Clootie McToot

Clootie McToot (a.k.a. Cloots)

Physical Description

Body Features

Pale skin, red hair. Slim, short, scrappy. Unnaturally sharp elbows. For someone so small, she somehow seems lanky.

Facial Features

Freckles. Green eyes. Untidy, wispy red hair. (Obviously cuts it herself)

Physical quirks

Bad posture, tends to hunch. Gangly looking although small.

Special abilities

Being terrible, but adorably so, at most things. Loves history and stories, may forget what she had for breakfast but generally good at remembering stories.
Her ability to find everything cute.

Apparel & Accessories

Clootie makes her own clothes, so most are usually a mash up of any materials she finds.

Specialized Equipment

Kulog - Dwarven Hammer. Clootie’s Shoulder and Knee Pads (Leather Studded, commissioned in Neverwinter) Homemade One-Gnome-Band-Suit.

Mental characteristics

Education

College of Lore.
Rahkeen Arena (The Sand Pits)

Accomplishments & Achievements

Knighted in Neverwinter. (She’s a big damn hero)

Failures & Embarrassments

Getting duped by a goblin.

Mental Trauma

Abandonment issues. Having never really been close to anyone, or having any strong relationships in her life she is constantly looking for someone/something to love and love her back. Thus she tries too hard, or puts her trust into those not deserving of it. She’s also emotionally fragile, getting very happy and exited at any sign of friendship or kindness, and crushed if rejected or betrayed.

Intellectual Characteristics

Is extremely talented (in the minds of McToot’s) at playing any musical instrument she picks up. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, a McToots idea of classical music sounds like a cats wailing to other races.

Morality & Philosophy

Sees the good in everyone, to her downfall. Wants to be everyone’s friend but with her lack of social skills, usually sends everyone running in the opposite direction.
Doesn’t like, or will tolerate evil, or mean people. Unless it’s one of her close friends, she would probably make excuses for them.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Always wanted to go on an adventure and make lifelong friends along the way.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Try as she might she is usually inept at most things but that doesn’t stop her from trying.
As she loves stories and lore, she tend to have a good memory for details and notices small things. Although she can never remember names, or where she put that darn thing she just had....

Likes & Dislikes

Likes: Ghouls.
Dislikes: People’s Knees.

Virtues & Personality perks

Kind, tries her best with everyone/everything. Very defencive of people she cares about. Quick to defend anyone who she feels needs it, even if they don’t want it.

Vices & Personality flaws

Very emotional, wears her heart on her sleeve. Too trusting. Doesn’t think things through, reacts emotionally.

Social

Religious Views

Hasn’t got a strong view on religion, her own belief when it comes to Gods is that there are many out there who can be called into life should you pray to them.
For example, when trying to open the kitchen drawer with no luck, Clootie would say a quick prayer to the Goddess Anoia, Goddess of things that get stuck in drawers, to dislodge the pesky potato masher.

Social Aptitude

Has none.

Mannerisms

Speaks quickly, asks lots of questions.

Hobbies & Pets

Hobbies: Magnets.
Pets: Jinx.

Speech

Strong McToot (Scottish) accent.

Wealth & Financial state

Clootie doesn’t really care for money or expensive things. She loves homemade, crafted things.
Generally leaves any money dealings to other members of her group, as I doubt she could be trusted not to mess it up. She don’t do math.

Clootie is a rare type of forest gnome, part of the infamous McToot clan. Using her bard & wrestling skills to travel across the world, she is looking for adventure & people who she can call family.

View Character Profile

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Lady Clootie McToot of Neverwinter.

Birthplace

Duergar Mountains

Children

Gender

Female

Eyes

Large, Green.

Hair

Short, Red.

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale, with freckles.

Height

2’2

Weight

22lbs

Known Languages

Common. Gnomish. McToot.

I’m On My Way.

At the age of 20, while wandering the local woods, Clootie spotted a McToot clan who were passing by her village. Using her unique ability of trying-to-be-seen-but-somehow-blends-into-the-background, she managed to join the clan for a short time without being noticed. Overhearing a story about a stolen Golden Kazoo, she took it upon herself to go in search of it and return it to the clan. Hoping that this would be her purpose in life and a way of being accepted by her birth clan (also being a McToot, she couldn’t resist the urge to say ‘Git it up ye!’ if successful), she returned to the village to say goodbye to her kind forest gnome keepers and set off on her adventure. The gnomes of her village wished her well, although confused by this story about a kazoo and wondering who the heck would put Clootie in charge of anything. They gifted her a small branch from the main tree in the village. She was so touched by this moment of kindness, that she cried for 5 minutes straight and reconsidered going on this adventure. Fearing she wouldn’t leave they helped pack the rest of her belongings and walked her to the edge of the forest, waving her off. Since leaving the village, all Clootie related incidents and mishaps went down 100%. Leaving home, and having no idea what she was going, she first found herself in Rakheen. An ancient human settlement, Rakheen is the only city of the old empires to survive the Sundering intact, making it the oldest inhabited settlement in the world. In addition to manufacture of fine textiles and trade with the Dwarven Mountainhomes beyond the Duergar Mountains, Rakheen is famous for its gladiatorial arena - The Sand Pits. Here Clootie spent time learning and honing her craft as a wrestler. She was often sent to fight in warm up comedy matches to entertain and amuse the audience before the true bloody spectacle began, but Clootie was naturally oblivious to this and to this day thinks she fought for her life every night - "It's real tae me dammit!!" Unfortunately for Clootie once again she struggled to form any relationships while at the pits. Most people didn’t tend to take her seriously at first glance. Most of the world had never seen a McToot, never mind their unique style of fighting. She couldn’t find a place with the warm up guys, or the main event ones. Clootie had heard about backstage politics in wrestling but living it was another thing. Perhaps this wasn’t the place for her either. After the end of her contract, aged 30, Clootie decided to embrace her new found freedom, and became a bard (Gonnagle to Clootie). Mixing her wrestling and gonnagle skills, travelling from tavern to tavern, she is a meddler in all instruments, but a master of none. Along they way she crafted herself a one gnome band suit, feeling that why play one instrument badly when you could play 5 badly all at the same time. She acquired management, curtesy of a fellow traveller, Ramas Nailo, completely unaware of his shady nature. So far in Clootie’s life he has been the closest thing to a friend she has ever had, although his main interest in her is using her as a distraction to steal coin while she is performing. Most of the world, having never seen a gonnagle before, where completely transfixed when Clootie performed. Never had they seen someone play bagpipes and a kazoo at the same time, all the while super kicking the air. Somehow all that combined became something so awfully good that crowds couldn’t look away, often leaving the tavern wondering what the hell it was they had witnessed and why did their coin purse feel so light? For some reason, Ramas never wanted to stay in the same area for long and they soon found themselves in a tavern in Phandalin where something was about to happen that would take their lives in a different direction.

I’m A Believer.

Haggis and Neeps McToot were blessed with a daughter, who would one day become a Kelda and lead her own clan. The problem with that was their daughter was Clootie. She was soft, a strange thing for a McToot, and easily distracted. She was also quiet (for a McToot), and had an amazing ability to disappear in a crowd full of McToot’s, sometimes even while being talked too, without even trying. It was obvious she would never be a Kelda. As a female, she couldn’t be a warrior or a gonnagle and she wasn’t good enough at any of the skills needed to become a Kelda. She never felt like she had a place in the clan. Despite this she still dreamed of one day becoming a hero, doing good in the world and fighting like her brothers. All she could do was watch. Thankfully, for the clan, when Clootie was 6 years old another female was born and would eventually take her place. This meant that Clootie was left alone more, the clan having no idea what to do with this strange McToot. From a young age she loved stories and was often found pestering the clan gonnagle, desperate to disappear into different worlds of heroes and villains. She would sneak off by herself, having collected any of the bigjobs books she could find and would spend her days living through stories. At 12 years old she was left outside a forest gnome village. Unfortunately, Clootie would never be one of them, but they did not hate the child. The clan hopped she would find a place with other gnomes, perhaps she would make a good jewellery maker or whatever it is those normal gnomes do. She was taken in by the village, wary of having a McToot but felt for the child. As she grew, despite her kind heart and good nature she never really fit in well with the other gnomes in the village. Try as she might, her general McTootness kept her alienated from the other gnomes. She found happiness once again in her imagination and dreams of one day performing her unique art in-front of large crowds. . As she grew, she couldn’t help but feel jealous watching the gnome families. Although McToots don’t have the usual family type of relationships, like mother/sister/brother etc, she couldn’t help but feel she was missing something in her life. The clan as a whole was a family, she just was never apart of it. Now she was here and still in the same position. She was no ones family and although welcoming, most gnomes seemed to always want rid of her. Gently pushing her to go else where when trying to help. She always got the feeling they wanted her out the way. Left to her own devices, she continued to practice her own wrestling moves (a unique style of fighting. A mix of McToot scraping and some gonnagle charisma) in-front of any crowd she could find. Most of those crowds were cows who Clootie was supposed to be watching, though they didn’t give much of a reaction when she practiced her elbow drops on hay or was trash talking to a garden fork. Wrestling was her happy place and one day she knew it would be her chance at a better life.

Bad Reputation.

To know Clootie, first you need to know the McToots. The clan McToot were unique when comparing them to other gnomes. According to their own history, the McToot’s rebelled against the wicked rule of the (or possibly "a") Queen of the Gnomes, and were therefore exiled from settling with other gnome folk. According to everyone else, they were kicked out for causing fights and being drunk at two in the afternoon. Therefor they never settled into their own village and after many years began to break off into small McToot clans, preferring to travel through the Duergar Mountains and forests. McToot’s spend their time drinking, fighting and stealing, alone or in various combinations. The immense strength and rowdiness of these gnomes means that they will fight anything, and they have a particular fondness for head-butting creatures far larger than themselves. In a good fight, a McToot will take on all comers, including his fellow McToot’s (or, in their absence, themselves), with such enthusiasm that makes missing someone hazardous ("Crivens! I kicked meself in ma ain heid!"). They take pride in being able to get into, or out of, anywhere (although getting out of pubs presents something of a difficulty). Despite their usual policy of non-contact with bigjobs (humans, or anyone bigger than them), the rare McToot has been known to hire out their services. McToot’s are pale skinned compared to their Forest Gnome brothers. When a McToot reaches adulthood their skin appears blue because it is heavily tattooed and covered with woad. All McToot’s have red hair. Their speech can only be described as some sort of variation on the Scots. They are notably strong and resilient, which comes in handy given that (almost all) male McToot’s tend to be notoriously rowdy as a lifestyle. McToot’s tend to have human names, usually abbreviated and with some sort of modifier (Rob Anybody, Daft Wullie, Big Aggie, Wee Jock), though their respect for inheriting and repeating famous names limits them a bit (No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock). The males of the clan are warriors, hunters and foragers; McToot foraging consists of taking anything that is not nailed down (if it is nailed down, they will prise it loose and take the nails as well), up to and including quite large cows if enough foragers can be gathered to do the lifting. Fighting is likewise a group effort of the clan. When encountering a foe much larger than themselves, (which is most anything the McToot’s pick a fight with,) the clan will stack themselves up like a pyramid, until the top one is high enough to punch the enemy or, preferably, head-butt them. Once an enemy is brought to the ground, the entire clan will spring into action, attacking the foe as a single, united force. Despite carrying swords that are nearly as large as they themselves, generally their preferred weapons are the boot and the head; this results in most McToot’s noses being broken. Among the warriors of each clan is a gonnagle; a bard or war-poet, whose job is to create terrible poetry that is recited during battles to demoralise the enemy. A well-trained gonnagle can even make the enemy's ears explode and is usually equipped with bagpipes. A legend in McToot history, the gonnagle, Awf'lly Wee Billy Bigchin, could play the bagpipes so sadly that it will start to rain outside. A gonnagle tends to be somewhat more intelligent and level-headed than most other male McToot’s, and often acts as an advisor to the Big Man. McToot’s have a fear of the written word so rely on their gonnagle to keep their history. Despite their criminal tendencies, the McToot’s do possess a sense of honour. They see no sport in fighting the weak. They may take one cow from a man with a herd of fifty; however, they will not steal an old woman's only pig, or an old man's only pair of false teeth. As a rule, the McToot’s will never steal from the truly poor. The McToot’s possess a eusocial culture similar to bees, termites and other social insects. The clan is made up of hundreds of brothers, and one mother, called a Kelda. When a Clan's Kelda dies, another is imported from a different clan. The new Kelda chooses her husband, known as the Big Man, from among her adopted Clan when she arrives, and soon begins the lifelong task of begetting the next generation. Depending on how long the Kelda has been Kelda, the majority of the tribe will either be her brothers-in-law (i.e., the sons of the previous Kelda) or her sons. Daughters are very rare and, on coming of age, leave to become kelda of another tribe, taking some brothers, probably including a gonnagle with her. Essentially, the role of the Kelda is to do the thinking. The Big Man is responsible for commanding his fellow McToot’s and trying to maintain some semblance of order, but in truth the Kelda decides what will be done and the Big Man works out the fine (for a McToot’s plans) details—although no Big Man would go on a serious expedition and not bring along the clan gonnagle, (who tend to be much brighter than the other male McToot’s and have a fund of lore, stories, and ideas they can draw upon.) Into this world, a Miss Clootie McToot was born...

Story Outlines