Shade

For a beginner-friendly player guide, see Shade/Player Guide.\n\n

Shade

Tiefling Wizard (formerly Bard)

Personality

A charismatic performer turned self-taught arcanist whose family connections to Thundertree run deeper than expected. Since her reforging in the Hells (see below) she has leaned into a gleefully amoral, experimental streak — "Who knew being a bard didn't do shit?" — testing her new necromancy on bound prisoners without much remorse. In Session 51 that streak drew an on-screen warning from Maccath the Crimson herself, who — eyeing the ice-hunter disguises and the Vampiric Touch experiments — told the party they "do seem to be going down a path of evil" and might want to meet with a priest.

Beneath it, Session 52 showed something more complicated. Handed the Doss Lute as a tribute to the bard she used to be, she could not attune to it — and her player named the feeling plainly: "Shade's grappling with some complicated feelings. I think it's guilt."

Faction Membership

• Zhentarim – Inducted in Session 06 with codename "Fang"; promoted to Viper (Rank 3) in Session 43, receiving an iron viper amulet and the Zhentarim Guide to Poisoning Friends and Foes. As of S43 she is the highest-ranked faction member in the party (standing 21 with the Zhentarim). Her squire, Henrietta, is a Zhentarim placement (S52).
• The Compact – an infernal pact with Lady Calera / the erinyes Zarchelia; began advancing its "Compact" feat ranks in Session 43 and was bound into A Compact of restoration and continuance after the party's death.

Transformation: Bard to Wizard

Reforged in the Hells after the party's death (see Session 50), Shade emerged a wizard. As Zarchelia put it, "the bagpipes seem to have changed, as you yourself have changed": the Bagpipes of Zariel's Lament reshaped into a leather-bound Tome of Zariel's Lament (the same blood-red leather), now her spellbook. Her signature wizard ability lets her swap any spell's damage type for that of another spell of the same level recorded in the tome. She inscribed her full repertoire (~13,650 gp of materials) and, with the freed attunement slots letting her Amulet of Health settle in, jumped to 66 HP. She declares herself "a master of the dead now" and embraces necromancy — at one point draining a bound prisoner with Vampiric Touch to heal herself and reincarnating another "for practice."

Session 51 — The Vault and the Frame-Job (2026-06-28)

Shade's wizardry carried the endgame of the red-coin crisis: she cast Teleportation Circle from her magic tome — burning all five of its daily charges — onto Zelene's one-use imprint of the Host Tower of the Arcane vault, delivering herself, Baelgrum, and Karma inside for the final melt. Facing the vault pulse she spent her Tempered Soul on sheer bravado: "I too am feeling confident that we can do this. And I like fire."

Along the way she authored the session's longest-fused joke: she convinced the cured dockmaster Bargan Thrust (Ship Kurth) and the cured Zelene (Arcane Brotherhood, Deception 26) that the innocent Bronze Blades carry red coins and should be searched "thoroughly." Two Luskan factions are now primed to strip-search her rivals on sight.

She also gained Jeweler's Tools proficiency (crafting-system feat).

Session 52 — The Song She Gave Away (2026-07-12)

Arcane Certainty

Shade's Tempered Soul Aspect crystallized as "Arcane Certainty" — empowering arcane energy — born of dreams of "throwing fireballs and chromatic orbs, and just the power of the destruction that you're able to wield."

The Doss Lute

Thistle of the Bronze Blades presented Shade with a magical lute — the Doss Lute — in tribute to her song "Ah Dang Venom Fang," which the Blades sing almost every night. It was a perfect gift for the bard she no longer is: the lute requires bard attunement, and Shade cannot use it. It is destined for a shadowbox on the wall of Nuts Deep.

So she gave away the song instead:

"I shall never sing it again. Because… I died… but I'm glad that my song lives on. Yes, please consider that song your song now."

"Ah Dang Venom Fang" now belongs permanently to the Bronze Blades.

Teleport Destinations

By walking the Harper teleportation circles on the march south, Shade permanently gained Neverwinter, Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate as Teleport destinations.

The Turnip Wagon Ambush

In The Turnip Wagon Ambush, a shadow arrow aimed at her eye would have blinded her — she has only one, the other socket holding the Eye of Gilbraxis. Her reaction: "That's a ******* cheap shot considering I have one eye." She made the save by exactly the margin of her Tempered Soul — then answered out of spite with a 4th-level Hellish Rebuke, and finished Sera with magic missiles.

Henrietta

Her squire is Henrietta, a human, assigned from the Zhentarim — an irony Shade found pointed:

"I don't like humans because they tend to be pretty terrible to tieflings. So I feel like this is like reparations."

Open Thread

Shade's Zhentarim poisons are now dead weight: she no longer uses weapons, so the weapon-coating toxin has nothing to coat.

Character Arc

• Daughter of Reidoth the Druid (revealed in Session 08)
• Offered to immortalize Venomfang the green dragon in song
• Previously had an encounter with a doppelganger named Verhys
• Fireproof (revealed in Session 04)
• Can commune with the dead, travels with ghostly companion Cooter (revealed in Session 04)
• Compact Ranks 1 & 2 (gained S43): Whispers of Iron (advantage on Intimidation/Deception once per long rest) and Iron Rebuke (a reaction conjuring jagged iron shards — 2d10 piercing + 2d10 fire on a failed save). These powers manifested after a prophetic infernal dream of a furnace, the smell of iron and blood, and a quill scratching a binding contract.
• Gained poisoner's-kit proficiency and signature poisons (a weapon-coating toxin and a thrown silencing powder) with the Viper promotion — which she jokingly calls "anthrax." (As of S52 these are effectively dead weight; she no longer uses weapons.)
• Bears the Eye of Gilbraxis permanently in one eye socket; in S48 the Eye revealed it was a wizard before death and bonded into a necromancer's spellbook, foreshadowing her own turn to wizardry.
• Has notably strong infernal heritage — Arauthator sensed it as "stronger… than from that other tiefling."
• Rebuilt as a wizard in Session 50; received the Bound Grimoire pact item (Sleep / Mirror Image / Slow) and the universal Tempered Soul feat from signing the Compact.
• Warned by Maccath the Crimson about her "path of evil" and framed the Bronze Blades in Session 51; gained Jeweler's Tools proficiency.
• Aspect: "Arcane Certainty" (S52). Gave "Ah Dang Venom Fang" away to the Bronze Blades rather than sing it again; took the Doss Lute she cannot play. Gained Neverwinter, Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate as permanent Teleport destinations. Squire: Henrietta (Zhentarim).

Familiar: Big Puss

Shade's octopus familiar is named "Big Puss" — despite being the small Monster Manual octopus ("it's how he feels on the inside… more of an attitude thing"). Big Puss has a personality of his own: he finds new places "homey," brokered peace with a clutch of wild giant octopuses during the voyage home ("We're friends. Friend-shaped. Here is some crabs"), and even reunited with octopus "family."

Notable Moments

During Session 42 - Bagpipes, Blood, and the Bronze Blades, Shade accepted the Bagpipes of Zariel's Lament from Lady Calera at the Waterdeep gala — an infernal instrument safe in her tiefling hands where it would damn a non-infernal wielder. Her first performance on them was the "Toot of the Fallen," an old tiefling heritage ballad (in her own parlance, tiefling songs are "toots"). The session also established Shade as a prolific writer of dragon-worship music: her hit "Ah Dang, Venomfang" is beloved among Cult of the Dragon cultists, and she performed it for the dying Lord Valtheran to coax the location of the Draakhorn out of him in his final moments. (She surrendered the song to the Bronze Blades in S52 — see above.)

In Session 43 - The Council of Waterdeep, Shade implanted the Eye of Gilbraxis in her own eye socket (see that page) and showed a cold, self-interested streak — refusing to lift a finger to help the Bronze Blades even as they were being overwhelmed in Garmok's Mine, standing in the doorway with "Except not us, buddy."

During Session 46 - Diggy Diggy Hole, Shade experienced profound mycelial-induced visions when exposed to Myconid rapport spores in Garmok's Mine. These hallucinogenic experiences revealed disturbing spectral imagery that may hold significance for future events.

Shade's mycelial vision - a spectral winged creature encountered during the rapport spore experience

Appearances

• Session 01 – The Road to Phandalin
• Session 02 – The Goblin Lair Negotiations
• Session 03 – Welcome to Phandalin
• Session 04 – Fire and Faith at Cragmaw Castle
• Session 05 – The Black Spider's Shadow – Demonstrated deception skills
• Session 06 – Shadows and Allegiances
• Session 07 – Murder Hobos: Welcome to the Grind
• Session 08 – Thundertree: Family, Faith, and Fang
• Session 09 – Wave Echo Cave: The Depths Awaken
• Session 10 – Blood and Echoes in the Dark
• Session 14 – The Calm Before Greenest
• Session 16 – The Secret Tunnel and the Storm
• Session 19 - The Cultist Encampment and the Fate of Leosin (8/13/23)
• Session 21 - The Depths of the Dragon Hatchery (10/8/23)
• Session 22 - The Fate of the Dragon Eggs (11/19/23)
• Session 23 - The Pair of Black Antlers and the Caravan Plan (12/2/23)
• Session 25 - Murder on the Trade Way (1/28/24)
• Session 28 - Alliance of Scales (3/24/24)
• Session 35 - The Training Montage Begins
• Session 36 - Gootcha Talks to Death
• Session 38 - Now We Have a Hoard
• Session 39 - Waves, Wands, and Wagon Tracks
• Session 40 - Deez Nuts Brew Deals, Break Oaths, and Bake Blades
• Session 41 - Return to the Castle
• Session 42 - Bagpipes, Blood, and the Bronze Blades
• Session 43 - The Council of Waterdeep
• Session 44 - Garmok's Mine
• Session 45 - The Mind Gobbler
• Session 46 - Diggy Diggy Hole

• Session 47 - The Sea of Moving Ice
• Session 48 - Inside Oyaviggaton (2026.04.12)
• Session 50 - Reforged in Hell, the Voyage Home (2026-06-14)
• Session 51 - The Red Gold Reckoning (2026-06-28)
• Session 52 - Nuts Deep and the Turnip Wagon Ambush (2026-07-12)