Clock Zoo

Clock Zoo has been hiding his identity for so long he has to some extent become a cipher even to himself. He used to be neutral evil, but that was long ago, and he has mellowed considerably with age. Still, the most important thing to him, and this is developed almost to a psychotic degree, is preserving the secret of his true appearance, true name, true voice, and true identity (which would be completely unremarkable to most people anyway, should they ever manage to pierce his disguise). He has killed to keep his secrets.

Clock Zoo assembled this party, and he wishes above all else to preserve it and enhance its reputation in legend. (The desire for anonymity and the desire for fame exist in a kind of dialectical opposition in Clock Zoo’s psyche.) There may be several members who are more or less expendable to him, and they should be willing to take one for the team, as it were, should they be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice. Needless to say, the one team member who is absolutely not expandable is Clock Zoo himself. A worst-case scenario might have him teleporting away at the last moment and reforming the party later—but that’s a worst-case scenario; he would gladly risk his life if the party has a good chance of winning.

He doesn’t trust Bobby one little bit, but thinks she’s too great an asset to the team to get rid of. He knows she has spells he’s never even seen or heard of, but her spell book is a complete mystery to him, written in a strange fashion he cannot decipher. Xiphoid Mary he knows would probably side with Bobby if she had to choose, but he’s not too worried about Mary: her fanaticism makes her predictable and easy to manipulate.

Montpar and Morning Star are a little too unpredictable, and a little too curious; one of them may well try to snatch his mask off as a prankish dido one day, and, although he has protections against such an exigency, he’d still rather not have it come to that. Konnack is a little too independent, often preferring to make his own plans rather than listen to Clock Zoo’s; nevertheless, he has to admit that Konnack’s plans are usually good ones, and the guy is so witty and good-natured that it’s hard not to like him.

Dust he respects as a good and loyal soldier, albeit not the brightest, which is why he argued that she should take the magical jacinth she currently wears. But his primary loyalty is to Asuidal Asuidal, with whom he has been adventuring the longest. He knows that she is a Halfling who always takes the form of an elf, and he knows that many in the party do not know this. It’s possible that she saw his face in the throne room of Pirinim (certainly Galamar did, but he’s too stupid to count); Clock Zoo has worried a lot about this.

He knows Konnack owns a Book of Infinite Spells, but he does not know where it’s hidden.