Nicholas Hawthorne

**Nicholas Hawthorne** is the son of Shawn Hawthorne and was turned into a vampire by Strahd von Zarovich.

## Biographical Information

### Relatives

Shawn Hawthorne (Father)Julius Hawthorne (Half-Brother)

Ichika Eto (Mother)

## Appearance

He is exactly as tall as Shawn Hawthorne but is more athletic, has blonde hair and blue eyes. He is also half Shou and half Barovian.

## Backstory

Nicholas was born in Shou Lung after Shawn Hawthorne fell in love with a local woman named Ichika Eto. But after finding out she was pregnant, Shawn left, terrified of the new responsibility he had never asked for. Growing up without a father, Nicholas resented Shawn despite his mother's attachment to him. His hatred of Shawn peaked when Ichika Eto died of sickness because they couldn't afford medicine. Nicholas set out to kill his father as revenge and travels to Barovia after Ana tells him that Shawn travelled there to kill Strahd.

After arriving at the castle gate and going inside, he sees Shawn and engages in combat with him. Nicholas tells him that Ichika died because he wasn't around to help. This heavily affects Shawn's ability to fight and even though Shawn could easily beat Nicholas, he couldn't bring himself to shoot Nicholas. After hesitating heavily, Strahd appears and kills Shawn with Chain Lightning after he became extremely weakened from the fight. Nicholas carries Shawn away from Strahd and lays him outside the castle. Hiding from Strahd and about to die, Shawn hands him the sunblade and amulet and tells Nicholas to finish off Strahd. Nicholas berates him for everything he did, even though deep down he still loved him. Shawn told him that when he was younger he was a coward and that he would be disappointed at Nicholas if he ever forgave him for leaving. Shawn also said that he doesn't blame Nicholas's reaction because he acted out of anger. He said that the true measure of a man is as follows:

> "Even when darkness comes and envelops everything in sight. When nothing seems to matter anymore. When men think they are reduced to nothing. That's when people reveal who they truly are."
>
>

Moved by this, Nicholas makes his choice and enters the castle to face Strahd. After being bit during the battle, Nicholas gains vampiric abilities and kills Strahd with his newfound powers. Nicholas uses the sunblade from Shawn to finish off Strahd. Nicholas notices that all his powers and urges that came from his vampirism were gone, making him semi-cured. After this event, he was mentally torn apart and resented himself, attempting suicide multiple times. But an older Ana comforts him and helps him make peace with himself.

Julius, after hearing of Shawn's demise finds the sword wounds on his body, as well as discovering that his coat is missing. Enraged, he begins his own quest to find out the identity of his father's killer. After tracking down and identifying Nicholas as the killer, they fight nearly to the death, but a mysterious power awakens in Nicholas at the end of the fight. According to onlookers, Julius was beaten by an invisible being of some sort. Refusing to kill Julius, Nicholas runs away, but Julius was still hell-bent on revenge and continues to track him, to no avail.

## Weapons

* **Throwing Knife -**While working for a blacksmith, he made 5 throwing knives for his own personal use. Mostly decorative.

## Abilities and Powers

* **Stand Proud Focus**- Stand Users live for combat in all forms. They have trained their minds as well as bodies to focus in the heat of battle. At 2nd level they gain advantage against Charm, Frighten, and Paralysis saving throws.

## Waterdeep Dragon Heist

Nicholas finds himself in a tavern with four other adventurers, Perseus, Delmar, Zeht , and Merek. After dealing with a troll that attacks the tavern, they are approached by Volvo to find his friend Folom. After travelling the city for leads, they head to the sewers to find Folom. They encounter goblins, a mind flayer, and Folom. After finding out the reason Folom was kidnapped (The captors confused Renaer with Folom) the wizard holding him captive kills themself.

After this debacle, the party are gifted Trollskull Manor, which they turn into a successful tavern. However, Nicholas pulls a scam with Zeht and Merek to pretend to do a job for a shopkeep. This fails, so Nicholas just straight up robs him. At this point Nicholas's alignment is being called into question.

## Trivia

* He loves big anime tiddies.
* Sometimes speaks Shou, but only in battle and only to say certain phrases.
* MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA