Gavin d'Bourgemont's page

Once it was clear that the barmaid Moira hadn’t made it out of the burning tavern, Gavin, never being one to think before he acted, rushed back into The Copper Cup. All around him were flames, smoke and searing heat, and the young Chel could feel the hairs on his arms singe and burn off as he passed the bar, which was steadily aflame. Behind the bar sat the copper cup itself, a bent and dented thing, passed down through four generations, polished from the handling of so many supplicants over the years. Its place of honor was high up, on a shelf near the ceiling – the ceiling which was now roiling with flame. Not now boy, there’s a young woman upstairs who needs your help. Shaking his head, the young Chelish man turned his attention to the stairs. If he was correct, Moira was still in the room she rented from Gavin’s father, up those stairs and down the hall to the left.

Eyes watering from the billowing smoke, Gavin took a breath and charged down the hall, laying his shoulder forcefully into the door near its hinges, and, by the starstone’s light, it worked! Gavin felt the door give way from its frame and then splinter inward, and Gavin tumbled into the barmaid’s room, something he had often had daydreams of, under different circumstances.

Moira was alive, barely conscious and slouched in the corner of her room, and Gavin scooped her up and together they stumbled down the stairs and into the main room of the tavern. ”Can you make it out the door to my father?” Gavin asked, and when she nodded yes he grudgingly let her go and turned his attention to the copper cup. It glinted in the firelight through the smoke, as if a beacon on a far shore. Grabbing a bar stool and dragging it behind the bar, Gavin stood on it and then reached up towards the cup, his sleeve catching fire, and his hand burning and blackening. Screaming in pain, he grabbed the cup, and was surprised to find it cool to the touch, and then the bar stool turned and Gavin lost his balance and twisting, the young man crashed into the back bar and went down hard onto the floor, cracking his head on the concrete and losing consciousness.
It must have only been a second, but when he woke the flames around him were doused. Somehow, when he crashed into the back bar, the growlers stored there came tumbling down, smashing on the floor and covering Gavin with ale, and other bottles had tipped over, their caps mysteriously loosened, and doused his body. Grabbing the copper cup, Gavin ran from the burning tavern.
Outside, a mob had formed, some of which no doubt was pleased to see the rumored Caydenite temple up in flames. One man, a jeweler named Pilk from across the street, advanced towards Gavin’s mother and father and Moira, a rake in his hand. Pilk scowled and raised the rake above his head, ready to bring it down on Gavin’s father, when Gavin rushed forward and bashed the jeweler across the head with the copper cup, drawing a gout of blood as Pilk collapsed at Gavin’s feet. Turning to the crowd, seething with rage and fear, Gavin raised his voice above the din of the fire and the crowd. ”You think you can burn a holy site of Cayden Cailean and there won’t be consequences! I beat Pilk down and I’ll beat any others who come close! Go home! Forget about this night, and you’ll live to see the morning! Go! Now!”
The crowd, shockingly, listened, pale and angry faces retreating into the darkness as the tavern burned itself out behind Gavin. Collapsing onto the cobblestone road, Gavin felt his father’s reassuring hand on his shoulder. Without turning to face him, Gavin said, ”father, I can’t believe they listened to me. I thought for sure that mob would string us all up.”
”I don’t think they understood a word you spoke,” Gavin’s father said, his hand still resting on his son’s shoulder. ”By the starstone I swear, you were speaking in tounges!”
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Gavin d’Bourgemont was always a bright child, but he rarely was able to commit to much. The boy’s attention would wander easily, and whenever faced with a decision, he often took the path that would cause the most trouble. Gavin’s father, a priest of Cayden Cailean, had high hopes his son would follow in his footsteps, leading the city’s secret services in the family tavern’s basement. However, it became apparent to Gavin’s father early on that Gavin had neither the common sense nor the compassion to be a good priest – let alone the inclination; Gavin showed little interest in the teachings of his Caydenite father.

As his parents owned a well-patronized tavern in Westcrown, Gavin was afforded the best education, attending the city’s most exclusive secondary school. And after he was expelled from that school for brewing dandelion wine with the alchemy supplies, Gavin was sent to Westcrown’s strictest boarding school, where he barely managed to graduate. Gavin next attended Westcrown’s war college, graduating without distinction.
Instead of the priesthood or the military, Gavin worked for his parents at The Copper Cup, brewing the tavern’s house-made beers and resigning himself to the idea of taking over the family business one day. Gavin would let the Caydenites meet in the basement as they had his whole life, lifting the copper cup in blessing to Cayden Cailean, and things would continue on as they had for a fifth generation. Or so Gavin thought until the night of the arson, when someone, possibly the jeweler Pilk, tied the tavern's doors shut and incited a mob of Asmodeans to arson.
Now, Gavin’s world is turned upside down. Strange words and prayers leap into the young man's mind, often in a lilting, beatific language, which Gavin somehow understands. The family fled Westcown the night of the arson, and with their knowledge of brewing, fermenting, and the hospitality business, were able to secure passage to an new life in the Andoran colony of Talmandor’s Bounty.

Despite the dour turn in Gavin’s life recently, the young man is generally an upbeat person, easy in his body and at ease with others, as one that has had an (until recently) easy life is likely to be. He can be quite charming, is quick to smile, has a kind disposition and is happiest in a tavern or party. Gavin has shown a disturbing lack of common sense in his life and is impulsive, often making a spur of the moment decisions that come back to haunt him. When angered, he is especially impulsive, and is prone to act to resolve a problem as quickly as possible, without taking into account the consequences. His recent travails have made him much more aware of the plight of those less fortunate, and he is making an effort to have a positive impact on those around him, especially those in need.