Academy Anthology: Hail and Well Met

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Shenziah Oneiros (Shen) is played by Hal.

Shenziah has possession of the [[Book of Mud]].

Age: Older than she looks

Appearence: Shen is an ash gray tiefling with red sclera and irises, intricately braided black hair, and large, curving horns.  

Other notable features: Numerous decorative facial piercings- they look gold, but are actually brass. She had to sell the originals.

Personality: Shen is abrasive, unsociable, and acerbic, but this is offset by her considerable intelligence, her sincere thirst for knowledge, and a secret love of small furry animals. She enjoys the finer things in life, and refuses to tolerate chaos or dirtiness in any of its forms.   

Many years ago, Shen was a senior member of a secret society of magic users known as The Citadel. The goal of the Citadel was to push the limits of magic and what it is capable of. Shen and six other members of the society had attempted an ambitious ritual spell. The goal of the spell was to summon and bind an obscure Elder Evil in order to harness its power. According to their calculations, a single individual would not be strong enough to channel all of the entity’s energy, but all seven of them working together could. Shen believed that she had devised a method for one person to channel all of that energy (it was extremely complicated and involved a lot of focusing crystals) but her colleagues outvoted her and decided to go with the safer method. It was agreed that if the energy transfer failed, they would send the creature back to its home plane and regroup.

When they actually attempted the ritual, it seemed to be going well at first. The binding spell worked. However, it turned out that seven people were not enough to handle the enormous amount of energy that the creature was emitting, and the resulting explosion caused the binding spell to break. Shen was the only wizard who had not lost her concentration and therefore could still send the creature back- she did not, and instead attempted to harness its full power using her experimental method. She even succeeded- for a few seconds, at least. Of course, she lost control, and the resulting magical backlash killed her colleagues. Shen used the very last of her otherworldly powers to capture their souls and create a vessel to store them in- this vessel ended up taking the form of her childhood pet rabbit. This rabbit is alternatively a companion and a burden- it is entirely non magical outside of its origin, does not seem to be sentient outside of normal rabbit intelligence, and Shen is a little bit nervous about what might happen if it dies. As a result of her arrogant decision, Shen was banished from the Citadel, who only spared her life due to her status as a high-ranking member. She has spent the last few years attempting to secure teaching positions at various magical academies to no success. She has been forced to resort to adventuring in order to support her expensive tastes, a situation she makes no secret of being unhappy with. 

Recently, Shen moved into the Zelligar wing of Quasqueton, where she was hoping to have some quiet time to herself- this did not end up being the case. Shen began to notice some odd things about her own behavior and perception- she was having blackouts, losing time, becoming more emotionally volatile, and had recently started experiencing hallucinations. After some research she came to the conclusion that the Elder Evil had caused more damage to her mind than she had initially supposed and that this damage was spreading at an alarming rate. Shen believes that the only people who have a chance of helping her are members of the Citadel.


====== Curtain Call ======

Shenziah Oneiros spends the next few months working to help her former colleagues adjust to their new lives and bodies. She collaborates with Jarxis and his friend Karl to publish a paper about the entire ordeal, which is received with modest fanfare and is promptly forgotten about. Shen is okay with this, as she’s still a little embarrassed about the whole “massive act of hubris” thing. 

Shen finished off the year a changed woman. Not only had the demon inhabiting her brain been exorcized, but it was thanks to friends that Shen had never thought she was even capable of having. She came out of that incident with a new lease on life- and a reluctant new familiar. 

Apophis is… struggling with his change of vocation. He is especially bitter about how small he is now (about the size of a corn snake.) As the former elder demon complains about his situation loudly and constantly, Shen has devised many motivators for him, including but not limited to The Punishment Jar, The Salad Spinner, and, as a last resort, threatening to mail him to Kliff. Luckily for Apophis, it hasn’t come to that yet. 

In the future, Shen will open up a rabbit sanctuary, write an award winning true crime novel about the Bwystfil-Dinas Slime Soul Incidents, and finally figure out a style of bangs that work for her. She will continuing adventuring with her friends for as long as she is physically able to. 

But today, Shen hosts a Yuletide potluck dinner at her home in Quasquenton, with an open invitation to every Welmet adventurer. Things get chaotic, of course, but Shen is fine with that. She can handle a little chaos.