The son of peasant farmers in the Penca Vale, Perrin grew up knowing he wanted to be something else, never to know the suffering that his parents endured year after year. He could see the burden having to feed him caused, since there never was much to eat, and when he was 10 snuck out one night never to return.
Initially he made his way to Frostford, as it was one of the larger cities in the vicinity, and while he didn’t know what to expect, he figured that was as good a place as any other. However it wasn’t before too long that his fantasy devolved into a stark understanding of reality. With no skills to offer, he had to resort to stealing to survive. He didn’t take pleasure in it, but didn’t want to return home in defeat, and came to terms with having to do it as a necessity.
One day, he was inadvertently careless when trying to smuggle some cakes into his pocket at a local general store. Unbeknownst to him the shopkeeper was in the next aisle over and caught him redhanded. The proprietary immediately began to yell at him for being a thief and was able to grab a hold of one of his arms. Perrin was able to wriggle away, but not before another young man, who had been casing the joint took notice. He ran after Perrin and was able to catch him a few streets over.
He called after “Hold up there flash. You can’t be so sloppy”. Perrin looked him up and down, and seeing that he looked well off retorted “What the hell do you know, it’s not like you have to worry about food”. The boy scoffed “Heh, not too long ago I was just like you, scared and lost. That was until my mentor, showed me a better way”. They continued to chat for a while longer, and eventually the boy was able to convince Perrin to meet him the next day to help him survive. “By the way, my name is Robert, but everyone calls me Crow”.
The next morning Crow brought Perrin to a back alley door. When they entered the building, Perrin was immediately struck by how many young men and women there were reading, doing physical training, and the like. “What is this place?” he inquired. “It’s a sort of school for kids like you and me, but I think Father Mike can explain it further.” Just then a man came over, Perrin noticed he had a kind face, but one that was weathered as if he had lived a tough life and had a deep understanding of the world.
Mike explained to Perrin how he started the school as a way to help young children develop the skills they would need to survive in the all too cruel world. He also explained how this wasn’t a charity, but that Perrin would need to earn his stay. Mike set him up with a bed and some decent clothes. “When you’re settled, why don’t you find Crow and he can give you something to work on”.
Over the coming days Perrin began to understand that the school in reality was teaching them to be proficient criminals. It was up to each of the older children to tutor the younger ones in specific areas, deception, cons, and even martial skills. While Perrin wasn’t enamored with the prospects it was better than starving, and as Father Mike had explained, before too long he would be more than self-sufficient, which Perrin thoroughly longed for.
Through the training, it was clear Perrin had a latent talent for this line of work, and the more he trained the better he became. While he excelled in almost everything, he became particularly enthralled with swordplay, which just so happened to be Crow’s class.
After a few weeks, Crow decided to take Perrin with him on a job to give him some real life practice. As Crow was walking him through what should have been an easy score, a stranger overheard their plans and confronted them. It was only through quick thinking that Perrin was able to come up with a convincing lie to get them out of it. “Oh that’s just my older brother trying to play tricks on me. He’s always thinking he can get me into trouble so Mom will believe he’s the good one”. The man bought it and they quickly moved on and found some easy marks to take down later in the day.
For a while there things were going quite well, and eventually Crow and Perrin broke off on their own. They started being able to pull bigger and bigger cons, and it seemed that there was no end in site to the kinds of jobs they could pull. That was until the day they tried to rip off one of the local warlords. Robert thought it was too risky, but Perrin convinced him they could do it. All they would need to do is lift a key off one of the henchmen, make a copy, and then return later to break into their safe. The first part of the plan went well, but when it came time to return, the intel they had was wrong. Instead of the hideout being deserted they walked right into an ambush. Perrin was able to fight his way out, but Crow was fatally wounded. Unable to return, and now pursued by the warlock’s men, Perrin had no choice but to once again abandon his home and venture forth to a new land. He swore to himself that he would be more cautious in the future and never let anyone get that close to him again.
For the last several years he’s been roaming from town to town, forced to move on whenever things don’t work out. He’s been growing more and more tired of this routine, and feels like maybe he is finally ready to try and find somewhere to belong.
Perrin had most recently heard that the port city of Troutbeck was no longer civil. It wasn’t terribly far — He could easily camp nearby and take an expeditions to see what riches have yet to be plundered. Only slightly south along the coast, just on the edge of the Starleaf Vale. Any moment now, and the road should have an old sign to point the way…
