Monday 26 October 2015
Fear Week: the Wendigo
Posted by
Scott Malthouse
Welcome to Fear Week, where every day I'll be posting a new systemless horror for your games, from fantasy to modern to sci-fi. Today, we take a look at the Wendigo - a fearsome creature that drives even the most sane people to cannibalism.
The dark woods echo the clicks and caws of the birds and beasts that exist within them. Travelers who walk the woods at night speak of a being with twisted antlers, the face of a deer with decayed flesh. It has deep, sunken eyes that reveal only small yellow, ever-watchful pinpricks.
They say that once one has encountered this creature they call Wendigo you will begin to experience a craving for human flesh. There have been tales of bodies found in homes - entire families who have been devoured by a husband, wife or even child - their bones picked clean.
These cannibals are said to be Wendigo-touched and they can only be killed through decapitation. Villagers living close to woods, especially cold ones, keep a fire burning outside their doors every night to protect from a prowling Wendigo.
If one is confronted by a Wendigo, they will be subject to a maddening scream. This scream is thought to be the cause of the eventual cannibalism.
The process the Wendigo-touched goes through is as follows:
Day 1: The Wendigo-touched feels disgusted by normal food and shuns it.
Day 2: The Wendigo-touched begins to have nightmares where they are wandering through woods. They often awake to find dirt on their soles.
Day 3: They begin to starve and gain a need for human flesh
Day 4: They are overcome with a ravenous hunger for flesh and must feed
A Wendigo is also capable of killing when it wants to feed on flesh. The creature itself is of a medium power level and has the ability to entice people into the woods when it wants to feed. It is stealthy, but when it is around there is the unmistakable smell of rotting meat. It attacks with its hooves, antlers and teeth, rending flesh and screaming out.
Wendigos are weak to silver, so Wendigo hunters always take at least one silver blade with them into the woods.
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