Unfortunately, their dinner was rudely interrupted by HIT Marks, one of whom fired on them. They would later learn the hostile HIT Mark was a prototype HIT Mark X, while the 'ally' was a comparatively outdated HIT Mark V. During the ensuing battle, Bex and Holly were injured while Paisley lobbed a Magickally-improvised Molotov cocktail. The four escaped to the back alley as the restaurant burned down, only to be followed by the now-damaged HIT Mark V who asked for their help (episode 1). The group made it back to Paisley's and Bex's condo. By that point, Bex was suffering both from the injuries she had endured at the restaurant and PTSD flashbacks of her previous HIT Mark encounter. Vivienne was able to heal her physical wounds and bring her back to lucidity, though Bex was soon alarmed when she realized a HIT Mark was in her home. Meanwhile, Holly was able to detect a mind pattern within the HIT Mark, one containing numerous ways of killing people... all of which were suppressed by some form of termination override.

After the mages confirmed their identities, the HIT Mark V told them he was specifically reprogrammed in 2001 to seek them out by Dr. Evelyn Taylor, a mage of the Society of Ether who had since passed away. When asked, he told them that Dr. Taylor had given him the name Gunther, as he had a chain gun in his possession at the time. A block on his memory banks prevented further disclosure until he went to a physical location somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. After some investigation, Bex and Paisley determined that the location in question was the Cliff House.

At that point, Paisley received a call from her mentor, Rex. When he wasn't repeatedly assuring her that he was 'on her side', he mentioned that mages from the San Francisco Council (including Anthony Wu and Lisa Derosa, Holly's former mentor) were investigating the Family House fire and asked whether she knew anything about it. After receiving an unconvincing lie from Paisley, he also informed her that Derosa was on her way to the condo. Vivienne was able to heal the HIT Mark (while Holly cautiously watched) while Bex used her rotes to disguise Gunther's appearance and disable any tracking mechanisms that may have been active. However, they were unable to block Derosa from scrying on their location or establishing a connection between their condo and her shop.

The mages reluctantly accepted Derosa's invitation for a casual conversation in her shop, which was subsequently extended to Gunther. Mushrooms of tass were offered to break the ice, though they had the side-effect of getting Holly and Paisley high. Unfortunately, the conversation soon grew heated as Vivienne (mistakenly) believed Derosa had drawn premature conclusions (Paisley burned the Johnny Wu Family House down with Magick) while Derosa accused them of violating Council rules regarding secrecy (while revealing certain outmoded views regarding Mages, the Technocratic Union and the Ascension War). Vivienne was in the midst of pacifying the situation when an outraged and intoxicated Holly knocked Derosa out with a single punch, much to Bex's approval. The mages hurriedly ransacked the shop and used Bex's Magick to put Derosa in a form of mental stasis (where she thought she was high) before fleeing the scene, thanks to a Tesla that Gunther forcibly acquired (episode 2).

As Gunther drove, Bex used her laptop to hack into the traffic cameras, all while jammed next to Vivienne and Holly (who were making out to regenerate Willpower). Paisley reluctantly answered a call from her stepmother, Rita, and immediately regretted it, as Rita proceeded to ask whether she and Bex were available for a surprise vacation before mistakenly assuming they were trying to get pregnant. After Birb made the situation worse by repeating some ill-timed phrases, Paisley took another tass mushroom and promptly vomited in Gunther's face. Once Gunther pulled the vehicle over, Paisley stumbled out and collided with a traffic meter. A sympathetic Vivienne Magickally purged the toxins out of Paisley while Gunther cleaned himself off as best as he could. After assessing the state of the car, the group elected to have Gunther acquire another vehicle (a green Toyota 4Runner).

Bex also hacked into the Cliff House cameras at Holly's suggestion. Between those security feeds and the traffic camera footage she had already accessed, she determined that the site was being protected by Paragon Security, a company affiliated with the Technocracy whose employees were licensed to carry a wide variety of firearms.

Once the group arrived at the Cliff House, they made various Magickal preparations:


 * Vivienne increased her strength, dexterity and stamina. She also cast a spell to detect life patterns.
 * Paisley reinforced her clothes and enhanced her sight to see electrical signals (including those from cellular phones, cameras and satellite uplinks). She would later prepare a Magickal EMP in case of emergencies.
 * Holly reinforced her clothes and did the same for Vivienne. She also kept up her mind shield (from episode 2).
 * Bex set up a video loop in the security feed and raised a mind shield, all while maintaining her rote on Derosa (from episode 2).

Gunther was asked to accompany them as they did not know precisely where they needed to go to unlock his files. In doing so, they inadvertently updated his protocols, allowing him to harm organic beings so long as he did not kill them. Gunther seemed slightly pleased at that development.

After the group entered the Cliff House grounds, Gunther identified a small building marked 'Giant Camera' as their target destination, which they would later learn was the San Francisco Camera Obscura. The mages soon discovered that the security was somewhat lax: as one of the gates was 'protected' by a rusty open padlock, the bulk of the security staff were holed up in their office watching anime and the lone patrol officer was high on marijuana and in the process of reliving himself. Holly snuck up on the patrol officer, knocked him out and took his belongings (including a Desert Eagle, a set of keys and a walkie-talkie).

Seeing that Holly had cleared the way, the group snuck over to the Camera Obscura. Gunther dealt with a call over the walkie-talkie by feeling the patrol officer's vocal cords and successfully replicating his voice. With no further complications, the group entered the building. Gunther approached the viewing table in the centre of the room and automatically began to update his file protocols. He looked up moments later and, through an optical laser, used the camera obscura and table to project a series of files... along with a video file from Dr. Evelyn Taylor.

Dr. Taylor told them that they had successfully unlocked Gunther's files and could now copy, move or transfer them as they saw fit. Originally, she had chosen to keep the files hidden, but had recently come to the conclusion that it was not her choice to make, but that of the latest generation of Mages. She had chosen them as they were all members of the Nine Mystic Traditions and one of them, in particular, was related to a dear friend of hers'. Candidly, she confessed her greatest regret were the things she and her friends did in the name of what they believed was a brighter future. She wished them well before signing off.

Still processing Dr. Taylor's message, the mages were about to leave when a man outside called out to them. He identified himself as Senior Agent Locke of the Technocratic Union and ordered them to surrender. A panicked Paisley dropped the EMP she had prepared earlier, temporarily disabling all electronics in a thirty foot radius... including Bex's laptop and, by association, the stasis she had maintained on Derosa. As everything went dark, a gunshot rang out (episode 3).

While Bex was paralyzed with PTSD due to the loss of her spells, Holly hit the Technocrat with Mind Magick. Meanwhile, the mages heard a familiar voice cast Magick of his own. Paisley recognized it as her mentor Rex. As her spell wore off and the lights came back on, Paisley saw an older man (who she presumed was the Technocrat) and two security guards... both of whom had been shot by Rex, who was accompanied by two Hermetic apprentices. One of the guards was already dead, thanks to Rex, his gun, and the spell he had just cast. Frightened, she retreated and screamed at Gunther to engage the Technocrat. Gunther began to obey, bodily tossing the other guard over the stairwell. The shocked Technocrat (who identified himself as Agent Locke) recognized Gunther as 'H2609,' deployed two bots against the Hermetics, and ran. Hearing Paisley cry out, Bex snapped awake, chugged an energy drink and chased after Locke. Vivienne, wanting to protect the data stored within Gunther, ordered him to retreat, but not before he took a hit from a blasting sceptre Rex pulled out.

Holly successfully scrambled the minds of the Hermetic apprentices, but suffered injuries and an inverted sense of smell due to Paradox backlash. The Technocracy bots would subsequently knock one apprentice out before engaging the other. Locke appeared to split himself into three duplicates. Unable to distinguish the 'real' one, Bex, Vivienne and Holly would each attack one of the images. Rex ordered them to leave in the name of the Council. For her part, Vivienne objected to his authority and the right he had to attack and kill the guards, who for all intents and purposes, were merely Sleepers.

Before Locke passed out, he blurted out that he knew Bex. With a shock, she flashed back to her near-fatal encounter with a HIT Mark while running with the Hollow Ones and realized that Locke had somehow saved her life.

Paisley urged Gunther and her companions to run. Bex decided to take Locke, despite Rex's orders to kill him. Vivienne was confused, but helped her out. In response, Rex summoned a lightning bolt from the skies that almost destroyed Gunther and nearly killed Bex. Enraged, an injured Holly lashed out with her Mind Magick and imploded his head. The last Hermetic apprentice hastily retreated.

Vivienne used another Tass mushroom to heal Bex, though the effort caused a Paradox backlash that turned her pants to mushrooms and moss. Paisley employed her Matter Magick to enact a slapdash fix on Gunther. The bots administered nanotech first aid on Locke.

A scarred but awake Bex approached Locke, who repeated recognizing Bex from the Johnny Wu Family House, which the Technocracy monitored for insurance purposes. When asked about the attack, Locke was at a loss to explain, but ultimately guessed that the HIT Mark X, which Vivienne recalled seeing earlier, had actually been waiting for Gunther. While Vivienne still wanted to part ways with Locke, Bex insisted he might still be useful. Locke offered to help them escape if they healed him.

A reluctant Vivienne complied with his request. After the group decided to retreat to Holly's gym, Locke (with Bex's help) opened a Correspondence gate to Core Zen. Unfortunately, he opened it directly beneath their feet and they fell through, causing some additional injuries. Locke later explained that he was a successful field agent when he participated in the raid against the Hollower cell that Bex belonged to. Seeing one of the HIT Marks about to explode and kill Bex, he rewound time and got her out of harm's life, as she reminded him of his sister. His act of compassion cost him the success of the operation, his career and his marriage.

When the subject turned to Rex, a stunned Holly walked away. Bex followed, admitting (to Paisley's surprise) that she was the only other Mage who had taken a life. Locke would later confirm to Vivienne and Paisley that Bex used to be a criminal and a Hollow One.

Meanwhile, Holly had retreated to the gym showers. After some time, she opened up to Bex, saying she didn't intend to kill Rex, the rage she felt and the conflicting toilet of emotions within her. Bex advised against using her Mind Magick to dull or erase her memories and to seek comfort from Vivienne. She also admitted that a past attempt to 'tweak something' during a fight led to someone else's death, which she felt was partially her responsibility, and that she might have done something similar to Rex if she was conscious at the time. Before she left (and cried alone), Bex offered her number to Holly in case she needed to talk, nothing 'war makes fast friends.'

A half hour later, Gunther had hooked himself up to the gym's flat screens and began to display the recently unlocked data. The group began seeing dossiers on Tradition luminaries and leaders, connections between the Council and the Nephandi, plots to weaken and destabilize one Tradition or another, actions taken against minorities and marginalized groups... in effect, a century of Council plots to manipulate the Nine Mystic Traditions into staying united against the Technocracy. Bex whispered aloud that she should have stayed a Hollow One. As the ramifications sunk in, the Mages were left wondering what they were going to do (episode 4).

Tradition:
Cult of Ecstasy/Sahajiya

Spheres:
Mind 3

Prime 3