The House of Gryffoncrest was once a prosporous and noble Waterdhavian family owning a significant amount of land on the southeast of the Ardeep Forest. Politics and a series of merchantile problems eventually forced Kells grandfather to sell off most of thier holdings and retreat to a small estate on the remaining parcel of land, less than a fifth of what they once owned. Embittered by the experience, Gerlast Gryffoncrest drank most of the remaining monies away, until he was deep in debt. When Gerlast beat his wife to death and slit his throat with a razor, his young son Milrun was forced into indentured servitude for a local mining magnate named Balabar Smenk.
Milrun worked hard, always hoping one day to save up enough of his pittance of a wage to buy his freedom and escape Daggerford with Rixa, a barmaid who was the object of his affection. The mining life was not easy, but Milrun finally managed to save enough to marry Rixa. Kells was born not long thereafter.
Kells grew up in the mining huts, never realizing the destitute nature of his existance. He learned to lift and swing his fathers hammer, smashing rocks...the life he didn't fully understand he was to be bound to. Swinging a the hammer developed the boy into a strong adolecent, and the rough and tumble nature of the mining town gave him ample opportunities to develop basic fighting skills.
About the time he was eight, Kells father ran affoul of one of Smenk's thugs. The man forced himself on Rixa one night and Milrun interviened, throwing Smenk's man out of the tavern. The next day, on his way out of the mine, Smenk's men beat Milrun within an inch of his life and left him laying on a truck of slag. He was carried home by some of his fellow miners and suffered through four days of delerium before he was well enough to stand, more than a week before he could return to work. The whole time, the family fell deeper into debt to Smenk.
Kells chaffed against the tyrrany of Smenk over the miners and indulged in little acts of rebellion any time he could. Eventually, Kells could see his defiance would only bring more harm to his family and stole away in the night, determined to win his place in the world and come back and make a better life for the miners suffering under the fist of the fat profiteer. His parents passed away not long after he left, his father in a mine collapse and his mother to despair.
During his travels, he met a Priest of Bahamut and found solace in her teachings, the desire to protect those less well off, good people like the miners of Daggerford who were being repressed so cruelly. He knew what his life's calling now was. He could break the bonds of tyrany and give the workers the freedom all men deserved.
Kells, using the false family name 'HearthFlame', has recently returned to Daggerford posing as a entreapaneaur interested in buying into some mines. He hopes to figure out which mine owners are upstanding, threating their workers well and with respect and which are corrupt and work to suppress their workers. Smenk is his main target.
