Tilia’s Field Notes: Travis

Among our odd little party, Travis and I are the most obviously unlike the others in appearances. He is a particularly interesting creature, a mysteriously animated man made of wooden elements, none of which are still living but somehow together make a sentient person. He’s a machine of some sort, but obviously much more complex than any others I’ve ever encountered, and imbued with a liveliness that seems no different from the rest of us. As we’ve seen several times over, he can be injured much like the rest of us, but does not shed blood.

Travis is made of mixed woods; it was hard to sketch his portrait because the detail is seemingly endless when one looks closely. He is carved with smooth, elegant lines, parts of him highly polished, like with an oil-rubbed finish. There is a compartment in his chest where glowing crystals reside, and he believes they are his power source — unlike the rest of us, he does not require food and water, because these crystals provide the energy to sustain him.

Travis is a cleric dedicated to Ioun and a teacher of some sort, examining the world much as I do, though with a focus on other things — history, religion, astronomy and such. He has no memory of his own past beyond the last 50 years, but our recent exploits have revealed him to be much older, an ancient creation of the presumably elven masters of the strange underworld from which we recently fled. He is unexpectedly friendly, almost naive, in the way he interacts with those we meet. This has occasionally led to conflict and injury when the parties in question harbored some kind of enmity.

Despite a tendency to get us into a bit of trouble and talk over our heads, Travis is an excellent spellcaster, and has healed all of us at some point. He offers shelter for the group when we are in The Glade, and regularly shares the provisions that he doesn’t himself need. His odd habits and interests aside, Travis is a generous soul and a good companion on these wild adventures.