Nathaniel Gainsby

Official character art from Avian Cali

**Nathaniel Gainsby** is a character in Belkinus Necro Hunt played by Davvy Chappy.

When he was leader of the Witchtakers, Nathaniel wore an all-yellow outfit including a pointed hat. This unique look made it so that he was almost impossible to recognize in any less conspicuous clothing. Nathaniel's appearance and nickname are the inspiration behind Davvy Chappy's weekly banana facts. When Nathaniel's protégé Renee Badeaux took over the Witchtakers, she wore a similar outfit, but dyed purple.

## Youth

Nathaniel grew up homeless, scavenging food from carts and carriages to survive. He was eventually found by a wealthy private investigator and taken in as his son. Nathaniel's adopted father gave him an education and trained him to be an investigator.

When he was young, Nathaniel accompanied his father on a case in which a man's head had been bashed in, exposing the brain. This normally traumatizing experience had a different effect on Nathaniel, kickstarting his love of puzzles and the mind.

At one point, another man became infatuated with Nathaniel. However, when the two went on a case together, he was put off by Nathaniel's indifference towards the sight of a grisly murder. The budding relationship ended there, and that was as close as Nathaniel has come to pursuing or wanting romance.

## Fraudulent cases

Nathaniel grew up and become an investigator. On one of his murder cases he was unable to get an honest conviction, either because the judge was crooked or he simply could not amass the evidence. Nathaniel used his enchantment magic to manipulate the suspect into murdering the judge that threw out the case. Nathaniel then proved that murder and had the killer arrested.

Nathaniel's father became aware of this misuse of enchantment, and whether cover his own tracks or to prevent his father from going too far, Nathaniel enchanted his father into claiming to be a necromancer. His father was convicted. Nathaniel claims not to regret his decision, only "that it had to be done”, but he repeatedly expresses remorse while by himself.

Though Nathaniel tried to keep these cases a secret, some of his enemies knew his history. Kara and Chandrelle Miharian both raised it in arguments with him, and a record of the cases was include in Pierce Bloodstride's dossier on Nathaniel.

## With the Witchtakers

After the arrest, Nathaniel took over his father's organization of thief takers. People began calling Nathaniel the "Witchtaker," a play on his father's job title, and Nathaniel eventually applied the name to the organization. Under Nathaniel's leadership the Witchtakers surreptitiously offered criminals, especially necromancers, a chance to protect society rather than going to prison.

Chandrelle Miharian has thanked Nathaniel for his work exposing corrupt business heads in Belkinus Proper. Renee Badeaux was also a longtime member of the Witchtakers when Belkinus Necro Hunt began.

## After the Witchtakers

Following the death of Chandrelle Miharian, Nathaniel advocated for Lancel Gainsby to take over the Royal Guard. He also wrote down the events of the party's journey to Cloveway and back, sending a copy to Rahir in Chester City for safekeeping. With these acts complete, he attempted to return to Verteheim to study the dead world.

## Relationships

### Lancel

Lancel is Nathaniel's adopted dragonborn son. Nathaniel is shown to be quite protective of Lancel, to the point that he doesn't let Renee or his party know about their familial connection out of fear his enemies would hurt Lancel.

While Nathaniel and Lancel's relationship was initially tense, Nathaniel softened, finally hugging his son after Thorne's attack outside Rugawood. He felt so vulnerable he had to concoct a story about traditional yuan-ti eating children who misbehaved.

### Renee Badeaux

Renee Badeaux and Nathaniel have a long standing partnership and a deep friendship. After the death of Chandrelle Miharian, Nathaniel left Renee in charge of the Witchtakers.

When asked if Nathaniel had ever used enchantment to manipulate Renee, he replied that he "never had to."

### Rahir

Rahir is Nathaniel's trusted hobgoblin informant Chester City.

### Kara Miharian

When the two travelled together, Kara was vocal about her moral opposition to Nathaniel's use of enchantment magic. She went so far as to call him a monster who has "no problem stealing time from the living." Kara knows enough information about Nathaniel's father to distrust him.

### Nathaniel's father

In private moments, Nathaniel has spoken out loud to his father, wishing they could have understood each other better. Upon learning of Nathaniel’s misuse of enchantment magic, his father tried to divert his attention towards alternative schools like conjuration, but was unsuccessful.

## Religion

Nathaniel has described himself as an atheist, who chooses not to worship any of the gods in the Lustrous Expanse. This conviction is deep enough that he even refused to be marked by Stinko in the Redhorn ritual.

Perhaps as a result of his atheism, Nathaniel has been vocal about fearing death much more than his religious companions like Enoch Solamen and Luna Icewind. When he was grievously wounded in the final fight against Chandrelle, he elected to flee the fight and leave the rest of the party to finish her off.

## Abilities

### Yuan-ti Pureblood Features

* Darkvision (60 ft)
* Magic Resistance
* Poison Immunity
* Innate Spellcasting:
	+ Poison Spray cantrip
	+ Animal Friendship (unlimited; only on snakes)
	+ Suggestion (1/long rest)

### Bard Features

* Bardic Inspiration (d6)
* Song of Rest (d6)
* Jack of All Trades

### College of Glamour Features

* Mantle of Inspiration
* Enthralling Performance
* Mantle of Majesty

## Bard Spells

When Nathaniel took the Fey Touched feat, DM Joseph "JoCat" Catanello let Davvy Chappy choose the *mind sliver* cantrip. Normally, the feat allows a character to cast a 1st level divination or enchantment spell along with *misty step*.

### Cantrips

* *Encode Thoughts\**
* *Mind Sliver*\*
* *Vicious Mockery*

### 1st level

* *Dissonant Whispers*
* *Sleep*
* *Tasha's Hideous Laughter*

### 2nd level

* *Misty Step*\*
* *Zone of Truth*

### 3rd level

* *Enemies Abound*
* *Suggestion*

## Trivia

* As stated in Wystle While You Work's July 31st 2021 stream ":Draw w/ Wystle: Lets draw Echo Dad #necrohunt Feat. Necrohunt crew," Nathaniel has an 8 in Constitution and will never have its value increased.
* Also during Wystle's stream, Davvy alludes to having 17 HP at level 4.
* Davvy brought up during the session 2 break that his inspiration for Nathaniel comes from a variety of sources, including Jonathan Wild - the Thief-Taker General of London, Javert from Les Miserables, and Light and L from Death Note.
* Davvy on a QRT of a piece of artwork from Twitter: "Also, fun fact: Cali was the one who made his hair long. Initially, I intended to keep it short so that it wouldn’t get in his eyes, but she decided to just fold the excess hair behind his hat instead, since he didn’t seem like the kind of person to get many haircuts."
* Nathaniel's *Misty Step* always leaves his hat behind.