A Canvas for

The Beasts of Black Watch

Style Investigation, suspense, horror

Setting Reizh, the border with Taol-Kaer
Season Spring, Summer
Duration 2-3 sessions

ROOTS

Cariug Hertlin is the leader of a mercenary group called ‘The Black Watch’, operating out of a ruined
keep in the hinterland of Reizh, close to the border with Taol-Kaer. The Black Watch are a formidable
fighting group, feared for their prowess in combat and merciless attitude on the battlefield. Axes for
hire to the highest bidder, they don’t come cheap but are often instrumental in turning the tide of
any battle in which they participate, fighting in border skirmishes and internecine conflicts across the
region.

Disturbing rumours have been filtering through in nearby towns and villages that The Black Watch
are now using savage beasts with impossible strength to lead the charge into battle. These creatures
are horrific, rending their enemies limb from limb and feasting on their broken corpses, barely
controllable. Speculation is rife that Cariug has found a way to bend Feondas to his will, or that he
has tapped into the Spirit World to enhance his soldiers somehow.

In actual fact, a renegade Magientist, Celiana deAugustine, has offered her services to Cariug in
exchange for the right to carry out her experiments in the keep. She has devised a Flux-powered
machine which extracts and combines the life-essence of man and animal, twisting those individuals
who are injected with the newly-created serum into monstrous but mindless beasts with incredible
stamina and strength.

TRUNK

The Infernal Machine

The machine (Figure 1) produces a serum which enhances the strength and constitution of the
people who are injected with it. The machine works by draining the life essence (blood) from a single
human male and infuses it with the life essence taken from an adult male bear. The bear is not killed
immediately, but eventually weakens and dies after several extractions using the machine. It is
powered by Flux and is in the ground floor of the keep, next to the dungeon cells where the next
victims are kept. In order to produce the serum, the machine is connected to the carotid artery of
the person (leaving two puncture marks and bruising – vampire-like) and the bear, draining the
blood of the person (10 pints) and infusing it with the blood of the bear (roughly 2 pints) to produce

1
a dark red concentrated serum of 2-4 pints. It takes about an hour to produce the serum and,
thought experimentation, one extraction provides enough serum for up to 10 individuals.

The bear (Figure 3) is kept caged and fed daily, but the process weakens it until it eventually dies.
The cage is designed so one of the sides can be winched in, pinning the bear against the opposite
side so it cannot move or attack. It is then connected to the machine. The bear is in a pitiful state,
moulting, covered in sores and cries mournfully, rising to a crescendo when it knows it is going to be
connected to the machine. These cries echo around the nearby valley, travellers reporting the noise
as ghosts or spirits, or strange Feondas wandering the hills. They shy away from the keep and
surrounding area as a consequence, which Cariug sees as an added benefit to keep out interlopers.

The human male is drugged unconscious, strapped to a table, gagged in case he wakes up and the
machine connected to his carotid artery. Over the space of an hour, the machine drains his blood,
killing the subject and leaving the body pale and shrivelled. The only evidence of maltreatment is the
twin puncture marks to the subject’s neck and some localised bruising. The body is disposed off into
the nearby river, to be washed away (this could be off the back of the keep, or someone has to take
the body to a nearby river and dispose of it).

The Beasts of Black Watch

The serum is injected (Figure 2) into the unwilling victims which have been taken captive from the
battlefield or taken by force from the surrounding area. Injections are given daily over the course of
a week, and it takes a further week for the transformation to take place. In the meantime the victim
is securely chained up and collared to limit movement. Slowly, the victim becomes more feral,
intelligence diminishes to minimal levels, loses the power of speech but their body-mass and
musculature increases significantly. They begin to crave fresh meat and cannot be kept together else
they tear each other apart (Figure 4).

Injecting the serum is not always successful. Sometimes the victim goes insane, smashing their heads
against the walls, tearing out their eyes, biting off their tongue and devouring their own flesh.
Others are only partially affected, with grotesquely over-proportioned limbs or muscles, whilst the
rest of the body remains unaffected - worse if the serum does not impact upon the intelligence of
the victim, and they are fully aware of his damaged body. Some merely die a few hours after
injection; their bodies found hanging limp from the chain about their necks with no obvious cause of
death. Probably only 1 in 4 injections is a resounding success and creates a true “Beast of Black
Watch”. What happens to the others is left to the GL to determine.

“Training” the beasts is a bit hit and miss, requiring a carrot and stick approach through feeding and
starvation. After a few weeks, some semblance of control is put in place, allowing the beasts to
follow simple instructions and not tear random people apart so long as they are regularly fed.
However, accidents do happen and the occasional beast is incontrollable and has to be destroyed.
Several have almost escaped from the keep, but have been killed or captured before they caused too
much havoc.

2
Once trained, they can be used on the battlefield and are transported in cages, two to a wagon. They
can be clad in rudimentary armour and have iron-clawed gauntlets attached to their hands. Unfed
before battle, they are released prior to the Black Watch mercenaries engaging their enemy. The
Beasts rend all who get in their way, only settling down to the commands of their handler once they
have satiated themselves on the flesh of the fallen.

Black Watch Keep

The ruined keep (Figure 5) sits high in the hills, backing onto a cliff overlooking the valley and river
below. There is only one access up a winding path to the front gateway. Most of the mercenary
group are camped out in large tents in front of the keep’s walls. Only Cariug, his Sergeant Mialc
Gobannan and an elite cadre of five mercenaries live in the ruined keep. Celiana deAugustine has
her own room and laboratory, as well as the dungeons and cells where the experiments take place.

BRANCHES

One option is that a Demorethen becomes aware that wild animals have been taken from the
nearby forest, in particular a family of bears. They become aware of the bears plight and seeks to
rescue it, prevent it ever happening again. The Players are asked to go and destroy the machine to
prevent the creation of any more abominations.

The Magientist who works the machine brought the design with her when she arrived from the
Continent some years ago and has been seeking to perfect it. Perhaps she left to pursue other
experiments after perfecting the machine, aiming for bigger and better results? Or is she still there,
tinkering with it? Perhaps the machine becomes broken or faulty, and a Magientist in the party is
asked to help fix it without being told of its true purpose? Perhaps they need to find the Magientist
who originally created it and are given the task of finding her (assuming she left), for a sizable
reward?

People have been going missing in the surrounding area. Rumours tell of a band of outlaws
kidnapping people from remote farmsteads. Farmsteads have been found deserted by relatives. The
Players are asked to investigate, or are relatives of someone who has gone missing. The outlaws are
in fact the mercenaries of the Black Watch disguised so as not to give suspicion to the true culprit,
capturing people to be turned into Beasts.

The wizened husk of a human male is found floating down the river, or wedged in some tree roots
against the riverbank. Asking around at the nearby village (or taking the body there) he can be
identified as the body of a farmer who went missing some weeks ago. There are two puncture marks
on the neck where the machine connects to the main carotid artery to drain the blood from the
unwilling victim (meant to mislead Players into thinking of vampires!).

The Players hear that the leader of the Black Watch offers a reward for people bringing him bears
alive from the nearby woods, or are asked to capture a grizzly bear from the forest and bring it to his
keep. The current bear is nearing the end of its life, so a replacement is required to keep producing

3
the serum. This could put the Players in conflict with the local Demorethen, who may try to prevent
them or even ask them to intervene and stop any future killings?

Perhaps one of the Beasts escapes from the keep and goes on a rampage in the nearby valley, with
the locals believing they are being assaulted by a Feondas? Once they encounter and slay it, they
discover from the locals that it was once a person, a ruffian who was known to have joined the Black
Watch over a year ago.

What happens if one of the Players relatives/friends is captured and is lined up to be the next
unwilling victim of the Infernal Machine?

LEAVES

Getting into the keep and destroying the machine is a challenge! The place is isolated, heavily
guarded and any new people will be treated with suspicion. Perhaps the Players sign on to the Black
Watch as new recruits? Or do they wait until the Black Watch leave for their next battle, leaving only
a few guards at the keep (the machine is never moved from the keep)?

The machine can be easily destroyed by smashing it up and/or throwing it off the cliff, it’s not that
big to move. The Players can help themselves to any remaining Flux cartridges left over. Alternatively
unscrupulous Players could take the machine, as it would have considerable value.

Destroying the machine invites the wrath of Ceriug Hertlin, who will not be happy that he has lost his
ability to increase his crack fighting force. He will find opportunities to hunt the Players down,
perhaps hiring assassins, sending his Sergeant or undertaking the task himself.

Perhaps the Magientist, Celiana deAugustine, has moved on and the Players decide to find her
before she creates more carnage?

WIND

‘Waylander’, 1986, David Gemmell – the inspiration for werebeasts, similar to the Canvas here.

4
Figure 1 Magientist device for extracting serum from subjects

Figure 2 Flux-powered serum injector [optional]

5
 Figure 3 Adult Grizzly Bear

Figure 4 The Beasts of Black Watch (after Blake, 1795)

6
Figure 5 Black Watch Keep