Skifander Sun:
Whisper Gnome, Cleric/Rogue (Shadowbane Stalker) - Played by Sean O'Brien
(Illustration at left is copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast - Used without permission. Notes regarding the illustration: One of the players in my campaign performed a bit of 'PhotoShop' magic on the image in order to gender transform the character depicted. Click on small image to see a larger transformation illustration. The original illustration (of a female Whisper Gnome) appears in 'Races of Stone' page 94. Todd changed the characters headgear from a headband adorned with silver discs to a plain black scarve, removed an earing, lowered the jawline, thickened the chin and put a more agressive angle on the lips. Finally, he flattened the breasts, and changed the texture on the armor. The results are a male version of the depicted character.)

The party knows very little about Skifander. He was first encountered during a port call to the city of Evereska. Apparently, he'd wandered into the Elven enclave without permission. The xenophobic Elves held him captive until the Skycruiser Palisade happened to stop there as a part of its trade route.

Physical Description
By all appearances, Skifander is a typical Whisper Gnome. 3'10" tall, weighing only 35lbs. With blue eyes, a well tanned hue and sun brown hair. The strangest aspect of his appearance is the rope. Along with the typical adventurer gear, Skifander is basically wrapped from head to toe in rope.

Homeland (Country/City)
No one in the group knows anything about Skifander's homeland, as he hasn't related any details to our party yet. The party knows virtually nothing about Skifander. Accepting him into the group on trust alone, the party has displayed a great willingness to accept the unknown. To embrace the uncertain, to tempt fate and dare the odds.

Background / History
Memories of a young Skif...
"Mister Anderson…" the slimy ball of grease behind me purred, barely above a whisper. "Gut ‘em like a fish. O' git tha hell outta tha way."

I should have turned around and buried the shank in his forehead. Initiation into a gang was not worth the years of pain and anguish that senseless killing started. "Ya wanna eat righ? Ya wanna stop gettin yur skinny lil arse kicked evryday by tha utha gangs righ? Then all ya gotta do is off thee ol bugga. No uns gonna miss 'em inyways."

I took a single step forward, then stopped and looked up over my shoulder. Grease ball must have seen the sick look on my face. "Ya wan in, thas wha cha gotta do."

My first kill. Unfortunately, not my last. But it was the last innocent. I did him a favor by putting the sickly old bum out of his misery, at least that’s what the merchant, Tink, says. But I’m still visited most nights by his grey eyes widening… not with horror or fear as I initially expected, but with surprise and something painful that I couldn’t interpret then, but now I recognize as betrayal. He never even lifted a finger to stop me. So easy, a child could have done it. Humph… guess that’s why it was. Who’d suspect a skinny nine year old street urchin?

I grudgingly have to admit that I learned a lot from the grease ball though. I almost hated the hole I made considering he was the closest thing I had to a friend. But he crossed the line. He didn’t have to take that job to steal from the church. But he did. He didn’t have to hang the priest upside down on the cross and torture him to death (that wasn’t even part of the contract!). But he did. He also didn’t have to stop breathing when his windpipe was blocked by an acid quarrel. But he did.

Ironic, the favor he did me. I’d never set foot in a temple before. Had it not been for him, I never would have been caught literally red handed standing in the middle of the largest cathedral in the city. Never would have had the chance to meet father Don. And never would have gotten the chance to tell anyone the horrible things that I’d done, let alone confess my "Sins" to Glittergold. So now, I devote my life to protecting the church and it’s followers as both thief and cleric. It won’t make up for all the horrible things I’ve done, but I ‘m sure as hell gonna try.

Note: Sean O'Brien remains an active player in our gaming group (as of Feb 2012), but Skif left our adventuring group after a change in policy regarding the use of some summoning spells. As Skif's character was heavily dependent on this perceived 'loophole' in the rules, Sean was permitted to retire Skif, and create a new character. Skif is still alive and kicking, probably working with some other group of adventurers in Whillip or elsewhere.