Grenda (AST)

**Grenda** is an Arch-mage under the apprentiship of the Grand Magus Jasmine.

## Appearance

As a Gorgon Grenda is a giant snake with arms, who wears opaque goggles, and has hair of snakes that constantly, move. She hides her appearances under the illusion of an average Japanese woman who wears a simple blouse and long dress and dark sunglasses which are magically enchanted to block her ability to turn living beings into stone.

## History

Jasmine told Devlin and Grenda meet her at the San Cheng Huang which why they were annoyed when Siren informed them that she wasn’t there upon greeting them. However, the wait was only momentary as Jasmine arrived shortly after. Siren was shocked when she introduced herself as she didn’t expect a twelfth circle mage to still be taking apprentices.

Jasmine met with Kasumi to make sure that she was fine with everything. Siren had already broken everything down for Kasumi so she knew things would be civil. With that out of the way the conversation moved to Ranko since her anti magical properties could be perceived as a threat she was asked to leave. Ranko after getting over the shock of seeing the Devlin and Grenda’s true form perfectly understood and went back to her dorm.

Kasumi showed Jasmine to a private room that she linked to one of her pocket dimensions. She gave control over it as well as the protective charm she placed on the restaurant. This also provided Kasumi with true sight allowing her the apprentices true forms for the first time. The two properly introduced themselves causing Grenda to jab Devlin in the shoulder after a bad joke. Kasumi got over her shock as the three were about to leave and asked Jasmine to look over Shampoo. so she left Devlin and Grenda to get things ready.

Seeing Kasumi’s depressed look Grenda went to see if she was okay. Kasumi asked her if she knew anything about kitsune, but she only had general knowledge. She suspected that a god was the one to curse them and when Kasumi asked why. She told her about the origins of the Gorgon species. Hearing how Medusa and her sisters were wronged by the gods gave Kasumi some insight on things. Thanking Grenda she offered her help in finding a cure for the gorgon curse. The species contentious relationship with humans made it unlikely anyone would take it, even if it was possible, but Grenda thanked Kasumi for the offer just the same.

Sensing a powerful entity at Furinkan Jasmine teleported there. This sudden departure didn’t go unnoticed and Devlin and Grenda started conversing quietly about what this could mean. When they sensed the restaurant being surrounded by a large group of kitsunes Devlin decided to take the lead went out and met Peach, the leader of the group of Kitsunes. He asked her if she planned on causing trouble, to which she replied not while inside. Reluctantly he let her in. Peach apologized for the earlier incident and freed Ranma and Kasumi. She then asked to see Lemon who Devlin escorted her to.

With the kitsune gone, Kasumi warned them that this was no longer about Lemon, and that Eyebright, Lemon's father, had forced them to reveal Herb's curse and that he was now the target. Cologne explained to the others that being trapped in female form, Musk law did allow Herb to be forced into a marriage which would give the husband Herb's position as heir to the throne.

Peach returned and unexpectedly confirmed for everyone that it was indeed Lemon who had tricked Frost. Peach further apologized, disavowed any participation in Lemon's actions, and gave the life of Lemon to Kasumi as way of compensation. This confused Kasumi, thinking she meant for Kasumi to kill Lemon, but she clarified that Lemon's fate was for Kasumi to decide now, and Cologne further clarified that effectively Lemon was now Kasumi's slave. Peach confirmed this resolved the conflict between them and the Amazons and Cologne was forced to confirm it was. Then as earlier warned the topic turned to Herb and Peach requested they had over the princess. Naturally this was refused by Herb herself who finally appeared. Peach put on a false sense of disappointment and said they would be taking Herb, and departed to rejoin the other kitsunes.

Realizing how much danger they were in Devlin told Grenda to reinforce the barrier. When a confused Kasumi asked what was going on he explained that Jasmine was engaged with Eyebright at that moment, and the barrier would not hold indefinitely so they had only about an hour. He then off to seek reinforcements for the coming battle.

Despite Teesha, another mage present who was helping, using her power to create numerous homunculi duplicates to act as distractions. When she was checking up on Lemon Peach had snuck on small portal onto Herb, and used it to catch up to him. This prevented them from helping as they were forced to deal with all of the kitsune who were chasing them were converging back on the restaurant.

Grenda went to Frost to relay some extra instructions from Jasmine. Telling her to make sure to bring all her magical tomes and such, particularly any other designs she has, complete or not. Frost used the opportunity to ask her what her training would be like. Grenda explained that it’s pretty wide ranging as Jasmine wanted her to be at least reasonably competent in every magical discipline. It was the combat test she had to worry about. Frost began freaking out at the realization that she would have to beat Jasmine in a one on one duel.

Grenda calmed her down by telling her that Jasmine would restrict herself to 7th circle or less magic. She gave her some tips on what to do. Grenda returned to the restaurant only to be told that Lemon had gone missing. She quickly discovered evidence that had been kidnapped, and with no way to trace her, Frost would suggest a broad spell to find any kitsune in the area. Led by Grenda, they would follow this spell to a apartment that turned out to be the residence of Copycat Ken. After being told he was Grenda realized he was a kitsune to some degree and revealed her true self to him. After initial confusion and disappointment, Ken learned of their search, and showed them to a building he knew of.

They found the building in question to be very suspicious due to both Ken's history with it, and the many magics around it. Grenda put Shampoo to sleep for her to use her spirit walk ability to scout the place. Shampoo returned quickly, finding Lemon was indeed within along with about fifty people, including someone very spiritually powerful. After Herb brought up the potential to ask the Senshi for assistance, they headed back to the restaurant to plan and prepare for an attack to recover Lemon.

Knowing that Jasmine would absolutely kill her if Frost got hurt on her watch Grenda called Devlin for help so that he could keep her out of trouble, knowing that since he was still recovering he wouldn’t be doing a lot of fighting. Shampoo was present during the strategy meeting, giving a few details of the layout within and disbursement of the people within. During said meeting Grenda emphasized how they wanted to be quick and non-lethal as their enemy could hold a grudge.

Once the fight began, the group pushed fairly quickly through the building only for everyone they disabled or who had surrendered to shrivel up and explode. Making her way to the 2nd floor Grenda was relieved to find that Kasumi, Shampoo, Herb and Jupiter were okay. As she explained what happened, Shampoo called out a warning and another individual attacked them using an automatic weapon. Grenda quickly ended this threat, and Shampoo would also confirm the 2nd floor was now empty. Grenda initially thought they had been turned into living bombs, only to realize how dangerous the hunters were when Herb informed her that their energy had been drawn elsewhere and ran off ahead.

Once in the pocket dimension within, they found a woman finishing off Ken, who was battered and broken. After the woman tossed aside Ken to confront their group, particularly Jupiter, Kasumi and Shampoo circled around to tend to Ken. The woman turned out to be a Dark Kingdom Youma and quickly proved more than a match for Jupiter, Grenda and Herb. Grenda and Herb in particular were bound in her jelly like appendages and being drained, so Kasumi and Shampoo went in to free them. They managed to separate the two from the Youma, stopping the drain. As Kasumi spoke to Grenda she told her to run, but she refused to leave them to deal with the youma alone.

They were rescued by the arrival of Ixion, luckily the youma proved to be just strong enough for him to retaliate when she attacked him. Having recovered enough to stand Grenda went to check up on Kasumi who had been knocked out trying to stop her while Herb check on Shampoo. She found the room the hunters threw their dead in and was momentarily stuned by the dread of it, before Herb reminded her why she went in there. Luckily Kasumi was in surprisingly good shape so Grenda didn’t have to put to much effort into healing her. However when she woke up she demonstrated a new personality, that of 'Tex'.

Grenda was still sitting in the room by the time by the time Devlin found her and confirmed that there was no survivors. Hanging her head at how badly she’d underestimated their enemy knowing that they’d all be dead if it wasn’t for Ixion. Devlin agreed, but pointed that they did manage to get Lemon out safetly without anyone on their side dying. The main problem was that the hunter organization wasn’t going to let something like this go. There only saving grace was that they all died before communications could get out so they could leave out some details.

On Devlin’s suggestion Grenda laid down some traps and contacted the coulcil to ask for help in securing the place. As they were leaving Devlin noticed that something was missing from the spot they found Kasumi. Grenda arrived at the San Cheng Huang to find Shampoo along with Makoto, Herb and Ranma attemptting to take out their frustrations on Genma for how Kasumi acquired the Nekoken, but after Kasumi who was back to her old self spoke up in his defense, and he groveled, they lost their appetite for such.

Grenda apologized to everyone for how she grossly misjudged the situation, which they readily accepted also experiencing the same guilt for doing the same thing. Herb however was more concerned with the long term affects of encountering the youma. Grenda briefed them on the fallout from their attack. Kasumi was fine not getting credit as it wasn’t something she wanted to celebrate, but was worried about her and Devlin putting themselves in danger. They two were already hated by the organization so nothing really changed.

Shampoo would then discuss with Grenda the doorway, puzzling the magus, who then began to panic upon realizing that it was the missing object.  Devlin and Frost would arrive during the discussion and likewise find the whole thing puzzling, until Frost suggested she found the image of the door familiar. Realizing it was likely linked to the Moon Kingdom, Frost was tasking with looking into that while Grenda promised to decode documentation on the site that might mention it. They would also discuss what to do with this version of Kimiko Tendo, Devlin and Grenda agreeing she couldn't be the real version, and most likely some kind of copy although unknowing what type. They would suggest Shampoo attempt to visit her again and learn more, but only after getting some questions to ask her to prove her identity.

Grenda contacted the Japanese Kitsune clan about Ken who sent Yui. When she arrived Grenda took her to the restaurant to get meet her. Much to Ken’s surprised Yui asked her if her original name was Keiko. It turned out that she was to woman who Ken’s mother rescued before her death. Sadly all Chika was able to get out was Ken’s name and since they weren’t in Tokyo at the time she ended up looking for Ken in the wrong place. Taking notice of Kasumi and Shampoo’s arrival Grenda beckoned them over. Grenda introduced them to Yui and got them up to speed. Yui assured Ken that her condition wouldn’t be held against her as there were many in the village with thinner blood then her who could never transform. Kasumi asked if there was a way to restore it, but Yui wasn’t hopeful. On the bright side there were the ki based skills that Ken had acquired. When Ken told her that she never used them without shapeshifting, Yui told her to apply herself to adapting them to her normal form. She even offered to introduce her to the villages many trainers.

As a moment of silence passed, Kasumi cast a glance at Lemon who was still being poorly covert. She then asked if the Japanese kitsune village had the same policy of changing the sex of their members for breeding purposes as the Fox clan. Yui told her they did, but even if they didn’t Lemon was persona non grata amongst the clans so taking her was impossible. She told Kasumi that she could always send her back to the musk, but that wasn’t something Kasumi wanted to do. Ken was shocked at how cold Yui was being realizing that Lemon must have really screwed up. They decided to wait until Ken gets better before leaving, at least until she can move without the aid of a golem. Kasumi offered to ask Ukyo for help, or more precisely ask Ranma to ask her as well as them a place to stay.

Kasumi and Shampoo told Nodoka about the Kimiko they met in Kasumi’s mind hoping that she could give them some questions to ask her that only the real Kimiko would know. Nodoka confirmed that all of the answers Kimiko gave were correct. Looking into one of the theories of who the Mindscape Kimiko could be Grenda consulted with Teesha on homunculi. Later when Grenda Shampoo and Frost were gathered in a room within the castle for one last briefing Grenda was left even more confused after Shampoo recounted the events of her encounter. They also gave up on her being a homunculi as given the work it takes the create one there would be no point with her openly admitting that she was a fake. As for the door Frost was only able to confirm that it was Moon Kingdom in origin. However this only made things more complicated since they did not know why it reacted to Kasumi. The only advice Grenda could give was to just be careful. With that Frost finished packing for her trip.

The trio headed to the ground floor, arriving at the front door where Frost's other bags were currently stored. There they found Ranma and Herb, the two having apparently been in a conversation of their own. They greeted them and at that moment, a thought hit Grenda. It turns out that Happosai had been trying to steal her underwear while she was in the shower and she wasn’t wearing her glasses she ended up turning him to stone when she caught him. After a few seconds of silence, Ranma was the first to ask if he was alive. It turns out that he was just in a sort of suspended animation and reading the room gave them a vial that would turn him back when they were ready. Stating that he could use a vacation Kasumi picked up the statue, while Shampoo grabbing up the vial and the two headed off together.

Grenda turned to head to the Karaoke bar to wait but Ranma called out to her. Ranma asked her if anyone had ever tried to do magic with ki instead of mana. She told him that there was never any success as while the two wee definitely closely related, it's kinda like the relation between ice and water. You can make a sculpture out of ice, but not so much water. However she assured Ranma that ki had many applications that are rather poor for mana. Ranma thanked her before heading off.

While Grenda took Frost to Jasmine she wasn’t staying, though she did promise to do come by now and then, as would Jasmine's other Archmages, so Frost wouldn’t be too lonely.

Grenda was called in to aid in the investigation of a brutal assassination and after watching the surveillance videos which inexplicably weren’t destroyed she called Devlin. While he arrived after the bodies had been cleaned up, given the magical reinforcements that had been casually broken through he knew that this was serious. There was no audio on the feeds, but the videos told a tale nonetheless. A man and a woman brutally walked through the mansions various guards as if they weren’t even there. After watching all the video feeds Devlin could just stare in horror before asking who the two were. It turns out that this was the home of the head of leader of section 7 before the Rouge Youma. Devlin began to panic upon being told this, but Grenda assured him that she had already had the site checked for traps.

Mans profile matched that of the Assassin as for the woman Grenda guessed that she was the Inquisitor. From what they saw it was clear that she wasn’t human, but she whatever she was it was powerful. The Assassin was just as dangerous and inexplicable. They two tried to figure out what the Organization would leave the video. Devlin initially tought it might have been for intimidation, but Grenda didn’t buy it as giving out info on their assets didn’t doesn't fit the organization's tactics. He then suggested more of a warning, and while she still wasn’t convinced Grenda did not want to fight either of them.

The two decided against telling Kasumi and the others paranoid that using them to track them down could be what this was all about. Despite that Devlin was planning on debriefing Frost who he had been going to pick up when Grenda called him. Grenda meanwhile would see what other info she can scare up and keep a close eye on things.

## Ability

Arch-mage, circle 8

Grenda is a descendant of Medusa and a rather unusual case Gorgon’s are a very isolated community, even among other non-humans. That combined with their natural abilities means few have any inclination to seek out training for magic or really anything for that matter. Her divine blood also gives her an edge over other mages. Not only does that make her super tough to hurt, it also means her mana recharges mega fast. Her goal in life is to become strong enough to go after the greek gods. She’s quite ready yet, but working on it.