Kellinlii

The Scavenger I may never be forgiven, but I did what I had to. Brightshine Jubilee was uneventful, but Kellinlii remains wary. * Kellinlii is on edge. She's not certain she agrees with the clan-founders' decision to recruit a sandsurge, though she cannot yet name exactly why.

Kellinlii is one of the senior-most members of the clan, having come to Cindercone as a small hatchling. One of the more diplomatic of the clan-leaders, she is always available to lend a sympathetic ear, fluffy shoulder, and good advice. She seems entirely unbothered by typical tundra memory problems, and wise with both Water foresight and seven cycles of life experience. Aside from her leadership duties, Kellinlii is an able scavenger and one of the clan's main trainers for champions and hatchlings. Her caches of supplies—a preparatory habit she shares with Tag and Dessel—have helped the clan out of more than one tight spot in the past. This friendly surface, however, conceals a dark side. Fascinated from an early age with Plague and their attitudes, Kellinlii developed, and still maintains, an identity as a formidable rogue warrior of the Abiding Boneyard. Through sacrifical offerings to Plaguebringer, she secured hauling the clan away to the goddess's grasp for over two cycles—exactly as Elkrekeodh had dreaded but had never suspected from her. As such, she remains in a position of some distrust by the clan's older members. Traditionally, Kellinlii has been close with her fellow emigrants from Driftwood Shore—Spearmint and Imminnyll—with the clan's other tundras, most of whom are related to her in one way or another. Feelings of betrayal are slow to mend with them, and none slower than her daughter Firestone, who has set against forgiving her with snapper bullheadedness. The skittish mirror Hazard, also of Driftwood Shore, remains particularly spooked by her as well. Craft Kellinlii has a fondness for working with bones, and most frequently makes charms out of small skulls, feathers, shells, scales, and bits of hide. These charms often carry minor beneficial enchantments, helping their owner in stealth or to stumble upon useful resources, though she is no great magic-worker. The Speckled Bear Kellinlii's other identity is as the Boneyard Legend called the Speckled Bear, a mysterious bestial tundra undefeated in combat save by some of the other mysterious cryptids of the Wasteland. She issues wordless challenges to travelers, and slays those who accept and the mightiest of the Wasteland's beasts to sacrifice to Plaguebringer. A shrine made of stacked skulls and guarded by a map-winged nocturne attests to this. Physical description Kellinlii is average in size and proportions for a tundra, with a particularly sleek, glossy coat. She has the easy overland gait of someone accustomed to long travel, the strong, flapping flight of a giant death seeker, and a strong ursine swimming stroke. Her voice is rather hoarse and rasping, and she smells of rain and animal fur overlaid with road dust. Combat Kellinlii is a top-tier warrior, powerful even by the clan's standards. Despite her small size, she fights with a fast, strong physical style. She tackles most opponents with a combination of blunt claw-strikes and powerful blows to the back, snapping their head into the ground with stunning force. On very large opponents, she aims repeated, powerful icebreaker-strikes at the base of the skull or other vital areas. She is not shy about biting more intractable opponents, and using a surge of freshwater against molten wartoads and similarly vulnerable foes. Despite her skill, she rarely fights with a group, preferring to trek alone or with trainees into the fens and mires of the Wandering Contagion or other battlegrounds. On occasion, she partners with Hyskerekk, especially when hunting golems.

Origin Kellinlii has been with the clan since its earliest days, a fosterling from Driftwood Shore. She retained a strong relationship with her hatchling clan, and regularly visited them until the Swords War. She has hoped, now that the war is revealed and ended, to return home, but the intervening chaos has prevented such an expedition. Kellinlii set out in secret on her own on an overland journey to the Scarred Wasteland, shortly before the ill-fated attack on Cataclysm. During the last days of the Season of Fire, she succeeded in her first quest— tracking down and killing a particularly nasty and infamous dragon called the Egg-eater. After the battle, she tore off his head, dragged it to the crest of a hill, and set it facing the Wyrmwound. This offering to Plaguebringer was shortly joined by several others. Word began to spread of the Speckled Bear, a Boneyard Legend as fearsome as the Black Mirror, who slaughtered war-toads and even top-level warriors; something that might not be a tundra, or even a dragon at all. Over time, as she fought any who would answer her challenge and skirmished against several other denizens of the Boneyard, she amassed a formidable collection of heads, all arranged into a shrine encircling the Egg-Eater's skull, looking toward the Wyrmwound. During this time, Kellinlii adamantly refused to tell either her home-clan or her hatching-clan that she was alive. Most of the clan assumed she fell in the trials that came afterward, felled by a lightning-strike or crippled and run down, though a few held out hope for several seasons that she might drag herself into Derecho Canyon one day. Kellinlii returned suddenly at the end of the Wavecrest Saturnalia. She has been very quiet about the intervening time, and has not mentioned the fact that she took to the Abiding Boneyard at all, much less her reputation as the Speckled Bear. That the Speckled Bear has vanished is taken as a promising sign by some—that perhaps she challenged someone too strong for her, and was killed or captured. Most, however, see this as only the newest wrinkle of the strange creature's behavior, and are certain it is only a matter of time before she reappears. Few have approached the mysterious shrine, and none have dared disturb it... yet.

Kin Kellinlii is the daughter of Yvelte and Tisrin of Driftwood Shore. Like most tundras, she views other members of the clan as family, and refers to two dragons in particular as her "uncles"—the savage Sig, and the traitor Rennic. As with most people, prior to her move to the Scarred Wasteland, Kellinlii was openly friendly with her kin, though only from a distance with Sig. Privately, she wishes her father were more battle-minded, and views her mother with sadness and pity. She has great respect for Rennic, however, and has drawn some inspiration from him, though she has no intentions of following his example to the point of a suicidal charge. Kellinlii has a twin brother, Allspice, who is a prominent member of Northslope Clan and the father of Moonfire, Sprucetip, Hedysara, and Ranger. Smaller and more heavily-built than Kellinlii, he underwent a mysterious transformation late in the Night of the Nocturne and no longer bears the same patterns she does. They trust each other deeply, and keep well-informed of the other's doings, even during Kellinlii's time away from her own clan. She is also half-sister to Hazard; while they are not close, she has been endeavoring to strengthen their relationship. Of her various other siblings, she has direct knowledge only of Ulaya. She is sad to hear of her death, though not surprised—indeed, it seems strange that no other dragons of her peaceful hatching-clan died if it was truly a war. Kellinlii has had several children. Her oldest daughter, Firestone, remains a member of Derecho Canyon. She has lost contact with most of the others, and maintains only a tenuous relationship with two who went to Northslope clan: Tanbo, a student of necromancy, and Leafblaze, a messenger and scavenger. Firestone and Kellinlii have had an extremely strained relationship; though their arguments are fewer than before, there is still a tension between them. While Firestone is glad to see her mother safe, she is not so certain that Kellinlii's absence was innocuous, while Kellinlii finds it nearly impossible to separate the scent of snapper from her memories of the Egg-Eater.

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Khohuark is Kellinlii's constant shadow, and can usually be seen on her shoulder, somewhere overhead, or on a perch nearby. His cloudy head-eyes retain some faint sight, enough to track movement. He is not large for a death seeker, but his glossy plumage, intelligence, and bond to a powerful warrior dragon give him substantial dominance among his own kind.

A gift from Driftwood Shore, Khohuark has been bonded to Kellinlii since her earliest hatching-days, and possibly is responsible, in part, for her keen memory. Their bond is deep, enhancing Khohuark's intelligence and both of their native foresight, and giving Kellinlii her hoarse, raspy voice. He aids her in battle, providing raking, Shadow-laced claws, a sharp beak, and an aerial view of the battlefield.

Khohuark is capable of speaking Draconic, though rarely in complete sentences, and he and Kellinlii can pass impressions and short sentences across their bond. His words to others are usually cold and mocking, though he has held some companionship with other members and familiars of the clan.

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