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Shi Maria is a unique demi-god, City Boss, and NPC located in the Bahamas region of the Eighth Floor.[1] She is also known as "the Screamer", the "Bedlam Bride",[2] the "Widow Endless", and MaeMae.[3]
AI Description
The Bedlam Bride. Reaper Spider Minion.
Level 140 City Boss.
This is a demi-god.
Warning: This mob inflicts Permanent Insanity.
Warning: This mob inflicts Permanent Blindness.
Yeah, good luck with that.
Reaper Spider Minions are regular mobs one may find on the Fifteenth Floor, working as minions of something kinda fucked up we're not ready to talk about yet. They have celestial blood. They're scary as shit, and if you're not prepared for their special attacks, you'd just be better off killing yourself instead. When one encounters them outside of the 15th floor, they're usually working as traveling merchants, selling rare and valuable wares. Anything one buys from them is usually quite dangerous.
But not all of them are merchants. Some have escaped out into the lower levels and have found their own path. Some have grown in power beyond that of a regular Reaper Spider Minion. This particular one is special. She has had many names. She currently goes by Shi Maria, and her story is long and tragic and can't possibly be fully told here. Once upon a time, she found herself married to a god. It didn't go so well. It's said she killed him. It was pretty much his own fault. Don't stick it in crazy, and all that. The thing is, she doesn't remember actually killing him. Honestly, it's not really important. What is important is that she was kicked out of the celestial realm and banished to this swamp where she spends her days plotting on how to get revenge on everyone and everything who has ever done her wrong.
That list is very, very long.[4]
Description
Shi Maria is demi-god and former resident of the "celestial realm" known to specialize in deceit, illusion, and mind-bending spells. She is married to a now-missing "deity from a long-forgotten pantheon" and is rumored to have killed him. Shi Maria wants to find him to prove her innocence, although even she wonders if she had a hand in his murder.[2]
Appearance
Shi Maria is a giant spider, approximately the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. She has translucent beige and brown skin, covered in hair speckled with black dots.[2] Her human-sized head is attached to a long putty-like neck, and looks older and haggard, with long stringy black hair, flaking skin, and hairy venomous fangs. Her eyes are four black orbs, in a row; the two in the center are huge, and the bracketing eyes are smaller.[2][3]
Her eight legs are "much too long, too thin, too angled for the large body," and move quickly; the unsettling effect looks both graceful and jerky.[3]
Skills & Spells
As a giant spider, Shi Maria has venomous fangs and the ability to weave sticky spiderwebs using the skill "Spinneret," which is named for her silk-spinning organs.[2][5] Although the spider she is based on does not use adhesive webs, she generates white webs that stick tight at the slightest touch. These strands shrink away from fire, and may respond to Anti-Adhesive Potions.[3]
She also has dozens of spells, many of which cause paralysis using illusions or fear. She is weak to psionic attacks, but nothing else.[2]
- Level 15 Unending Insanity—creates permanent insanity that can only be cured by divine intervention
- Level 15 Lights Out—creates permanent blindness that can only be cured by divine intervention
- Level 15 Cockroach Skill
- Spinneret—lets her create spider webs
- Venomous Bite
- In addition she has dozens of spells, most of which are illusion or fear based paralysis
- She is also vulnerable to psionic attacks
Story
Book 6
Shi Maria eats Samantha shortly after the Royal Court of Princess Donut enters the Eighth Floor.[1] As Carl and Donut explore the island and learn how to use the T'Ghee Cards, Samantha breaks free and starts chatting with spider. She promises Samantha she can give her the new body she desperately wants in exchange for allowing Shi Maria to travel with the Royal Court of Princess Donut to Larracos.
After Carl and Donut arrive, she puts on a show about how she is missing ingredients and begins sobbing when Samantha admonishes her, putting on a show to garner sympathy and turning non-hostile. Carl approaches, not fully trusting Shi Maria, who reveals just how much she knows about her situation, offering to become one of Carl and Donut's cards so she can travel with them to the ninth floor for her own goals, but where she claims someone who can actually help Samantha resides. Shi Maria allows Carl to collect her, warning him not to try and slay her stating, "Many have tried, all have failed. I have more tricks that you can imagine. Be a friend to me, and I will be a friend to you."
While Carl and Donut were training prior to the end of phase 1, Shi Maria proved to be a very powerful monster ally, scaring allied monsters and often destroying opponents and their monsters quickly and brutally. Additionally, she was revealed to be very cruel and sadistic during the battles, often toying viciously with the other monsters before consuming them before combat was over.
After the tense showdown with Amayon and Ysalte, Shi Maria was summoned alongside Alpha Male Carl with Donut's intention to combine the two with a golden combo card to help stave off the packs of demons while the crawlers rescued a trapped Imani and Tran, but Shi Maria immediately killed Alpha Male Carl, causing her to merge directly with Carl. While merged, she gained access to his inventory and abilities, using the toraline root vegetable to create magical tattoo ink and tattoo her 5th eye onto his chest, in an effort to anchor herself to his body. During the process, she also seriously wounded Mongo and Katia Grim after self immolating to break through the floor, and plucked out Li Jun's eye with the tattoo needle after he had jumped down to see if Carl needed any help. Additionally, she also created several high tier health/regeneration potions for those she injured. After her timer ran out and Carl fell unconscious, Donut ripped up her card, leaving Carl's invisible tattoo her only anchor. She had told Carl she would now forever be with him, ensuring their intertwined survival until he brought her where she needed to go.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dinniman, Matt. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Chapter 8)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Dinniman, Matt. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Chapter 25)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Dinniman, Matt. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Chapter 26)
- ↑ Dinniman, Matt. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Chapter 26) (pp. 262-263). Dandy House. Kindle Edition.
- ↑ Hendry, L. (n.d.). What are spiderwebs made of? Natural History Museum.
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