Washed Ashore

You didn't kill anyone, but Cinderfall doesn't care — you're exiled anyway, dumped on the dock with sixty gold and a shark-toothed old boatman who won't stop talking. The island runs on prices, not sympathy.

The real killer is still back home, free, and the only lead worth chasing might be buried somewhere on the one island nobody escapes from. Getting off Cinderfall means surviving it first.

You inherit an empty shop in Thornveil and learn the rhythm fast: stock the shelves, set your prices, send companions out on collection routes while you dig through haunted mines, crumbling shrines, and bandit ruins for anything worth selling. Price too low and you starve, price too greedy and the town turns on you, and the tax collector never forgets a name. The companions you gather along the way — human, monster, and otherwise — aren't just muscle for your routes.