Chapter #1232
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+ THE ADVENTURERS +
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+ Epic VI +
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+ Many of the locations, non-player characters, spells, and other +
+ terms used in these stories are the property of Wizards of the Coast +
+ which has in no way endorsed or authorized their use. Any such +
+ property contained within these stories are not representative of +
+ Wizards of the Coast in any fashion. +
+ The player characters depicted in these stories are copyright +
+ 1991-2026 by Thomas A. Miller. Any resemblance to any persons +
+ or characters either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. +
+ Copying and/or distribution of these stories is permissible under +
+ the sole condition that no money is made in the process. In that +
+ case, I hope you enjoy them! +
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+ Shemeya 19th level female human sorceress, conjurer +
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+ Date: 6/1/587 C.Y. (Common Year) +
+ Time: early morning +
+ Place: the Brass Hills, within the Bright Lands +
+ Climate: hot and dry +
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+ "If you can do something well, now you can do it for your planet." +
+ - from _Fantastic Four: First Steps_ +
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MCCXXXII. Shemeya
Shemeya's tower gleamed in the bright sunlight of the desert, the
white stone of the tall spire reflecting the rays of the blazing sun
with dazzling effect. Of course, it was just a trick of the light,
and a consequence of the viewing angle at this particular time, but
nevertheless, the effect caused the sorceress to smile with amusement.
Her home was a hundred feet high, a round cylinder that was a uniform
twenty feet in diameter from its base to its pointed top. The pale
blue shingles that comprised that roof were of a style and design not
seen in the world for two millennia, as they evoked the architecture
of ancient Sulm. Unlike the others, Shemeya had not built her tower
here from scratch - for it had already existed, and so the only real
challenge had involved moving it to the designated site within the
great fortress. Fortunately, the pale tower had already been moving
through space and time for two thousand years, so implanting it into
the fortress' upper plateau had been relatively simple. Shemeya had
been the first of the group to complete this task, which meant that
she had been able to relax within her tower and watch as the other
wizards worked to build and complete theirs. She was somewhat smug
about the whole thing, but kept it to herself; after all those long
centuries of virtual imprisonment, it was surprising how even trivial
things like this could bring her amusement.
Like a couple of the others' towers, Shemeya's tower was larger on
the inside than seemed possible from the outside; in this case, the
structure existed partially in the astral plane. Its powerful magical
defenses included the shunting of certain attacks sideways and into
the astral realm, but she could also invoke the same time-dilation
effect that had been present before, when the tower constantly moved
through both space and time. That effect, accompanied by a flickering
silver glow, would neutralize almost anyone or anything that approached
the building. Getting inside was also a challenge, for the half-dozen
windows scattered across the tower were for viewing only, but were as
strong as transparent steel (and also protected with mighty wards).
There was no fixed door at ground level - that portal appeared and
disappeared at the whim of Shemeya, and was simply a temporary pathway
through the enchanted white stone, opened only as needed and able to
appear on any side of the spire's round base. The space within the
tower was easily a hundred feet in diameter, and split into a total of
three floors of varying ceiling heights and configurations. The ground
floor consisted of a single huge, round chamber with a fifty-foot-high
domed ceiling. That expansive area was completely covered with bright
paintings of amazing detail, which depicted the ancient kingdom of Sulm
and its various people and history. The perimeter of this domed room
featured a series of several dozen thick, ornately-worked pillars; at
one end of the chamber was a massive throne of solid ivory, covered in
thick, plush cushions. This chamber was Shemeya's audience hall, and
in ages past had served her well as she admitted visitors and listened
to entreaties for knowledge, magical assistance, or other boons. While
sitting on the ivory throne, she enjoyed the protective benefits of the
Protection from Normal Missiles and Globe of Invulnerability spells as
well as the effects of a ring of wizardry, doubling the first three tiers
of spells she could cast each day. As for the other floors of her tower,
the second contained a library, a laboratory/testing area, and several
storage rooms. The topmost floor was her personal quarters, consisting
of a bedroom suite, a modest dining chamber with an attached kitchen,
and a vast pantry - these latter two powered by magic and able to store
large quantities and varieties of food, drink, spices, and the like. At
the time of her imprisonment within her tower, Shemeya's modest staff of
servants had all been away...which meant that she'd subsequently had a
long time to get used to unseen servants. While she wanted to one day
enjoy the company of other people, she would need some time to be ready
for that - and to find suitable helpers in the modern world. For now,
she allowed the silent, invisible servants to deal with the more mundane
tasks within her home.
Of course, she also had the four huge stone golems that guarded her
audience chamber and were always present when she greeted and conversed
with visitors. Rather than project a spell-like slowing effect every so
often, these constructs had been augmented; their special mode of attack
involved paralysis instead. It was certain that in the near future, the
sorceress would seek and retain not only servants but also henchpeople,
to replace those who had perished when ancient Sulm fell to its curse.
Physically, the sorceress was of Flan descent with dark brown skin and
a curly, shoulder-length black mane that was just beginning to show the
occasional gray hair. She appeared to be in her late thirties or perhaps
early forties, with strong cheekbones and dark green eyes that shone with
intelligence and determination. She was a lovely woman, the sort who did
not have to try to be so; she was also highly-learned and spoke in the
manner of one used to being the smartest person in the room and being in
control. Before becoming trapped within her tower had compelled her to
spend most of her time searching for a way out - as well as watching the
events in the desert with helpless frustration - she had enjoyed cooking
and trying new foods and recipes. This was something she fully intended
to resume, now that the outside world was open to her. She had also made
a hobby of discussing and comparing magic and spells, although all of her
old acquaintances were long gone now; she was quietly sizing up the other
members of the Bright Alliance to see who might be worth collaborating
with in the future. Although she hadn't made any mention of it to the
others, the sorceress' primary area of magical specialty was conjuration
and summoning - the bringing of things (living and unliving both) from
other places to her. Needless to say, she had not been able to practice
this art while imprisoned within her tower in time and space, and so she
was very much looking forward to flexing those magical abilities once more
how that she was able.
Shemeya's clothing and defenses were practically one and the same. The
fine turquoise robe she wore was a special robe of stars whose embroidery
also included shooting stars (which could be thrown, with the destructive
effects of miniature meteorites). At times, she carried a thin, five-foot
staff of bluish-black wood belonging to a species of tree that died out
with the Sulmish civilization; this item was a staff of the magi, with all
the accompanying powers and capabilities. She usually kept a unique wand
on her person as well, an old Sulmish artifact that had myriad and potent
powers of conjuration and could only be used by a master of that craft.
Also owned - but not always carried - were a horn that both amplified her
voice and translated it so that each listener heard it in their native
language, a wand of obliteration (which could erase runes, glyphs, marks,
symbols, and the like to neutralize their magical effects), a pyramidal
gate which allowed her to travel to three other planes of existence plus
the Prime Material, and a small copper figurine of a winged dragon which
could be enlarged to become a flying metal steed, smaller than an actual
dragon but larger than a horse. Beyond these key magic items, she had
others of less power...as well as a truly massive library of nearly a
thousand scrolls. These had been transcribed during her imprisonment as
a way to pass the time while being productive, and some of the parchments
contained spells not seen in the world for two thousand years. Among
these were Copy (handy for transcribing all those scrolls), Filter (good
for protection against harmful vapors and gases), Alacrity (to speed up
the casting of beginner and intermediate spells), Duplicate (to create
a perfect though temporary copy of a nonmagical item), Invulnerability to
Normal Weapons (fairly self-explanatory), Invulnerability to Magic Weapons
(ditto), Intensify Summoning (which caused summoned creatures to be more
powerful), Fear Ward (which rendered the caster immune to fear), and Chain
Contingency (a way to link together multiple contingency enchantments).
In combat, she preferred to use magic, and her typically-memorized set
of spells was a mix of offensive, defensive, and detection options. Her
preparations ahead of a battle were quite extensive, consisting of spells
both to protect herself and to augment her subsequent spellcasting. She
was a believer in contingency magic; one such protection that she favored
involved a teleportation spell being invoked if she lost consciousness,
so that she'd be whisked away to a safe location if things went bad. For
all that, Shemeya was well-versed in the use of her staff, and could smite
foes with surprising accuracy and strength.
The simple story of her past, which the other Bright Alliance wizards
knew, was that she'd been trapped in her tower when Emperor Shattados
set the Scorpion Crown on his brow and initiated the horrible curse that
doomed all of Sulm. There was, of course, a little more to it: Shemeya
had been a powerful court wizard and an outspoken opponent of that ruler
and his methods, long before that terrible day. At some point, she had
simply had enough, and had been working with others to find a way to deal
with the insane monarch. Unfortunately, they had made no real progress
at the time Shattados set into motion the events that would ruin the land
and its people. She was lucky to have been experimenting with the warping
of space and time; it was only a desperate and sudden series of spells at
the last minute that had saved her from becoming a scorpion-hybrid beast
like thousands of other citizens of Sulm.
All of that was history now, and she knew there was no crying over spilt
milk. Sulm could never be restored, but the region could; perhaps in time
she could build a museum or similar way for people to see and learn about
Sulm's past glory. For now, her mission was to change the wasteland back
into something more pleasant and safe...which included all of the things
the group of powerful magi had already been doing for a year: righting
wrongs, removing evildoers from positions of power, bringing law and order
to the chaos, and so on. Shemeya was fully invested in these efforts, and
at this point she had little tolerance for delay and half-measures. Even
before the curse was broken and she was freed from her tower, Shemeya had
found ways to help the Bright Alliance, advising them and sharing some of
knowledge she'd gained in many centuries of watching the desert.
Shemeya hadn't formed a solid opinion, one way or the other, about most
of the others - with a few exceptions. Kronos had been the first of them
she'd met, and in many ways the lich intrigued her; he even spoke ancient
Sulmish fluently. But at the same time, she harbored some concerns about
his possible designs on the undead that were concentrated in a handful of
places beneath the desert sands. She had no issue with the recovery and
use of the treasure there - she had already made that clear - but she was
adamantly opposed to her former people (or what was left of them) being
desecrated, used, controlled, or destroyed if any of those outcomes could
be avoided. It would be one thing if they refused to live in peace and
instead flowed out into the land above, intent on mauling and killing the
current population of the region...but if some sort of truce or similar
deal was possible, that was the only arrangement Shemeya would accept.
As for Belphanior, she was partial to him due to the similarities in their
personalities and actions. The headstrong elf wasn't afraid to think
unconventionally, and once he had made a decision or plan, he acted on
it - swiftly, efficiently, and thoroughly. He also had no tolerance for
stupid people, their excuses, or their attempts to backpedal after their
mistakes were obvious. Shemeya was much the same - and like Belphanior
had learned through experience to temper her impulsive nature and think
more before acting. As for the others, she respected them all, due to
their power and the potential of all that power united in common cause,
but had not yet made her final determinations about each of them.
So it was that Shemeya, last of the High Sorcerers of long-lost Sulm,
a woman who'd seen but not lived two thousand years, mistress of the
fabled Tower of Sleep, and recent addition to the Bright Alliance...had
finally found a purpose and a path forward after rejoining the outside
world, its peoples, and its problems. She did not intend to fail.
next: Bright Alliance member profiles, part eight: Wu
map: http://www.peldor.com/world/atlas/Bright-Desert_1226.png
www: http://www.peldor.com/download.html
homepage: http://www.peldor.com/
email: tmiller@peldor.com
released: 10/23/2026
notes: Seven down, one to go. Shemeya was the opposite of Parekh,
in that she had little history in my stories (so less research needed)
but then there was more for me to think up and convey (so more work
needed). Neither were easy.
It's been challenging to think up magical items for their inventories,
and some of them may have the same or at least similar protections like
rings, cloaks, bracers, and the like - but I'm almost done now.
The new spells mentioned for Shemeya were sourced from the AD&D 2E
books _Tome of Magic_ (Alacrity, Intensify Summoning, Chain Contingency)
and _PHBR4 The Complete Wizard's Handbook_ (the rest). My research here
showed that I'd plundered the former accessory long ago, for some spells
that Belphanior gained. So it goes.
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