Keelan is a Half-Elf orphan who was brought to the long gone Night Sky orphanage in Riddleport by a travelling band of Starstone Brewers. The exact nature of his origin is unknown to him and not something he has ever paused to give much thought.
The only memory he recalls is watching, with an intense and permanent fascination, one of the travellers playing some manner stringed instrument. Over the following years he would spend much of his free time learning to play a variety of instruments. This allowed him to earn a small amount of coin busking in the harbour or in the many taverns that he would split with his best friend and accomplice in mischief Aleana.
However, Riddleport would provide other opportunities as they grew up. The pair had a strong bent towards adventure and learning and would often spend nights breaking into the libraries’ of the many scholars present in the city. Keelan picked up particular interests in languages, storytelling and anything that detailed mechanical invention, most often of Gnomish origin.
Not all the opportunities the city would provide were so carefree however. Over time Keelan would put his musical gifts and regular residency in the taverns to fence many low key goods. Aleana would solicit business incoming at the docks while Keelan would organise the exchanges, for a small fee of course. A few pilfered sacks of grain here, some dubiously obtained casks of ale there, rarely anything of significance.
This provided a small but steady stream of income and kept them below the radar of the more organised criminal groups. Or so they thought. During one of his regular musical sessions several sizeable thugs burst into the tavern, weapons drawn, and made straight for Keelan. He managed to make a hasty exit and found his way back to the secluded, abandoned building he and Aleana called home.
To his horror upon entering he found that the already run down building had been completely turned over and in the middle of the floor laid the lifeless body of Aleana, a dagger in her chest with a single blood soaked playing card skewered upon the blade. Keelan hastily grabbed what possessions he could and abandoned the city.
He spent the next few years coping with the sorrow while learning to deal both with the confusion over what had occurred and the loss of his dearest friend and lifelong companion. He spent this time travelling from town to city plying his trade as a musician and labourer earning coin until recently arriving in Magnimar. It is time he got his life back on track, if only to honor the memory of his friend, and upon hearing the Pathfinders were recruiting his sense of adventure and love of learning are again piqued.
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