Caduceus Clay

## **Appearance**

Caduceus is a firbolg, at least seven feet tall, thinner than is probably healthy, with pale grey fur and his long, flowy mohawk and beard both dyed pink. He favors a mix of pastels and earth tones in his clothes, and when he arrives, he’ll be wearing deep moss green cotton pants and jacket to match, a shirt made of dragonfly silk with one long, flowy sleeve, a big lavender coat with white and crimson embroidery, and black boots. Most of it looks brand new. He will also have his green beetle breastplate and shield, both with pink lichen growing on them. And he carries a knotted wood staff, topped with an amethyst, also bearing pink lichen. The armor, shield, and staff are all somewhat wet and alive looking.

## **Powers**

Caduceus is a cleric of the Wildmother, specifically within the Grave domain. His ability to spellcast is dependent upon his skill level, and whether or not he has access to the necessary components. Spells also require energy to cast. The more powerful or complex a spell is, the more energy it takes. It is possible for Caduceus to tire himself out and not be able to cast anymore spells. He can sense, turn, and even destroy undead creatures, although these abilities also can only be called upon a certain number of times before he must rest to recover them. In dire times, it is also possible for Caduceus to call directly upon the Wildmother for aid, and while there is no guarantee she will grant his request, it is possible.

As a firbolg, Caduceus can communicate to an extent with plants and animals and they can understand him, however he cannot understand them in the same way. He can also become invisible for a few seconds, or cast Detect Magic or Disguise Self, but after casting must rest before using the same ability again.

## **Talents**

Caduceus himself says he is a good gardener, and it is true of souls as well as plants. He is an excellent cook, and brews the best tea around.

## **History**

Caduceus is one of the most recent generation of the Clay family that has tended the Blooming Grove, a graveyard and sanctuary in the Savalirwood dedicated to the Wildmother and the Archeart. As the malignance threatening the Savalirwood began to encroach on the Blooming Grove despite the Clays efforts to hold it back, family members left in ones and twos on a quest to find the source of the forest’s corruption and the means to save their home, following visions given to them by the Wildmother. Finally Caduceus was the only one left. Knowing it was dangerous for one to travel alone through the Savalirwood, he waited for someone to come to the Grove with whom he might travel.

One day, a group of adventurers known as the Mighty Nein came to the Blooming Grove, grieving the death of a friend and looking for help to rescue the rest of their group who had been captured by slavers who had also killed their friend. Caduceus was more accustomed to guiding people through their grief than in vengeance or rescue missions, but he was a little surprised and very relieved when they invited him to come along with them, and threw himself into the newness of such an adventure, taking it as a sign from the Wildmother that it was time for him to follow in his family’s footsteps and leave the Grove, that his fate was entwined with the Mighty Nein’s, and that traveling together they would be able to work toward all their goals. Of course, it helped that another firbolg, Nila, who was traveling with the adventurers at the time, as her mate and son had also been taken by the slavers, promised she and people of her clan would continue to look over the Blooming Grove in his absence.

Caduceus had absolutely no idea how much his life would change when he joined up with the Mighty Nein.

He had heard stories of the wider world, of course, from the people who came to the graveyard, to bury family or friends, or to visit their graves, but such visits had become rare. And stories were, of course, only echoes compared to real life. The Dwendalian Empire, the Menagerie Coast, Xhorhas – places Caduceus could never have imagined seeing, and those he’d never heard of before. And then the experiences themselves: piracy on the Lucidean Ocean, becoming caught in the midst of a war and being part of the impetus for truce, stopping an attempt to release the Unchained Oblivion, fighting a fake god in a volcano… a fake god on an island they only visited so another fake god could disconnect from his followers, or the vision of a floating, living city that still haunts his dreams and that feels connected to their latest adventure.

There were other things along the way he also could not have predicted, though. Traveling with the Mighty Nein to the Cinderrest Sanctum, where he met members of the Dust family, got one step further in his own quest by throwing residuum into the magma of the forge turning it into crystals, and gave what guidance he could as Fjord explored his nascent connection and service to the Wildmother. Or later, making their way to the Menagerie, where he found the rest of his family, who had been petrified by a gorgon when their own journeys had brought them to the oasis. Saving them, and discovering that submerging the crystals in the pool of the Menagerie created the seeds necessary to save the Blooming Grove – Caduceus wasn’t the only one surprised, and while Colton and Calliope both had hoped they would be the one to succeed, in the end what mattered was that their family and their home would be safe.

Various threads of their journeys seemed to be drawing together when Lady Vess DeRogna of the Cerberus Assembly hired the Mighty Nein to accompany her on an exploration to Eiselcross to what were believed to be the ruins of the Age of Arcanum city of Aeor. Their part in the peace negotiations and as well as their actions in Rexxuntrum to defeat Obann and prevent the release of the Unchained Oblivion brought them to the attention of Lady DeRogna. The internal politics of the Assembly, and Caleb’s past connection to Trent Ikithon made them even more appealing and yet expendable companions. The mysterious warning of “the eyes of nine” associated with the flying city. The rest of the Mighty Nein’s deceased friend Mollymauk, apparently alive and traveling toward the same goal.

There were reasons the Mighty Nein had been brought together, and Caduceus with them. He was going to see it through to the end. Maybe even save the world. Or just one soul.

Caduceus watched at Lady Vess performed the motions and incantations necessary for the teleportation spell and felt the world shift. Only to find himself, not on the snowy coast and tiny port of Palebank, their destination, but in a field outside a walled city.