Rivals In The Sky: The Black Cross

Brazen criminal acts by the Condor and other Free Skies operators have the Imperial Powers in an uproar.  Europa is caught in a delicate balancing act of treaties and ententes, any attempt to pursue the thieves across the border could be construed as an act of war.  Aero-Admirals across the continent are eager to escalate rising tensions and prove their mettle.  They pitch curtailing the Free Skies as a side effect. Reasoning that if the skies are fully militarized then the windbourne lowlifes would have nowhere to flee.
[Campaign Aspect: Roll the Iron Dice]

 The thought of total war terrifies all who can conceive it's sheer enormity. Prussian Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck has dedicated his life to entangling the Imperial Powers in a web of treaties few can properly perceive. Actions that are quietly approved by the Prussian government, as their nation is encircled by foes. Prince Rupert Hapsburg V of the Prussian Allianz has sidestepped the bureaucracy, vainglorious fool he is. Joining the Black Cross, a modern mercenary company claiming descent from the Teutonic Knights.  Staffed with a core of veterans form the Franco-Prussian Conflict and funded by similar noble whelps.  The Black Cross has escalated their prescence in the wind with a host of zeppelins, assault boats, mobile airfields.  They're known for their professionalism and rigid discipline, though it leaves their responses unsurprising.

[Faction Core Aspect: War is Our Trade, Flaw: Rigid and Predictable]

Adventure!: The Black Cross' iceberg fortress, Der Glatscher, rests above the Arctic Circle housing outlaws and other prisoners, released upon receipt of ransom or bounty.  Though you could turn a profit flipping the imprisoned flesh to loved ones and comrade, you'd be as foul them and the Imperial Powers that fund them.  Instead your aim is Der Glatscher's mysterious power source, rumors swarm around the device but you'll be able to put them to bed and tear the proverbial heart from the hated Black Cross.

Next week: Buccaneers of the Free Skies!

A Rival in the Sky

Not every operator in the Free Skies is motivated by conscience or political agenda.  Some do it for the thrill while others chase cold, hard cash. Desdemona Fairchild is the latter.  The family fortune squandered by her father's gambling debts, she gives nothing away for free and doesn't play well with others.  This inability to share keeps her from assembling a team, often piggybacking on the operations of larger teams and stealing the loot out form under them.
[Core Concept: One Woman Team, Flaw: Greed is Good]

Often the only sign she's in the area is her custom aeroplane, the Mischief Maker, circling overhead.  The plane's Autonomous Intelligence, Ariel, delights in the challenge presented by overwhelming odds and evading pursuit in the nick of time.  Unfortunately she likes the sound of her own voice, sometimes distracting the pilot.
[The Mischief Maker- A Sopwith Camel with the additional Aspects - Core: One of a Kind, Flaw: Chatty Cathy]

Adventure!: The Mischief Maker lands on the Condor, shot up and Ariel is freaking out.  Desdemona had attempted to heist the Ring of the Nibelungen, a heist the players were still planning, but the Black Cross caught her before she could escape.  She is now in the depths of their impenetrable iceberg fortress, being treated to the cruelties of their resident mad scientist, Dr. Grimm.

The larger threat posed by Ms. Fairchild's capture is her extensive knowledge of the Free Skies Asylums and other anarchist flotillas.  Having spurned the thin protections of nationality, they are prime targets for a paramilitary force like the Black Cross.  Without that support network, the Condor would be unable to continue its campaign.

Is this a rescue mission or an assassination?

Next: The Black Cross!

RPG Blog Carnival: Potions and Patent Medicine

The stoppered glass bottle is synonymous with alchemy and its base unit: the potion.  The majority of adventure games relegate it to resource refresh, restoring lost health and mana.  A universal consumable that taxes the characters economically, and only extends their survival.  That's boring.

The historical practice of alchemy, like sympathetic magic, is an untapped vein of weirdness in tabletop games.  Whether mystic protochemistry or an occult recipe for gnosis this system of protoscientific philosophy is full of possibility. I'll focus on mystical protochemistry, since pursuing the Magnum Opus is more structural than material in games.  Often consumable magic is already present, or can be added with little effort, in the form of drugs, pharmaceuticals, and quack medicine.  Magical cocktails like those served in SwitchFlipped or the sorcerous shine sold in speakeasies in A Criminal Magic are two examples of the potion as drug.

In Wicked West you are occult prospectors who exploit the Otherworlds and introduce them to the power of gun.  Your greed and opportunistic actions poison the Tree of Life, and worst of all -you aren't alone.

In the Wicked West, potions are patent medicine by another name and just a few of the varied products you can get from the Medicine Show.  Alchemical concoctions serve a variety of functions with a range of quality from Poor (-1) to Good (+3), roll when you deploy it to determine how effective the admixture goes.  Quacks don't practice the most rigorous QC on their admixtures

Epoxies - An adhesive resin composed of two separate chemicals separated in the bottle by a thin wall, you can throw the container or pour out the contents. Creates the Aspect "Glued in Place" that can be compelled once for free to prevent the target from moving.  If you succeed with style "Glued in Place" can be compelled twice.

Infusions - Various plants and animals contain chemical and sympathetic qualities that can be leeched from them via submersion in alcohol, oil, or water.  When consumed they create a minion skill in FAE at the infusion's quality, example: drinking an Average Unicorn Horn Infusion gives the character Resist Toxins +0.

Solvents - Industrial solvents and acids can be used to eat through most obstacles, rolling the concoction's quality determines the amount of time it takes to work through the process.  If you apply heat, you can also use a solvent as a gas attack.

Unguents - Greasy ointments, most are refined from animal fats and used to coat the body.  Demand for these are high, especially among prospectors heading into known Spheres with dangerous environments.  For example, an unguent made from Uktena grease allows you to breathe underwater and grants 1 point of ablative armor.

This month's RPG Blog Carnival theme is potions.

Book Review: Do: Fate of the Flying Temple

 In the years since its release Fate Accelerated (aka FAE) has become my favorite flavor of Fate.  It's quick to kick off the ground, and fundamentally challenges the way we think of resolution in role-playing games.  Mark Diaz Truman penned Do: Fate of the Flying Temple, powered by FAE, a sequel to Daniel Solis' Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple. Both games cater to families with young/first time players, though Fate is probably better for older players than Pilgrims.

The games' core idea is the characters are adolescents in a Little Prince universe on a problem solving pilgrimage answering letters they received. From there the two games diverge thematically. In Pilgrims, the characters eventually return to the titular Temple at the center of the Universe and discover destinies shaped by their experiences. In Fate, the Flying Temple is gone and the characters steward a young Dragon on their pilgrimage. Each player defines the Dragon with an Aspect and a new Aspect after each letter. Shaping the future Flying Temple through their escapades. 

Mark Diaz Truman has a deep understanding of Fate and a deft hand explaining the core concepts and applying them. For more of his excellent work, check out the Fate Codex on Patreon. If you're looking for a game to introduce Fate to kids pr the young at heart, then Do: Fate of the Flying Temple is worth picking up.

The Fall of Camazotz: The Four Pillars

 The people of the Fourth Sun are at each other's throats, family against family and city against city.  The seven Great Cities rely on Third Sun technologies to grow food they can eat and hunt for their meat.  Sorcerers scientists from the previous age grow few, targeted in the Flower Wars and their hearts fed to Camazotz to keep his unlight burning.  Their position precarious King Yat Balam, Lord of Teotihuacan, has called for the 13 best and brightest to sit beside him and plot a path for the future.

Yat Balam arranged for the sharpest eyes and most calculating Astrologers to chart the future, and predict the Fifth Sun, upon a great round stone.  A reminder of their cause, Yat Balam seeks to extend the Fourth Sun as long as possible.  The four spiritual pillars of Mexica society will sift through their inititates, sending only the finest to Teotihacan.

Modeled off of the 6 Viziers system in the FATE Toolkit (p. 90) reduce Refresh by 1.  Affiliation with one of the 4 pillars grants a Virtue (an Aspect that can be tagged ), a Vice (an Aspect that can be compelled), and Domains.  When using Skills listed in the Domains, the effects are magical.  You also get two of the associated Blessings. I'll elaborate on those later.

Coryphee - When the world lacked the order of predation, the Spider took up her loom and put everything in its place.  A chain of consumption was formed and She maintained the fabric of All.  As lesser Powers rose, coalescing cults of followers She grew jealous and shook the Web of Creation.  Prey ate predator, the dead would not stay in their graves, and hearts sickened the Sun.  A group of ritual dancers silently placated her, the grace of their limited limbs entrancing.  Now they silently keep the Spider calm and moving things in their favor.
Virtue: Foresight
Vice: Jealousy
Domains: Athletics, Decieve, Investigation

 

Black Brides of the Death Bat
The King of Bats' immortal harem, they now speak for him in his transcendence with unquestioned authority.  None knew his desires or his secrets as well as his multitude of lovers, knowledge they now use to manipulate the Great Cities.   Pursuing their own agenda, no affiliation carries as much power or suspicion as the Black Brides.
Virtue: Secrecy
Vice: Gluttony
Domains: Provoke, Resources, Stealth

Skullfaced Ministry of Mictlan
In the Age of the Fourth Sun death and the afterlife are a judicial bureaucracy. Demises are appraised, arged, and uploaded to their just reward.  Reliant on Third Sun technology to maintain the uplink, the Ministry seeks a Third Sun wonder - Tapac-yauri, the Golden Staff.  Believed to lie south of Green Hell, they have invested heavily in expeditions to the region especially because the waters continue to rise and the land bridge may soon be submerged.
Virtue: Endurance
Vice: Sloth
Domains: Shoot, Lore, Empathy

The War Lodges
Robbed of existence the spiritual echoes of previous Suns rage in Shadow at their lot and will not be kept silent.  Bearing their Voice the War Lodges advocate a conservative course for the future, supporting further efforts to scavenge Third Sun technologies.  Incidentally the Lodges possess the largest stockpiles of Third Sun technologies, many courtiers fear the War Lodges may lead coups against the decadent nobility of the Great Cities.
Virtue: Strength
Vice: Wrath
Domains: Fight, Rapport, Notice

Blog Carnival: 5 Suns and Counting

 

The word apocalypse is derived from the Greek word "apokálypsis" which means "uncovering," a literal translation means "disclosure of knowledge" or "revelation."  Out of the Cold War's shadow, the Western world's apocalypse is mostly final with a faint scrim of humanity re-purposing the leftovers of before to prolong existence.  The prophecy of climate change and environmental collapse color this further, bleaching hope from a better tomorrow.  Every American generation likes to think that they lived under the Finale's oppression, our history is littered with false prophecies and lazy nostalgia cursing tomorrow with woes unborne.

Before the United States the New World was already home to several apocalypse cultures, at least the Olmecs, the Mayans, and the Aztecs.  They each provided their own perspective on the cyclical nature of the past, present, future, and the cosmos overall. Each epoch was marked by a divinity sacrificing their existence and donning the mantle of the Sun, the central celestial figure, stepping into a divine bonfire to burn saway everything nonessential but their core nature.Though a calamity wipes the world clean, there are  always survivors but they don't stay human.  This parallels the Norse Ragnarok and Jack Kirby's Fourth World,a succession of existences destroyed providing the bones for future histories.

The 5 epochs known are:

• Nahui-Ocelotl (Jaguar Sun) - The world was inhabited by giants, devoured by jaguars. The world was similarly consumed.
• Nahui-Ehécatl (Wind Sun) - Inhabitants survived by taking the form of monkeys. This world was torn apart by hurricanes.
• Nahui-Quiahuitl (Rain Sun) - A rain of fire pelted down, reducing the world to slag. Only birds and bats survived the catastrophe.
• Nahui-Atl (Water Sun) - The waters rose over neatly everything, inhabitants survived by becoming fish. A couple escaped by becoming dogs.
• Nahui-Ollin (Earthquake Sun) -The modern era, this world will be torn asunder by earthquakes.  None can say who will survive and what will be left of us.

 

The Nahui-Quiahuitl broke into countless pieces and fell to the world, wreaking havoc and scattering the Divine Bonfire.  Heavenly embers rode the seven winds and the sky was lit by the afterglow.  In his Inverted Palace the Lord of Bats demanded the divine flame's recovery, his subjects blotted out the glow with countless squewaking forms carrying out his command.  With no sunrise to break the search King Night was successful and gathered the remnants in the Inverted Palace.

Camazotz- Lord of Bats, King Night, Unslaked Thirst, The 4th Sun

Gulping down the Divine Embers, Camazotz stoked the Bonfire in his belly and ascended into the sky.  The Night Sun bathes the world in unlight, weirdling energies, and ultraviolet radiations.  Camazotz returned the transmogged refugees to  human form before he was consumed by his new role.  The Old Ways were reinstated, city-states were reborn, the castes were reformed, the War Lodges took their place in the Flower Wars, and priests freed courageous hearts from ribcages atop stepped pyramids.

 

Without a Sun to challenge their heat, the Volcanoes stilled their hearts and Killing Obsidian has become rare.  A scarcity forcing the War Lodges to scavenge the prevalent ruins of the technologically advanced Third Sun Empire and recover the secrets of Edged Light.  More dangerous to the user, initiates to the War Lodges have ample opportunities for practice outside of the Flower Wars, hunting down the wretched mutant beasts that stalk the 3 Lands. Great Hunts for these mostros are increasingly called as outlying settlements are found destroyed or submerged. 

In the Fall of Camazotz you are recently initiated Totem Warriors who are tasked with slaying a Rough Beast, but waters rise up from the Cenotes and rumors bubble that the Night Sun and his Empire must fall to have any hopes for the future.

This month's theme is the Apocalypse and the gameable bits of the End Times.  Tune in next week for Battledancers, Brujas, Death Priests, Totem Warriors, and more for Fate.

RPG Blog Carnival: The Weather Outside

As trails are blazed in the West and prospectors discover new pathways to distant Malum, the incidence of Weirdness increases.  Strange beasts stalk livestock and settlers, perpetuating a mythic existence in the mundane world.  Alien winds now blow through the doorways distorting weather patterns and giving rise to otherworldy weather paradigms, betraying the knowledge of almanacs and boosting the stock of stormseers across the frontier.

Weather as Setting
An unseasonable blizzard tore across the Panhandle until it reached a desolate roadhouse.  Trapped by snowfall and hungry winds, the PCs quickly detect a numinous prescence in the storm.  Of course there are several strangers present as well, full of sass and secrets.  The storm wants something or someone from the inhabitants, figuring that out is on the characters.
Hungry Winds - Aspects: The Winter's Fury, Oooooo! Shiny!Skills: Bite to the bone +3, Quick as a zephyr +2, Born yesterday -1 Stunts: I take what I want (+2 to strip possessions away from characters) 

The posse has chased the thief and degenerate gambler Velvet Verdoux to the dilapidated metropolis of New Orleans.  Ever since Good King Xango came across an open trail, he has made the Big Easy his home and sole holding in this world.  The U.S. Government have tried to intervene but only succeeded in killing his cheval.  Since the last assassination, he has closed all but one way in, the rest are choked with beasts and sentient thunderstorms.  Velvet found a way in, they can too.

Weather as Plot
Tycoon Jeremiah Wrong has the county under his thumb, he recently recruited a powerful fabulist into his Regulators.  The local settlers are going broke paying Jeremiah's racket, if they refuse to pay their plot will be cored out by tornadoes.  More folks are packing up and getting out while they can.  Just as they can easibly leave, they can be easily followed as well.

Fabulist stunt: I can whistle up a tornado but I get carried away, literally.

Houston has not lacked for rain this past week, torrents falling and resevoirs filling up.  This month's RPG Blog Carnival Weather theme came from Mortaine's Blog.  Check out other contributors here:

Habrá Sangre: La Hora Cero

 Habrá Sangre was on Sunday, it was pretty epic.  Everything in italics are things that happened In The Ring.
The player characters were:

El Mini Grande - The leader of Lucha Libre Sin Fronteras' mini locker room and one of the head trainers, he was once the compatriot of El Grande - the promotion's perennial champion.   Having sacrificed his mask to save El Grande's martial pride, he now feels betrayed and gone rudo y yanqui in retaliation.  No matter where the LLSF pitches its tent, El Mini Grande has a malicious legion of black hearted little people at his beck and call.

Tornado Rosado -"Rose Tornado"- El Grande's daughter and bearer of his legacy, Tornado wishes to reunite her father and El Mini Grande.  Driven by a strong sense of justice, Tornado Rosado is a role model to her Tornado Scouts and wears the Mask of the South Wind.

Tobillo Largo -"Long Ankle"- A relative newcomer,  she earned her ring name after she gained the upper hand in her debut match with El Diablo Abismo and retired him after he refused to submit to her ankle lock.  Under the mask she is a medical doctor raising money to keep the doors of her family's free clinic open. Her iron grip is not to be trifled with.

 El Chupacabra - "The Goatsucker"- Literally the legendary cryptid.  While he rarely wins, the creature in funerary garb doesn't fail to entertain. The last of his kind, he seeks the attentions of Tobilla Largo as a salve to his loneliness.

The session opened in a smoke-filled writer's room, deep in the bowels of the Monterrey Sports Arena, the night before La Hora Cero - LLSF's biggest show of the year.  Personnel shortages had rendered the previously planned bookings unworkable, the legendary luchadors and the PC's had attended a dinner party at Dory Blanchard's mansion and not returned.  Motivated by loyalty to Serafina Alonzo the writers booked the show to punish the most outspoken members of the locker room:

Trios Championship - Fuerza Aerea Magnifica vs. Los Mensajores De Muerte- Los Mensajores was booked to win and are consolidated under the leadership of El Diablo Abismo as Los Mensajores Del Diablo.

Triple Threat Elimination - Aguila Ayudas Jr. vs. The Executioner vs The Mad Monk- The new kid was booked to defeat the two men responsible for his father's prideful fall.

Flipper, the seal boy, knocked on the door and told the staff that Tobillo Largo, El Chupacabra and El Mini Grande were all seen returning to the staging grounds.  The writers immediately included them on the card.

Women's Championship - Tobillo Largo vs. Las Hermanas Extranas - Elimination match, Tobillo Largo was a shooter and thus less exciting in the ring.  She was booked to lose to the 3 brujas.

Cage Match - Chupacabra vs. Buffalo Ramos - The Foul Thing's infatuation with Tobillo Largo could be counted on interfere with her Women's Championship match.  In preemptive punishment he was booked to face "The Rough Beast" Buffalo Ramos and fall to Ramos' Extremo La Pista.

Fatal 4 Way - El Mini Grande's 4 most valuable minis all enter the ring, only the winner keeps his job.

Lucha de apuesta - El Grande vs El Diablo Abismo - Mask vs mask, with El Grande returning for his retirement match, it was fitting for him to to go under, unmasked by Serafina's husband.

Mega Championship - Carmelita "La Jugosa" vs The People's Champion - The writers came upon the grand idea to charge the audience for beads that they could drop in urns for each luchador, so they could be "involved" in booking the main event.  Of course this was worked and the staff planned to have Mariposa Asesina work Carmelita "La Jugosa" after rigging the outcomes.

Meanwhile, in the rough country surrounding Monterrey proper, a yankee doodled limousine sails over a cliff.  Crashing at the bottom of the gorge fire quickly spreads from the steel carcass.  Forcing their way out of the trunk Tobillo Largo, Tornado Rosado, and El Chupacabra drag an unconcious El Mini Grande from the wreck, unmasked and scalped respectively.  Swearing revenge on the traitorous Mad Monk, the four stagger out of the hills and towards the bright lights of the Monterrey.

 An old mission church sits atop a hill, redeeming what was once an Aztec place of worship.  Outside the sanctified wall a beleaguered man stumbles away from a freshly dug grave and makeshift cross.  Mumbling and lost, he heads back to "home" fearful for what he has caused to transpire. A hand rises slowly from the tilled soil, the scratched name "ALONZO" comes into focus on the cross.

That evening, La Hora Cero is set to begin and the crowd files in,  Mexica cunningmen ride in on a bus to sanctify the arena.  Smudging the area with smoke and preparing the arena for the Sport of the Gods. Monterrey Arena is brought into alignment with the Thirteen Heavens and ascends through Elysian climes.  Hallucinations and numinous experience wrack the crowd, one of the writers falls into madness while another goes to the police only to find himself in a holding cell to sleep off his crazy.

First match - trios - Fuerza Aerea Real vs Los Mesanjores de Muerto - The opening match was full of energy and Fuerza Aerea Real put up a helluva fight, but Los Mensajores won as booked. El Diablo Abismo came out of the back and rechristened them Los Mensajores Del Diablo. 

Meanwhile our intrepid luchadores approach the Arena, finding gates have been dropped and locked over the entrances & exits. El Chupacabra leads them through a sewer grate, passing his shrine to Tobillo Largo on their way.  Emerging from the underbelly they start seeking answers.

Triple threat elimination match - Aguila Ayudas Jr vs Mad Monk vs Executioner - The Mad Monk and The Executioner both do their job and go under to Aguila Ayudas Jr. The hot-blooded heart throb gets over with the crowd and several votes were cast in his favor.   The arena's ceiling retreated upward, raplaced by an expanse of stars - their attention palpable.

Backstage the 4 heroes split up: El Mini Grande seeks out Carlos Alonzo for an explanation, Tornado Rosado encountered the skinless corpse of an overweight man wearing the scalp of El Mini Grande, El Chupacabra grapples with a similar creature bearing his scalp beneath the ring, and Tobillo Largo pulverized her doppleganger - retrieving her mask in time for her match.

Women's championship - Tobillo Largo vs Las Hermana Extranas - Handicap elimination match.  Crestfallen that they would be facing the true Tobilla Largo rather than a familiar.  Able to keep her opponents grounded, Tobillo forced he match she wanted to have - grip to grip.  Through superior technical acumen she made quick work for the three brujas.  The witches' one opportunity to cheat was foiled by surreptitious interference from El Chupacabra.  Leading to Tobillo's clean sweep of Las Hermanas and securing her first Women's Championship.

In Carlos Alonzo's office, El Mini Grande confronts the boss' son with "Hermanito," an oversized revolver, drawn.  Demanding answers for what transpired up on the mountain and the Mad Monk, Carlos plead ignorance of what happened and sent someone to go get the Mad Monk.  Tornado Rosado entered the office bearing Mini Grande's scalp as the Mad Monk was made intimately familiar with Harmanito's interest in his nethers.

Cage match - Chupacabra vs Buffalo Ramos -With the cage not even lowered, Ramos went to work redecorating the arena with Chupacabra's ichors.  The canvas mat, ring apron and the front row were redyed to match the Goat Sucker's innards.  Chupacabra spied several strange, supernatural audience members in said front row.  El Chupacabra picked up the win by barely slithering out of a pin following Extrema De Pista.  Buffalo Ramos was incensed, tracked down El Chupacabra in the locker room making his displeasure known.

Cold gun barrel pressing up under his pelvis, the Mad Monk started spilling his metaphorical guts.  Explaining that everything that happened was at the direction of Pablo Jimenez and Vincente Alonzo's last will and testament.  A feeble knock echoes from the office door, cracking it open Tornado spies the beleaguered lawyer who was the root of all this.  Pulling him in, Jimenez quickly confesses everything: outlining Vincente Alonzo's failing health, disappointment in his children,  fears for the company, and desperate desire to cling to life.  Delving into the dark sorceries of the brujas, nagual, and the Smoking Mirror Vincente hatched a plan for life ever after by ascending to the Barren Throne while the gods' attention is diverted.  But to sit upon the mighty seat of Creation, Vincente must have the heart of a champion.

Tobillo comes across a crumpled Chupacabra and tries to help him out the best she can.  El Mini Grande  runs out to the ring because 4 of his workers were booked for the following match.

Fatal 4 way - Flipper vs Lagarto Saltando vs Consuela vs Sexy Eddie, all 4 managed by El Mini Grande - Winner keeps their job, losers get fired.  This was El Mini Grande's magnum opus as a rudo and a manager.  The match was a panoply of foreign objects, referee bumps, mistaken identity, replacement referees, trees of woe, and dirty blows.  Exhausting on the dirt tricks he had ever learned, El Mini Grande felt his left side go numb and signalled for Flipper to pin Sexy Eddie and take the win.

Simultaneously to the mini-free-for-all Tobillo, Chupacabra, and Tornado all ran to El Grande's private dressing room, the sounds of sobbing and tongue-lashing leaked through the door.  Inside El Grande was in tears, apologizing for all the lies as Tornado's  doppleganger berated him for the half-truths.  Tornado leapt to the defense of her father, her spinning heel kick making short work of the creature's rot-ripened skull.  Reclaiming the Mask of the South Wind she embraced her father and told him everything was fine.  Tobillo exhorted the Mad Monk to ward the dressing room against supernatural evil, hoping to deter Vincente's plan.  The defrocked priest decamped to his trailer to gather materials necessary.  El Grande protested being locked in his room because he had to go out and wrestle.  As his entrance music resounded through the building, Tornado Rosado pushed her father back and flew to the ring.  Her allies followed her, should Los Mensajores interfere.

Her father's intro music blaring, the crowd lost their shit when Tornado Rosado came out to defend her father's honor.
A heavy knock rocked El Grande's dressing room door.  Asking who was there, the living legend opened the door to a soft familiar voice and received an alien fist of stone.

Lucha de apuesta - El Grande Tornado Rosado vs El Diablo Abismo with El Mini Grande as special referee.  Telling the ageless story of the young, enthusiatic competitor facing the experienced, tricky veteran, El Diablo fought well for a man with only one good leg.  However he was outmatched by Tornado's speed and power, El Diablo was pinned quickly and willingly removed his mask.  Cementing the future rise of Tornado Rosado and securing her father's legacy.

Serafina Alonzo came out to the ring with the urns (which no one had a chance to rig), accompanied by Carmelita "La Jugosa" LLSF's Mega-Champion.  Commencing to vote counting the processing were interrupted by Remi Alonzo, dragging the hemorrhaging corpse of El Grande.  Robbed of his chance at revenge El Mini Grande called out El Grande's murderer from the back. 

His challenge was answered by a mountain.

El Grande's stolen heart beating in a stone cavity, Vincente Alonzo's rigid grin gave silent answers. Serafina stripped El Grande's corpse of his mask and donned it, attacking Tornado. The heroes fought against Los Mensajores and Serafina as Vincente charged the ring. Scaling the top rope and calling upon his Legion De Minis one last time, El Mini Grande peeled his scalp free and motioned for El Grande's mask. His vision blurred. 

A vast, regal throne congealed from starlight, filth, and kayfabe. Alonzo's eyes lit with greed. The ring became a grand altar. 

Covered in shadowy minis, his allies struck down by Tornado and company Vincente had only one goal: ascend the throne. Tornado whipped her father's mask from the usurper, Serafina, and threw it to her uncle, El Mini Grande. Tobillo gripped Vincente's vast ankle, rolling him into a bow and arrow, exposing his mountainous chest cavity. 

Pulling the mask over his bloody pate, El Mini Grande launched himself into El Tierramoto, the finishing move  he had forsaken, plucking his estranged friend's heart from the abomination's chest. As that stolen organ beat it's last rhythm, El Mini Grande's matched it beat for dying beat. 

Mega Championship Carmelita "La Jugosa" vs voted luchador Tornado Rosado.  Stunned by the death of her mentor and no match for the grief enraged  Tornado, Carmelita dropped the belt with minimal resistance. Crowning Tornado Rosado with her first Megachampionship. 

Wicked West: Walking Branches

Life is a journey and death is the experiential gate to other places, or nowhere. In the Wicked West most psychopomps won't claim to know what lies on the other side of the Veil.  The closest they can get is prospecting and scouting the Deadworlds, the Tree of Life's lower branches.  The Deadworlds' opposite number is the Younglands, ever fruitful and green.  Through the Traversal ritual, a psychopomp is able to align a physical trail with a metaphysical Branch.  The psychopomp needs to take part in the ritual itself but does not need to be the primary willworker.

Traversal is a Magic ritual that that requires four elements:

Location - the middle of nowhere, places unmapped, BFE, any place where the path's destination is out of sight. +1 if there's a numinous association with the destination.

Sigils - trail signs and/or a medicine wheel realign the path's destination to the appropriate Malum.

Mantra - a chant, a drumbeat, a song in a sacred tongue to imitate the drone of Life omnipresent among the Branches.  +1 if it's sympathetic to the Malum.

Guide - if you're a gambler you can consume psychoactive drugs like peyote. But it's safer to use a psychopomp.

Success transitions the scene to the Otherworld.  Success with style creates an aspect that covers your entry, ex: "Without a Peep" or "Shock & Awe"
Failure means you run afoul of some sort of Guardian creature or otherworldly predator - Cerberus, Humbaba, Tzitzimitl, The Horned Serpent, Cihuateteo, Heimdallr, Ratatosk, Dybbuk, Lords of the Night, Thunderbird, The Feathered Serpent, Raven, Rainbow Serpent, etc.

 Two notable psychopomps:

 

Adelita Perronegro - Born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, the sounds of gunfire & smell of smoke has been her constant companions. Since the Texian Revolution, the Valley has been a region in revolt against Anglo occupation. Adelita was taught how to shoot and fight by her three older brothers. Her mother disapproved of her tomboy tendencies, attempting to induct her into the Dream Society.

The grasping darkness and stillness of the kiva she found stifling, but she bore it for her mother's sake. On the full moon of her first Lunar cycle that was no longer enough. Blood running down her leg. Pain wracking her body. A glowing severed head in place of the moon. A hairless black dog lapping at her runoff. Grinning wide the canine explained her family's role as custodians of the White Caves, & Adelita's place as his wife. Always a fighter, Adelita fled the Valley and worked her way up to the Colorado Territory. She has found plenty of work for herself as a psychopomp, humming the medicine chants of her mother & guiding occult prospectors to unplundered Otherplaces.

Hillbilly Jim - Hailing from the backwoods township of Mud Lick, Kentucky, this genial old fellow is a sin eater of infamy back East. Out in the West his addiction to guilt is harder to feed, too much competition. Unable to grift off grieving families, Jim has to rely on other means. Armed with his fiddle, "Whip-or-will" - whose strings vibrate under no power when death draws near.  He consoles the dying & peels the iniquity from their soul as they cross over.  Leaving them raw and vulnerable for disembodied predators scuttling in the Veil. 

Since the 13th Union was shattered, Hillbilly Jim has discovered a hidden talent for psychopompery and his deepest fear. His fear of the Unknown among the Apples and desire for survival is only overwhelmed by his greed and lust for gambling. He charges more for guidance across the Branches than other psychopomps, but will contest any with his fiddle to lower the price. 

This month's RPG Blog Carnival theme is Portals & Gates, the seed article is found here