Nero Arctis (Blood Crusade Timeline)

*This is a version of Nero Arctis from a timeline outside of the main Final Days of The Fifth Age timeline. For the original Nero, see Nero Arctis*

> I can't decide if it's a blessing or a curse to say goodbye to your friends a second time. Thank you all... and goodbye.
>
> -Nero Arctis' final words

'Punished' Nero Arctis was a dark elf Ranger and a member of the Sanguine Saviors from the future of a different timeline. He was usually an NPC played by Isaac Williams, but was sometimes portrayed by Gage, particularly during his final moments.

'Punished' Nero (henceforth referred to as simply Nero) was a version of Nero Arctis that was seemingly identical to the native timeline's Nero Arctis in most ways. He traveled to the Final Days timeline via some ritual devised by Aspen to warn the Sanguine Saviors of the ruined future. In his timeline, the Blood Crusade came to pass while he and the rest of the Saviors were trapped in the Mountains, turning Vienrim into a dark hellscape with all of the mortal races kept as slaves and cattle by the Sanguisican Vampires.

## Description

### Appearance

Nero possessed pale skin and red eyes, a unique trait of House Arctis drow elves. He had shoulder-length black hair, parted in the middle. He wore common clothes in muted colors beneath his leather armor, which possessed a fine yellowish trim that betrayed his noble origins. He wore a bug-eaten and faded purple cloak that bore the symbol of his house, so washed out that only a trained eye might recognize it. His weapons of choice were a shortsword at each side and a longbow slung over the back. He had a thin and lithe build, standing at a fairly average height of 5'4".

Shortly after Godrun's death, Nero acquired a Cloak of Elvenkind, which took on the appearance and color of its surroundings while the hood was up. In Greysparrow, Nero purchased a set of Bracers of Archery and a pair of Boots of Spider Climbing. These were both made of dark leather with grey trim.

Additionally, 'Punished' Nero possessed Farvun, having taken it from the fallen Hiccup from his timeline. He appeared slightly older than the original Nero, more battle-scarred and weary, with a look in the eye that betrayed the horrors he had seen.

### Personality

'Punished' Nero was very similar to Nero Arctis based on his almost identical history and upbringing, but he was different in a number of ways. He seemed hardened by his time in the Mountains and the Vienrim he had seen post-Blood Crusade. He seemingly cared more about the fate of the world and the greater good than he did about his personal morals. This is exemplified by his gifting of the Blood Gem willingly and freely to Festus Greybraid, whereas the original Nero would have never done so during the time that he was alive. Perhaps 'Punished' Nero believed that the gem was safer in Festus's hands than in Mortimer's or Dromis'. It could also be theorized that Nero was prioritizing the fate of the world during the short time that he had left, leading to his changes in behavior and personality from the original Nero. He had a quiet stoicism about him, having accepted his inevitable death and having already seen all of his friends die before.

## Biography

### Before The Final Days of The Fifth Age

It can be assumed that 'Punished' Nero's activities before the campaign were almost identical to the original Nero's.

### Prologue

It can be assumed that 'Punished' Nero's prologue played out almost identically to the original Nero's.

### The Final Days of The Fifth Age

#### Pre-Introduction

Before 'Punished' Nero was introduced, he spent most of his life in the Blood Crusade timeline. Things in his timeline played out very similarly to the native timeline, with a number of key differences. He did not die during the Tourney of Granite, and he and the party were able to successfully kill Mortimer shortly after the Tourney. When the party ventured to Ash, they never met Orson Chanel. When the party got to Jyyldrasil, Festus was able to receive a vision of some sort of Onyx Crown. Hiccup received a vision that enabled him to build an extremely advanced automaton, so advanced that it could be said to have sentience. Nero received a vision of his sister rebuilding their accursed matriarchy in Felrock. As in the native timeline, Theron was repulsed by the tree and the party was soon set upon by the Order of Eyes. They dealt with the first wave of them, but Grantley was killed in the crossfire.  After this, they started to receive visions from Erven as a loop wyvern about how to get into the Mountains and retrieve a Heart of Glass. They allowed themselves to be captured by Collectors in an aetherwind storm, and found themselves in a horrible labyrinth in the Mountains where the Collectors harvested people and made their experiences and memories into objects called Hearts of Glass.

Nero and the Saviors spent years trapped in the Mountains. During that time, Hiccup died and was turned into a Heart of Glass. Theron fell into a depression, having felt that he led his friends blindly into this plane for nothing, unable to find what he was meant to find, and getting Hiccup killed. Eventually, Xyr was able to learn how to planeshift. When he returned the party to Vienrim, the world had been devastated by the Blood Crusade. Most of the time it was night time, only about 3 hours of a day were daylight. The world had been invaded and utterly destroyed, most people enslaved by Sanguisican Vampires. Theron was killed shortly after returning to Vienrim. They found Aspen, who explained the state of things to them.

While in the Mountains, the party had come upon a group of nomads from an order called the Inkless Scribes, who were seekers of forbidden knowledge. With Aspen's guidance and their help, they resolved to send someone back in time to warn the Savios of what was to come, using a ritual that Aspen knew of. Nero wanted to draw straws to determine who to send back, but the party agreed that it should be Nero. With a grave goodbye, the nomads, the party, and Aspen sacrificed their lives in this ritual. Nero was thrown back in time, to around the time that the original Nero died in the Tourney of Granite.

Now in the Final Days timeline, 'Punished' Nero came into contact with Mortimer, defeated him in single combat, and told him of the vampire menace. It was during this time that Nero also communicated his fake story about being revived by Kerimos to help combat the Sanguisican Vampires. Nero teamed up with Mortimer and Dromis, Nero only doing so because he had seen the apocalypse with his own eyes. After some months of fighting the Sanguisican Vampires in what ways he could, he knew that the date the party would approach Jylldrasil was approaching. He was able to convince Mortimer to come save the Saviors and get them on board with the plan to stop the vampires.

#### Session #42

After the Saviors were set upon by the Order of Eyes at Jylldrasil and they took Mortimer's exit portal, they saw 'Punished' Nero for the first time, waiting for them on Dromis' island.

#### Session #43

Nero's appearance was met by extreme belligerence by Festus in particular. Nero explained to the party how he was alive, using his fake story about being revived by Kerimos to aid against the Sanguisican Vampires. This information was a lot for the party to process, and Festus was still being somewhat hostile, so Nero, Dromis, and Mortimer left the party to talk amongst themselves for the night.

During the night, Nero came to Festus in his room. He gave Festus the Blood Gem as an act of good faith, seemingly genuinely hurt that Festus did not trust him or believe that he was really Nero.

#### Session #44

Immediately after the Saviors slew Armos the Eyedrake as one of their tasks from Dromis in Sorrow, Nero landed on the island via paraglider. He told the party that he wanted to do some explaining, and that he had come there without Dromis and Mortimer's knowledge. He explained to the Saviors that he was indeed not the Nero they once knew, though he was a version of him. Festus's hostility dropped when Nero admitted this, and Festus accepted Nero's further explanation about time travel and the Blood Crusade. In addition to explaining who he was, Nero also passed along an incomprehensible note from future Aspen to current Aspen. It was also revealed that 'Punished' Nero had taken the corpse of original Nero from the party's Colorless Enigma, using his own identical Colorless Enigma. He buried his body on another island in Sorrow, which was later found to be the same island that a Sanguisican Vampire had made its home on, one which the Saviors had been tasked to eliminate by Dromis. Finally, Nero explained that he was suffering from Timesickness, and that he probably had less than a month to live.

During this time, Nero also grew extremely suspicion of Orson Channel and his curiosity about the Inkless Scribes and the Gems of Power.

Nero confirmed during a glider ride that no members of the party from his timeline had sex with each other, to his knowledge.

Nero informed the party that Hiccup's nosebleeds and black-outs were indeed caused by his snorting of the cosmic rock dust, at least in his timeline.

Nero traveled with the Saviors to the island where the next target on Dromis' hit list was, the Sanguisican Vampire. The party discovered that it was in the process of devouring original Nero's corpse, and they quickly dispatched it. After the fight, Nero communicated to Festus what he would like to be done with both of his bodies and possessions when he passes.

#### Session #45

Nero wrote an addendum on Festus's letter to Aspen which explained the situation better, and sent it through the Enigma. Hiccup also made a drawing of the party that had an arrow pointing at Nero which said "alive," and an arrow pointing to Erven that said "dead."

Nero assisted in fighting off some of the giant spiders that were approaching Festus and Orson on the floor of Sorrow after Festus pushed Orson off the island.

#### Session #46

Nero assisted the party in defeating the last creature on Dromis' hit list, the Pale Beholder.

Dromis released Nero from his obligations so that he could spend his final days with his friends. It seems that Dromis was more insightful than the party realized about Nero's story and condition.

#### Session #47

During the party's journey by boat from Jyldrassil Isle to Openbrooke, Festus spoke with Nero about what his own alternate timeline self was like. Festus had trouble believing that a version of himself would act so heroic, and Nero told him that none of them really viewed themselves as heroes, they were simply doing what they thought was right. Nero told Festus that although he had accepted his death, he was still scared of it. Festus comforted him, saying that he believed they might meet again, perhaps on the other side.

Over the course of the 25 day journey, Nero's Timesickness caused his body to deteriorate rapidly. Festus acted as his primary full-time caretaker during this time. Towards the end, Nero could not even walk on his own, so he leaned on Festus in order to stand on deck and enjoy the sunlight and the breeze.

On the 6th of Entropy, Nero had Festus call the party down to his hammock below decks. He gave his final words and advice to each of the Saviors in turn, before having Festus uncork a vial of greysnow that he had been keeping in his bag. Timewalker Nero drank the poison and passed away peacefully in his hammock, surrounded by his friends, holding the hands of Hiccup and Festus.

## Relationships

### Festus

'Punished' Nero and Festus did not get along at first, primarily because Festus believed the supposed resurrection of his friend to be a trick of Mortimer's making. Nero was very hurt to have his greatest friend treat him this way, and attempted to patch things up by gifting Festus the Blood Gem, knowing how important it was to him. Festus was immediately enraptured with the gem and thanked Nero, but it was unclear to what extent this changed Festus's mind about the "resurrected" Nero. Once the truth was revealed about Nero's alternate timeline origins, Festus began to treat him like his old friend once again.

Despite the fact that neither of them were truly the friend that they once knew, their bond had not lessened. During Nero's final days, Festus acted as his caretaker and they shared deep conversations during the voyage to Openbrooke, but oftentimes just sat in silence and enjoyed each other's company.

In Nero's final words to Festus, he told him that he was his first and greatest friend and that he had faith in him. Notably, Nero's final words to Festus were far more brief than with other members of the party, but perhaps he believed that his meaning would come through in the way he looked at him and held his hand. Festus was also the only member of the party that Nero told that he loved. Festus said that he loved him too.

## Character Information

* 'Punished' Nero was a 12th level Gloomstalker Ranger.
* His dexterity score was 22, thanks to a Manual of Quickness of Action.

## Quotations

* "quote 1"
* "quote 2

## Trivia

* Gage was almost utterly convinced that 'Punished' Nero was not the real Nero, prior to learning about the time traveling.
* During Nero's death, Gage incorrectly recalled his backstory. Nero stated that he was trying to impress his sisters when he berated the old slave in the courtyard as a child, when in fact it was his mother who he was trying to impress. However, one could chalk this up to a minor difference in timelines, or Nero's mind fading as a symptom of his time sickness.