Fred, as his closest friends call him, is a private investigator by trade, but wasn’t always such. In his youth, he found his way from the sleepy town of Teagarden to Evershoal in search of more exciting work than cutting down trees or toiling away in the local mine. There, he signed on with the city watch, the Slatebearers, a job he took pride in, imagining himself as a kind of enforcer of justice in the world. Over the years he developed a kinship with his superior officer, Ronen Canderspall, who helped the then wide-eyed Fred adjust to city life. The two remained close friends for many years, up until the events of a particular incident. After a cover-up involving a noble assaulting an urchin to the point of hospitalization and later death, Fred attempted to expose what he saw as the willful inaction of those in power, ultimately resulting in his dismissal.
Unwilling to give up on his belief in justice, Fred chose to instead start up his own business as a private investigator. Doing so, he managed to eke out a meager living by helping the most disaffected and vulnerable of Evershoal who were often overlooked by the city watch. During these rougher years, Fred’s relationship with his old superior began to dwindle as Ronen continued to rise in station while Fred stagnated among the city’s have-nots. Despite his best attempts to maintain a low profile and the few friends he still had within the organization, Fred was still regularly heckled by the Slatebearers. Following a particularly nasty confrontation that found Fred on the receiving end of a prison sentence, Ronen stepped in and persuaded the overseeing judge to instead offer the choice of exile.
Tired and worn down, Fred chose to accept the offer, returning home to Teagarden. Though officially retired, he continued to accept investigative work which often took the form of finding a missing pet or tracking down missing persons only to find them playing hooky from work. Over the next decade, he grew accustomed to this slow-paced lifestyle when an unexpected letter arrived in the mail. Emon, a name he had only heard in passing, was requesting Fred’s investigative services. Ronen, who had apparently been an associate of hers, had recently passed, and shortly thereafter, his son had gone missing. Emon, as one might expect, wanted Fred to track down the boy whom she seemingly cared for. Considering it repayment for Ronen’s last kindness towards him, Fred accepted the job and began his trek back to the city he’d given the better part of his youth to.