Elsie "Mist" Croft

**Elsie Croft**, once the scion of the Croft family, well-respected in the Grand Order of Magi and the Covenant of Stonehenge. Elsie strove to become an heir worthy of her lineage, but that honor was taken from her when the family manor burned down along with her parents. Written down in Order records as a "magic experiment gone wrong", Elsie knew it was due to treachery. Were it not for the Snake Tong agents that were present during that time, she would have surely died. Betrayed by the Order she and her family served, she joined the Snake Tong, and trained rigorously, hoping that one day, she will avenge her family and restore Croft honor.

## Background

Elsie was born as the heir the Croft family. Their father was a respected man who worked at the Covenant of Stonehenge as a professor and had the reputation of being a highly capable mage. He taught Elsie magic at a young age, and although she did had great parents and a good childhood, Elsie were pressured to uphold the reputation of the family. For the most part, she tried her best to hone her magic and had a fascination toward light-based illusion spells that she seems to have a talent for, as well as becoming versed in the political side of Arcane Order nobility.

She was slowly through the Order's Ranks and began her path towards taking over the Croft family as the head, but everything changed when an intense fire engulfed the family manor. The heat was unnatural, it was no normal accident. As Elsie navigated the burning house, she saw her parents' wounded bodies lying in the ground and a shadowy figure standing over them, finishing the final blasts of flame that turned the manor into an inferno.

The suspect attacked her as well, and Elsie barely survived the encounter. When she was greviously wounded, the assailant disappeared. Despite losing her blood every second, Elsie tried to get her parents' out of the house, but one of her legs was caught by one of the falling pillars. While being trapped and unable to have enough strength to call out for help, she watched in horror as her parents were dying in the flames and accepted that she soon will have the same fate as her parents as everything in her vision turned black.

Luckily, Elsie was saved by a Snake agent from Unit 13, specifically Kabaylo, who was in the area stealing Order artifacts, coincidence as they did not even expect to encounter signs of Arcane Order treachery. She was rescued, scarred and burned. Thanks to the spells she was able to use before fighting her assailant, she survived long enough to be rescued and healed, but the scars would remain with her forever. She lost her future, her family, and an eye. The Snake agreed with her theory that this was foul play and not an accident after quick investigation, but the Covenant did not see that way. Official records state that an experiment went wrong and engulfed the house in flames and everyone inside died. Elsie was considered dead by the Order, and this was due to possible secret enemies her father had in the Order. She figured it would be an advantage for the public to think she was dead and she joined Kabaylo as he went back to Snake Territory.

The determination to avenge her family and find the suspect drove her to pass the trials and earn her keep in the organization as part of Unit 13, the Arcane Assault squad who specialize in using a variety of magic and martial arts for missions. Using the information network of the Snakes, she slowly built up a web of clues to the murder of her family, all the while gaining a reputation as a tricky illusionist, playing games with her foes.

## Personality

Elsie is a person that has different personalities under different situations. When she is not on duty, she is sarcastic, mischievous, and enjoys teasing other people around her. She would sometimes go as far to play pranks on them with her illusions. She will only prank on certain people that she considered will have an amusing reaction to it. During dangerous situations, she will be serious and flip her ‘Mist’ switch becoming a cold-hearted assassin. She often change her appearance to someone else and act as that person accurately as long she acquired enough information on their personalities like an actress playing a role. She earned her "Mist" alias as her illusion spells leave a faint mist after dispelling.

Despite being an extrovert, she do enjoy spending time alone. She is often lost in her thoughts especially when she is water painting, she finds it therapeutic that water helps her create, the opposite of the destructive capabilities of fire . Elsie sometimes question who she is as a person since she had acted as so many different personalities. It is easy for her to have many acquaintances but she only have a few people that she truly trusted. She is distant to strangers however she gradually will show more kindness and trust to them as time passes by. Her desire to assume different personalities became a coping mechanism, a form of escape from the reality of who she was, and how she thought that she wasn't capable enough of saving her parents during that night. She has chosen to not let her eye or burn scars heal until she avenges her family, a reminder of what she has lost because of her shortcomings.

Elsie despises boredom and believes life is too short to make it repetitive. With the dangerous career that she had, she hardly find boredom in her life which is one of the things she liked about the organization. She enjoys doing whatever she likes but she is willing to obey members that have a higher rank than her.

## Abilities

### Magic

Elsie can be considered proficient in Illusion that can trick even mages that do not have any decent anti-illusion equipment or abilities. The light based illusion spells she uses are two layered, with the light physically causing a change in image, and also piercing the minds of those who see said light into being tricked with false images. She is also capable of pretending to have their abilities as long she is able to observe what is their abilities. For example, if she saw a mage use fire, she can change into their appearance and cast an illusion of fire that is not actually there. She is skilled enough to fool even the senses of others and they would thought that they could feel the heat from the fire as long they are unaware that it is simply an illusion.

Elsie can make herself be invisible in the visible spectrum that can make herself be unseen to the naked eye. She could make others invisible as well as long they agree to it however she would need greater concentration and more mana in order to keep more than one person unseen. At the most, she can only keep 2 people invisible at the same time efficiently. She could choose to camouflage herself and other things with the surrounding by manipulating the visible spectrum on her target. With light, she can use optical illusions and other light-based illusion that use color, light and patterns to create images that can be deceptive or misleading to the brains. She can trick people into thinking she has no scars, or even think she is a different person.

Although requiring an immense amount of preparation, Elsie can cast a Bounded Field around herself and her opponents, she is able to cast multiple illusions at once. The bounded field will be at its most efficient and realistic if she only face one opponent so the quality of the illusion will decline, the more target that is in her bounded field. She is able to cast a strong illusion that shows them their worst fear that is capable of mentally weakening her target or place a deceptive impression that the target is being physically tortured since she can fool their senses. It is her most efficient method of obtaining information when the other person does not cooperate. Only those with strong magic or mental resistance will have the best chance to counter her illusions.

While being in a mercenary organization, she had acquired knowledge of how to use magical poison and she had multiple weapons that are coated in poison that can be used for assassination. She also use a wide range of familiars that are mostly small animals to scout information for her.

### Martial Arts

In her quest for revenge, she found her physical body to be weak during the fire, and has since dedicated time to honing her physical capabilities. She has grown to be rather muscular and has trained in multiple martial arts that emphasize power, such as wrestling, and the more aggressive forms of Kali/Arnis, allowing her to be a danger in close range. She even uses her illusions to fool people into thinking she isn't that physically imposing.

### Equipment

**Snake Key**

A standard issue Balisong knife made to disperse magic without alerting the source, allowing agents to create holes in magical defenses undetected, hence the title of a key. It is not suited for intense battle Elsie mostly uses it for utility and weakening the magical defenses of an enemy via Reinforcement or Alteration.

**S11 'BB' Bulletproof Body Suit**

Standard issue magic armor that Snake Tong provides its members. It is a black suit which was made to be bulletproof (tested with 9mm, 7.62, NATO/.308) and provides magic resistance, dispelling low level spells. It is considered to be one of the iconic uniforms of the Shiai-shi.

**"Shroud Ties"**

Shroud Ties are standard issue magic armor and head protection, cleverly disguised as neckties that allow them to blend in with the Bulletproof Snake suit style. By pulling down the tie and channeling mana through them, the ties transform into balaclava masks that provide full coverage of the head and neck. The material is made to be as bulletproof as the suits and also provide the same magical protection. The Shroud Tie can be deactivated by the user removing the mask, and it will turn back into their necktie forms.

Elsie’s mask is customized to have an eyepatch design covering her left eyes on the mask.