Kellen and his brothers, Loric and Dennec, were never honest workers; choosing to rob and cheat their way through daily life, but they never stooped to the point of bloodshed. The nature of their way of living made it hard to stay in one place for a long time, so for the majority of their lives they would go from town to town and bleed it for gold and valuables until things were too heated with the city guard and they'd move on. However, things changed significantly when Loric fell in love with a fellow thief in the town of _____, Horace Lithay.
Kellen didn't trust nor like Horace but his trust and love for his brother won out and eventually the brothers settled in a small cottage on the outskirts of ____ with Horace. Despite Kellen's mistrust and caution with Horace, things were very good for a while... until Kellen noticed Loric was changing. He was more aggressive, brash, and almost angrier. Concerned for his brother, Kellen followed Loric and Horace out one night on what seemed like a standard job; one person distracts the cart driver and the others quitely pocket whatever they can out of the back and then send them on their way. Kellen and his brothers had pulled this same thing hundreds of times over the years. Only this time... Horace and Loric put bolts in the chests of everyone on board and took everything from the cart, then burned it and took off. That was never the way they did things, and it was never meant to be the way. They were thieves and robbers but not murderers. Angry, Kellen confronts his brother and Horace when they get back to the cottage. Loric denies the murders, but Horace immediately defends them; "Witnesses means guards means getting caught means prison.". Kellen argued back and the two argued for the better part of an hour before Loric dragged Horace away and locked them both away for the night.
Things were tense over the next few weeks, Kellen nursing spikes of anxiety every time Loric and Horace left the cottage together. One night, however, Horace approaches Kellen with information. A shipment of expensive gems being delivered to a shop that all four of them knew was easy to get into and get out of without being spotted. Kellen, Horace, Loric, and two of Horace's friends to slip in, secure the gems, and slip out. No weapons, no bloodshed, no problems. Kellen agrees, pushing that there was to be no bloodshed.
When the night came to pull off the heist, tensions were high, but Kellen was confident. He picked the lock on the front door of the shop with no problem. Horace was already inside, rifling through a trunk under the shopkeeper's countertop, but there was no sign of the two other men he'd mentioned. It didn't matter; they were inside and the haul was as good as theirs. Horace motioned silently that the shipment of gems was in the attic, and together they crept upstairs and into the attic. There it was, a large crate set apart from everything else in the attic. Antsy to get a look at what they'd be getting; Kellen quickly opened the crate and peered inside to find... nothing. Suddenly everything made sense, and he felt his heart jump into his throat just in time to feel a sharp pain in the back of his head and then...darkness.
He awoke and immediately felt the warm and wet of blood soaking the hair on the back of his head and he could see light coming into the attic from downstairs. When he crept down to see what it was, he could see Horace setting fire to the shop. Seeing an opportunity to get the jump on him, Kellen charged from the stairs toward Horace only for he himself to be caught unawares by a masked man Kellen could only assume was an associate of Horace's. A blackjack struck him in the chest and caused him to fall to his knees, gripping his chest as the pain of a broken rib shot through his body. Horace, now aware of Kellen's presence, grinned as he struck Kellen across the head with his steel toed boot. The two took turns punching and kicking and otherwise brutalizing Kellen as the fire began to grow out of control.