Sheyleigh

Alignment: Neutral Good

Sheyleigh is considered the voice of reason - or "the sane one", depending on who you ask - of the party, doing her best to keep the more chaotic tendencies of her friends from getting them in trouble or doing something horrible, and often taking point as the unspoken leader, or at least the responsible one. Highly empathetic and insightful, protective, and generally a Mom Friend, she looks out for others sometimes to the detriment of herself. She will drop everything else to save a loved one. She has a particular soft spot for children.

Sheyleigh has a complicated relationship with anger. Since her anger had turned destructive in her adolescence, she worries about reaching that point again. She made a promise to herself that she would never do excessive harm, even when a fight to the death is necessary. But sometimes under duress, she can act out in anger, especially if things are going wrong or in the face of injustices in the world. When she does lose her temper, she feels immediately guilty once the anger passes, even if the anger is justified. She is currently struggling with the complicated nature of adventuring; how the answers aren't always clear and sometimes the decision that needs to be made doesn't feel right.

Ever since her death, Sheyleigh has suffered from a perpetual state of anxiety. She is easily startled and often lashes out if surprised under duress - she has punched two party members in the face already. She often struggles with a need to feel in control, and has an irrational fear that if she doesn't take responsibility, nobody else will. Personal failure scares her, making her feel like she's no longer the confident, competent fighter she was before her death - if she ever was. The sound of wolves growling still makes her go tense and she would likely panic if one ran at her again.

When in long times of quiet, Sheyleigh is very introspective and pensive, considering several things on her mind at once. But under duress, she works on pure instinct, jumping into things without thinking, often at risk of her own health.

Sheyleigh is a light sleeper and is usually awake before dawn to greet the sunrise during her morning meditation.

While she hates hurting people, she does get some enjoyment out of her martial arts training and sometimes can't resist the urge to show off. She does have a sense of humor and a way of the trickster about her, but it can be hard to let that shine through when times are as hard as they are.

In general, Sheyleigh is a lonely person. Not having many friends growing up means that she holds strongly to the connections she does have, and fears something happening to tear them apart. But even as much as she loves her friends, sometimes she feels like she can't quite connect to them the way she wants or needs, out of uncertainty of how to be present in their struggles, or inability to relate to an experience from one side or the other - she especially feels lonely after her death, because nobody else she knows has ever been where she was.

Now that she's an adult, she has considered the possibilities of finding someone to start a relationship with, but she isn't certain of what she wants, and when she does find herself attracted to someone, she either feels too intimidated to approach, or doesn't even realize what her feelings are. In short: disaster bi.

By Dungeons and Dragons 5E rules, Sheyleigh is a level 8 Way of Shadow monk and level 2 Trickery domain cleric. She can fight with a quarterstaff, a javelin of lightning that does what it sounds like it does, hand to hand combat, and some spellcasting that she's come to learn. She also recently acquired a broom of flying, allowing her to fight from the air as well. Wisdom and dexterity are her best stats, while strength and constitution are her worst, making her slightly squishier than your average adventurer, but they'd have to catch her first.

Ki: Sheyleigh is trained to be very in tune with her body and the energy flowing through her. She can channel that energy into her attacks, giving them a magical quality that can hurt what she might not have been able to hurt before. She can also use it to give herself a boost of speed in attack (Flurry of Blows), focus on incoming attacks (Patient Defense), give herself a boost of speed (Step of the Wind), and even substitute it for magical energy (Shadow Arts).

Deflect Missiles: With her lightning quick reflexes, Sheyleigh can deflect or even catch projectiles shot at her, and with a boost of ki throw it back to the enemy before they can react.

Slow Fall: Sheyleigh is trained to take a fall, allowing her to land more softly than an average person from a fall of the same height. She can still be hurt if she falls far enough, but the damage is reduced.

Stillness of Mind: With her training in clearing her mind and focusing, Sheyleigh can suppress the power of enchantment spells on her, and force herself out of a state of fright.

Traveler's Boon: In exchange for accepting the Traveler's task, Sheyleigh was granted a small boon where once a day, she can cast Charm Person, Disguise Self, or SPeak With Animals. Due to personal experience with charms and guilt in the face of attempting to use the ability herself, she only uses the latter spells.

Shadow Arts: Sheyleigh can create Minor Illusions at will, and by channeling ki into magical power, she can cast Darkvision, Darkness, Silence, or Pass Without a Trace.

Shadow Step: Sheyleigh can teleport from one shadow to another that she can see, making it easy for her to move swiftly and silently, and ambush her opponents.

Tavern Brawler: Sheyleigh has picked up a few less traditional tricks in combat, and can grapple her enemies with her attacks, and is also skilled with improvised weapons.

Cleric magic: Any level 1 cleric spells are available to Sheyleigh, and she primarily focuses on defense and healing, though she can unleash a mighty Guiding Bolt when needed.

Isn't this just Jade from Beyond Good and Evil as a D&D character?
Yeah, pretty much. I wanted to create an expy of Jade pretty much from day one; same appearance, stealth build stats, intentions to multiclass into cleric, etc. But since her creation, Sheyleigh has taken on a life of her own, developing her own personality and fighting her own demons. She's still got a lot of Jade in her even now, but she became enough of her own person that I feel comfortable considering her an OC officially.

So how the hell do you pronounce her name?
SHAY-lee. Fun fact; I actually knew the pronunciation before the spelling. I wanted something with a vaguely similar sound to 'Shauni,' Jade's handle for the IRIS reports in Beyond Good and Evil. So while I was walking home one evening I brainstormed name ideas, and the idea of "Kaylee but with an sh instead of a k" came to mind. (This was before I learned that Sheylee IS an actual Gaelic given name) I liked the sound of it, so I spent the next day or so brainstorming spellings trying to decide what looked the prettiest, and ultimately ended up with Sheyleigh.

Important Characters in Sheyleigh's Life
Jay: Sheyleigh's godfather, a porcinoid artificer and a grumpy old man with a heart of gold. Her mentor and father figure whom she can tell anything. He and his sheepdog Bear kept Sheyleigh safe her whole life, before she departed for adventure, and made the sad little place they had to live a home.

Li: An orange tabby cat Sheyleigh adopted from an open air pet shop in Vesh. Appeared to be a stray before being snatched up by the shopkeeper. She originally took him for mutual ownership with Astrid, whom the cat also liked but she wasn't sure she could care for a pet, and she named him Li as a combination of most of the party's names. Since then, he's fairly definitively become Sheyleigh's cat, but she at least tries not to hog him to herself. He's trained to go running to another member of the party for help on command.

Quentis: A nerdy young man the party met en route to Sheyleigh's home town, Rhuxslah. Awkward, anxious, a little shy, but good with a bow and has a strong passion for learning - in fact, it is his job as an acolyte of Ioun. Sheyleigh thinks of him like a 'little' brother (he's probably older than her). He is my son and I love him.

Serendipity and Buddy: A tiefling traveling salesman and his half-orc bodyguard. Serendipity's traveling cart has crossed paths with the party a few times, and always has interesting goods to peruse. Sheyleigh got off on the wrong foot with him when she tried to charm him for a discount on potions, but has since then attempted to make up for it by making purchases without haggling, and saving his cart from some kids trying to break in. The whole party is weak for Buddy, and Sheyleigh is no exception.

The Traveler: Chaotic Neutral god of luck and change, a trickster and a force for overthrowing the mighty and punishing those who abuse their power. Sheyleigh owes him a favor of stirring up change in the world in exchange for bringing her back to life. She often catches herself talking to him in quiet moments, and when she's truly desperate, she turns to him for help.

The Party (name pending)
Astrid: Half-elf warlock. Was forced into her pact with a deep old one by her abusive mother who experimented on her, the process making her go blind. Anxious and socially awkward, but terrifying when her powers are unleashed. She recently broke her pact and instead went into a pact with the Raven Queen. Sheyleigh is very protective of her, but isn't always sure how to connect with her since their lives and perspectives are extremely different.

Lamarii: Water genasi ranger-artificer. A nervous-talker, not very bright, and possibly even more socially awkward than Astrid, but very sweet, empathetic, and generous, and had an endearing passion for jewelry and collecting shiny objects. She was the first one Sheyleigh really had a connection with, after Lamarii gave her a piece of green sea glass, simply because it matched her color scheme, and in the resurrection ritual for Sheyleigh's life, it was Lamarii's voice she heard calling her back. Sheyleigh considers her a kindred spirit and her best friend in the party.

Scram: A kobold who was unwittingly adopted by a former member of the party, Lithandra. Served the bronze dragon Bridi, living in her den and following her command before he joined the party. Skilled and eager with a dagger, and looks after his own - even if he doesn't want to admit that 'his own' includes the party.

Anya: A dragon-shaped warforged healer. The party found her in a coffin among other goods, where she had been asleep for hundreds of years. She didn't remember her name, but over time it was revealed that she was the invention of Brigid Burnscale, a powerful figure in one of the world's key moments in history - The Feywild Incusion. She doesn't have a voice of her own, but uses soundbytes she hears from other people talking to communicate.

Lenore: A kenku paladin the party recruited after saving her from a criminal investigation gone wrong. The eldest of the party, and the one to take over the duties of being the party Mom, which has improved Sheyleigh's mental load and probably her relationship with the party as a whole. Suffered extreme trauma in her life, including torture, the loss of her husband, and dying herself, but she takes comfort in her devotion to the Raven Queen and her love of her 'children'.

Reilly: Halfling rogue, former member of the party. A grumpy older bigender individual, who tried to play herself off as an edgy rogue who didn't need friends, but not-so-subtly looked out for the party like her own family. Had an alter ego named Jack Rose whom he would go out gambling as and causing trouble, but that came back to bite him when he cleaned out members of the local mob who then came looking for him. Since defeating the mob, Reilly retired adventuring to stay home with his family. Sheyleigh still writes to her when she can.

Lithandra: Elf druid, former member of the party. A chaotic woman who often looked to alcohol, humor, and sometimes violence as coping mechanisms for her trauma, and tended to act spontaneously, and even a recklessly, often starting trouble without thinking. She and Sheyleigh butted heads a lot due to Lithandra's contrarian nature, and she would have liked to say it was a dynamic not dissimilar to quarreling sisters, but honestly she struggled to get along with her at all. Since Lithandra left on business her goddess Haela called her for, saying goodbye in a note and saying nothing to the party otherwise, Sheyleigh's feelings have leaned even more bitter towards her.

Charlotte: Aasimar paladin, former member of the party. Charlotte joined the party when she was captured alongside them in Rhuxslah. Initially, she was dedicated maid who lived purely on routine and servitude, and kept strictly to herself, but soon began the long, difficult process of breaking away from her 'programming' and become her own person. The only person she had any real connection with was Anya - she was the one who named her and gave her the most audio resources to speak fluently. Sheyleigh's relationship with Charlotte was complicated and often volatile - the fact that Charlotte kept her and the rest of the party at arms' length made her feel threatened, and when actual animosities with the rest of the party bubbled to the surface, she felt caught in the middle of it all and struggled to keep the peace. This resulted in her sometimes lashing out at Charlotte and being harsher with her than anyone else - even Lithandra, which she now regrets since Charlotte disappeared after being hit with a concentrated blast of time magic, decoupling her from the timeline and causing her to flicker through space and time uncontrollably.

The Merry Men
Quest: Tiefling wizard. A soft, shy bookworm, very knowledgeable of the arcane. The party would often go to her to help find information about magic items or assorted ongoing quests. She and Lithandra had been getting very close in the short time they've gotten to know each other, and it had been assumed all around that they were dating...though it's unknown what happened to their relationship after she left.

Gerdwyn: Bronze dragonborn bard-barbarian. Very loud, bombastic, and crass, but friendly and generally a good guy, and loves a good tussle. Not the smartest, but makes up for it in battle prowess and an endearing level of enthusiasm. Sheyleigh sees Gerdwyn as something of a competitive peer; the few times they've combated each other - in real combat or a friendly sparring match - they've been evenly matched. She's started developing a crush on the big lug, and has been unconsciously flirting with him, not realizing that that's what she's doing or even that what she's feeling is more than just platonic admiration.

Sir Vaska Lorre: Aasimar bard, former leader of the Merry Men. Believed that she was destined for greatness, and that she was the hero who would save the world from something terrible she believes is coming. Very confident and full of her own bravado. It was revealed that she was performing experiments on local monsters, provoking them to attack so that she and her party could fight them off and put themselves on a pedestal as heroes. She was ultimately apprehended by the party, her friendship severed with the Merry Men, and she was taken to Ajungia to be imprisoned. Sheyleigh had looked up to her and considered her a role model, and the betrayal shook her badly. She resents everything Sir Lorre did, but deep in her heart she can't bring herself to hate her even now...only feel hurt and angry and wish it never came to this.