Gavin Carter

Gavin Carter

Gavin Carter was raised in the Honeyvale in Watchtown. Working in the Carter Company, the family carting business, he defended against the legions of Lich Lord Xerun in his youth at the Battle of Aemon's Bridge. Following his return to Honey Crest as a hero, he failed to be selected by the legion due to a poorly written recommendation from Captain Tarim Upsson, and turned to alcoholism to ease his woe.

Campaign Notes

When Geneve ran into town seeking help to save her uncle from the Direbear Bandits, Gavin joined Sorrow, Sherlock Gnomes, and Rokk'Ta in driving the bandits out of Woodbury Farm. Gavin has seen Geneve, the young girl in Honey Crest, grow up since she was young.
He and the party proceeded to clear the Temple of Telia in Honey Crest before heading to Skintooth Swamp to search for the information the bandits were seeking. It was here that Gavin helped defeat the Darkling ailing the lizardfolk and in its lair aided the release of the dao, Malek, before heading to defeat Skintooth, receiving the wight's shadowflame longsword. Returning to Honey Crest, Gavin suffered strong injury in the fight against Malek's earth elemental and returned home alone to rest whilst his fellows headed to dinner with Captain Tarim. During the meal, the Direbears slipped into town and kidnapped Gavin, taking him back to Khaz Ruvak. Reinus took the shadowflame longsword for his own and had Gavin beaten and locked in the dungeon.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Big man, arms and neck as thick as an orc's, but with a belly like a halfling chef. He looks half in the grave, due to his alcoholism.

Facial Features

Unshaven stubble

Apparel & Accessories

Town guard garb

Specialized Equipment

Chainmail, greatsword, handaxes

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Gavin Carter: Hero of Aemon's Bridge. A life, wasted.

An excerpt from the letters of Llenial Farstrider, Bard of the Realm of Ellenial.
I found him in The Cherry Blossom Inn, a beautifully appointed tavern that reeks of rustic charm at the gate of the town of Honey Crest. A creek babbles past the lush tavern garden full of shade trees, and the locals gather after every long day of doing human things to drink and relax and tell tales. Gavin sits there every day, like a dark canker on a root that's too embedded to be removed. The innkeeper is Ashtak Thorodonn, dragonborn son of another of the Heroes, and won't hear a word against his father's old comrade and commander.
Gavin is a strange one. Quiet, with a scowl that could sear a goblin at fifty places, he seemed almost relieved to talk with me once I made it clear I wanted to hear his story. He's a big man, arms and neck as thick as an orc's, but with a belly like a halfling chef. He looks half in the grave, and from the amount of ale he drank in our time together it wasn't hard to see what's killing him. I'll paraphrase what he told me, as my lady's ears would wilt to hear the language he uses.
"I was small when my da started to show me the family business. Carters for seven generations, and proud of it. Twenty wagons and two stable yards; three other families who worked for us; lines of credit with city banks, even. All of us kids were full of pride, when we were big enough to know pride, and wanted to help out. Effie learnt her numbers before she could walk, and was doing the books before she could see over the dining table. Me and Tam and Jack and Wil wanted to be true carters, and as hard in dealings as da, and we pushed each other every damn day to be the best. I was the youngest of us lads, only three winters older than Effie, and was always running after my brothers and Da with my wooden practise sword and begging for another lesson; or playing in the stable with the horses. We were happy.
"Then came the prospectors. First time we'd had humans and gnomes rather than dwarves trying to find gold and ores in the hills, but they had some ideas about folds of rock or something. Bah, it's not important really, but they hired us to move their supplies around the hills and watch their backs for a month. I was fifteen, fresh off my second season running local freight, and begged my Da to let me come along for the grand adventure. The Barrow Hills were far from any major roads, sparsely travelled and wild. I had a real sword by then, and was used to fighting in armour enough to be a help out in the wilderness. I was green as a dryad, though. I guess Da thought he could keep an eye on me better out there.
"The first two weeks were boring, just moving equipment along a ridge of rocky outcrops, patrolling and keeping watch. I kept complaining about the lack of adventure. There were supposed to be beasts and feral magics and treasure. Then they hit the barrow and I got my wish."
Author's note: Gavin couldn't bring himself to tell a coherent story of those five days at Aemon's Bridge, so I collected only what is known and been chronicled from other survivors.
The barrow is presumed to have been a storage and staging facility used by the Lich Lord Xerun over three thousand years ago. Elven records indicate he was active in this region, and turned entire cities into undead thralls for use further south on his unholy crusade into Vizden. The unfortunate prospectors broke into one of the main store halls, tripping ancient wards and awakening thousands of lesser undead. Most of the prospectors were slain in the first few moments, but seven of them and twenty of the Carter company fled with five of the the wagons and all the horses. They were pursued by undead for two days, until the party reached Aemon's Bridge. The bridge spans a deep and very wide crevasse, is a relic from a now dead city and happens to be utterly unbreakable. Obviously made with powerful elven magics, although I haven't had a chance to see it in person yet.
The Carter patriarch, Danyl Carter, realised they were killing their horses and leading unknown numbers of undead towards settled lands. With an amazing sense of duty for a human, he overturned wagons to block the bridge and organised his force of twenty six into a defensive wall atop them. In the hour they had to prepare, he sent his eldest son William and one of the prospectors with the freshest horses to ride hard for assistance. The rest reinforced the barricade and prepared to fend off the dead.
In the first hour, a trickle of lesser undead were repelled without great difficulty, the Carter company were capable guardsmen as well as drivers. However, the undead came on for five entire days. The group slew so many they had to drag the barricade backwards using horses every few hours to stop the pile of corpses from crushing them. In the first day, Danyl was slain and Gavin went from water carrier to senior Carter (there, at least) in one instant.
He stripped the armour from his own father's corpse, stepped into the fray and by all accounts found his crucible. Not even with his full growth, he rallied men three times his age to hold the line against ancient horror. He organised shifts of sleep, had the more skilled craftsmen use the remaining wagons to build a second line barricade, and brought down particularly dangerous undead with his father's enchanted sword.
On the fifth day, the Kingdom of Tychacia's own legion arrived. Their forced march to relieve the Carters would be worthy of a story itself, but they arrived to find seven remaining men holding the very end of the bridge and out of room to retreat. A hour longer and the Honeyvale would have been flooded with corpses. Gavin was still in the thick of the fight when relieved, and had to be restrained to stop him returning to battle. Mages used fire and wind to clear the bridge of huge piles of corpses both mobile and not; the cavalry swept the hills clean of undead back to the barrow once a path was clear for their lances.
Gavin and the survivors were feted. They had saved the Vale from an infestation that would have killed hundreds, if not more, before the legion could arrive. They were heaped with glory, and King Wolfsbane himself hosted a banquet for them. This is the point where Gavin's own words can again be used
"So, I was a bloody hero. I wanted more so I joined the guards, told it was a sure thing that I'd be selected for the legion a day after I was eligible at 21. I wasn't very good at taking orders, but I was a damn good guardsman. Well, I was honest. That filthy gnollspawn Captain Tarim Upsson was as crooked as a witch tree and twice as foul. He sent reports to anyone who could read about how I was 'unfit for command' and 'not of the right character for the honoured legion, despite his previous fame'. He and a few other jealous old bastards poisoned my reputation and I got stuck. Twenty five years in this backwater, looking after these lovely folk who had no bloody need of a guardsman. Then, without even a thank you, I'm let go last year. 'Budget cuts', but you didn't see any captains getting cut, that's for sure... Anyway, I'm here now. The wife left me soon after the job did, the kids are grown and have scattered to the winds. My eldest, Danyl, he's in the legion now and I'm damn proud of him. But me? Well, I had my moment a quarter century ago and it cost me my Da, friends I'd known since birth and my path. I've got ale, I've got this little river, and I've got my thoughts. Maybe Effie will pay me a visit this year, she's up in Larial city running the Duke's accounts."
We spoke further, but to write his words breaks my heart. His brothers and sister seemed to have all tried their best to help him find a life of meaning, as has his wife and children. He seemed to have pushed each away in turn, in a concerted effort to annihilate any tie to this world. He's a man too scared to kill himself, but preparing to die. A man who showed the resolve of a stone giant and the ferocity of a dragon before he was even full grown, but who did nothing with it. I could not bear the waste, the insult to whatever circumstance created this lump of clay and only half formed it. I placed a geas on him. Not to stop drinking, or to fix his life, or to force his personality to change. Magics such as those always backfire as badly as the wishes of fools. I just nudged him to take one opportunity if any come along. A tiny pebble to bump the cart from the track leading over the cliff. It's all I can do in my time here, but I feel the rightness of my actions.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Hero of Aemon's Bridge
Defeater of Skintooth

Failures & Embarrassments

Failure to be selected for the Lefrynian legions

Intellectual Characteristics

His brothers and sister seemed to have all tried their best to help him find a life of meaning, as has his wife and children. He seemed to have pushed each away in turn, in a concerted effort to annihilate any tie to this world. He's a man too scared to kill himself, but preparing to die. A man who showed the resolve of a stone giant and the ferocity of a dragon before he was even full grown, but who did nothing with it.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

One day, my son will look at me with pride
Had a geas placed upon him by Llenial Farstrider to "take one opportunity if any come along"
"Opportunity comes once in a lifetime"

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Battlemaster
Great Weapon FIghter
Trained Carpenter
Proficient in land vehicles

Likes & Dislikes

Likes Honey Rum, the cheapest spirit in the Honeyvale
Hatred for Captain Tarim - wants him dead.
Love for his children.
Speaking on behalf of the citizens, with their best interests at heart.
Fighting corruption.

Vices & Personality flaws

Pessimist
"Seen it all before"
Alcoholic: likes a drink, or ten.

Hygiene

Personally unkempt, but his house is completely clean of alcohol (by principal, Gavin keeps his alcoholism in the tavern and not in his house)

Social

Religious Views

He's a man too scared to kill himself, but preparing to die.

Social Aptitude

Quiet, scowling at all who approach, but keen to share his story to those genuinely interested to listen.
His brothers and sister seemed to have all tried their best to help him find a life of meaning, as has his wife and children. He seemed to have pushed each away in turn, in a concerted effort to annihilate any tie to this world.

Wealth & Financial state

Owns a small house south of the hill in Honey Crest. Ceremonial armour given to him by King Wolfsbane following the Battle of Aemon's Bridge.

"Carters for seven generations. Twenty wagons and two stable yards; three other families who worked for us; lines of credit with city banks, even."

Species

Human

Ethnicity

Lefrynian

Gender

Male

Eyes

Brown, scowling

Hair

Short

Height

6'

Weight

98kg

• Father: Danyl (slain at Aemon's Bridge)
• Brothers: William/Wil (eldest), Jack, Tam
• Sister: Effie (younger, "learnt her numbers before she could walk, and was doing the books before she could see over the dining table... she's up in Larial city running the Duke's accounts.")
• Wife: left after Gavin left the guards
• Son: Danyl (eldest, in the legion)