Colton Aumont

### Features

- Missing his eyes, blindfold covering the sockets- Capable of sight in absolute darkness

- Capable of vision without turning head

- Vulnerable to 'Dispel Magic' which causes him to temporarily loose sight.

- Mostly colour blind.

Colton Aumont is a human ranger and member of The Companions. He is the firstborn son of the wealthy House Aumont in Bowerstone, Colton was robbed of his wealth and status when he was blinded by a mysterious magician. After regaining his sight from a dying ranger that had too fallen prey to the magician's tricks, Colton took up his bow and swore to seek out the magician and exact his revenge.

## Backstory

In his youth, Colton Aumont relished in the lap of luxury as a spoilt and arrogant child. Raised as the firstborn of the noble House Aumont, a family that had held considerable political influence in Bowerstone and the Kingdom of Maribor for generations, Colton spent his time roaming around the streets, showing off in the town square and spitting in the faces of the poor. Colton’s actions brought disgrace to the House of Aumont and enmity from the people of the city.

However, Colton was no fool. His privileged upbringing naturally brought with it a higher education, with tutors from across the Kingdom schooling him in history and languages. As well as being academically clever, his wealth allowed him to be trained in the in the arts of war and martial combat, becoming especially proficient with the bow. Colton often bragged about his superior archer’s vision as one of his greatest strengths.

On a fateful day, a small magician clad in black had appeared in Bowerstone and set up a game in one corner of the town square. Cocky and curious, Colton had approached him and challenged him to a bet, saying;

“I’ll play your game, peasant. If I win, you’ll be bound as my servant for the rest of your life. My wishes will be your command. However, if in the infinitesimally chance that I happen to lose, my possessions, position and power are all yours to keep.”

The magician agreed with a silent nod. Sitting down, Colton glared at a small blue gemstone on the table as the magician covered it with an upturned wooden bowl. Two other identical upturned bowls were placed on either side of it. Slowly, the magician picked up his staff and magically rearranged the bowls. With time, the bowls rearranged faster and faster to the point where the bowls were moving in a confusing frenzy. Suddenly, they stopped.

“Guess.”, the magician said.

Confident with his archer’s eyesight, Colton grinned and indicated to the right-most bowl, glaring at the hooded magician expectantly. Through the dark shadows cast by the magician’s cowl, Colton thought he saw a slight grin flash across the magicians face. Without warning, an explosion of bright light and colours seemingly bursted from below the magician's cowl; this was the last thing Colton remembered before, nothing.

After a period of time, Colton regained consciousness to feel a searing, unbearable pain in his eyes. Discovering his once keen vision, and his eyes themselves, had been taken by the magician in the explosion, Colton was rendered helpless and cried out in pain for help. The people of Bowerstone, unsympathetic to his plight and bitter from years of humiliation and mistreatment, saw an opportunity for revenge and retribution. The bystanders turned on him, beating him senseless before tying him up and throwing him out of the city.

For five years, Colton lived as a blind beggar outside the gates of Bowerstone, tormented by his thoughts as he anxiously wondered what became of his family, home, and the evil magician. The people of the city treated him as he had treated them, jeering at him, spitting, throwing rocks. The Aumont family was devastated by the disappearance of their heir, believing him to have been kidnapped or murdered- they were unaware he was sitting on their doorstep, practically unrecognisable from years of living in filth.

After what seemed to be half a dozen of years of living as a beggar, a man appeared. As Colton was sitting near the Water Gate, his hearing alerted him to the presence of a man, gasping for breath as if he were dying. The man blundered towards him, and Colton felt his rough and strangely weak hands grab his shoulders. Falling down besides Colton, the man struggled for breath but managed to spit:

“You’re a victim of that blasted magician - your blindfold, it says it all. I too have fell prey to his tricks - I am dying for my own stupidity. Take my gear and use it - I have no use for it now. Find him, and take your revenge.”

With a final effort, the man put a hand on Colton’s head and muttered a incomprehensible string of words. When he had finished, the man collapsed beside him and lay still. Suddenly, the darkness to which Colton had grown accustomed to burst into a spectrum of blue light and flames, quickly arranging themselves to form very familiar shapes: the outline of trees, the grass, village buildings, people. Shocked, he realised he could see; yet he had no eyes. Without turning his head, Colton could visualise the objects all around himself, but without any colour other than blue. He ‘looked’ at the stranger lying besides him; a great longbow and quiver strung around the back, a green cowled cloak, a belt of two shortswords. Colton realised this man was a ranger. There in the mud and filth of the road, Colton swore an oath to avenge the unknown ranger, promising to stop the magician by any means necessary. After digging a shallow grave underneath an ash tree and engraving a cross into its bark, Colton took the mysterious ranger’s equipment and clothing before burying him.

Without looking back at the mound or the gates of Bowerstone, Colton set forth leaving his old life behind, seeking revenge against the magician and swearing never to return to Bowerstone until the magician had been killed.