Mustang Sally

Doña Carolina de la Vega, better known as **Mustang Sally**, is the heir to the mantle of *El Toro* and the first mate of Captain Dove. She is a mustang who previously abandoned her father and her fortune to pursue a life of adventure through piracy. She is a proficient swordsman, though her training is yet incomplete.

## History

Don Rafael, Sally's father, fostered immense contempt for the brutality of the Frogerales and Banditoads who lorded over the town of Santo Pollo. He resolved to fight back and, assuming the persona of the masked *El Toro*, waged a nocturnal onslaught against the machinations of the corrupt regime. However, Rafael also dared to raise a family during the day: Carolina, his daughter, and Rodrigo, a young bull whom he adopted.

Rafael's downfall began when he first ventured to teach Rodrigo the ways of the sword. Rodrigo proved a fast learner, but he also proved too eager to share what he was learning. He quickly passed his lessons on to Carolina, his sister and lover. When Rafael learned that his daughter was preparing herself for a life of dueling, he was horrified. He renounced his mask and retired from vigilantism. Furthermore, he refused to bless any union between Rodrigo and his daughter.

Disappointed, Carolina left Santo Pollo on a pirate ship bound for Skull Island. Don Rafael passed away in her absence, leaving Rodrigo his sole heir. Carolina, adopting the nickname of "Mustang Sally," served aboard many vessels in the following years and even won an apprenticeship under the famed fencer Deadeye Deirdre. However, this was the pinnacle of Sally's luck. When she tried to captain a ship of her own, her overconfidence became her undoing. After losing all her money and her ship, *The Trick Pony*, in a crooked card game with Ratbeard, Sally was reduced to living in a squalid flop house in Flotsam. Yet even after these losses, a great debt remained.

Luckily for Sally, Morgan Dove happened to be surveying the rental properties of Flotsam when Ratbeard's thugs came to collect. Taken by the very sight of her, he and his crew routed her attackers. Dove offered her a generous position among his crew, but in light of a lucrative offer from the notorious Catbeard, she politely declined.

Several months later, Catbeard hired Sally again to bust Napoleguin, the disgraced military genius of Polaris, out of Fort Elena near Skull Island. This scheme failed, and Sally was also imprisoned. However, Captain Dove leapt at the opportunity. He provoked the Valencian Armada to attack the fort and used the ensuing battle as a smokescreen to free the prisoners. Thus, Dove's pirates started the Valencian-Marleybonian War and finished the Napoleguin job—but privately, the captain cared only about securing Sally's loyalty.

Mustang Sally did join Dove's crew when he extended his second invitation. She almost immediately became his first mate—a position she holds to this day and which she enjoys mostly for the fancy room and board.

## Personality

"*Ratbeard? He's no end of trouble. Oh, you know him? If you see him, belt him one for me!*"
— Mustang Sally's first words to Bonnie Anne

Born and raised in the dusty skies of Santo Pollo, Mustang Sally has always been an adventurer at heart. She craves the thrill of beating down the wicked, just as her father did before her; however, she also longs to be *recognized* as a hero for her deeds. Unlike Don Rafael, Sally has no use for a mask. She lets the whole Spiral know that it is she who wields her righteous blade.

Sally is an uncommonly purehearted pirate. Having witnessed the evils of the Frogerales and long loved their nemesis, she naturally harbors a soft spot for the underdog in any situation. She seeks the utmost good for those who need it most and strives to propagate the kind of freedom a pirate's life offers. Her ideal world is a Spiral unrestrained by tyranny.

Yet grief and shame motivate Mustang Sally as much as her passion for fighting the good fight. She ruefully accepts responsibility for the passing of Don Rafael, and the disappearance of the lonely Don Rodrigo has only magnified her sorrow. In light of these misfortunes, Sally has undertaken the burden of *El Toro* in their honor, though her success has been comparatively marginal. Unlike the other pirates on the treasure hunt, Sally seeks El Dorado to better herself as an agent of justice, believing the experience will serve to complete her training. Rapping the Armada across the knuckles is a delightful bonus.