The Ember and the Dust
An independent investigator arrives in the remote frontier town of Dustfall to examine the death of a prominent landowner, Cyrus Thorne, found on his own hearthside rug. Initial reports from the town mention a clump of strange fur and whispered talk of a beast. The investigation must untangle the physical evidence and statements from various townsfolk connected to the victim through land, debt, and frontier custom.
Initial Crime Scene
The heavy oak door groans open, spilling the investigator into a room where the scent of old leather and wood smoke is undercut by a faint, metallic tang. From the dark stone fireplace, a low whistle of wind draws through a crack, a lonely sound in the profound quiet. The eye catches first on the cold, grey ash displaced in the firebox, then on the open ledger spread across the desk, and finally on the faint, parallel scratches marring the doorframe's varnish.
Crime Scene Environment
The space is enclosed by wood paneling, absorbing light from a single kerosene lamp that casts a warm but flickering glow, leaving deep shadows in the corners. The air is dry, with a chill that seeps from the stone hearth, and carries the acoustic density of a tomb, broken only by the slow, rhythmic tick of a wind-up pocket watch on the desk.
Investigation Constraints
Single-action revolvers, lever-action rifles, kerosene lamps, wood-burning stoves, hand-cranked telegraph, leather-bound ledgers, wax-sealed letters, wind-up pocket watches, hand tools (axes, saws), campfires, horse-drawn wagons, basic medical kit (scalpel, bandages, alcohol).
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