Hazel Clay

Hazel Clay is a former Fae mercenary-turned-hero, currently serving as monarch of the Deadlands.

## Origin

Hazel is a Fae being hailing from the Deadlands, a Hell-like kingdom in the Blazing World where the "gun-slain" sometimes go after they die. Hazel, known as the "Gun Witch," acted as a freelance bounty hunter and mercenary in the Blazing World.

She originally encountered the Atlantean, Mentat, Gilbert the Alchemist, and Visage when they traveled to the Blazing World in pursuit of a mystical fugitive. Hazel, hired to stop them, ambushed them upon their arrival and engaged them in pitched combat before they eventually came to a truce.

She 'joined' the heroes when, in a bid to flee the inescapable borders of the Deadlands, the Atlantean agreed to the Lead Lord's proposal to marry his daughter, Hazel. Although initially furious at this arranged marriage, Hazel was herself quite eager to leave her nightmarish home, and acquiesced to the bargain. She found Earth to be a strange but intriguing place, with many opportunities to indulge her love of guns and violence, and only rarely returned to her home to replenish herself (lengthy stays away from the Blazing World being detrimental to Fae health).

Much later, when the Dimensional Barrier fell, she returned to the Deadlands to take her place as the Lady of Lead after her father's death. She now rules that dimension as its reluctant God-Queen.

## Appearance

Hazel normally appears as a beautiful, pale-skinned woman with dark red hair. She has a slightly elfin cast to her features. She dresses in a "wild west" theme that is the common mode of dress in her home dimension, with a leather duster, wide-brimmed hat, and riding boots complete with spurs.

When holding court as the Lady of Lead, Hazel instead appears as a shadow-wrapped skeleton covered in molten brass. She wears the tattered remains of her old outfit in this form, though her attire appears weather-beaten and riddled with bullet holes.

## Personality

Although once extremely abrasive and filled with frustrated anger, Hazel's time on Earth mellowed her out considerably. Now she is pragmatic and even charming, though she can still be quite callous and quick to solve her problems with a bullet. Over time she grew to feel a genuine affection for the Atlantean and she stood by him even through his tribulations as the Herald of Hades.

When acting as the Lady of Lead, her cruel, vengeful, and mischievous aspects come to dominate her personality. She is much more likely to demand tribute, withhold help, and generally make the lives of both friend and foe miserable in this form. She is every bit the demanding, aloof, and ruthless monarch while in her darker role.

## Powers

Hazel's powers have two aspects: her control over firearms and her control over the dead. She was a potent necromancer, who augmented her magic with the authority of her bloodline over the Gun-Slain; this allowed her to summon, reanimate, and command large gangs of firearm-wielding undead whenever she wished.

Hazel has the ability to instantly conjure any firearm she wished, drawn from any point in the past, and combined this on-demand arsenal with a supernatural gunslinger's skill. Although deadly with literally any firearm, some of her favorite weapons included:

* a Sharps Rifle 1874-Pattern, for precision shooting over vast ranges
* an AK-104 Assault Carbine, for deadly high-caliber automatic fire
* a Mauser C96 for precision close-range attacks and a variety of "trick shots"
* a standard russian-made RPG launcher, for more general devastation

She demonstrated the ability to summon weapons and ammunition for her allies, and could even create entire artillery pieces on demand, staffed by her undead minions.

Hazel also has the ability to craft a "named bullet." This item, created in a 24-hour ritual that culminates in the carving of a target's name onto a lead slug, is an incredibly deadly bullet that can threaten even the most well-protected targets. She gave such a truesilver bullet inscribed with Cú Chulainn's name to Cort, which proved instrumental in the defeat of the warmongering demigod.

#### The Lady of Lead

Upon taking the position of ruler over her native lands, Hazel's powers vastly increased. Although now restricted to the boundaries of the Deadlands, she has godlike powers within that realm and is essentially immortal and indestructible. She can now create much more complex and powerful undead, and open portals between her dimension and certain other realms, including Atlantis.

## Weaknesses

Hazel had few real weaknesses prior to her coronation, and even fewer now. Like most Fae beings, she begins to suffer illness when she spends too long away from her home dimension, though now she cannot leave for long periods anyway.