When their traveling troupe of performers was accused of thievery in a rural town, Reed’s parents and a few other non-humans from the troupe were left behind to bear the consequences. Reed became “apprentice” to another performer, the knife-thrower Kitzler, though all he ever taught his ward was how to move through the crowd and cut purses — that and all the slurs for “elf”. Eventually, Reed was caught and Kitzler refused to pay for his release. Reed wept, feeling alone in the world — orphaned, abandoned, despised. They were the last tears he would ever shed.
A corrupt guardsman sold the boy to a gang of thieves. The “work” suited him, but he felt little love for the other members of the gang, humans and bigots all. They never gave him an equal cut, nor let him move up in their ranks, and they called him “knife-ear” behind his back. Eventually, Reed had enough. He told the authorities about a major heist the gang was planning. The soldiers ambushed the thieves and, during the chaos, Reed managed to make off with a small fortune.
Months later, a tavernkeeper he owed offered to wipe his debt if Reed would kill the man’s rival. Thereafter, he made his way as an assassin, even joining the Crimson Vipers, though he refused to kill other elves. He made his own list of targets — people, like Kitzler, who liked to make trouble for non-humans. Reed pursued his vengeance a little too successfully, though, and ended up with a bounty on his head.
Evading pursuit, he ran into a group of Void Hunters battling Void. Reed helped them and, when his pursuers caught up, the Hunters returned the favor. He decided to stick with them until the heat was off, but his list is still growing…