Character Spotlight - Innkeeper Caitir Gaskell

Home: The Wash Territory, Town of Wilfren

Family: Mireielle Gaskell (wife)

Born: 6927 ST, an adult in his 60’s

Appearance: Height 54” | Hair: Grey | Eyes: Green | Notable feature: Round Face

Innkeeper Caitir Gaskell

Innkeeper Caitir Gaskell, the owner of the Crazy Avi Inn has lived in Wilfren all his life. He attended a local home study where he received a classic education. It’s during these early years that he discovered his affinity for cooking. Something about the magic of combining common ingredients and applying heat to make something unbelievably tasty inspired him to go into the hospitality business.

His proclivity to hosting drew him to seek employment at the only inn in Wilfren, the Crazy Avi. Known for clean and affordable rooms and the best bowl of stew in all of South Cenoka, the Crazy Avi inn is more than five hundred years old and built in the architectural style of that time. Each successive floor is seven eighths scale of the one below it. The first floor has two-yard-high ceilings, making the second floor a comfortable 63-inches, and the third floor a cramped 55-inches. The cost of the compact rooms are scaled appropriately reflecting the reduced comfort.

The period from 5000 ST to 6500 ST was known as the Cold Snap, where average temperatures dropped by five degrees, leaving the world summer-less for 1,500 years. The reduced temperatures and resulting lack of sunlight hampered tree growth and crop production. This resulted in a population dip and an architecture style that favored allocating resources where they were needed most; hence the lower ceilings in places where they were least needed. This world event is what influenced the architectural style of the Crazy Avi Inn.

It was while Caitir was learning the ropes of Innkeeping that he met Mireielle, the daughter of Innkeeper Sanford, the owner of the Crazy Avi. The two hit it off and were soon married. Their union was exactly what Innkeeper Sanford had been waiting for to announce his retirement, leaving the Inn to his daughter and her husband. Tragedy struck three years later when Mireielle was killed in the street in front of the Inn be a panicked inu pulled supply cart.

Caitir was devastated and never remarried. His wife was interred at the local cemetery. Her parents joined her there two decades later, a fourth plot is reserved for Caitir for when his time comes.

Caitir keeps a picture of his wife on the wall behind the service counter and uses her as inspiration to continue her family’s tradition of providing clean and affordable rooms and the best stew in South Cenoka to travelers, no matter who they are.

Caitir Gaskell is an Innkeeper and strives to be the best host he can be.

Authors Note: Caitir only appears in one chapter of Embers Burn, he originally had a larger reoccurring role over the course of five years of traveling between Mammatus Study and Brust Valley every summer. There was to be a side story with a haunted Cemetery, which was going to turn out to be an abandoned zombie left behind by Ahndra Milnor. There was to be a whole chapter where Defender Terius stakes out the cemetery as a favor to Caitir where he finds and destroys the broken zombie. The chapters purpose was to introduce the readers to some of the many aspects of the Gift. But, before I reached this point in my story outline, I had decided to stop Embers Burn and write a series of short stories to accomplish the same goal. The short story, Terius covers many aspects of the gift and sets up Embers Burn making the side quest of the haunted cemetery unnecessary and unwritten.

I wish Caitir was the only NPC I dreamed up and didn't share. If I can remember them, I'll drop them in a future Spotlight.