TOPIC: Savage Worlds - Wolfenstrahd

I just googled 'WOLFENSTRAHD' and there is a bloody Google AI summary of our campaign(!);

WOLFENSTRAHD is a Savage Worlds (SWADE) tabletop RPG campaign/setting, often run as a conversion of the classic Curse of Strahd gothic horror module. It features classic vampire lord Strahd von Zarovich fighting players, incorporating elements like vampiric brides, flying, and intense, explosive combat scenarios.

Key details regarding Wolfenstrahd include:
System: Primarily associated with Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE).

Theme: Gothic horror, featuring iconic elements such as Strahd's monstrous bat form, vampires, a draconic throne, and dramatic confrontations.

Community: Active discussions regarding the campaign have been featured on EN World and within Black Country Role-Playing Society (BCRPS) forums.

Location: Sometimes associated with the Baronies of Barovia and Ravenwold, involving narratives of rebellion and dark magic.

The term also appears in separate, early D&D "Gloriant" homebrew discussions, referencing a dark land bordering Gilthorian.

Haha, I write "intense, explosive combat scenarios". Suck it, GCSE English teacher!

AWKWARD EDIT: ... and none of it would have been possible without you, the players! Thankyou for being so awesome!

WOLFENSTRAHD 2 / Session 1 - Part 1

The date is June 6, 1944. A massive Allied force prepares to make landfall along the coastline of Normandy, hoping to gain a foothold in Nazi-occupied France. Taskforce M have been attached to the US 1st Army to support the assault on Omaha Beach, but their primary objective lies further inland. Intel has reached the Vatican that the S.S plan to perform a profane ritual at a location near the village of Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mere, and Taskforce M are charged with stopping them.

The landing craft lists alarmingly to one side as Guy Hades II shifts his considerable weight. Having been instructed by their Vatican handlers to disguise their inhuman nature around the American troops, he has deigned to put on a hat. The wizarding skeleton Rex Ossa (formerly Vex) is having better luck blending in, having cast Disguise to appear as a perfectly normal - though strikingly handsome - human male. The dhampir mafioso Cassius Barbastella has turned up his collar to conceal his pallid complexion and prominent fangs. He is accompanied by his wolf companion Frater, who is whining unhappily about the rocking motion of the landing craft. Finally, the demon sorcerer Dhrall Blood-Drinker sits hunched beneath an oilskin cape, lamenting the series of unfortunate events that led to his being bound in service to the church. His physical form was destroyed during the previous mission to Barovia, and he has not yet had time to fully regenerate. Beneath the cape lies a twisted mockery of flesh the sorcerer is forced to inhabit for the time being.

A young American infantryman looks to be in need of some reassurance. His dogtag identifies him as Private J Ryan. Rex Ossa leans over and gives him a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, dying gets easier the more often you do it."

Before the confused soldier can respond, the landing craft runs aground on the French coast. The bow ramp drops into the surf, and the Allied troops charge onto the beach. Heavy machine gun fire from bunkers atop the cliff cut down the front ranks. Cassius summons a swarm of bats to distract the German gunners and obstruct their view of the beach.

"Follow me!" shouts an enthusiastic sergeant, racing ahead of his squad.



He is reduced to a fine red mist, having just charged into a minefield. Rex Ossa calls upon his mastery of the four elements to sculpt a bridge out of the very earth, enabling the other soldiers to cross unploded.

Coils of barbed wire obstruct further progress up the beach. Soldiers snared in the barrier make easy targets for German snipers. Dhrall Blood-Drinker conjures a curtain of hellfire to conceal the Allied sappers as they cut through the wire.

The roar of an engine grows louder, as a Focke-Wulf FW 190 fighter plane strafes the coastline, machine guns tearing up the Allied soldiers trapped on the beach. Guy Hades II Hulk-jumps into the air and lands on the plane's fuselage. He rips open the cockpit and discards the shrieking pilot, then reaches into the plane and grabs the joystick. Guy II steers the plane away from the beach, skimming low over the English Channel. The rest of Taskforce M watch him dwindle into the distance - shrug - and turn to face the towering cliff-face ahead of them.

Rex Ossa still carries the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, enabling him to sprout large black wings. Being a dhampir, Cassius can scale the sheerest incline with the surety of a mountain goat. Dhrall Blood-Drinker can neither fly nor walk on walls, and his limbs are all messed up following his rushed regeneration. Still, he manages to painstakingly climb the rocky cliff-face and join his comrades at the top.

Allied troops have also scaled the cliff, and now assault the German defences. The monsters watch Private Ryan and what's left of his squad breach a concrete bunker. A burst of flame erupts from the opening, followed by a lot of screaming. Ryan crawls out of the bunker, his uniform ablaze, followed by the hulking metal form of a Flammenwerfer Ubermech.

Despite their orders to proceed immediately to Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mere, Rex Ossa goes to aid the injured soldier. Dhrall hobbles after him, but Cassius decides to sit this one out. He well remembers the last time he was set on fire, beneath the manor of the pyromanic Baron Vargas and is in no rush to relive the experience.

German soldiers cheer as the ubermech lifts a heavy metal boot to crush Private Ryan's skull. Bullets ping of its armoured plating as Rex Ossa opens fire. The ubermech raises its flamethrower and spurts a cone of napalm down the length of the earthern trench. Rex Ossa dives for cover, and escapes with nothing worse than a singed fedora. Dhrall hurls two bolts of hellfire at the rampaging construct, igniting the fuel cannisters mounted to its back. The ubermech explodes.

The Nazi grunts retreat into the bunker. Before the monsters can engage, they hear the familar roar of an approaching aircraft. Guy Hades II surfs the unmanned Focke-Wulf FW 190 into the front of the bunker, killing everyone inside. Guy II leaps clear at the last moment, sliding down the domed roof of the bunker like a goddamned action hero.

Taskforce M have successfully saved Private Ryan! Allied medics will patch him up good as new, probably. The monsters gain a point of Conviction. The Allies seem seem to be doing OK on their own, so it is time for Taskforce M to get moving. Rex Ossa hotwires a German supply truck and the team set off across the pastoral French countryside.

TBC

WOLFENSTRAHD 2 / Session 1 - Part 2

The monsters reach Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mere after dark, circumventing the sleeping village to approach the isolated farmstead where the S.S are conducting their ritual. Rex Ossa casts Disguise on himself and drives up to the gate. Cassius is riding shotgun, while Frater and the other monsters hide in the back of the truck. A german soldier demands to see their paperwork. Cassius casts Puppet to dominate the soldier's mind, and he waves them through the checkpoint.

German infantry have fortified the farmhouse, but the S.S are conducting their ritual in the large fieldstone barn behind the property. The soldiers gesture for Rex to park up alongside the other vehicles. Ignoring them, he spins the wheel toward the barn and puts his foot down. German soldiers dive out of the way as the truck smashes through the large wooden doors. The S.S warlocks inside the barn are greatly surprised by a speeding vehicle careening across their summoning circle. A portal overlooking the abyssal plains of Tartarus stands open in the middle of the barn! Rex Ossa slams the brakes to avoid driving straight into it. The monsters disembark the moving truck, dodging bolts of eldritch fire. The Supreme Warlock reads aloud from a chunky, leather-bound tome, raising his voice to be heard over the rattle of gunfire. Rex Ossa shoots him the chest, interrupting the incantation at a pivotal moment.

A blast of hellfire from the destabilising rift knocks the monsters on their asses. The barn begins to come apart around them, heavy chunks of masonry slowly orbiting the portal. Lesser demons spill through the breach, and the brobdingnagian bulk of a Greater Demon blots out the infernal vista beyond the gate; an ebon giant with four muscular arms and three blazing golden eyes in an otherwise featureless face.

"It's Azazel!" Dhrall cries, pointing toward the rift. As a denizen of Hell himself, he knows the Greater Demons are uniformly bad news. "We have to close the portal!"

Ten coal-black fingers reach through the portal, close around its edges and slowly begin to pull them further apart; an abyssal womb about to birth a creature of unimaginable darkness if the monsters don't find a way to shut it down!

Cassius searches for the book the Supreme Warlock had been reading from, but it it is nowhere to be found. Instead, the monsters focus on attacking Azazel's questing digits. As the final fingers are detached, Azazel loses his grip and the rift snaps shut, sealing him on the other side.

Several of the Greater Demon's fingers were severed at the knuckle as the portal closed, one of which bears a ring of Eldrite steel wide enough to be worn as a belt by a human-sized character. The belt grants the wearer Elemental Protection 4 against fire. Cassius claims the belt, though it clashes horribly with his bespoke Italian suit.

The monsters have scuppered the S.S plot, and prevented a demonic incursion by the armies of Hell. All in a day's work for Taskforce M!

Flash forward 9 months; having secured a coastal supply route for troops and artillery into mainland Europe, Allied forces have driven the German Army out of France. With a second army of battle-hardened Russians on the march, Nazi forces have pulled back to defend Berlin from the imminent siege.

In a highly secure dungeon beneath the Vatican, Cardinal Gunn briefs Taskforce M on their next mission. Following their failed attempt to open a stable gateway to Hell, the S.S have recruited disgraced British sorcerer Alistair Crowley to fine-tune the flawed ritual. The monsters are to infiltrate Berlin, locate the secret S.S facility and sabotage any attempt the Germans are making to broker an alliance with the Greater Demons. Alistair Crowley and S.S commander Heinrich Himmler are to be eliminated by any means necessary. Gunn recommends the monsters approach Major Georgy Zhukov, commander of the Red Army encircling the city and secure his aid breaching the German defences. Once inside the walls, he suggests making contact with the Daughters of the White Rose, a coven of witches with a lodge near Tiergarten Park.

The Fuhrer himself has retreated to a secure bunker hidden somewhere in the city. Vatican agents have been unable to locate the entrance, but if the monsters capture and interrogate four Nazi officers, they might yet get a whack at planting ole Uncle Adolf.

TBC

WOLFENSTRAHD 2 / Session 2

April, 1945. Taskforce M parachute into Germany. The Red Army have encircled Berlin and commenced bombing the city via a relentless barrage of mortar fire.

After his beloved roadster was hijacked by Cassius' psycho sister, Rex Ossa has upgraded to a Bentley R-Type Continental with bullet-proof bodywork. The vehicle is airdropped to a secure location near their LZ. In the current circumstances, Berlin is not exactly commuter friendly, so Rex will retrieve the car when it is safe to do so.

Russian sentries intercept the monsters at the soviet lines and escort them to Marshal Zhukov; a bald, barrel-chested man with dozens of gleaming medals pinned to his uniform. He waves a pistol in the direction of four deserters kneeling in the mud, sackcloth bags covering their faces. The monsters look on impassively as Zhukov blows them away one by one, then invites them into his command tent as though he hadn't just done a war crime.



The Marshal insists the monsters share a drink with him before getting down to business, and produces a fresh bottle of Sibirskaya (80% proof vodka).

"I do not drink... vodka." Cassius say.

Rex and Guy Hades II also demur. Dhrall Blood-Drinker pours their shots into his own glass and downs the lot. Marshal Zhukov is satisfied, but now Dhrall is Exhausted (-2 to all actions). Dhrall didn't think demons could get drunk on piss-weak human liquor, but this Russian stuff is potent. He asks Zhukov for another bottle for later.

The Marshal gestures to a map of Berlin. Nazi soldiers hold the city and any direct ground assault will be thwarted by the Titanfuhrer, a towering Gundam-esque mech with Hitler's likeness. The Red Army is on stand-by until they receive tank support from Moscow. Artillery fire destroyed a mustard gas factory in the industrial district, and now a quarter of Berlin is shrouded in poisonous yellow smog. The sewers are the safest route into the city, but the Nazis have booby trapped the tunnels. The scouts Zhukov ordered to map the sewer system have not returned, save one crazed survivor raving about how the rest of his squad were eaten alive by something dwelling in the dark.

Taskforce M enter the sewers, splashing through a turgid stream of ankle-deep effluent. Rex leads the way, the tunnel ahead brightly illuminated by the light of his Finsen Lamp. He notices a tripwire rigged to explosives and warns the rest of the team to step over the trap. A short while later, they find the remains of a Russian scout floating face-down in the foul water - or just down since he no longer has a face. The body is all torn up and has been partially devoured. There's no sign of whatever has been chewing on the corpse, but the radius of the bite marks indicates it was some kind of humanoid.

The monsters continue slogging through the sewer. They have seen plenty of vermin since entering the tunnels, but the quantity is definitely increasing. Cassius hears a strange, chittering voice in his head - his affinity for rodents is somehow enabling him to communicate with the swarm. The rats have been sent to lead Taskforce M to the Court of the Rattenkonig. The monsters warily accept this disquieting invitation. The sea of rats parts for the monsters to pass.

They are herded to a huge underground cistern. A bridge of pitted metal spans a resevoir of raw, untreated sewage. Dozens of pipes deliver a constant stream of liquid filth into the churning morass below. Beyond the bridge is a mountain of discarded junk the rats have 'rescued' from the ruins of Berlin. Perched atop the pile of rubbish is a ragged looking scarecow of a man, his face hidden blow the brim of a battered top hat. The self-proclaimed Rattenkonig (or Rat King) moves strangely, limbs flopping around bonelessly as he rises to address his guests.

The Rattenkonig rules all that dwell in the dark places beneath the city, but a nest of ghouls seek to usurp his throne. From their lair in the catacombs below Berlin Cathedral, they stage brazen incursions into the Rat King's territory. This cannot stand. If the monsters eliminate the ghouls, the Rattenkonig will bestow upon them his royal favour.

The rats lead Taskforce M to the entrance of the Hohenzollern Crypt. The door is guarded by a retinue of zombie knights encased in suits of rusty medievel armour. A few of the knights have managed to get their rotting hands on some heavy crossbows. Frater is shot full of bolts and immediately dies. Cassius laments sinking so many Advances into his animal sidekick, but such is the regret of many pet owners. A dog is for life, not just for D Day.

Guy II uppercuts a zombie so hard its head is separated from its body. He grabs the attached spinal column, spins around and hurls it like he's going for a gold medal in the Hammer Throw. Dhrall conjures bursts of hellfire to melt the armoured zombies down to slag. Rex unloads an entire magazine of handgun ammo into the breastplate of a hulking undead knight. Cassius mopes over his dead dog.

The monsters push forward into the crypt. A dozen Prussian nobles have risen as ghouls. They are congregated around a long table, messily feasting upon a smorgasbord of replusive offal. At the head of the table sits the reanimated corpse of King Friedrich I (1657 - 1713), lording it over his undead subjects. King Friedrich wields a resplendent golden sceptre (the Hohenzollern Sceptre, heavy club, +2 Fighting, Strength+d6 damage, free re-roll on Persuasion checks) that certainly enhances his regal bearing. He disputes the Rattenkonig's authority and panics when he realises Taskforce M are here to do a regicide.

"The Proletariat!" he cries in horror, "They've come for me!"



Rex casts Blast, incinerating several of the ghastly nobles. A ghoul sinks its teeth into Guy II's hand and bites off two of his fingers! Guy II rips the offending ghoul in half, then pokes around in the gore looking for his missing digits (Rex later tries to reattach them with the Healing power, but rolls snake-eyes and makes the loss permanent). Dhrall casts Havoc, scattering ghouls across the crypt. King Friedrich cowers behind his sarcophagus. Guy II lines up a headshot and blows Freddy away with his comically oversized hand cannon. Cassius loots the body, adding King Friedrich's signet ring to his growing collection of men's jewellery.

The monsters return to the Court of the Rattenkonig and hand over the Hohenzollern Sceptre as proof that King Friedrich's reign is at an end. Taskforce M can now call upon the Rattenkonig for information and favours as per the Connections edge, and once per session when Cassius summons a rat swarm it will fill a large blast template, rather than medium.

Having secured safe passage through the Rattenkonig's domain, Taskforce M finally return to the surface, emerging from a broken sewer pipe in Tiergarten Park. Russian mortars have turned this once beautiful parkland into a wasteland pockmarked by deep, irregular craters. Smoke rises from the ruins of the Berlin Zoo. Several monkeys chatter noisily from the branches of a tree miraculously untouched by the surrounding devastation. At least some animals survived the indiscriminate bombing of the city.

Rex spots white roses growing amidst one of the untouched flowerbeds, and follows the trail of snowy petals to a three-storey townhouse on the edge of the park. The monsters surmise this to be sanctum of the Daughters of the White Rose. Unfortunately, they are not the first to arrive. The S.S have raided White Rose Lodge. Nazi soldiers stand guard outside, while the S.S tear the place apart in search of esoteric lore.

Rex casts Disguise, hoping to pass himself of as just another Nazi grunt. The guards see through his deception and open fire! Rex dives behind a planter for cover. Bullets tear through the flowers growing in it. The monsters assault the lodge and clear it room by room - taking care to capture any Nazi Officers alive.

Taskforce M search the building, but there is no sign of the coven. Three statues in the foyer capture Rex's interest; a maiden, a mother and a crone, each with a spherical protrusion in the base that can be rotated to show the different faces of the moon. By matching the stages of the woman's life to the associated phases of the lunar cycle (Maiden/Youth = waxing crescent, Mother/Fulfilment = full moon, Crone/Wisdom = waning crescent), the monsters reveal the hidden entrance to the inner sanctum hidden beneath the lodge.

TBC

Suggestion for a new house rule/sub-system;

Quick Infiltration
When a Hero (or multiple Heroes) attempt to infiltrate a hostile area, they make a die roll to represent their method of infiltration, ie: Athletics, Persuasion, Stealth. For every success and raise they score on that initial roll, they can take one Infiltration Action, ie: map out an area, establish guard patrol route, steal a keycard, plant a bomb, etc....

Once all Infiltration Actions have been taken, the guards begin to grow suspicious. They can leave the area now with no roll required, or you can make another - increasingly difficult - die roll to gain additional Infiltration Actions. A failed roll forces them to leave the area - or triggers a combat encounter if they refuse to leave, a critical failure means they have been discovered and triggers an immediate combat encounter where the enemies have The Drop.

WOLFENSTRAHD 2 / Session 3

Taskforce M descend to the inner sanctum and meet Sophie Scholer, the last witch of the White Rose Lodge. The rest of her coven were rounded up by the S.S and taken to Spandau Prison in west Berlin. The monsters need the coven's help to locate Alistair Crowley. They begin plotting a prison break. While his teammates go over the plan, Dhrall Blood-Drinker peruses the coven's library and 'borrows' a tome dedicated to the binding of demons - and hopefully how such a bond may be broken. He also skims the Scroll of Foreshadowing, which lists all the Greater Demons and their roles in the governance of infernal Tartarus.

BAAL, King of Hell
LILITH, his queen
AZAZEL, general of Hell's armies
MEPHISTOPHELES, advisor to the Demon King

plus the seven Dukes ruling the various layers of Hell; LUCIFER, MAMMON, ASMODEUS, LEVIATHON, BEELZEBUB, SATAN & BELPHEGOR.

Taskforce M travel to Spandau Prison. Dhrall and Guy II hang back, hiding in the ruins of a bombed-out building. Rex is disguised as a Nazi officer, and Cassius is wearing the uniform of a German soldier (he did ask Sophie to patch up the bullet holes, but she was offended by his gender bias). They blag their way inside, flashing the forged documents Rex made up earlier. The prison is split into two sections; the main cell block occupied by political prisoners of the Third Reich, and the high security wing where the S.S conduct their depraved experiments on the prison populous. The entrance to the high security wing is flanked by a pair of hulking Ubermechs. Cassius charms a prison guard to let them into the S.S laboratory, but a prison officer observes their curious behaviour and raises the alarm!

Cassius cashes in a favour from the Rattenkonig to summon a large swarm of voracious vermin to flood the prison. The prison guards are eaten alive. The Ubermech are impervious to the rats' gnawing teeth. They charge toward the monsters, each stride crushing a handful of squealing rats into red paste. Having fought these armoured brutes before, Taskforce M have become quite adept at taking them out. Cassius and Rex incapacitate the two Ubermech and force entry into the S.S lab.

Hearing the alarm blaring, Dhrall and Guy II leap into action. Dhrall summons a trio of hellhounds to ravage the guards posted at the prison entrance. Most of the men flee, those that stand their ground are torn apart. The gates are barred from the inside, but Dhrall casts disintergrating Bolt to blow them apart. Meanwhile, Guy II scrambles to the top of a guard tower, and finds a sniper rifle conveniently placed there. He starts sniping the prison guards defending the compound. The soldiers return fire with submachine guns. One grunt throws a grenade. Guy II is hurled from his roost by the explosion, bouncing off the roof of a prison transport bus parked below. He rolls to his feet just in time to see Dhrall's hounds dragging the last of the Nazi soldiers down to Hell.

Their is a Nazi officer overseeing the defence of the prison (how's that going, by the way?). Guy II knocks him out and slings him over his shoulder. Once he has been interrogated, the team will have half of the intel required to learn the location of the Fuhrerbunker.

Inside the high security wing, Rex and Cassius locate the missing witches hooked up to some kind of Nazi brainwashing apparatus, programmed to turn them into loyal Hexenkrieger (Witch Warriors). At the end of the cell block is a reinforced metal door plastered with warnings that the occupant is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. Rex peeks inside and sees the walls are gouged with deep claw marks. A scrawny human male huddles in the corner of the cell, shackled with silver chains. Despite the man's long, greasy hair and unkempt beard, Rex immediately recognises him.

"Victor?!" Rex gasps, unable to believe the evidence of his own empty eye sockets.

Cut down by the vampire lord Strahd von Zarovich and buried beneath the collapsing foundations of Castle Ravenloft, Victor Moonstruck was declared KIA - yet here is is in S.S custody, seemingly alive and well!

Victor stares at Rex in confusion and alarm. He does not recognise his old teammate, and seems uncertain of his own identity. Playing a hunch, Rex enquires as to his opinion of the Third Reich.

"Heil Hitler!" Victor says, throwing his arm up in an enthusiastic Nazi salute.

"Stop that!" Rex snaps in disgust.

The monsters decide to leave Victor in his cell until they untangle his confused loyalties. They break into the control room. An orderly tries to jab Cassius with a syringe loaded with a powerful sedative. He bats the needle aside and sinks his fangs into the orderlies neck. While the Cassius slurps on his manshake, Rex deactivates the brainwashing paraphernalia. The witches are grateful to be rescued, but four of their number - including their leader Mother Veleda - are unaccounted for.



Taskforce M continue to explore the S.S facility. They reach a a surgical theatre, where a team of Nazi doctors are carefully transplanting a prisoner's brain into the skull of a dormant Ubermech. Doctor Josef Brack - the mastermind behind the brainwashing programme - supervises the gristly operation. Four Hexenkrieger (brainwashed witches wearing leather jumpsuits, with metal cages encosing their heads) stand guard. Rex drops an empowered Blast on the occupants of the room, killing everyone except the two Wild Cards (Doctor Brack and Veleda) thanks to A LOT of exploding damage die.

"Surrender, or I do it again!" Rex warns, flames dancing in his bony palm.

Brack complies, and orders the Hexenkrieger to stand down. Taskforce M intend to force the mad surgeon to reverse the brainwashing on Victor and Veleda. They collect their former comrade on their way out of the prison, but resolve to keep a close eye on him until his mind is restored to good working order.

The monsters steal a prison transport bus to facilitate the escape of so many people. Rex takes the wheel, and everyone else prepares to defend the vehicle. The Nazis have erected a road block up ahead. Guy II lays down supressing fire and the bus smashes through the barricade. Nazi motorcycles give chase. Dhrall casts disintergrating bolts to destroy the bikes, leaving the riders rolling in the road. A second bus pulls up alongside, and German soldiers open fire. The witches hit the deck as windows shatter, showering them in broken glass. Cassius leaps onto the other vehicle and cuts down the German soldiers in a flurry of masterful swordwork. He hops back onto the team's bus drenched in blood. The other vehicle swerves aside and crashes. Explosions up ahead. The Russians are bombing this section of the city! A building collapses, throwing up a cloud of blinding dust. Somehow, Rex manoeuvres through the falling debris without totalling their ride.

Up ahead, something HUGE looms out of the smoke, a towering metal man with the leering puppet face of Adolf Hitler. It's the Titanfuhrer! The construct's mouth drops open like a ventriloquist's dummy, and a powerful beam weapon lances toward the speeding bus! Rex spins the wheel, performing a reckless 90' turn that comes perilously close to flipping the vehicle. The laser cuts through the back of the bus, slicing through the metal chassis with surgical precision, and continues on to demolish a row of buildings on that side of the street. Abandoning the wrecked vehicle, Taskforce M are able to hide from the Titanfuhrer in the ruins of Berlin, and slowly make their way back to White Rose Lodge.

Cassius stops off at the Berlin Zoo to recruit a new wolf ally. He slices open his own hand and allows Frater II to lap up his cursed blood, boosting the beast's strength and resilience.

The Daughters of the White Rose want to escape the city and take refuge in the Black Forest. Taskforce M help them pack their witchy suitcases. Guy II is tasked with minding the prisoners. His attention wanders, and he fails to notice Doctor Brack sidling up to Victor and muttering a very particular string of words into his ear.

"Longing. Rusted. Furnace. Daybreak. Seventeen. Benign. Nine. Homecoming. One. Freight Car."

Victor stiffens as the mental conditioning in his brain responds to the activation phrase. A low growl emerges from his throat, as his muscles bulge and bones pop. Shaggy white hair erupts all over his body, and deadly claws protrude from his increasingly paw-like hands.

Victor Moonstruck has left the building.

Enter the Barenzerker.



TBC