Philo

**Philo** used to be a soldier for the Roman Empire. When Aulus Plautius went to visit the Druids, Philo was sent with him as a bodyguard, alongside Decimus. When Aulus didn't return to Philo and Decimus, the pair camped overnight and ran into Divis. Divis tricked them into falling asleep and stole a rabbit they were cooking and Philo's coin. Upon waking, Philo and Decimus took Divis prisoner, but he once again tricked them with the use of Big Pebble. Divis killed Decimus and sent Philo in back to the Roman camp with his head in order to help Cait rescue her father, Sawyer. Philo was taken captive by the Romans, still in Divis' trance, and ordered to be watched by Brutus, who was suspected of treason and mutiny. When Brutus had to flee, he took Philo with him and deserted the Roman army. They sheltered in Locerly Cross, the burned village of Cait and Sawyer, razed shortly after the Roman invasion. During his time there, Philo remained catatonic from being tricked by Divis and Big Pebble, while Brutus became obsessed with a witch doctor's stash.

Philo eventually started to come out of his catatonia, only being able to repeat the word "such" over and over, to Brutus' dismay. Brutus shared some of what he found in the witch doctor's stash with Philo, which fully took him out of his catatonic trance. They continued to remain intoxicated on the witch doctor's stash for four moons, during which time Philo began to question if the Gods are real or if it was all just bollocks, as each day the Romans say a prayer to Pino - the Roman God of the boot - so their boots don't fall off, but other cultures such as the Egyptians never say a prayer to Pino and their boots don't fall off.

Philo and Brutus were attacked in Locerly Cross by Ashur Ram and his brother Aziz Ram, who restrained and tortured them both for information on Cait. Brutus told them that long ago they saw a blind man and a girl, but he could not remember how long ago because they experienced time differently while intoxicated. They were saved when Hella burst in and shot Ashur and Aziz with her new crossbow.

Over the next two years, Brutus and Philo remained together and continued to get high on whatever they could find. They were looking for the Tears of Gods; rings magical fruit on which they could get intoxicated when Brutus nearly drowned in a deep dark river and the pair were almost attacked by a wild bear. Just as Philo was about to give up the search in some woods, Brutus spotted a patch of mushrooms. After leaving the woods, they stumble upon a Roman camp. They both climbed a tree to observe the camp and began to form a plan. They reminisce about their time serving in the legion and decided they should "wake up" their former comrades. They snuck in to the Roman camp and drugged their water supply, causing almost the entire camp to devolve into into delirium and chaos. The camp remained intoxicated until nightfall, at which point Brutus and Philo showed their faces. They ran into Vitus, who recognised Brutus from somewhere. Brutus confessed to abandoning the army while Vitus was tortured by the Cantii. Meanwhile, some inebriated Romans let some captured prisoners out of their cage, who were then ambushed by Ania, Brearn, and the followers of Harka. The next morning, Brutus and Philo left the camp, feeling pleased with themselves and thinking they had done the right thing. Soon after, the rest of the camp was attacked and massacred by the followers of Harka. Vitus, still high, was captured.