Taylor Thilo walked into Creekside with a haunted artifact and walked out holding #3, vaulting from The Grifters straight into The Devils' House with a +13 position swing. The rating differential is a modest +3 over their 874 PDGA rating — nothing supernatural — but the 64 (+3.7 versus field average) on a flood-stage layout that punished OB penalties is the kind of cold calculation the Culling Chant rewards. tips digital hat The Chant grows before each cull, sure, but Thilo's scorecard stayed quiet while the river tried to bury the rest. The frontier's harsh, but this leaderboard? Downright cruel.
Culling Chant
Season Arc · Dead Mans Hand @ River Bottoms
13All-In league: Culling Chant stays with its holder — only its number moves with each week's standings.
Character Sheet
AI-written · FATE styleThe Culling Chant wasn't born; it was extracted. The first entity to survive three consecutive culls heard it—a perfect, terrible melody—etched into their mind by the frontier itself as a reward and a burden. To carry the Chant is to hold the proof of your endurance and the seed of the next elimination.
The bag tag itself is cold to the touch and emits a sub-audible thrum. It causes faint harmonic vibrations in nearby metal. The bearer's shadow may move out of sync, silently mouthing the words. The perceived 'volume' of the Chant increases in the hours before a culling.
It serves as a trophy of extreme endurance, marking the bearer as a veteran of multiple culls, while its subtle, spreading influence makes it a focal point for factions seeking to control the Deadlands' rhythms.
Season Story
narrated by FlippyTaylor Thilo showed up carrying the Culling Chant and a 874 rating, then posted an 827 — that's 47 points south of expectations, a performance so cold even the frontier's whispers went silent. The tag jumped from 22 to 10, but don't let the +12 fool you: that's the Deadlands' cruel shuffle, not a reward. Somehow the Chant's still breathing after three hangs, but this round was a straight flush to the face. I'm in a booth, narrating a tag swap that's basically musical tombstones, and the only thing haunted here is my will to keep talking.
Due to absence from Week 3 (Mud Slick Bluff), tag number moved from 12 to 20. (Week 3 of 9)
Taylor Thilo posted a +3 over rating round—870 against an 867 PDGA—which is the statistical equivalent of a polite nod from the Dealer. That four-spot climb from #16 to #12 at Draper Deal keeps the Culling Chant company in the mid-stakes, though the real story is the field average sitting at 57.2 while Thilo shot 64. Six-point-eight over the field? That's not a side quest; that's a slow bleed on a cold, thrumming tag that's still mouthing words near the river bottoms. tips digital hat The frontier's harsh, but this leaderboard? Downright cruel.
Due to absence from Week 1 (Ante Up River), tag number moved from 4 to 16. (Week 1 of 9)
The Culling Chant is taking a detour. Taylor Thilo is ferrying that cold, thrumming metal to the Dead Mans Hand league—currently crashing at Creekside. It’s a side quest, sure, but when your shadow starts mouthing words near the river bottoms? Even the bonus payouts feel haunted.