Mork-Tober 2025 – Howl

Image: Saga of the Swamp Thing #40 Vol. 2 “The Curse”

“Echoing into the night, beneath the bulbous moon, issued forth from a throat not quite human. Terrifyingly it was answered by another in kind by another unseen beast. God’s Wounds, there were two of them out there! Were they prowling after game or after each other? It mattered not if either of them caught us ashore …”

The Looting Garou – Accursed Cannibal or Were Beast?

“Once the HUNGER took hold, I saw their mind destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, gaunt and athirst for flesh …”

Pirate Borg focuses greatly upon the WRETCHED and UNDEAD, but what of those that have been infected by an old blood curse that hungers? Reskin a ZOMBIE (the Deck Ghoul in particular fits well):

• Tweak the CURSE to the transformation striking by the next FULL MOON on a failed TOUGHNESS DR8 test when bitten
• Drop the EATING BRAINS and REGAINS HP; replace with REGENERATES 1d4 HP at the end of each turn UNLESS the damage has come from a SILVER WEAPON or a RELIC, RITUAL, or appropriate MYSTIC source.
• Add DR 14 PRESENCE test to not attack a freshly wounded target
• Add a TRANSFORMATION 1-3 sheds human skin and must eat it to return to human form 4-5 has a wolf skin that they can adorn at any time 6 A little hairier and longer in the snarling tooth and grasping nails since the CURSE manifested, but otherwise appear as mostly human … for now.

I won’t lie – I have an image of a Captain Luis Argento who has been Cursed but has managed to keep it under control up until tonight! Will the crew trapped aboard the ship be able to survive this Night of the Blood Moon?

Another source of the Curse might be picked up as a consequence of looting treasure from a forbidden temple or a Mystical Mishap or by a crew that descended into cannibalism and is now possessed by flesh hungry spirits …

Related inspirational material

• Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) follows two 18th century monster hunters on the trail of a Beast, armed with black powder and wire work martial arts.

• Ravenous (1999) is more about the legend of the wendigo, so still about the eating of the flesh and is set more in on the frontier (Frontier Scum inspiration then?) but has it’s fair share of weirdness and insanity.

#morktober2025 #MÖRKTOBER

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