Clay grew up in the feywilds as a fairly shy and even tempered Firbolg, but after witnessing a druid in his forest at a young age casting rituals, Clay became obsessed with learning magic. He hid in the trees watching the woman perform impossible tasks. While he understood he too could do some small bits of magic, he felt like spellcasting was his destiny. He spent years practicing his small magical abilities to turn invisible and cast a couple small spells. But when the big day came to try out for the Wizarding track of the Summer’s Court, Clay was found lacking. He didn’t make the cut, and was left behind while others started their magical journeys.
Devastated, but determined, Clay ended up settling for the Knight track of magic users. While Clay was not a violent, nor terribly aggressive sort of person, he was still so eager to learn what he could. And as it turned out, Clay was much better suited to this style of magic. Clay took to smites like a fish to water, and even though he had never had an aggressive bone in his body up until that point, he was thrilled to see himself excel at something he loved. But there was always that painful regret of not making the cut to be a wizard that still stings him a bit to this day.
Clay soon proved themselves to be a capable and heroic knight, excelling throug his training, and working harder than most of his peers. He soon was the leader of his cohort of training Knights. He was even fast tracked into being a Queen’s guard much younger than most knights are allowed. Clay couldn’t accept quickly enough. As a member of the Queen’s Guard he would become a warlock of the Queen as well as her paladin, her extra magic serving as extra power, protection, and ability out in the field. And upon entering into his Oath, and his Pact, Clay finally got something he had only ever dreamed of: cantrips. While Eldritch Blast and Mind Silver weren’t the ones he would have chosen himself, knowing he had an unlimited number of uses of these spells brought him beaming wondrous joy.
Clay went on to serve as one of the Queen’s Guard for years before being sent out on his first mission with an assigned Wizard named Nix. Nix was everything Clay had once hoped he could himself be one day: a brilliant wizard, with a beautiful book of spells that seemed endless to him. Nix always seemed to know exactly what to do, and Clay was enchanted with Nix’s ability to solve problems and think creatively. This pairing of a Paladin and a Wizard is the standard issue adventuring party that Queen Tatiana likes to send out into the world. Their knights and mages are trained to complement each other’s abilities and to function well together as a team.
Their first mission? Take down a nearby witch in the neighboring land of Prismeer. Everything started when Sir Tavalar, a knightly peer of Clay, was captured by the evil hag.. With some help from some traveling adventures, he was set free and returned to seek aid and help in taking down the evil witch Bavlorna Blightstraw. They took an oath to the Queen to not return until the witch has been exiled from the realm, by any means necessary.
During the ensuing fight, Clay was a bit cocky, and the witch incapacitated Nix because of his arrogance. Before he could revive his friend, Clay was tricked and cursed by the hag to be unable to harm the witch for the rest of his days. BUT! As is the way with these things, there was a way to break the curse: If Clay could find 600,000 gold, the curse would be lifted, and she would leave this realm forever. Bavlorna clearly saw this insane cost as an impossible task. But she underestimated how petty these two were willing to be. Upon hearing of a quick and easy way to earn extra cash if you’re willing to go to “some pretty batshit crazy places…including the future...” Clay and Nix didn’t hesitate. Afterall, after growing up in wonderland, how could the future possibly be so bad?
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