Name: Shezia
Age: Unknown but looks in mid 20's.
Race: Schatten
Job Profession: Grave 'Keeper' (Basically a Thar version of a graveyard Ghost Buster)
Appearance: Like the rest of her species she's thin and almost chalk white save the black rings around her eyes. Her irsis are a murky purple with slivers of blue laced around it though both are darkened enough that unless you really look you wouldn't notice. She has a branding on her wrist that shows she was part of the Schatten.
Clothes: Her clothes are always dirty from cleaning the graves, digging graves, filling in graves, and of course weeding out the flowers that were planted around the graveyard. She can be seen wearing a pair of thick gloves, a heavy grey torn up cloak, and matching with it is a thick black dress. Often she wears the hood of her cloak up in an attempt to shadow her eyes more and hide her pale features from that of any observers.
Possessions:
An old oil lantern she uses when she's walking the paths of the graves. She can see perfectly well in the dark but with this she at least looks more human if a stranger happens to see her. Unfortunately however this didn't help comfort the locals but scared them instead.
A small hand shovel no larger than a fist with a worn wooden handle. She uses this to help pull out pesky weeds and often leaves it tied on the side of her belt. Nothing fancy, just a plain shovel.
A pair of silver colored bells that are smaller than a thimble but give off a quiet but clear chiming whenever she walks. This 'ringing' sound is mentioned within the rhyme and as the tale goes, if ya hear it she's nearby. In all honesty she wears it so that she doesn't feel so alone, like there's always something else to make sound besides the lonesome sound of crickets.
Torks - A large black pet Turkey Vulture that is usually seen hanging around her. It will fly in circles around her or simply hop from gravestone to gravestone. It wears a silver bell around one of it's feet and can often be seen sitting on a dead tree near a tall grave, watching in silence as the people wander around his mistress's turf.
Undead Companion
Gladiator - A large warhorse that was killed in battle. While wandering about the nearby battlefields Shezia was called to the restless spirit of Gladiator. This creature had become a phantom, thundering around the long ago battlefield in search of his old master. Feeling pity for the loyal creature Shezia raised him and hides him within the shadows where he sits in silence. Should she whistle however, he'll appear from his dwelling and go to her with a chilling scream. He can only appear from her 'home Shadow' however and cannot be summoned in the daytime. He's no stronger, faster, or wiser then any other horse. Just a bit more durable.
Strengths!
Pure Schatten - Shezia has all the abilities and weakness's her kind does. She can raise a single dead thing, walk silently, hide/live within Shadows and has the ability to see in pitch black. She does not however do well in forested areas, sunlight, or crowded areas.
Prayers for the Dead: Shezia is able to see and speak with spirits who wish to communicate with her without having to use magic. Something of a rare talent she has made companions out of the dead who lay within Marn's shallow graves.
Ageless: Like the rest of her kind, Shezia ages incredibly slow. Though by no means immortal, if not killed by a blade the longest living Schatten was nearly two hundred years old. She is by far not that old, merely in the low hundreds but none the less she looks nearly 20.
Future Flash: When a wandering spirit starts becoming hostile towards the living, Shezia has a soundless, 6 second flash into the future of where this attack will happen and whom the attack is made on. This helps protect the living (as her duty is) and also allows her to know whom to protect. This does not mean however that she makes it in time every time as these vision can be activated from different sides of the graveyard.
Begone! When talking out is no longer an option to settling an angry ghost, Shezia has the ability to collect the energy from the spirit and holds it within her lantern. To do this, she lights up her fist and must hit the spirit through the chest to where the heart would be. Doing this collects the soul and from there it is placed within her lantern. The brighter her lantern, the more recent she's saved somebody's stupid ass.
Weakness...
Friendless: Shezia hasn't made human contact for so long she that her voice has turned raspy. She wanders almost lonely down the graveyard paths, looking for a companion. For so long she's been unable to speak with people that she's forgotten how to speak save her 'rhyming'. Often she's heard it from playing children, listening to their words until it was only their words that she remembers.
'Shezia, Shezia, call of the bells."- There is a rhyme of warning that the children of marn play by, like a song when they skip rope or simply something to scare their friends with. She's often portrayed as a threatening creature who steals away people who wander in her graveyard. The real story behind that one is actually not far from the rhyme....
No home, No home...- Shezia has no home to speak of except when she lives in the shadows of the graves during the day. Often she slides into the city bakery, dairy, and butcher before her midnight wandering. Of course, the store clerks notice the missing food but they also take note of the light scratches around the doors and locks that lead towards the food. Counting it as if a blessing, they try to keep a piece of food out in an attempt to 'appease the Graveyard Walker'.
Branding - Once and a while the branding on her arm will glow a burning white that spiders up her arm and down to her fingertips. This casts almost a molten glow up her arm and is easily visible but this only lights up when she uses certain powers such as raise dead and Begone!.
Lack of strength: Though her abilities are strong, Shezia herself isn't. She can easily be blocked, held onto, and beat up if caught in the sun. So, in the dark she's a nasty piece of work but in the sun she can easily be defeated.
Claws: Due to her long nails, Shezia has a hard time grabbing onto something/someone without leaving scratches. This is helpful if she wishes to do damage but when she grabs things or moves things, it tends to leave marks which can easily be traced back to her. Her pets however don't really notice because A) Torks feathers protects him and B) Gladiator's skin can barely feel anything it's so rotted through.
History:
It smelled of rot here. Rot, and cold slimy stone. Grass was trimmed, true. But by whom? Even the flowerbeds that were left unattended remained well primed and proper despite their lack of care. The twisted paths were still uneven though as they traveled around the graveyard in an almost puzzling fashion.
The icy air gripped flesh with sharp fingers, blowing chills down the spines of passers with a gentle hiss against the ear. With each tiny breeze fog slithered around in a thick swirling blanket, disguising each and every shape that came into view like a murderer wears a mask. The crickets sung a sickly sweet melody that was nearly lost within the hissing leaves.
It was through this graveyard, down the twisted and crooked paths, walked four teenage humans. The two males held the lead with a lantern in fist while the females clung fearfully to each other. Already they complained and demanded to go home, saying their feet hurt and it was too cold for this tonight. Yet the boys never listened, pushing on as they mocked the girls to just leave despite them having the only lantern. Frustrated but too scared to leave the safety of the light, they kept going in a trembling huddle. Halfway into the graveyard, a top of a hill with a dead tree and a broken shack, they stopped.
See, these four had a bit of a disagreement. The males snorted, claiming that females always needed a man to hold their hand when things got frightening. Angered, the two females declared they needed no such coddlings and said that men simply wished it was so. Between much bickering and arguing, an agreement was settled. They would go to the graveyard near the old dead tree and broken in hut, tell the story and rhyme of Shezia, and if the girls didn't run away or go home, they'd win. Already nervous, the males laughed outwardly while inside they trembled as well. So, they sat around in a tight circle with nothing more then their clothes, a torch, and each other.
It seemed almost poetic that the full moon be covered by thick looming clouds that blacked out the sky. Over their heads the gnarled tree scratched at the sky, it's empty branches rattling like the clacking of a laughing skull. Not far from where they sat was the abandoned home of the Graveyard Keeper who had mysteriously vanished from his bed. Already the roof began to cave and the door rotted, adding more to the feel of dread that hung in the air.
Taking a breath the oldest boy, the bravest and so named 'Leader' started the story in a low growly tone.
"Shezia, Shezia, carol of the bells. These first words were uttered not long ago as a warning to those who dared think of trespassing into her lands. The warning that Shezia, the Grave Keeper, walked the roads during the night. That she, if provoked by the rhyme she herself uttered, would come when least expected and drag away with her talons deep in your ankles."
"Nobody really knows where she came from or why. All that is known about her is when the first drop of blood was spilled on the lands where Marn lies, she appeared that night with a lantern in hand. On her hip she carries two