Clock

Clock

Wildemount

Full Name:	Ticking Clock
Race:	Tabaxi
Pronouns:	She/Her
Age:	25
Height:	5'10"
Hair:	leopard fur
Eyes:	light grey-blue
Nationality:	Tal'Doreian (Rifenmist Peninsula)
Affiliations:	Band of the Sea Dragon Twisting Forest Clan
Languages Spoken:	Common (fluent) Elvish (fluent) Gnomish (poorly)

Ticking Clock is a tabaxi artificer and member of the Band of the Sea Dragon.

Personality

Clock can be described as a "free spirit" above all else, going where the wind takes her and enjoying the ride along the way. She is highly curious and has an insatiable thirst for knowledge, which to her is just as valuable, if not more so, than any currency. Coincidentally she has a sharp mind and a keen eye for detail, making her more than suitable as an artificer. Not much seems to bother her, and she is not afraid to admit her faults. As a result however, she often comes across as a bit too aloof. Overall, she does not have a hard time making friends, but her love life tends to be a struggle either because of her race or her impairment (people tend to get weirded out when they see her real legs). This has not yet stopped her from trying to woo every pretty Elven woman she comes across who shows her the slightest bit of friendliness. She also managed to develop a penchant for booze during her time in Syngorn and may or may not be a full-blown alcoholic. Her Common and Elvish are heavily accented, further illustrating her exotic background (the player uses a French accent when talking as Clock).

Appearance

Clock is a 5'10" female tabaxi with an orange-tan leopard-spotted coat and a lithe, agile frame. Her eyes are a sharp greyish-blue and her disarming smile is adorned with a small ruby gem embedded in her left fang. Both of her rounded ears are lined with a smattering of silver hoops and gemstone earrings of various colors, and when not in her armor she wears silver bangles on her arms and wrists. Her prosthetic legs are made of armor-grade steel, and consist of different flexible panels as well as constantly-moving gears and pistons that are partially exposed. The legs attach securely at her hips by sets of panels that can be retracted in order for her to take them off and allow for her real legs to breathe. Her armor is custom-tailored to compliment her legs and fits her like a second skin. She also typically wears her normal clothes over top of her armor, which consist of a flowy neutral-colored tunic and matching shorts. Her brewers' supplies and other tools can be seen strapped to a thick utility belt she wears across her hips, as well as on a harness that criss-crosses her chest.

History

Before the Game

Ticking Clock was born in the small tabaxi settlement known as the Twisting Forest Clan, located in the jungles of the Rifenmist Peninsula in Tal'Dorei. The clan has lived in this area for multiple generations now, as its location means it is outside of the reach of the ruling body in Tal'Dorei, allowing for the apolitical tabaxi to mind their own. Clock's mother, named Unread Book due to her mysterious and inscrutable nature, set out for Wildemount as part of her Sending. This tradition of the Twisting Forest Clan involves its adolescents, once they turn eighteen, setting out into the world on their own for multiple years before finally returning in their thirties. Whilst in the Dwendalian Empire, Book learned the trade of the artificer, paying particular interest to armory; she spent much of her time making a handsome living crafting custom armor for prolific adventurers and high-ranking members of the military. When Book returned to her clan in her early thirties, she paired with her childhood sweetheart Call of a Bird and they eventually had a child.

Much to Bird's shock and horror, the child was born with a deformity that crippled and stunted the growth of both of her legs, making it impossible for her to walk on her own. In his devastation he named his daughter Twisted Bramble in reference to the way that her limbs twisted and curled in on themselves unnaturally. Bird never liked to stay in one place for too long, and in the end he couldn't handle seeing his only child struggle, so he left the Twisting Forest never to return.

Unlike her partner, Unread Book refused to give up on her daughter so easily, and immediately put her artificer training to work. On her daughter's fifth birthday, Book presented her both with a set of arcane mechanical legs fit perfectly to her, and a new name: Ticking Clock (referencing the way the turning gears of her legs sounded much like a clock when listening closely to them). Not only did these contraptions move and perform exactly like normal tabaxi legs, but they were enchanted so that they somehow grew as Clock did. Clock was very close with her mother all throughout her childhood and adolescence, and Book, seeing her daughter's potential, began to teach her the ways of the artificer.

By the time Clock turned eighteen and was ready for her Sending, she decided that she would follow in her mother's footsteps and travel first through Tal'Dorei then on to Wildemount, making it a goal of hers to seek out the ones who trained Book in the ways of the artificer. She spent much of her early twenties traveling all throughout Tal'Dorei, but spent the most of her time in the Elven city of Syngorn. There she befriended a middle-aged half-elf brewmaster named Wilword Brevin, who took her on as a brew-making apprentice. Despite her bizarre appearance, she managed to make herself at home amongst the elves, mostly by plying them with stellar alcohol and interesting conversation about her culture and her travels. Before she knew it, she had spent four years in Syngorn, and realized that it was far past time for her to move on. After an emotional good-bye with her mentor (who she considered at that point to be the father she never really had), she made her way north through Emon, Westruun, and finally Whitestone, which would be her final destination before crossing the border to Wildemount.

After landing on the shores of the Doralle River, Clock found herself wandering through the Doralle Woods and eventually stumbled upon the Ruins of Sepesca. A friendly stranger doing research at the site noticed her fascination with the ruins and tipped her onto an even greater site, the infamous Aeor crash site deep in the mountains of Eiselcross. The stranger drew a map for her of the best route to Icehaven, where she could most likely find a ship captain who would be wiling to take her there. Clock made her way through the Cyrios Mountains and Zemni Fields to arrive at the small fishing town, where after some persuasion of the alcoholic variety, one of the townsfolk tipped her off to a woman by the name of Captain Brooke, who was skilled enough to travel the Frigid Depths to Eiselcross.

The Journey to Eiselcross

The rest of the original party first met Clock on Captain Brooke's ship while it was stopped at Palebank Village. After an awkward introduction, the group found out that they were heading to the same place, albeit for different reasons, and Clock readily offered her assistance in finding a cure for the strange sickness infecting Palebank Village.

Trivia

Clock is one of only two active player characters to be the first (and only) character played by their player in the campaign, with Robyn being the other, though Robyn still holds the distinction of being the only active player character to be in the campaign, due to Clock's player joining the campaign at a later session.