Description

Blue lightning glared, revealing with great clarity a hooded figure crouched inside the low doorway. Each fold and twist of the figure's draperies stood out as precisely as an iron engraving closely viewed. But the lighting showed nothing whatsoever inside the h good, only inky blackness. ~ The Circle Curse

  Sheelba of the Eyeless face is a wizard from some alien world far beyond Nehwon. She gained her name because her hood is completely black, containing an unnaturally deep darkness beneath the cowl. Sheelba appears as a slender figure; her gender is uncertain, as in neither voice nor form is it betrayed. Sheelba does not care how she is addressed and may not even have a gender at all, but the female use is most common and may in fact be correct.   Sheelba appears as a slender figure, heavily robed and cowled, with an unnaturally deep darkness within her cowl. "Her" gender is never really certain; in fact she is referred to as "he" on several occasions.   Sheelba never shows her true form, for it would drive most heroes insane. She is apparently some sort of reptilian creature from another universe. It is commonly known that demons (who can perceive Sheelba's real form) scream in horror when facing this wizardress and leave the plane of Nehwon for all eternity. Sheelba is very protective of the city of Lankhmar.   Sheelba's manner is direct and to the point, unlike her cousin sorcerer, Ningauble (who is at various times both rival and ally). She speaks little and does not give away any information unless necessary. Her voice is said to sound like "the clank of small boulders moved by sullen surf." She is an impatient being who has little time for small talk and next to no patience for endless streams of questions that are easily answered by just doing as she says rather than worrying about the implications. If she is questioned on one topic for too long (which is a very short span of time by her way of seeing things), she will often reply with only motionless silence, simply wiating for the conversation to turn in another direction or end completely.   The secretive magician is fond of barking orders when angry and interrupting others when they get long-winded. A conversation between herself and Ningauble can be a darkly amusing back-and-forth of speeches and angry hisses. Despite her abruptness, Sheelba is simply intolerant, not hostile. At least not to those she wishes to speak with.   Sheelba’s magic is not of the directly destructive sort, for she is much better at summoning other creatures to do her fighting for her. Sheelba prefers the Salt Marsh because there are so many dangerous creatures that can be easily called upon to act on her behalf. There was a time when the Overlord of Lankhmar sent five hundred troops to capture and bring back Sheelba's hut. On the first day out of Lankhmar hundreds of normally shy swamp creatures attacked and killed one hundred of the troops. The brave commander kept the men out for a second day. All of the troops ran when a house sized worm ate the commander and his war horse in one gulp. Needless to say, the subject of the hut was never brought up in the Rainbow Palace again.    

Ideals

Unknown

Bonds

Ningauble of the Seven Eyes

Flaws

Curt to the point of rudeness

Suggested Environments

Sheelba's Hut was a black dome about as big as the closet-tree bower in which the Mouser had last evening endured ectasy and attempted assassination. It stood above the Marsh on five crooked poles or legs, four speaced evenly around its rim, the fifth central. Each leg was footed with a round plate as big as a cutlassman's shield, concave upward, and apparantly envenomed , for ringing each was a small collection of corpses of the Marsh's deadly fauna ~ The Swords of Lankhmar

    Sheelba lives in a small hut that rests on high stilts at the heart of the Great Salt Marsh outside of Lankhmar. The hut is able to move on its posts which bend and scuttle like the legs of a great crab. The hut has the unnerving ability to walk at a wobbling, bone-jarringly speed of 24' over the marshy ground. Each of these pole legs, which feature knee-bends halfway down, is coated in some kind of invisible and magical poison. The pile of dead animals at the bottom of the poles warns any with common sense of the poison's presence.  

Sheelba prefers to look down from atop her stilts and converse with her visitor as she rarely allows anyone inside. While it is very small from the outside, it is said that the inside is the size of a palace. The hut also has several interdimensional portals similar to the Caves of Ningauble which allow its owner access to other universes. ~Swords Against Death, Fritz Leiber (Centipede Press Edition)

  Sheelba dwells in the Great Salt Marsh by choice, apparently hoping to remain out of the paths of any unwelcome travellers. The ony way to find Sheelba is to be invited in advance or beckoned while within the swamp. She can remain unfound whenever she desires, in keeping with her distinctly anti-social and mysterious bent.

1st Level

• Comprehend Languages

• Detect Magic

• Earth Tremor

• Find Familiar

  2nd Level

• Crown of Madness

• Darkness

• Detect Thoughts

• Maxmilian's Earthen Grasp

  3rd Level

• Gaseous Form

• Lighting Bolt

• Summon Lesser Demons

  4th Level

• Black Tentacles

• Confusion

• Greater Invisibility

  5th Level

• Legend Lore

• Mislead

• Teleportation Circle

  6th Level

• Guards and Wards

• Instant Summons

  7th Level

• Crown of Stars

• Forcecage

  8th Level

• Maze

  9th Level

• Sheelba's Great Spell

At will:

• Acid Splash

• Dancing Lights

• Crown of Madness

• Earth Tremor

• Light

• Lighting Lure

• Mage Hand

• Minor Illusion

Hold Breath You can hold your breath for up to 15 minutes at a time.   Natural Armor You have tough, scaly skin. When you aren’t wearing armor, your base AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.