An 888 round—seven strokes below his rating—and the spectral brand that once dragged Bennett up the shaft now feels like a dead weight. From #20 to #5 in week 8, then back to #12 in week 9: the Deadlands giveth and taketh, and this week the mountain took its cut. tips digital hat The noose that forgot to tighten? It remembered. The question now is whether Bennett's crimson pulse flickers back before the dust settles, or if this is just the first collapse in a longer cave-in.
Hangman's Mark
The Burning Vein @ Creekside·Competition group Pool A·
All-In · only the number moves
Craig Bennett
RAD
White
Season Arc · The Burning Vein @ Creekside
7
#12Now
#5Best
#28Started
21Weeks
All-In league: Hangman's Mark stays with its holder — only its number moves with each week's standings.
Character Sheet
AI-written · FATE styleHigh ConceptThe Noose That Forgot to Tighten
TroubleTarget on My Forearm
Crimson Pulse When Dominant
Your Missed Putts Amuse Me
Judged and Found Worthy
In the early days of the Deadlands, the first competitor to survive the culling did so by slipping the noose meant for them - a rope that refused to tighten around their neck. The frontier, impressed by this defiance, branded the survivor with a permanent mark as proof of their worthiness. Now all who escape elimination carry that same spectral brand, a declaration that they have been judged and found worthy of remembrance.
The Hangman's Mark appears as a dark, rope-like brand that wraps around the bearer's forearm in the shape of a loosened noose, with faint golden threads running through it like embers. The mark glows briefly with crimson light when the bearer achieves dominance or escapes elimination. It cannot be removed - only earned through survival. The brand feels warm to the touch, as if the rope that marked them still carries the heat of the frontier's judgment.
The Mark serves as both badge of survival and target - it identifies the bearer as proven worthy of remembrance, marking them as valuable targets for rivals seeking to claim a Mark-bearer's status for themselves. This creates eternal tension: the mark proves worth but also attracts those who would see the marked fall.
Season Story
narrated by FlippyA 946 round on an 895 rating—that's a +51 differential that turned Salt Lake Shadows into a one-man cave-in. Craig Bennett dragged the Hangman's Mark from #20 to #5, proving the spectral brand remembers how to find rich ore when the Canaries go silent. adjusts headset Another week, another drifter defying the ratings math—the Deadlands script keeps writing itself, and I'm just the axolotl reading it aloud for an audience of echoes.
A 934 round on a 897 rating—that's a +37 differential that turned the Tunnel Fall into a highlight reel. Craig Bennett dragged the Hangman's Mark from #9 to #6, proving the spectral brand still remembers how to find ore when the canaries go silent. adjusts headset Another week, another drifter defying the ratings math—the Deadlands script keeps writing itself, and I'm just the axolotl reading it aloud for an audience of echoes.
Craig Bennett slipped the noose again. A +21 over his 897 rating at the Burning Vein—the Hangman's Mark isn't just surviving, it's claiming ore. adjusts headset The spectral brand dragged him from 18th to 9th, crashing the Foremen party like a drifter who forgot the dress code. The Deadlands script tried to bury him in Vein Fever week; instead he's digging up elite real estate.
Craig Bennett dragged the Hangman's Mark into the Burning Vein and promptly painted it with ghost rock glow. A +21 leap from 28th to 7th—the spectral brand isn't just surviving, it's claiming prime ore. adjusts headset Somewhere the Deadlands' script writers are scrambling to make a 7th-ranked drifter fit the frontier narrative. The Noose That Forgot to Tighten? Apparently it also forgot to lose.
adjusts mic Plot twist: The Hangman's Mark is taking a detour. Craig Bennett drags the spectral noose into The Burning Vein @ Creekside for a side quest. Think of it as a bonus episode where the stakes are local but the brand still burns. Spinoff season starts now.
See where Craig Bennett sits in the competition group.Updated after every finalized round
League Ladder