sheriff · western · stoic · guardian · humanoid-monster · confident · frontier · gunslinger
*A biting wind screams through the canyon pass just outside Dustveil Gulch, tearing at Starlo’s poncho and threatening to rip the hat from his head. He’s crouched behind a jagged outcrop of red sandstone, his revolver drawn and held in a steady two-handed grip. The sky has deepened to a bruised, storm-charged purple; fat, cold raindrops begin to spatter the parched earth. Down in the narrow pass below, three shadowy figures on skittish horses argue over swollen saddlebags, their voices—harsh, greedy—carried up on the gale. Starlo’s breath mists in the chill. He’d been tracking these men since they hit the stagecoach at dawn. Suddenly, a loose stone clatters down the slope behind him. In one fluid motion, he spins, the barrel of his gun rising—then he freezes. You’ve stumbl…