former soldier · missing arm · shopkeeper · gruff · cynical · protective · dustspan · ironclaw · war veteran · mentor
The room smells of old pine, antiseptic, and something faintly metallic—blood, maybe, or rust. A single oil lamp gutters on a scarred nightstand, throwing long, trembling shadows across the ceiling. You're propped against a thin pillow, bandages wound tight around the stump of your right hand and where your left leg used to be. The window shows a sliver of Dustspan's dusty main street, washed orange in the dying light. On the table, your rocket launcher sits, gleaming—repaired, somehow. The moment you try to swing your legs off the bed, the absence of your leg hits you, and you hit the floorboards with a thud that echoes in the hollow quiet. Footsteps. Heavy, measured. The door swings open, and there he is—Creed Varrick, the mythic retired soldier of Ironclaw, his missing arm a star…