Nerius Daergal's page

Potion of Cure Light Wounds (2), Potion of Mage Armor, Scroll of Sleep, Scroll of Color Spray, Scroll of Silent Image, Scroll of Ventriliquism (2), Masterwork Fiddle, Spellbook, Entertainer’s Outfit, Spell component pouch, Tanglefoot Bag, Smokesticks (3), Thunderstone, Backpack, Chalk, Silk Rope, Waterskin, Signal Whistle, Signet Ring. 9gp

Nerius is not your typical gnome (if such a thing even exists). He hails from a family known for it's odd scions' even by the standards of gnomes. Some whisper that the family's oddities spring from a close connection to the darker side of the fey, a connection to the Unseelie court and it's queen, the Queen of Air and Darkness. Nerius and his two brothers seem to bring some truth to this rumor. Of the three, Nerius is the oddest. Fascinated by death, he always sought out burial grounds, pyres, and other sites where the veil between the living and the dead were thinnest. Coupled with his fascination with death and the dead came an apptitude for arcane magics. He used the spellbook of his uncle, a retired adventurer and mage, to build his arcane knowledge and slowly became a skilled magician.
Nerius had one other passion though; music and performance. The happiest days for him as a boy where the ones when he learnt to play the fiddle from his father or when old Tervin, a former circus man from Magnimar, would teach him the trade. He studied and learned in the gnome village of Whistledown, growing steadily in arcane power and musical skill, but also in disatysfaction with the quite life he lived. He wanted to travel, to make faces light up with joy at his performances, to explore the world and his arcane talents.
And so he followed the footsteps of his brothers, leaving home as soon as he was able. He joined a carnival where his skill with illusions and flair for performing made him welcome for a brief time. At least until his propensity for bizarre and macabre humor and shows made him unwelcome. He drifted from place to place, performing here and there. He found that unless he restrained himself from the performances that gave him true joy, he was soon driven out of town. Occassionally goblins or such would put of killing him and eating him long enough for him to impress them with his skeletal puppets and eerie tunes.
It was on one of these mad dashes out of town, barely two steps ahead of a violent mob, that he stowed away upon a smuggler's ship bound for Riddleport. What he had hoped would be a short, only mildly unpleasant voyage hiding in a crate took a sharp turn for the worse when slavers attacked, finding the furitive gnome and taking him prisoner. Ever since then, he's been shackled in a hold with a collection of other prisoners, hoping to escape before he's sold to someone who'd have little appreciation for his arts.