Author: Miguel Ribeiro

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Angels of Sorrow & Phantoms of Celluloid

Two new supernatural creatures for use in any of my previous scenarios/ campaign settings. Angels of Sorrow are connected to the Apostles of Pain – so they are especially easy to add to Sisters of the Seven Sins, Welcome to St. Cloud and Postcards from Avalidad – and Phantoms of Celluloid will be featured in an upcoming horror scenario.


ANGELS OF SORROW

Angels of Sorrow share a few similarities with Apostles of Pain, to such an extent it is unknown if they are entirely different beings, or have a common identity. Both come from the same plane of existence and they have walked the same path for aeons. Perhaps the eldest among them are aware of their roots, but they have yet to share their knowledge. Like the Apostles of Pain, Angels of Sorrow can cross from their realm to our own but, unlike the former, the later have no need to be summoned by humans; they have the ability to travel on their own from the nether regions. However, the transition is not easy for them, so they rarely do it, only when attracted by particularly strong sources of anguish: just as the Apostles feed on physical suffering, the Angels find sustenance in mental distress.

Another main difference between them is that all Angels of Pain can easily transform their bodies to appear as other species or entities; some Apostles can do it as well, but those are exceedingly rare.  As they aren’t limited in time by the duration of summoning rituals, in our reality Angels usually take the same form for long stretches of time. As previously mentioned they are attracted by mental suffering: derelict nursing homes, mental institutions, Third World orphanages and reform schools, support groups for sexual abuse or domestic violence survivors and homeless shelters are strong beacons of desperation, but they can be called forth by any lonely and anguished person. Sometimes Angels of Sorrow seduce the recently widowed or divorced and help channel the lonely person’s anger against their own progeny, turning them into cruel and abusive parents, or they ensnare the unloved and set off to turn their sad existence into a living hell. Before, they met their lonesome prey in singles bars or through marriage agencies and speed dating events, but the advent of dating apps has eased the Angel’s work even more.

It is unknown how many Angels of Sorrow walk among us, but they certainly aren’t many. Most cruel parents, abusive lovers and employees of substandard mental institutions are common  people; only a handful of them are supernatural creatures feeding on distress.

AVERAGE ANGEL OF SORROW (AFM)

Mind: d10

Body: d8

Spirit: d12

Mask: Abuser d4

Skill: Seductive d8

Skill: Manipulative d10

Skill: Tortured d6

Monstrous Power: Ageless d6

Monstrous Power: Dark Seduction d10

Monstrous Power: Telepathic Projection d6

Monstrous Power: Telepathic Reading d6

Bane: Strong Willpower d10

Initiative: d10+d4

AVERAGE ANGEL OF SORROW (*PUNK) – ELITE

Savvy (SAV): 7

Reaction (REA): 7

Finesse (FIN): 7

Artifice (ART): 7

Willpower (WIL): 12

Fortune (FOR): 7

Agility (AGL): 7

Physique (PHY): 7

Soul (SOU): 4

Psionics (PSI): Varies

Health (WILL+PHYS/2 x5): 50

Sprint (AGLx3): 21

Sanity (SOULx10): 40

Fundamental Skills: Observer: 8, Focused: 8, Educated: 2, Persuasive: 10, Athletic: 2, Teacher: 2, Expert: Hometown: 2, Brawler: 2, Hard to Hit: 2

Other skills: Interviewer: 5, Schmoozer: 10, Seductive: 10, Viber: 10

Supernatural Powers: Ageless, Telepathy (Dominate, Empathy, Send Thoughts,Read Thoughts)

Fear Effect: None when in human form, Difficulty 15 in their demon form

PHANTOMS OF CELLULOID

These creatures are the by-products of Tinseltown’s worst side. Decades upon decades of failed expectations, lack of creativity, bad acting, sour tempers, bitter rivalries, tempestuous relationships, backstabbing, casting couches, drug overdoses, decadent parties, lives cut too short by suicide or tragic accidents… They are a reflection of Hollywood’s magic when it turns dark, and they can manifest through any existent movie. The Phantoms of Celluloid usually appear physically similar to the actors who played them on-screen, but their looks may vary.

These beings aren’t as strong or resilient as true people and, being born out of celluloid nightmares, they take double damage from fire and heat. The creatures do not acknowledge their existence as fictional, they identify as real and, even though their memories are always a bit blurry, the Phantoms of Celluloid harvest no doubts about their selfhood.

AVERAGE PHANTOM OF CELLULOID (AFM)

Mind: d6

Body: d4

Spirit: d8

Mask: Wild West Character d4

Skill: Firearms d8

Skill: Riding d8

Skill: Melee d8

Monstrous Power: Ageless d12

Monstrous Power: Insubstantial d6

Bane: Fire d8

Bane: Heat d6

Initiative: d6+d8

AVERAGE PHANTOM OF CELLULLOID (*PUNK) – STREET

Savvy (SAV): 5

Reaction (REA): 7

Finesse (FIN): 5

Artifice (ART): 5

Willpower (WIL): 5

Fortune (FOR): 5

Agility (AGL): 5

Physique (PHY): 3

Soul (SOU): 5

Health (WILL+PHYS/2 x5): 20

Sprint (AGLx3): 15

Sanity (SOULx10): 50

Fundamental Skills: Educated: 2, Expert (Hometown): 2, Observer: 5, Focused: 2, Persuasive: 2, Athletic: 2, Teacher: 2, Brawler: 5, Hard to Hit: 2

Other Skills: Varied.

Supernatural Powers: Ageless (self-explanatory), Insubstantial (although they can’t control it and aren’t even aware of the power, Phantoms of Celluloid can become insubstantial and pass through any kind of gap, no matter its size, if the situation calls or it)

Fear Effect: Varies

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Postcards from Avalidad Campaign Setting (SPOILERS) Review pt1

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Red Room: The Year in (P)review

This has been a busy year here at the Red Room, with six books published by Postmortem Studios – Orpheum Lofts, The Memorial, The Sisters of the Seven Sins, Welcome to St. Cloud, Postcards from Avalidad and As Above, So Below -, a few interviews to independent role-playing game designers (Brian Shutter, Gavriel Quiroga, Liam Thompson, Venger Satanis, James ‘Grim’ Desborough and Chris Miller) as well as some other assorted articles, including the one about Giallo in Alarms and Journeys magazine issue 10. And next year may be even busier! Right now I have four new books already written and waiting for layout: the upcoming Postcards Companion an alternative setting location for Postcards from Avalidad and two Double Feature horror scenarios.

The Double Features are intended to emulate the Grindhouse phenomenon of the 1970s in a role-playing framework. There are now four of those short scenarios, prepared to be paired up in two volumes:

Double Feature Vol. 1


Sexual Holocaust: The fictional town of Hammettville, New York, is shaken by a series of gruesome and mysterious murders. The victim are all members of a S&M private club.

Brides of the Vampire: An anthology of plot hooks, set in different time periods, introduced along one character’s story, an old Eastern European vampire.

Double Feature Vol. 2


The Devil’s Country: A story within a story scenario about a movie cast and crew about to shoot a spaghetti western. Players start out as movie industry people, later slipping into their film characters in a western town situated outside our own reality.

Resort of the Dead: A George Romero/ J. G. Ballard crossover about a Zombie Apocalypse set in a formerly luxurious – but now decaying – summer resort in Portugal, during the 1980s.

Cards on the Table (working title): This is a mini-setting for Postcards from Avalidad. It adds the city of Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, to the Avalidad game world. Lisbon of the near-future is a new entry in the infamous list of gambling and vice cities of the world, such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Macao, Monaco and Singapore. There are several tie-ins to the original storyline through factions in the core book and plot hooks which require the characters to travel to the Iberian city. There’s also enough information to make Lisbon an alternative location for an Avalidad on-going plot.


Then there’s Nouveaupunk: Chronicles of the Belle Époque, the second campaign setting for James ‘Grim’ Desborough’s retroclone role-playing game *Punk. This one is still unfinished, but it will probably by completed early next year. And what is it about? Well, it takes place in the time period known as Belle Époque, dated between the early 1870s and 1914, at the beginning of World War I. It is neither the right time nor the right mood for Steampunk or Dieselpunk, but it is the era of Art Nouveau, an international style of art and architecture which had particular influence in the decorative arts. As it also uses the *Punk system, we called it Nouveaupunk.


This is where Umberto Eco’s Simone Simonini crosses paths with Jacques Tardi’s Adèle Blanc-Sec, Edgar Allan Poe’s Chevalier Auguste Dupin and Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin, amidst anarchist bombings, the echoes of the Dreyfus affair, the catastrophic side effects of secrets societies conspiring in the shadows and the mysterious results of experiences conducted by mad geniuses. Not quite pulp, not quite historical… but Nouveaupunk. Among the main inspirations for Chronicles of the Belle Époque there’s The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, a series of mildly Lovecraftian French graphic novels of the 1970s, by Jacques Tardi (also the 2010 movie adaptation by Luc Besson), Umberto Eco’s The Prague Cemetery (2010) and Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt and The Purloined Letter, featuring gentleman detective Auguste Dupin.

And there are still other plans… After finishing Chronicles of the Belle Époque I’ll move to an Atompunk setting, partly inspired by Grim Jim’s wonderfully insane ’45 – Psychobilly Retropocalypse. Already on the works is a dark, low-fantasy, high-debauchery campaign setting co-written by myself and Sílvia Clemente. Other partnerships may happen in the future, but that obviously relies on other people’s availability so I can’t add much about it. I’ve been thinking about a few more projects, but it’s too early to mention them.

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Map of Avalidad (Postcards from Avalidad)


The map of Avalidad will be included in a upcoming sourcebook for Postcards from Avalidad, the Postcards Companion, which will also feature a timeline of events for the near future setting, optional rules* for Psionics, a more detailed city guide, information about other corporations of note, a list of equipment and a table of random encounters using cards, among other things.

*All the optional rules are meant for *Punk, the preferred set of mechanics for Postcards from Avalidad (though it includes statistics for Actual Fucking Monsters as well).

map-of-avalidadDownload
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Rollerclash Teams (Postcards from Avalidad)

The idea of organising a Rollerclash competition was Dr Bentley’s, when he took over his office, as a way to further distract the workers on weekend nights. A kind of violent entertainment that is contained inside a sports venue and doesn’t flow over into the streets, as sometimes happens with Deathfight and Mutant Mayhem. That’s the reason why he decided to base it on Rollerball, a science fiction movie classic from the 1970s. Each Rollerclash team is sponsored by a different corporation. These are the teams currently playing in Avalidad by order of relevance:

Brutal Deluxe (BurroughsTech)
Underworld Blasters (Annexia Corp)
Rage Lords (Bergen Group)
Neon Rage (Nakajima)
Gods of War (Kobayashi)
Turbo Rangers (Matsui)
Sword of Damocles (War Inc)
Death or Glory (Hauser Corp)
Meat Massacre (Skyswitch Corporation)
Fatal Furies (Uncle Bill’s Guns)
Sexy Slashers (Martinelli)
Mean Machines (SecuriTech)

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Postcards from Avalidad Season #1 Episode #3

“And who by fire, who by water
Who in the sunshine, who in the night time
Who by high ordeal, who by common trial
Who by very slow decay
And who shall I say is calling?”

Leonard Cohen, Who by Fire


After doing some leg work, talking to the people at both the Iridum arena and the smaller venue where Malena acted recently, Doyle finds himself in need of help, he has now in his hands hours of surveillance recordings and no idea what do do with them. The stalker is still at large and he has no clues. Doyle arranges a meeting with Aziz Crowe in his office and puts him up to speed. Meanwhile, Isabella is having tea with her friend and is already aware of the troubles affecting the singer Malena, as well as her past story with Doyle. Isabella suggests ZoneSec should get involved and calls Aziz. She agrees to meet Doyle and Crowe at ZoneSec HQ.

Malena, lead singer of the Electro-Candombe band Malena y los Rio de la Plata

The three friends meet at the office over coffee, absinthe and a strange canned soft drink that a weird ginger kid has just handed to Doyle in the corridor. Being a scientist Nakatomi tries the drink and, after a energy burst, wonders about its contents and commercial possibilities.

Aziz asks his customized Personal Assistant, Natasha, do examine the surveillance recordings, while Doyle recaps the story and Nakatomi walks up and down the office. Aziz believes the crowded Hilton Hotel is not a safe enough place for Malena to seek refuge. She should be somewhere quieter and easier to control, like the Blue Parrot. Strangely both ex-lovers agree to the idea. A cunning plan is born: Malena will perform at the Blue Parrot to attract the pyromaniac stalker. ZoneSec can control the access to the bar and apprehend the criminal.

James C, star player of Brutal Deluxe Rollerclash team

Suddenly there is an unexpected visit: James C, the most famous Rollerclash player is insisting in talking to ZoneSec’s director right away. James, star player of the BurroughsTech sponsored team, Brutal Deluxe – is clearly disturbed: a teammate of his, Ironhead, died during a recent match. Though dying isn’t unusual for a Rollerclash game, James C is convinced it was a planned killing, the other player – bike driver Cletus Gunn of the Underworld Blasters – was clearly targeting Iron head during the whole match. James C claims he and the late Iron Head were being pressured by Pandemonium – the company that organizes the games – to retire. They had become big a starts, bigger then the game itself, and the corporate suits didn’t want that. Rollerclash shouldn’t generate idols for the masses. Aziz promises to investigate the case, while Nakatomi tries to set up a date with James C.

Back at the Blue Parrot, Isabella does a live RealSimcast with Malena to announce the concert for the next day to all her followers, making sure the news is widespread.

While they are doing the live, Natasha calls Aziz apart. She finally has news for him: a face was identified in the crowd at on of the concert, Lance Jones, a scientist that was jailed for stalking and trying to rape Ka’athryn years before. A worried Aziz calls a ZoneSec team to be on the scene immediately and Jones’ mugshot is distributed to both Blue Parrot and ZoneSec security.

It’s late, Borges is getting ready to go home when she gets a call from Clayton Reed. She and the rookies were just assigned to a security detail at the Blue Parrot to protect lead singer Malena. The team sets up a surveillance perimeter outside of the Blue Parrot, after a small territorial fight with the Blue Parrot bouncer about installing cameras inside the bar. 

On concert night the Blue Parrot is at its maximum capacity, everybody wants to see Malena. In spite of all the security efforts everything goes wrong! Suddenly an explosion occurs inside the bar. Doyle quickly drags Malena out of the stage and into his room, while Aziz helps evacuate the place, and Nakatomi keeps her exciting live stream going.

Outside, the security team quickly jumps out of the surveillance van, dejected by the fact O’Malley’s face detector program proved useless. Borges quickly races to the Blue Parrot and puts out the fire in the kitchen. She is pissed of with how the amateurs handled the situation. O’Malley’s inspection of the fire zone shows nothing, there is no explanation for the explosion.

Lance Jones was arrested years ago for trying to rape Ka’athryn

They decide to check Lance Jones background, but find nothing in official channels: classified information. Being the proactive young man he is, O’Malley goes straight to the director for information. Aziz tells the team that maybe Lance Jones can start fires from a distance using biotechnology. Borges gets even more pissed off. 

O´Malley tries to find the suspect by hacking the street cameras around the area. But there’s a weird pattern of cameras getting shut dow and  he ends up missing the trail. At least now they know what building he came of from, so it’s time to go knocking on doors. On the 4th floor there’s a flat where nobody is answering. O’Malley tries to kick the door down, but ends up hurting himself. Borges shows him how to do it: “We shoot the door!”.

Inside they find a recently carbonized body. Time to call the clean-up team. The apartment has a view over the Blue Parrot’s kitchen; Jones probably needed to see the place to do whatever he did… O’Malley dives into the darkweb and find out they may have found themselves a psycho scientist with a psionic power to start fires. Borges is furious and calls Clayton Reed to let him know of the night’s mess and the fact the director retained information. After another call from Reed Aziz finally shares the full information with the team.

Now they have the full picture maybe they can catch him next time.

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Postcards From Avalidad Season #1 Episode #2

“Time moves in one direction, memory in another”

William Gibson


The Turkey

Aziz Crowe arrives home at about 5 a.m., but before he lays down besides Ka’athryn, he checks for forensic updates on the murder’s at Bentley’s mansion. Barbaroux’s DNA was found under one of the models’ fingernails, but the fabric belongs to one Sir Nigel Smythe, a retired British expat who runs the local Hellfire Club. Crowe has a premonition that Barbaroux is already dead and sends Zone Sec to find Smythe.

After finally going to sleep he has one of those strange psychic dreams: Aziz is inside an oven, alongside a roasting turkey. The headless turkey screams at him, with an outrageous accent French “Help me! You bastard!”. The dream lingers in his mind and once he awakens in the morning the first thing he does is to gaze from the window of his Olympian Tower penthouse and focus on the memory of the turkey. Unexpectedly his intuition points to the suburbs. Precisely to Dr Bentley’s Mansion!

Veronica, the Baboon


Crowe calls Michael Doyle asking his company to visit Dr. Bentley once again. He doesn’t want to call ZoneSec in just yet. He also asks a distracted Ka’athryn to call Isabella about a turkey Dr Bentley has in the oven. Isabella is delighted with the unexpected lunch invitation from William, and makes haste. Leaving the hotel she founds a very clearly disturbed Malena, but alas William is wanting.

While the trio is once again together Malena’s (Electronic Candombe star and Isabella and Ka’athryn’s friend) return is casually mentioned. This appears to deeply disturb Doyle. They had relationship way back when she was nobody.

They find Dr Bentley in his mansion lounging by the pool in Veronica’s company. Doyle insists in searching inside the Orgone Acumulator, an unfruitful venture, while the turkey is cooked for a late lunch.

But Doyle is a stubborn gentleman and, after inspecting the murder scene one more time with Aziz’s help, he notices an unscrewed ventilation grid. The muck from the Orgone Accumulator makes it that much easier for Doyle to slide inside the crawlspace. After some twists and turns, the corpse of Jean Paul Barbaroux is found. That kinda ruined lunch plans!

Back at ZoneSec, Aziz is able to revive the last visions of the dead women and the designer. The visions  point to the French designer being the killer, but something in Crowe’s gut makes him suspect Sir Nigel is involved somehow.

During the afternoon Isabella decides to drop by Babar’s Atelier to give his assistant Louise the sorrowful news. After drinking a couple of bottles of champagne to celebrate the life and death of Jean Paul Barbaroux – and Louise’s glorious new career – Isabella moves to the designer’s office to do a quick search. She finds some highly incriminating photos and a jacket belonging to Smythe with a matching missing pocket. She calls Crowe to tell him about the evidence and then focus her attention in trying the dresses Babar left behind. The late designer’s last work will be hotter then a roasted turkey.

Meanwhile Doyle arrives at the Blue Parrot to find a familiar scent in the air: Malena has returned searching for his help.She tells him about the weird events that happened during her latest shows. She may have a pyromaniac stalker for a fan. When Doyle asks why come for him, her answer is: “You are the only one I now I can trust!”


ZoneSec Blues

The team has assembled for the morning briefing. The task on hand is still Kurt Kilgore’s smear campaign. Patrick O’Maley, well-caffeinated, prepares to set up his plan. The boy’s innate talent for hacking catches Borges’ eye.

While Jana entertains the reporters with an improvised press-conference, Borges persuades Kilgore to step down by threatening to leak the fake compromising stories planted by O’Maley. It would be better for all if Kurt just gave up politics; and he does.

The team decides to keep an eye on Democracy Now! They make a short list of the next possible leaders to be ready to neutralise them.

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Postcards from Avalidad: As Above so Below (SPOILERS) review

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Postcards from Avalidad Season #1 Episode #1

Cast

The Operatives: Eva Borges, Patrick O’Maley, Jana Gibson, Mariza Olafson. The VIPs: Isabella Nakatomi, Michael Doyle, Aziz Crowe.

Mission Report

“A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what’s going on. A psychotic is a guy who’s just found out what’s going on.”

William S. Burroughs

The Rookies:

After a week-long arduous training in the desert south of Avalidad, Patrick and Jana are finally back to civilization. For Jana it was a return to the tranquillity and comfort of the City, but for Patrick the novelty and excitement never wear off. Seeing Avalidad for the first time, the young tech takes another sip of his favourite drink and feels his heartbeat increase. While Lanyard gets closer to the heliport on top of the Zone Sec building, they see a tall muscular female waiting for them. “That is Eva Borges” Lanyard announces. “She comes out a bit bitchy, but don’t let her get to you. She’s really a bitch, but a nice one.”

As soon as the helicopter lands, O’Maley energetically jumps out, followed by Jana. They are greeted by a nonplussed Borges. “Welcome rookies!”

*They are picking them younger and softer by the day, Gibson is supposed to be Crowe’s wizard apprentice, but this guy…*

 After crushing Patrick’s overenthusiastic reaction, Borges orders them to follow her. In the briefing room they are joined by Olafson. The hacker is even less friendly then her usual self, and not happy at all when Borges tells her O’Maley will be her responsibility.

The senior agents are showing the place to the new comers when, in the 1st floor cafeteria, they come upon a commotion outside: Democracy Now! is organizing a pacific, but very annoying, demonstration, right outside ZoneSec’s HQ.

Cue in to Aziz´z Crowe office. Clayton Reed warns the director about the new annoyance from Democracy Now!. The verdict is that the demonstration will annoy Dr Bentley, so let them proceed for now…

Hours later the protest escalates: Kurt Kilgore, Democracy Now! leader declares he will go on hunger strike until his demands are taken seriously. The media are going crazy.

Clayton Reed instructs the team to take some measures, at least remove them from the site. Borges suggests moving them near the Kobayashi tower. This is a good opportunity to test the rookie’s nerves. The moment the team steps out of the building they are surrounded by the media, while Eva and Mariza head up to meet Kilgore, Jana stays behind talking to the press.

Borges is able to intimidate Kilgore to move the demonstration site for their own safety. Meanwhile, young Patrick tries to prove is worth by hacking into Kilgore’s MetaPlus account and posts some compromising “metas”.

Protesters move quietly, and all seems under control. But minutes after the team has re-entered the building, Reed calls them back, appearing to be in a bad mood.

“Have you seen the news?”

“Not yet, but they moved boss.” Borges replies. Reed cuts her up:

“Someone decide to hack Kilgore’s MetaPlus. And now he is accusing us of it. Did I order you to do it? Who did it?”

O’Maley assumes his guilt: It was really easy! I thought it was a good idea!” Clayton studies the rookie, looks suspiciously to the can the boy keeps sipping from.

“Did I told you to do it? Now we need to go ahead and discover some real dirt on the guy, not this child’s play. And what the hell is that stuff you keep drinking?”

Patrick smiles and proudly announces is home-made beverage: NutKicker, nobody is impressed, but everybody’s concerned.

After a long work and a lot of nut kicking, Patrick proves to be a very good hacker. Unfortunately, Kilgore is a boring fellow, with no skeletons in his closet. Who would trust someone like that in the government? After a debate between Crowe and Reed, it’s decided to go with defamation. Kilgore will be blackmailed before the fake story goes public.

The Party:

Suburbs of Avalidad, Mediouna upper-class neighbourhood: in one of the most luxurious mansions, a magnificent party is going on, chez Dr Bentley. There’s a party every other night, but this is the first time someone literally partied to death.

Natasha’s voice rouses Aziz in the middle of the night: “Urgent call from Dr Bentley”. On the other end a frantic Dr Bentley shouts. “They’ve hurt veronica, and I also have two dead bodies laying on the floor. Aziz come here as soon as possible. Now!”

Michael Doyle and Isabella Nakatomi were two of the party guests and, lucky for them, still alive. Like most guests, they are oblivious to the commotion going on on the upper floor, until they ear sharp cries, both human and simian.

Doyle is a busybody and Nakatomi is nurturing a strange unhealthy crush on Dr Bentley, so they are the only ones brave enough to climb the staircase to find out what’s going on. Dr Bentley is over himself: Veronica is bleeding from a small cut. Also, there’s that unpleasant business of the two stiffs. Isabella offers to help Bentley bandage Veronica’s cute little paw – while the baboon eyes her suspiciously – and Doyle offers to watch over the corpses.

Entering the room he’s rewarded with the sight of the two best looking corpses ever: the two models (they must have been models) were apparently stabbed to death and the murder scene looks like the site of some kind of ritual. While Doyle is playing the detective, Aziz Crowe enters the room. The presence of a real Zone Sec official doesn’t diminish the amateur’s enthusiasm (and not just because the corpses are gorgeous).

While wondering about the identity of the dead beauties, with the help of Natasha, they discover that both models Francesca and Inola had arrived at the party in the company of Isabella Nakatomi. Cue in Dr Bentley, a calmer Veronica, and Isabella. After the shock of seeing her friends dead and a ruined GivenXXX dress (Inola had leant it from her), Nakatomi confirms her friends’ identity. They were not really famous and have been involved on a small scandal that ruined fashion designer’s Jean Paul Barbaroux’s latest show. The models were both drunk and kept stumbling on the catwalk. The next day Barbaroux was the butt of the joke all over the City.

Suddenly, Dr Bentley announces there’s something stuck in Veronica’s teeth. After some effort, a piece of cloth is retrieved. Nakatomi quickly identifies it as the inner lining of a man’s tuxedo. Excited, the two amateurs sleuths go back to the party and try to identify who’s wearing a bitten coat. Aziz is left alone to think and also call the Zone Sec agents to secure the murder scene, and Bentley retires to put Veronica to bed.

After a quick search, the coat owner is not identified. Doyle, Crowe and Nakatomi chat about the fashion designer. Isabella refuses to believe “Babar” is the culprit, she knows his partying lifestyle and suggests they hunt for him.

The improbable trio heads to The Temple of Sound. It’s a painful experience for Doyle. Unfortunately, Babar hasn’t been seen for the last three days. Actually, it seems the party going designer has vanished from Avalidad’s night-life three days ago. Since Zone Sec can go everywhere and do everything, a visit to the designers apartment is added to the menu. Once again, no traces of “Babar” are found. The voice-mail is full of messages and the concierge confirms he hasn’t seen him, which actually isn’t unusual.

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Giallo: The Sisters of the Seven Sins (SPOILERS) review

Abraham Zetina has reviewed the third and last Postmortem Giallo: The Sisters of the Seven Sins for his YouTube channel, Talking About Games. You can check it out here. You can also check his previews reviews for the other gialli here.