Clerebold Quentin

> *"You are entitled to nothing! Waycrest was built on the spirit of hard work, and it's treasures will not be handed to you!" -- Clerebold Quentin to cloud giant Alta Cirrus*
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**Clerebold Quentin** is a human noble of the Quentin family of Waycrest. He has a strong sense of right and wrong, yet tends to lack the commitment to devote himself consistently to a goal. Usually he is fairly easy to distract and can often lose track of his own train of thought whilst speaking, leading him to draw out his speeches, to the ire of his audience and quiet frustration of his subordinates.

Despite this he was a competent guard captain, albeit much down to his supporting staff making up for his weaknesses in leadership and direction by acting on their own initiative and then crediting Clerebold for the idea once it turns out to be successful. He was honourably discharged from the Waycrest Defence Forces to allow him to explore the rumours of attacks on the Sword Coast by giantkin.

Clerebold will often mistake knowledge gleaned from an expensive education for wisdom in day-to-day life.

Clerebold's brother Neythan Quentin is on the Ruling Council of Waycrest, and before him their father Titus Quentin had been on the Ruling Council until his death in 1487 DR.

## History

### Family history

The Quentins have been of significant influence in Waycrest for the past 120 years. Their lineage traced back through Clerebold's father, Titus Quentin, to his great grandsire who owned the last hill giant mine in the area, before the chattel expired.

The Quentins trace their roots to the very founder of the city, Maygar Wayfinder, to Cressus and Goran, then onto the cadet branch Quellers, known for gaining legitimacy by putting down a brief ogre and hill giant rebellion. Their sigil was two great manacles chained together.

From the Quellers also descend the Drentins who were largely outcasts of society despite their inherited wealth, due to bizarre rumours of researching runes and ways to "introduce the might of giants to small folk." As time wore on and the hill giants unsuccessfully bred, fewer and fewer were used for physical labour until eventually they were kept as status symbol pets to intimidate ones political enemies.

Around 1360 DR the Quellers and the Drentins consolidated their influence, conjoining the houses with the wealth produced from the Quellers mines and the arcane influence of the Drentins in understanding the power of giants' old language. This lead us to the current Quentin family tree.

### Early life

Clerebold was born in 1448 DR and is the middle child of seven. His childhood, in the context of his family's great wealth, was ordinary with a few close friends.

His family paid for the best of educations for Clerebold and although he is not a natural scholar he did take an interest in languages as well as the mystic art of rune magic.

On completion of his studies and before being appointed a Guard Captain within the City Guard, Clerebold had held a few different clerical jobs after his education finished but the people around him didn't allow him to succeed and seemingly everywhere he went everyone was incompetent but him. As such none of those jobs stuck, and it was after an evening of berating a guard for being harsh on a stableboy for not bowing appropriately lowly to a city counsellor (*"you know, if you had been 10 years younger and your dad knew his mum, like, that could have been you right there, son, go easy on your younger self"*) he was told *"you think you could do a better job, be my guest!"* He took this to be a serious suggestion and after a conversation with his dad and a couple of letters coming and going, he was appointed that particular guard's new captain. He surprisingly hasn't been completely awful at this job.

Around the time he became guard captain Clerebold became engaged to an attractive young woman named Joy Hayworth of the Hayworth dynasty, poised to unite two of Waycrest's most eminent families. The engagement lasted almost a year but was broken off by Joy before the marriage took place, with the two ending on unfriendly terms. Shortly afterwards Joy's health deteriorated and although she did not die she never fully recovered from the illness. The split also affected Clerebold deeply and he has avoided romantic relationships ever since.

### Captain of the Watch

An odd trio arrived in Waycrest in 1487 DR, which in itself was not too unheard of given it was during the visit of the Great Trading Turtle, however Clerebold's interest was piqued when rumours that Carolyn Bearskin had requested a secretive audience with them. The following day Clerebold and his loyal pair of guards Jacob Smith and Erik Marsh were dispatched to a disturbance at Josiah Exotic's store in the Waterways District, where they were to find evidence of a bloodbath having recently taken place.

After questioning those present and receiving much conflicting information Clerebold elected to go off in search of a missing boat with Erik and his searches lead him to the sewers beneath the city where he elected to continue alone. In the sewers he encountered Estrid Stormbringer and Grugs, who was carrying the body of Saphara Mystan.

He managed to persuade them to join him on a hunch he had to secretly investigate the Frugal Florist building, directly opposite Josiah Exotic's store, and whilst he and Grugs initially butted heads, they were able to find evidence of criminal activities being carried out under the direction of disgraced bard Pew the Pied. In the ensuing battle Pew the Pied managed to release town prisoners to aid his escape but he was defeated, and Clerebold killed one of the prisoners in the chaos. Despite managing to convince another Guard Captain Destrian Earnst that it was necessary in self-defence, Clerebold then absent-mindedly requested a bound rabid lizardfolk prisoner be moved. The lizardfolk immediately attacked the guard and if not for Clerebold's intervention would have killed him, and was then slain by the party. Destrian's ire was drawn at the amount of unnecessary bloodshed and he left to complain to the City Watch Commander Armand Lochstead.

Clerebold elected to return to the Adventurer's Guild to relax his nerves with a drink and soon overindulged and passed into a deep slumber in his room. During this sleep he was visited by a mysterious woman claiming to be called Katoo who passed on an enigmatic message.

#### Clerebold's dream vision

Clerebold stood at the Guild Quarter watching a boat sail away with a few unusual characters on board. He turns to see Saphara Mystan waving at the boat, before succumbing to a chest injury and falling into the arms of a woman, who looks up to face Clerebold. She introduces herself as Katoo and beseeches him to honour the call to a higher form of justice, going on to tell him of a fearsome trio that have been recruited by Lyrei Ravanelis to lead a force in aid of her quest to obtain the Three Relics of Feohorn. Katoo tells him that the three heads of the organisation must be destroyed one by one to disband the growing Brotherhood of Free Goblins and prevent Lyrei from succeeding.

Katoo tells Clerebold his best chance of success would require him to work with the adventurers he has recently encountered - Grugs, Estrid, and Karo Amakiir - and potentially use Grugs to infiltrate the Brotherhood. She advises that if they can distract the Brotherhood and kill one of the "Three Heads of Cerberus" it may buy enough time for others to find the relics, and instructs him to find them by heading south out of the city to the Boglands.

### Council of Cerberus

Following the death of the prisoners Clerebold was suspended with full pay pending an investigation, and chose to follow the instruction of the vision he had. He encounters Grugs, Estrid, and Karo on the way south and they head to Maygar's Hill to engage the Brotherhood of Free Goblins. At the hill there is a leadership battle which Grugs wins and proclaims himself General of the Brotherhood. Imra attempted to open a strange black box found within the altar of Maygar Wayfinder and was struck unconscious by a tendril, and the Viper hurriedly teleported her away. With Ghazuul and his manticore left without the rest of the Council to assist Clerebold, Estrid, and Karo were able to kill them during a ferocious battle. From Ghazuul's body Clerebold obtained the legendary Sword of Maygar Wayfinder - Jotunsunder.

Days later the remaining two members of the Council of Cerberus would ambush the three of them, this time accompanied by Katoo Gosnyoka and Grimgrim Iron Jaw, in Waycrest. Clerebold and his allies defeated them and once again the Viper teleported away, whilst Imra was captured and arrested by the authorities.

Whilst investigating a problem with undead in Carolyn Bearskin's manor Clerebold uncovered evidence that she was not who she pretended to be, and whilst revealing her duplicity to the rest of the Ruling Council of Waycrest Carolyn transformed into her true state - an oni. In her bid to escape she slaughtered many innocents including Clerebold's father, but she was ultimately slain by Waycrest's protectors. In taking her head Clerebold was able to attune to his legendary blade and unlock its potential for fighting against giants.

There was no time for him to grieve, however, as Waycrest found itself beneath the Skyswept Palace - a cloud giant floating fortress. Along with Grimgrim, Estrid, and Karo, Clerebold headed up into the fortress and defeated the self-proclaimed heir of Knothling's kingdom Alta Cirrus, and brought the castle crashing down into the Shining Sea.

### In search of giantkin

After laying his father to rest Clerebold and the rest of the special envoy were called to meet with Katoo once more and she shared with them reports of further giant attacks up and down the Sword Coast and asked if they would investigate for her. As luck would have it Commander Ingmar Neferen granted Clerebold an honourable discharge to allow him to investigate, and along with Estrid and Grimgrim he teleported to Daggerford to meet their first contact - Delfen Ondabar.

Ondabar directed the party towards the village of Nightstone which was rumoured to have been visited by a flying fortress, and when the party arrived it was bereft of people and occupied by goblins. After defeating the goblins it was explained that the villagers fled Nightstone when assaulted by cloud giants and escaped to the hills where the goblin tribe lived and took them captive.

The party were able to liberate the villagers, but when they returned to the village the drawbridge was raised. After defeating an orc war band the party were able to get the villagers back inside Nightstone under Zhentarim rule. After notifying Delfen of the developments so that the Lords' Alliance could take care of the Zhents, another cloud giant fortress arrived at the village gates and the adventurers ascended the stairs to meet Zephyros, who offered assistance to them.

En route to Goldenfields Zephyros' Tower was visited by a mysterious group claiming to act on behalf of the "Old and Sunken One, Lord of the Deep", seeking to reach an accord. When Zephyros was hesitant and the adventurers became hostile towards the demands, the group were seen off. The following day the tower was attacked by a blue dragon that went by the name "the Doom." He declared that Zephyros should have taken the kraken's deal, and attacked, destroying the flying fortress. The party avoided death from the plummeting Tower by hiding inside a bag of holding during the crashing impact.

## Appearance

Clerebold is a heavy-set white human of average height. His hair is light brown and kept well-trimmed, along with a similarly well-trimmed beard. He wears enchanted smouldering armour taken from the defeated half-dragon Ghazuul, and wields a shield bearing cloud runes and the blade Jotunsunder which carries the fire rune.

## Personality

Clerebold is a good-natured, friendly, and approachable character. He has a strong sense of right and wrong, yet tends to lack the commitment to devote himself consistently to a goal. Usually he is fairly easy to distract and can often lose track of his own train of thought whilst speaking.

## Relationships

He has a good relationship with his family, and although his father would always look out for Clerebold he showed favouritism towards his older sons when it came to passing on the family business. Despite this Clerebold is content, almost to the point of obliviousness, with his lot and the opportunities his family name has brought to him.

Clerebold has formed what he would consider close bonds with his subordinates in the City Watch, notably Jacob Smith. He was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Erik Marsh.

## Abilities

Clerebold's education taught him to speak giant, elvish, and draconic, and he also took a particular interest in the ancient practice of the power of runes. More so than with any other aspect of his life he was able to command a seemingly innate connection to the runes and has since inscribed the cloud rune and the fire rune onto his shield and weapon respectively.

Since awakening this ability he has also found himself able to summon the might of a giant and increase his stature for a limited amount of time as well.

## Goals

### Short term

* Continue his studies into giant-kin
* Investigate rumours of attacks by giant-kin on the Sword Coast
* Inform loved ones of the passing of Nightstone's victims of the cloud giant attack
	+ Markham Southwell, brother of Semile Southwell, Sheriff of Bryn Shander
	+ Alaestra Ulgar, ex-wife of Darthag Ulgar, runs the Triboar Lionshield Coster
	+ Miros Xelbrins, son of the Xelbrins, owns a tavern in Goldenfields

### Long term

* Be elected onto the Ruling Council of Waycrest

### Achieved

* Reveal the secrets of Carolyn Bearskin to Waycrest
* Defeat the Council of Cerberus
* Return villagers of Nightstone to their home