Blade Maidens: Dead in the Water – 5

“The werewolf is a curious thing.

While in their native state, they appear no different than you or I. Able to live a mundane life without fear of detection, beyond those who have been alerted to the watch signs. Heightened smell. Excessive hair or enlarged canines at certain times of the month.

But when they shift into their more bestial, natural forms, they are little more than feral beasts with the cunning of a man. A danger beyond reckoning to the unprepared.

Which is why I am ensuring that we are prepared.

Initial tests have produced mixed results. Some subjects seem to shift between forms with little to no discomfort. Some, when questioned under enchantment afterwards, even purport to enjoy the act. Others find it rather torturous. There is no common link, not length of infection or original species, tying these different behaviors together. Infuriating.

Experiments using artificial sources of moonlight, be it blessed artifacts of Mother Moon hung about their cells or rudimentary mage-lights modified to mimic the cool light of the moon all produce similar results: Some degree of change, often minor, but universally agonizing. It almost appears as though the werewolf fights any attempt to divert it from its cursed rhythms.

We will, of course, require more tests and more subjects. Please acquire them from new gutters and flophouses, this time. Offal Way is beginning to take note of the disappearances and our research is much too important to be delayed in the name of propriety.”

– A magically sealed letter from Chancelor Roderick Brightfellow, sent internally within the halls of Freehold.