Alma Ramos Serrano

## Bio

Alma is a gracefully aging Spanish novelist (pen name Algún Verdad) in search of her missing fiance Diego. Ambitious and intimidating, she always makes her presence known.

## History

### 1839 (*Robert Castillo*)

Marooned on a tropical island with Dr. McCorquodale and Walton Weatherell, Alma used her knowledge from novels to assist the doctor in building a makeshift shelter. Alma suggested they look for inhabitants on the island and led their expedition, pinpointing the north of the lagoon as the likely location of any civilization. Her hunch was proven right when the party found several structures in disrepair. The buildings were of an unusual design unlike any culture she knew. When Weatherell found a statue of a toad-like humanoid, Alma noticed it had been purposely chipped at and defaced.

Upon hearing that Weatherell had seen something in the water the previous night, Alma tried to find a weapon for herself and tripped into a hole. Despite her injuries, she was thrilled to discover several gold treasures that had been buried in the hole. She immediately put some of the jewelry on herself and took a golden blade, leaving the rest at the behest of her companions.

Alma pushed to further explore the ruins and was disturbed by the harvest calendar they found, which depicted human sacrifices to creatures from the water. As she inspected the room, she spotted a figure watching them from the doorway. Chasing after them, Alma shouted at them in Spanish to which the man returned and responded in Spanish as well. When the man's companion, Sunday, attacked McCorquodale, Alma lopped off his arm with her new weapon. She pursued the man into a tunnel where he shouted at her that "they" were coming for their sacrifice. Descending into his cave, she discovered that he had a pistol as well as a cage large enough for humans. Alma snuck up on him and destroyed both his gun and hand.

The man now identified as Robert Castillo insisted "they" needed a sacrifice. Alma agreed to McCorquodale's plan of offering Castillo but was disturbed by the group's decision. Alma tried to force Castillo to tell the group how the sacrifice worked but didn't notice creatures approaching from the water. As they attacked, Castillo dropped a stone with a star-like symbol that she quickly grabbed. One creature about to grab her stopped just as she did so. Safe from the mysterious creatures, Alma waited out the night with her party and found thousands of fish the next morning as a result of the sacrifice. The group was later rescued by an American whaling vessel and Alma wrote a best-selling novel based on their experience called *The Maiden and the Fish Man*.

### 1843 (*The Mighty Lusca*)

Alma was hired to join the hunt for the mystery beast due to her occult knowledge after her experiences on the tropical island. When Orlando flirted with her, she said that she was loyal to her fiance Diego but he had been missing for several years. Nevertheless, she reciprocated the flirtations and seemed to enjoy his attention.

Alma was interested in Captain Herod's book collection, which was not allowed outside his room, and snuck into his quarters disguised as a shiphand. While exploring his room, she discovered gold jewelry under his pillow that resembled the jewelry she'd found on the tropical island. Distracted by her find, she was caught by the captain who threatened to toss her overboard. Alma threatened him back and warned him the jewelry may be cursed. Later that night, Alma found herself suddenly choking on seawater and began to drown. She managed to find Quincy Ferrymore, who attempted to aid her, and eventually vomited all the water from her lungs. As the crew tended to her, she warned them that something supernatural was afoot and believed the event had occurred due to touching the necklace in the captain's quarters. After Quincy suggested inciting mutiny, Alma intimidated the crew into helping by divulging the captain's threats towards her.

Alma joined the others in small boats to investigate the ruins of Atlantis, though she didn't dive with Quincy. When a whale was spotted, Alma eagerly leapt to the call and helped row towards the whale to catch it. Wanting to get in on the action, she took a harpoon and dove into the water. Upon seeing the lusca's form and realizing what an unnatural creature it was, she returned to one of the boats and told them to go back. Swimming for her life, Alma made it back to the ship only to be killed when the lusca barreled into the vessel.

## Legacy

A newspaper clipping of Alma's death and a statue of her were both featured in the Neptune Society's Limehouse headquarters. Wiggles particularly admired the statue and read several of her novels.

## Trivia

* Alma was the first player character death in the Neptune Society.