Name: Clip
Species: Kenku
First appears in episode 2 of Waterdeep Mallrats: Blackstar Lane.
Born into the family flock of the so called “Blackleather Barkers” Clip never quite understood the particulars of life. The Barkers are ironically renowned for being sneaky and clever thieves but Clip was always more distracted by his longing (and inability) to fly. This spurred on a solo mission from Clip to find ‘a cure’ which resulted in him mimicking his Father to a group of Orcs and accidentally giving away vital information.
Clip’s faux pas caused a nest being destroyed and after being exiled from the flock for his foolish mistake he travelled far to find somewhere safe.
He realised on this journey that in order to keep safe, he should steer clear of any creatures with voices so he grew to love animals as they could not possibly get him into trouble.
“No words… no problems. Safe.”
Eventually he followed the sounds of neighs and hooves and cheering as the 39th Waterdeep Races were taking place. He watched Clop, a huge bulbous shire horse, become champion beating all others despite his size. So strong and fast that Clip felt the horse was almost flying without wings and filled with curiosity followed Clop back to the stables behind Yolo’s Brewhouse.
Yolo upon finding this strange dark feathered Kenku nestled in amongst the hay saw the opportunity to employ a stable boy for a very minimum price. Clip, happy to have a place to stay with only animals for company agreed.
He has resided in the stables on Blackstar Lane for years now. The streets are too busy for him so tends to live in isolation apart from one night every two weeks when “Le Chat Maison” holds their open mic night. Clip sneaks in through the back to watch the bards and actors perform with a rope tied tightly around his beak preventing him from interrupting the show with his mimics which inevitably gets him thrown out onto the street. Every other Tuesday night you can hear the hummed echo of performances coming from the hay bales of the stables.