Shai'a Crescent

* Masked
* Unmasked
* Possessed

Annah

Unknown Star Elf Father

> *"Well, you know what they say about the road to Baator."*
>
>

**Shai'a Crescent**, legal name **Shai'a Beaumont**, was a Void Genasi vigilante and a resident of the interplanar city known as Sigil. A feared huntress of the Lower Ward and The Hive, Shai made her living hunting down criminals wanted or otherwise, preferring to take in her quarry dead rather than alive. Empowered by her pact with her patron Vhailor, Shai partook in extrajudicial takedowns in the name of justice, delivering punishment where the lawful factions of Sigil had failed.

In the pursuit of a figure known as the 'Veiled Lady', Shai found herself accidentally stepping through a portal to Avernus, first of the Nine Hells, where she became stranded. Through a chance encounter with a group of unlucky travelers from the Prime Material plane, Shai was able to escape Avernus and return to Sigil with her newfound companions; Star Lutana, Gwynnestri Grimm, Nagar Krelker, Ashton Halloway, and Shio Zise.

## Description

Shai was a veiled, blue-skinned woman reminiscent of the night sky itself. Her black hair ended in glowing blues resembling brilliant nebulas, and her burning amber eyes resembled bright orange stars. Shai dressed in many veils and silken garments, all of fine make but showing signs of wear and tear over time. She possessed an air of mystery, owing to her shadowy magic powers and her reluctance to show her face.

Her skin was shockingly cold to the touch, being likened to grasping ice. Beneath the veil, Shai displayed distinctive cracks around the corners of her mouth, a remnant of her near brush with death at the hands of the Harmonium.

## Personality

Acerbic, sarcastic, and condescending; Shai was very sure of her place in the multiverse and had very blunt, vocal views on other individuals and organizations. Always quick with a witty retort or sassy complaint, Shai was quite comfortable letting others know where they stood in her eyes. She saw herself as a capable leader of others and was more than willing to make decisions on their behalf if she thought she knew better.

Like many Sigilites, Shai was highly superstitious and even somewhat paranoid when it came to planar matters. She disliked tempting fate and teasing the powers, and closely embraced the power of belief for its ability to shape reality on the planes. Her greatest superstitions were saved for the mysterious Lady of Pain, whom she both feared and revered from a comfortable distance.

Shai was actually quite self-conscious, despite her icy exterior, and went to great lengths to project a persona to be respected. When frustrated, she had a tendency to slip into heavy usage of Sigil slang.

Her most notorious trait was her commitment to the Mercykiller's core belief; that mercy was a crutch, and that swift punishment was the best way to correct the sins of wrongdoers. Shai was reluctant to spare villainous enemies, and often spoke in favor of brutal styles of execution; she was particularly elated when Captain Thrograd decreed that members of the marauding Cult of Hojehav were to be crucified. Shai believed that it was better to murder a killer before giving the justice system a chance to fail at reforming them; a belief she was sometimes forced to relent on in the company of her less vindictive companions.

After merging with her patron Vhailor, Shai was sometimes prone to bouts of possession, allowing Vhailor to speak through her lips. During these bouts, Vhailor's forceful personality and blatant obsession with justice and punishment was on full display.

Shai was asexual. She disliked physical contact with others and little interest in romantic relationships, preferring to jeer and tease others about their own entanglements instead. She did, however, have a soft spot for Bliss.

## Abilities

In part due to her connection with her patron, Shai was a considerably skilled melee combatant and a master of the longsword. She often fought on the front lines alongside Nagar to protect the less defensible members of the party. Her martial prowess stemmed not from physical ability, but from magical enhancements empowered by her own sheer force of will.

Shai was also a skilled spellcaster who favored defensive spells like *armor of agathys* and *shield*, as well as debilitating spells such as *hex* and *hunter's mark*; both served to bolster her ability as a dangerous close-quarters fighter. When forced to fight at range, Shai favored her *eldritch blast* spell, which took the form of the spectral silhouette of her patron rushing forward with an executioner's axe.

She was also known to use *flame blade* and *sword burst* when faced with multiple enemies. Through the power of her *dark shard amulet*, she was capable of casting a large array of shadowy cantrips.

The warlock pact with Vhailor allowed Shai to surpass the limitations of her physical frailty. She was able to don armor and shields and wield weapons that would ordinarily be cumbersome or unwieldy because of her lack of physical strength. It also allowed her to summon her pact weapon from thin air at will, and granted her the ability to mark an enemy in combat with tangible malediction.

in addition to her abilities in combat, Shai proved invaluable as the party's sole planar member and Sigil Native, giving her valuable insight on the planes and on the workings of the City of Doors. Shai was quick to offer words of caution and advice alike in the face of the city's alien atmosphere.

As a rare void genasi, Shai was naturally resistant to psychic damage, owing to her race's eldritch inclinations. She was also capable of tapping into her own fight-or-flight response to trigger teleportation, breaking her own physical form into starry smoke and reforming a short distance away to escape danger.

Beyond her strengths in combat, Shai was also gifted in maneuvering social situations. She was deft at persuasion and deception alike, and was able to assert herself as an authoritative figure to complete strangers at times. Quite adept at reading others, Shai was eager to manipulate others into getting the information she needed to pursue her goals. She also displayed an educated background related to the study of arcana and magic, often able to spot and identify magical effects and phenomena.

Like many Sigilites, Shai was capable of speaking multiple languages; in her case, she was able to speak infernal, abyssal, and interplanar common (with a particularly strong Sigil influence).

## Possessions

Most prominent of Shai's possessions was her pact weapon, an ebon longsword lined with glowing runes known as *Final Judgment*. The sword was a manifestation of Vhailor's fanatical belief in justice and punishment, the same manifestation that once took the form of an executioner's axe wielded by his own hand. *Final Judgment* could take the form of any weapon Shai was proficient in, but she favored its longsword form. The blade was emblazoned with the *symbol of torment* among its many engraved runes, and emitted bluish smoke when drawn.

Shai dressed in a collection of mixed silks, veils, sashes, and cloaks, all adding to her air of mystery and intrigue. These many fabrics helped conceal her face and her equipment alike, hiding her protective breastplate in particular. Her most notable article of clothing was her face veil, a strip of blue fabric that concealed the lower half of her face in all forms of light. In addition to a concealed breastplate and an array of leather vestments, Shai favored a small shield wrought of black iron and stained glass from the plane of Caceri.

To facilitate the casting of her spells, Shai wore a *dark shard amulet* around her neck. The amulet was in fact a shard of Vhailor's rusted armor, broken off and reforged into a circular pendant bearing symbols that represented all seventeen outer planes. She also possessed an *amulet of lifesaving* and a *hat of disguise*, both of which were acquired in the catacombs below the Lower Ward.

## History

### Early Life & Education

Shai began her life as the child of two destitute former planar travelers in the Hive, the poorest and most dangerous ward of the interplanar city of Sigil. She remembered little of her birth parents, save that her mother was a void genasi like herself and that her father was a star elf. When their daughter displayed natural sorcerous abilities, Shai's parents decided that the only way to save their child from a short and violent life in the Hive was to apprentice her to a wizard in one of Sigil's wealthier districts. The pair sacrificed everything, but were able to secure an apprenticeship for Shai under the tutelage of a wizard in the Clerk's Ward; a prestigious member of the Fraternity of Order known as Reginald Beaumont.

Though at first little more than a live-in student and ward of the Beaumonts, Shai was eventually adopted into the family, and spent a majority of her life in the Clerk's Ward as the second Beaumont daughter. Her time was spent learning to control her natural magic, visiting other planes to learn of their properties and unique qualities, mingling with high Sigilite society, and pursuing academics like Reginald before her. For a time she was considered for membership in the Society of Sensation, and presented a detailed magical thesis to pursue this goal. However, this idyllic life was soon cut short by tragedy.

### Striking the Pact

Reginald was famed for his research and strides in magical theory. His grandest design, a secret to Shai and her sister, was said by him to be made only possible by the contributions of one known only as the 'Veiled Lady'. However, this same Veiled Lady would come to be the project's downfall; for reasons yet unknown, the Lady turned on Reginald and fed information that led to a Harmonium arrest warrant being issued against the great wizard. The arrest attempt broke out into violence, leading the death of several Harmonium officers, Shai's sister, and Reginald himself. Shai was mortally wounded in the chaos, and barely escaped by breaking out of a window.

Shai was left penniless and near death. Wandering the streets of Sigil in delirium, she chanced upon a newly changed stretch of road, freshly molded by the dabus, and fell through a portal to an abandoned crypt. The crypt was barren, save for a lone battleaxe embedded into the stone before a rusted suit of armor. A spirit from within the armor spoke to her, promising revenge in the name of justice. By gripping the axe, a pact was sealed; a pact between Shai and the soul of Vhailor, a powerful warrior of the Mercykillers from years past. Shai's mortal wounds were healed as her soul served to bolster Vhailor's own wavering essence, and her despair was replaced with a burning desire for vengeance and justice.

Although her chaotic attitude towards justice clashed with her new patron's blindingly lawful approach, the two agreed on the need for justice in a multiverse gone mad. Shai wished to learn the truth behind her father's murder and exact vengeance, but she wished to do justice beyond this selfish quest; she wanted to bring the philosophy of justice without heed to the law and its shortcomings to the rest of the city. Her ultimate goal soon became the restoration of the Mercykillers, Vhailor's long-dead faction from decades ago, under the new guiding principles of her own chaotic philosophy and belief system. A new 'Red Death' for a new age, free of the mistakes that doomed its predecessor.

### Vigilante Career

Although no longer at death's door, Shai could not remain in the Clerk's Ward, as she remained a suspect in whatever her father had been researching; to say nothing of the painful sight of her childhood home left empty and lifeless. She absconded to the Hive with her newfound abilities, and quickly found work as a bounty hunter. The ward was littered with criminals, thugs, and general ne'er-do-wells, all of whom had prices on their heads to be collected, and Shai's new powers made her an exceptionally efficient hunter of men.

Her new love of delivering justice could not be sated with simple sanctioned executions, however. After finding her feet in the bounty hunting trade, Shai began to act of her own volition, superseding the courts and and delivering her own brand of justice as a vigilante. In a place that the law seldom touched such as the Hive, Shai felt she was able to make a great difference. Indeed, change was tangible; serial killers turned up dead in public alleys, rampant thugs were found with their hands removed, and rapists were discovered to be forcibly castrated.

Yet even with her own personal crusade, little could be done to fully stem the overwhelming tide of evil that festered in the Hive, and Shai soon found that she yearned to learn the truth of what happened to her father. She needed to learn of the events that transpired on that fateful day, and she needed to learn of those who were involved; she needed to learn of the mysterious Veiled Lady.

After tracking down scant information on her father's project, Shai finally came across a lead concerning the Veiled Lady. She was given instructions to meet a shopkeep in a certain part of Sigil while holding a pot of ash, where she would be given more information. In her haste to learn more however, she failed to realize that she had been tricked, and by holding the pot in her hands while passing through an archway, she found herself accidentally stepping through a portal to one of the most dreaded places in the multiverse; Avernus, first of the Nine Hells of Baator. After getting her bearings, she saw a most peculiar sight in the distance; a group of lost travelers from the prime material plane being approached by insidious devils.

### In the Cage

#### Welcome to Hell

Shai quickly intervened to help drive off the devils, and then introduced herself to the gathering of primes. Star Lutana, Gwynnestri Grimm, Nagar Krelker, Ashton Galloway, Shio Zise, and Evee Elmira had all escaped a githyanki attack on the city of Darnagal by entering a portal out of desperation along with the newly exiled Githyanki raider B'nuir. Having already lost one of their numbers to the bondage of devils, Star's brother Aurin Lutana, the group was weary and in need of a guide. Although far from an expert on Baator, Shai was at the very least a planar and thus more equipped to help guide the group to safety in Sigil, where they would be able to plan their next move and their eventual return to the Prime.

The group, while still unfamiliar with one another and faced with the daunting prospect of surviving in Hell, was able to scrape by long enough to meet with a series of hags residing on the infernal plane. After performing a series of favors to earn their help, the party was guided to Fort Knucklebone and its leader Mad Maggie, who was said to know of someone who could guide the party to Sigil. As Baator was ruled by transactions and contracts, the party was made to gather ingredients and components for a flesh golem on Maggie's behalf. The golem was to be gifted to a member of the Dustmen known as Flemithra Theram, who would be able to see the party away from Avernus.

During the party's quest for golem reagents, they encountered a flaming mimir of exceptional intelligence and personality named Barny. Shai quickly took a liking to the strange floating skull and accepted his companionship, becoming his new 'chief'. With Barny's help, the party was able to narrowly survive deadly encounters in hell in order to procure the necessary ingredients. Once their obligation was fulfilled, they were introduced to Flemithra's traveling companions; Salabesh the Onyx of the Sensates, and the mysterious shardmind known as Ametrine; the latter knew of a portal back to Sigil, located in the gate-town of Ribcage. After promising to help Ametrine find information on his friend Felquin's disappearance and that of many members of a group known as the 'Red Death', the party was at last able to arrive in Sigil; just in time, as Shai's separation from her patron had taken a severe toll on her physical well-being.

#### The Catacombs

Once in Sigil, the party narrowly escaped a strange festival being held by the Harmonium and made their way to Ragmonger's Lane, a section of the Lower Ward where Shai made her home. There she was able to explain the city to the best of her ability, giving her Prime companions a briefing on its factions and important fixtures such as the Lady of Pain.

Several leads possessed by the party lead to the catacombs beneath the ward, where Shai believed she could find an entrance to Vhailor's tomb. Although keeping the exact nature and identity of her patron a secret, Shai stressed her need to reach a certain tomb before her growing exhaustion could manage to claim her life.

After braving several dangerous traps and beasts in the catacombs below, Shai was able to reunite with Vhailor, whose physical form was being siphoned of energy by a mezzoloth in service to the Veiled Lady. After the party slew the mezzoloth, Shai weakly made her way to Vhailor's rapidly deteriorating shell. In order to save the both of them from certain death and nonexistance, Vhailor shedded his physical form and embedded his spirit in Shai's very soul, uniting the two on an even deeper level than before. Shai was once again saved from her own doom, and now had the constant voice of Vhailor to share a mind with.

No longer dying, Shai continued to aid the party in their pursuits; it seemed increasingly obvious that the mysterious Veiled Lady had taken something from several of the party's members, and by working together, answers might be found.

To this end, the party (now known under the name 'The Skeleton Keys') began taking on missions in the area in order to right wrongs, make money, and uncover information. After a few farther jaunts in the catacombs, the party was contracted by an Athar agent named Faith to investigate an insidious cult visiting from a Prime world. The Cult of Hojehav seemed to be trampling a town beyond a portal under their heel, and was expanding operations to Sigil to spread their doctrine.

Stepping through the cult's source portal, the party arrived on the same Prime world of their origin, finding themselves in a dismal township in the distant corners of the world. This was Shai's first experience visiting a Prime world, something she brought up and complained about quite regularly.

After rescuing Bliss from captivity and securing the help of captain Thrograd, the party advanced on the cult's headquarters and killed bishop Omess Stana and the demon the cult had summoned, putting an end to their reign over Cale's Hope. The party returned to Sigil, this time with Bliss in tow, and uncovered a list of former Mercykillers with the aid of Sazraen Sildoma.

#### In Pursuit of Beasts

In dire need of a lead on the conspiracy against the Mercykillers and their former members, Shai suggested a visit to the Civic Festhall; she hoped to take advantage of the Society of Sensations' repositories of knowledge, and to at least introduce her party members to some of the wonders of the planes.

Following a performance by famous minstrel Discorian Mandalor and Sensate factol Erin Darkflame Montgomery and an encounter with a mysterious witch clad in green, the party tried out a series of sensory stones, including the elaborate Five-Fold Sensory Stone that recounted the story of the Heroes of Radiant Pass. This experience inadvertently revealed Ashton's former life as the holy warrior **Halloway**, and detailed her defeat at the hands of Tasha and Graz'zt. This revelation, as well as a chance encounter with the amnesiac former Mercykiller Shepherd, gave the party a path forward; to the outer plane known as the Beastlands.

## Relationships

### Vhailor

Shai and Vhailor's philosophies were a point of conflict between the two. Whereas her patron favored a literal interpretation of the law and its relationship with dispensing justice, Shai viewed the law as an obstacle and an inconvenience to bringing judgment to those who deserved it. The two would argue over this distinction often, even more so when Vhailor began to inhabit Shai's mind as well.

However, despite their disagreements, Shai and Vhailor shared a rather intimate relationship, even before the merging of their souls. As a pair of essentially co-dependent parasites, the two had to rely on one another to continue existing in spite of their mutual near-obliteration. They shared a common passion for justice and in punishing those who did wrong, to such a degree that their shared belief sustained their life forces when they were at their very limit.

After their merging, all of Shai's thoughts were made known to Vhailor and vice-versa. Vhailor had little concept of privacy regarding this, and Shai often had to repress his strong personality to keep secrets under wraps.

### Barny the Flaming Mimir

Having "always wanted" her own mimir, Shai held Barny in high regard and valued his input. In light of his notable intelligence in comparison to his kind, however, Shai began treating Barny more as a sentient being and companion rather than a simple floating encyclopedia. She was usually the first to correct those referring to him as an 'it'.

### Beaumont Family

In Shai's own words, her relationship with her adopted father was initially quite terse; it was difficult to 'tame' a semi-feral, magically gifted child from the Hive and bring her into the lifestyle of the wealthy citizens of the upper wards. As time passed, however, she grew to love her adopted family. Even after her radical change in personality following her near-death experience and her newfound hatred for the Guvners and Harmonium, Shai looked back on her lawfully-aligned father fondly. It was his death that spurred her burning desire for justice, and avenging his death remained her primary motivation for most of her adventurers.

Shai spoke of her adoptive sister Amira sparingly, but it was clear that she cared for her dearly.

### Star Lutana

Shai was initially quite intolerant of Star thanks to the latter's talent for fortune telling, which the paranoid Shai saw as unnecessarily tempting fate. Star's insistence on rescuing Aurin from the Iron Citadel of Dis was also a point of vexation from Shai, who viewed the task as a suicide mission.

As they adventured together, however, the two would gradually grow to enjoy each other's company, despite their differences. Against Shai's will, Vhailor once acknowledged Shai's fondness and empathy for Star's plight and how she viewed Aurin's imprisonment as a great injustice, a fact that brought them closer together despite Shai's following embarrassment.

### Gwynnestri Grimm

Gwyn was, for the most part, a source of equal confusion and curiosity for Shai. As a fellow academic, Shai supposed that she would have quite a lot in common with Gwyn, but this was not always the case. Although Gwyn's boundless capacity for information at times frustrated Shai, she was at least comforted by the elf's ability to retain information on the planes.

The peak of Shai's frustration with Gwyn came from the 'taming' of Wuzzy, whom Shai wished to dispose of as quickly as possible.

### Nagar Krelker

    Shai and Nagar got on quite well from their first meeting. Shai respected the dragonborn's immense strength and combat prowess, and regularly offered praise when said strength proved to be the answer to their problems.

Nagar was also one of the first targets of Shai's inquisitive tendencies, leading to revelations of Nagar's past following a particularly insistent round of questions while hunting the Cult of Hojehov.

### Ashton Halloway

    Ashton puzzled Shai, who saw the mysterious dragoon as just that; a mystery she could not solve. Shai was one to respect privacy, but could not deny her curiosities about her distant companion's origins and the source of her draconic powers.

Shai had a tendency of becoming patronizing and impatient when Ashton found difficulties with the power of belief on the planes.

When Ashton was threatened by Factol Erin Darkflame Montgomery, Shai returned threats in equal measure, showcasing their growth as friends.

### Shio Zise

    Shai and Shio spoke little, as a bulk of their time together was spent desperately trying to escape Avernus. Shai spoke neutrally on the monk, commending his combat abilities but questioning his choice of association.

### Evee Elmira

From the moment she heard the word 'Demonomicon' from Evee's lips, Shai viewed the gnome as a rash, ill-intentioned child with no concern for collateral damage or the weight of her actions. Still, she aided in Evee's defense in conjunction with the rest of the team, and objected to the Harmonium filling in to protect her in the team's stead.

### B'nuir

Quite familiar with Githyanki, Shai distrusted B'nuir despite her the circumstances of her exile. Although Shai was grateful for B'nuir's part in their escape from Avernus, she shed no tears at the latter's departure from the group following their arrival in Sigil.

### Bliss

    Shai recognized a kindred soul in Bliss nearly instantly, sensing within the tiefling a burning desire for justice following her misfortunes at the hands of the Cult of Hojehav. Shai nearly coddled Bliss out of a sense of admiration and sentimentality, and treated her naievete concerning the planes with a much gentler hand than she had with her fellow adventuring companions.

Following the party's doubt of the Mercykillers' legitimacy as a faction given its single member, Shai rebuked her companions by offering Bliss a place in the newly revived faction. After some contemplation, Bliss chose to accept the offer and became the second member of the new Mercykillers, and even displayed some initiative in trying to recruit members new and old to the new movement.

Shai displayed a remarkable degree of loyalty and protectiveness towards Bliss, given the latter's similarity to Shai's departed sister Amira.

## Trivia

* Shai's warlock patron, Vhailor, is a party member from the 1999 role-playing game, Planescape: Torment.
	+ In a similar vein, Shai's go-to fake name in the event of deception is Annah, a reference to party member Annah-of-the-Shadows from the same game.
	+ Shai's weapon, *Final Judgment*, is the same executioner's axe once wielded by Vhailor, summoned instead in the form a longsword. The sword bears several instances of the Symbol of Torment, but offers no additional effects despite the symbol's innate, astronomically powerful capabilities. This is likely because of Shai's lack of personal connection to the symbol, and the resulting absence of a strong belief in the symbol's meaning.
	+ Shai has also spoken to Fall-from-Grace, another party member from Planescape: Torment and a member of the Society of Sensation, on occasion. She refers to her in passing with the respectful term of address 'Lady Grace'.
		- One of the career paths Shai considered was to work as a conversational 'prostitute' in the Brothel for Slaking Intellectual Lusts under Lady Grace's employ, where she had hoped to debate guests on magical theorem.
* *Shai* is a name of Hebrew origin that means *'gift'*.
* Shai has several connections to the plane of Carceri.
	+ Her patron Vhailor had spent untold decades trapped in the prisons below Curst, a gate-town of Carceri, before being freed by The Nameless One. Ironically, Vhailor's imprisoner was in fact an earlier incarnation of The Nameless One himself, a fact that Vhailor would never come to realize.
	+ Shai's preferred shield was a small disc forged of stained glass and black iron, both materials gathered from Carceri.
	+ Carceri was, traditionally, the plane of influence of the Mercykillers, the faction now led by Shai.
* Surprisingly, Shai is a remarkably skilled dancer, as displayed in the Civic Festhall during the performance by DIscorian Mandalor. Shai is reluctant to display this fact and is embarassed by most of her former ties to the Society of Sensation.
* Before the incident that upended her life with the Beaumonts, Shai was an academic and a hopeful member of the Society of Sensation, and submitted a thesis on arcane theorem as part of her initiation. Her thesis was entitled *The Moral Ambiguity of Necromancy: A Study on the Maligned Reputation of Magic's Most Controversial School*. Shai has expressed dissatisfaction that the entry standards of the Sensates has since been loosened significantly.
* Shai is often confused for 'the Veiled Lady', a known moniker used by Tasha, thanks to her frequent wearing of a veil to hide her facial scars.