Van Richten's Monster Hunter's.pdf - Askadesign.com

- &LC-JlOh, TlK hEC@ND
. . of
forced to kill entire ~o~ulations
natural animals in order to ferret out
the monster among them; this is
plainly unacceptable, as any ranger or
druid will angrily point out.
If the lycanthrope is pathologic, it is
possible that the monster could lose so
much of its conscious identity that it
might actually believe it is a wolf or
bear or badger while occupying that
particular form. These poor creatures,
who may be wholly ignorant of their
ailment while they suffer from it, can
be easy targets for those who hunt
them. Any hunter with the ability to
magically speak with, befriend, or control
animals may quickly learn through
any number of approaches which
beast is the monster. However, I hasten
to add that most infected lycanthropes
retain enough consciousness to understand
that they are not natural animals,
so it is highly unlikely that the hunters
will euer find a werebeast lounging
carelessly among its distant relatives,
heedless of discovery.
Knowing that the werebeast can and
does take the form of an animal still
has its advantages, though. Werebeasts
commonly surround themselves
with their natural counterparts and
take that form while they do so.
Hence, any ranger or druid who can
track a animal can also lead a hunting
party to the trail of a lycanthrope. That
is often as good as place to begin the
search as any.
Hwan Form
Ironically, this lycanthropic aspect is
by far the most dangerous.
Recognizing the true nature of a
werebeast in human (or demihuman)
form is frequently accomplished in
hindsight, too late. Survivors of a close
encounter with a werebeast sometimes
observe that they should have noticed
the elongated forefingers or the
abnormally hairy eyebrows before, and
the common failure to do so leads all
too often to bloody mayhem, as well
n
as the spread of a cursed affliction and
unbridled evil.
The hybrid form may be the more
efficient killer and the animal form
may move faster, but the human form
is the beast among us; it is privy to our
plans, a wolf in sheep's clothing, and
as capable of killing in this aspect as
any. Anyone, be they strange or famil-
iar, friendly or hostile, may suddenly
change to a terrifying monster before
your unsuspecting eyes, or worse,
when you are not even looking.
As the physical signs of lycanthropy
are always there, visible to those with
foresight as keen as their hindsight, an
objective search for these features may
prove invaluable. Certain features of
the animal breed-the beady eyes of
the wererat, the feral grin of the
werewolf, the piggish nose of the
wereboar, and so on-are inescapable
to the human form. If the hunting party
knows the phenotype of the
lycanthrope, body traits can do much
to eliminate some suspects and indict
others, Even so, I hasten to add that
these features are often subtle in the
extreme, and no one can be blamed
for missing them even when actively
looking for them.
Perhaps the most important key to
recognizing a lycanthrope in human
form is to return to the first rule of the
hunt and determine whether the crea-
ture is born or fallen to its condition.
True lycanthropes tend to formulate
evil agendas, while infected ones live
in ignorance or shame of their other
selves. The former takes the human
aspect as a disguise, while the latter
simply remains human until some cir-
cumstance beyond control sweeps him
or her into a nightmare world where
nightmares are reality The reasons for
occupying the human form are di-
verse, and therefore the means of iden-
tifying the two types are different.
True Lycanthropes: Born a monster,
the hereditary werebeast's awareness
of its identity and actions in any form
enables it to use its mutability to @
.