Petyr Nine-Fingers — Apple-Presser & Cider Binder
“Share the cup and keep your word—or the night will come drink it back.”
Name: Brannic Thornbow
Race: Human
Role: Orchardist, Coopersmith
Appearance: Petyr is broad-shouldered and river-strong, with sun-browned skin, crow’s-feet, and a missing ring finger on his left hand (cleanly cut long ago). He wears a russet waistcoat and rolled shirtsleeves under a leather apron, a wooden stopper tucked behind one ear and a length of hemp cord coiled at his belt. A copper band—his late mother’s—sits on a cord around his neck. His hands always smell faintly of apple tannin, oak, and smoke.
Backstory
The Nine-Fingers press has served Vastwyn Valley for three generations. Petyr learned to match apple varietals to the season—tart Greencrest for endurance, sweet Goldmead for weddings—and to keep the iron staves on his barrels tight. Years ago, bandits tried to extort his harvest; he offered a peace cup to stop bloodshed, and they swore by it—then broke the oath by nightfall. The next morning they crawled to his door hollow-eyed, begging him to lift the nightmares. He wouldn’t. Since then, Petyr sells only honest cider and, on rare need, brews Pact-Press, a ceremonial batch that binds simple promises for a season.
