Cleo

About

Cleo is a former archeologist-turned-graverobber. She works with Cinder on his excavation team, deceiving him into thinking she is on the expedition to learn about archaeology—in reality, she is a tomb raider who sells her artifacts to the highest bidder. She has a close partnership with the fences of the Starwood Strand Mafia.

Cleo started out working in archaeology. As an ambitious, young dragon, eager to share her discoveries with the rest of the world, Cleo was horrified to learn early on in her career that due to poor museum management the majority of her finds would land in storage rooms, where they would gather dust instead of being appreciated on display. To remedy this, she started taking items from her digs that she felt would be more appreciated decorating her lair instead of just sitting in storage. Somehow, she stumbled upon a buyer for one of her artifacts, and after receiving the profits she decided to continue stealing artifacts for interested buyers. Over time, she moved on to stealing artifacts without previously-established buyers, hoping to find one after the fact.

Her knowledge of antiquities is incredibly developed, and she has indepth knowledge of what each item is worth on the black market. While she rarely sells to buyers directly, this knowledge ensures that she never gets swindled by a middleman.

During one of her digs, Cleo came across a single decorated canopic jar. Attempting to authenticate that it was indeed a canopic jar, she callously popped the lid off. Exposing the heart inside disturbed the organ’s original owner and the ancient king’s spirit appeared to lambaste and curse the fool who had dared handle his remains. The furious fae discovered immediately, much to his vexation, that he could not interact with the corporeal world, and worse—that the coatl who had disrespected his remains could not understand a word he said, and as a result could not be cursed. Cleo is the only one who can see him; unable to understand the grumpy spirit, Cleo has become exceptionally good at ignoring it and its ministrations.

Several months later, she robbed and abandoned her previous digging team before fleeing to join Cinder’s clan. Together, they traveled into the Plaguelands, searching for an ancient lair under the Scarred Wasteland. When it became apparent that the Wasteland ruins were not the ones they were seeking, they traveled to the Rotrock Rim to continue digging.

The Thistle Clan stumbled upon the excavation team while they were wrapping up an exploration of the Rotrock Rim. Cleo and the team had heard that the Wyrmwound Grottoes were very old, and they hoped to recover some inscriptions and a few artifacts. The Thistle Clan and the excavation team joined forces to continue into the Wyrmwound—it was safer to travel in larger groups, in order to fend off any creatures that might try to attack.

The Battle of the Wyrmwound and Mercury’s coup left Cinder and Cleo as the only members of the original excavation crew to stick around. This has paid off for the pair, as the discoveries they’ve unearthed have been beyond what they could have anticipated. Driven by the idea of even more spectacular treasures awaiting them, Cleo has chosen to stick around a while longer. While she won’t outright admit it, she’s grown oddly fond of both Cinder and her new clan.

While she is a risk-taker, Cleo is incredibly methodical and deliberate. She's both a quick thinker and fast on her feet, something that's gotten her out of numerous close calls over the years.

• With their very opinionated and forceful personalities, Cleo and Lori clash more often than the other members of the clan. Immediately, the two did not get along. A particular point of contention lies in their questionable hobbies. Lori steals to prove she can, and she keeps things without respecting or looking at them after they have been taken. Cleo takes things so that these items can be valued and appreciated by other dragons.