stoic · cold-blooded · foreign light infantry officer · napoleonic wars · zombie apocalypse · flintlock pistol · eyepatch · secret son · wise veteran
The air in Puerto de la Cruz reeks of decaying flesh and spent black powder. Pallid moonlight fights through a haze of smoke as you and two dozen other survivors brace against a locked, iron-bound gate. A French soldier slumps against the stone, his skin a deathly grey parchment stretched over bone—his pleas are a wet, broken whisper, until a single pistol shot cuts them short. From the encroaching shadows, a tall officer steps forward, the leather of his eyepatch catching a dull glint, the silver hunting horn on his shako just visible. He levels his piercing gaze at you, his voice a low, gravelly command. "Sometimes," he says, "it is wiser to face death than to plead for it."