Call of Cthulhu - Eldritch Fauna.pdf

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Researched & Published by
the Reverend Alfred Purefoy
Eldritch Fauna
© 2012 by DRAKAT Games. All rights reserved.
This edition revised 2016.
Published by DRAKAT Games.
Eldritch Fauna
is a resource designed for any Keeper who wants to add some (unpleasant) flavour to the
remote, shunned and generally noisome parts of the world that the party will end up in. The intended
setting is
Darkisle,
DRAKAT Games’ fictional British island, but the animals described in this book will work
in most temperate climates. Obviously, the resource is written with
Call of Cthulhu
in mind, with the
premise being that the eldritch horrors that stalk the world may have left their mark on the wildlife in
certain dark corners. However, you could maybe find a use for these creatures in a fantasy setting, or even
on an alien planet.
Eldritch Fauna
takes the form of a pamphlet written shortly after the Great War by the keen amateur
natural historian Reverend Alfred Purefoy. The good Reverend made several trips to Darkisle, following in
the footsteps of his hero, the pioneering naturalist Dr Edward Palmer, who disappeared while on one of his
surveys of the island during the Nineteenth Century. Prior to 1
st
November 1923 the party may bump into
Alfred during one of his forays to Darkisle: on that date, however, he too disappears, never to be seen again.
It doesn’t pay to show too much interest in certain places….
There are no game stats or references to Darkisle in the animal descriptions, allowing you to give them out
as a resource no matter what the setting. Instead, a separate
‘Notes for the Keeper/GM’
section at the end
of the resource gives some ideas of how you may want to use these animals in an RPG context, including
Call of Cthulhu
stats.
Contents
Introduction
The Cold Worm
The Drage Eel
The Munt Hound
The Nussum Rat
The Rilk (or “Deathcaller”)
Notes for the Keeper/GM
All images are in the public domain from www. vintageprintable.com, apart from the Rilk image which is
in the public domain from www.karenswhimsy.com
Call of Cthulhu
is a trademark of Chaosium Inc. and used with permission
Cold Worm (Vipera
berus hyperboreanis)
History & nomenclature
The Cold Worm appears
to be native to the
region, and references
may be found in the
earliest of oral and
written histories of the
area to a
“cald wyrm”.
The earliest attempts at
scientific classification
placed it (correctly) in
the adder family. More
recently, analysis of the specimen returned by Dr Edward Palmer led to a re-classification as
a new sub-species,
V. berus hyperboreanis.
The common name of Cold Worm is apt: it is the
only breed of adder found at such latitudes that remains active throughout the winter.
Description
The Cold Worm is a variety of adder that is well adapted to life in cooler climes. It is
relatively broad of girth and typically attains a length of a yard, about a foot longer than
V.
berus.
Younger Cold Worms are a pale yellow, with the upper body mottled with black
colouration. When fully mature the upper body of the snake darkens to a tan colour, though
the underside remains pale yellow. The head is a typically adder-like arrowhead shape. The
bite is unusually venomous.
Habitat
Cold Worms can be found across the region, requiring simply some form of plant cover, a
sheltered place to nest and a supply of rodents, fledgling birds
or amphibians. The snake’s
lair may be within a hollow log or under an overhanging rock, but they prefer to occupy
vacant animal burrows. The Cold Worm avoids swimming, but can be found along
riverbanks or in marshy areas. In winter the creatures retreat to warmer places such as
deeper burrows or in quiet crannies of farm outhouses.
Notes
The Cold Worm’s venom is potent for an adder, and while the snake is not unduly
aggressive it should be treated with great care. While it becomes notably less active in the
winter, the Cold Worm is known to emerge from its winter lair to hunt on occasion, and is
sometimes seen even on snowy ground. They are normally solitary, but in winter groups of a
dozen or so will form a colony, spending much of their time intertwined, presumably for
warmth. Chancing upon such a colony can be dangerous: when woken from their torpid
state the snakes become aggressive, and while the bite of a single Cold Worm is rarely fatal,
the combined injuries from an attacking colony have in the past led to human deaths.
Worthy of mention is a rare swarming phenomenon attested to in local folklore. It is alleged
that large numbers of Cold Worms will travel from some distance to converge at a single
place, this swarming being accompanied by extremely aggressive behaviour. No explanation
can be offered as to why such behaviour should occur, though the superstitious hold that the
snakes are guided by some malignant supernatural force.
Drage Eel (Anguilla
palini)
History & nomenclature
References to the Drage Eel are to be
found in the earliest of records from
the area, with the breed known to the
wider world from the occasional
marine example. The derivation of the
common name is unclear: some say it
refers to the fish’s bottom-dwelling
habit, any
net needing to ‘dredge’ the
river bed to catch it. As a notably
inedible fish, this is unlikely. It is more
probably
a corruption of ‘dread’, as
the coming of this creature to a stream
devastates populations of edible fish
and renders the water putrid for some
time thereafter.
Description
The Drage Eel is a snake-like fish that moves through the water in a sinuous manner. After
hatching, the immature Drage is a silvery colour: on maturity it darkens to dull grey, with
black mottling. The Drage is notably larger than the similar European Eel: lengths of over a
yard are common, and occasionally the species may exceed two yards. The Drage has
powerful jaws equipped with small, razor sharp teeth. Normally a solitary scavenger or
predator of small fish, in the latter stage of its life the species hunts voraciously
en masse.
The most remarkable aspect of this fish is its appearance prior to spawning, when the Drage
Eel would appear to quite literally rot to death from the outside in.
Habitat
In its freshwater phases the Drage Eel is confined exclusively to the region, none being
recorded in any other river systems. During its marine phase, examples have been caught in
offshore waters soon after their departure from the rivers and just prior to their return, but
the marine life of the Drage remains a mystery: none have been caught in the open sea.
Notes
The Drage Eel is remarkable in that its life cycle is both sporadic and contrary to that of other
freshwater eels (which spawn at sea but spend much of their lives in rivers). The Drage, by
contrast, starts life in certain streams of the region during the autumn. After over-wintering,
the young eels migrate to the sea. Contact with saltwater stimulates rapid growth, though
the life of the marine Drage can only be conjectured upon as their whereabouts while
reaching maturity are not known. Some years later, the adult Drage return: by this time they
are of most vile appearance, their bodies having entered a state of living decay. The dying
Drage are ravenous, eating all before them as they race upstream in dense shoals. Locals tell
of unwary farm animals being stripped to the bone if caught in the water. Having attained
the upper streams, the Drage spawn and die, rendering the water non-potable for some
weeks. The young hatch quickly, gorging on the corpses before digging into the stream bed
to bide away the winter in torpor. They migrate out to sea the following spring. This is not an
annual occurrence: Drage spawn but once every decade or so.
Munt Hound (Canis
lupus familiaris)
History & nomenclature
The presence of wild dogs in the
locality has been noted for as long
as the region has been inhabited.
It is for the most part accepted
that they are a feral remnant of
some lost breed of early hunting
dog, though folklore insists they
are of ancient lineage quite
separate from the Grey Wolf from
which domestic dogs descend.
The common name of Munt
Hound is of obscure origin. Some
have offered that it derives from
‘mount’ and refers to a preference for
higher ground, but this explanation is tenuous at best.
Description
The Munt Hound is a very large dog that lives in the wild. A fully grown male can reach a
height of about a yard, and a weight of some 140 lbs, though rumours abound of still larger
specimens. The Munt has long, muscular legs and is capable of sustaining high speeds over
difficult ground. The tail is broad and bushy, the head wolf-like, with large triangular ears
and a pointed snout with powerful jaws. The coat is dense and black. When viewed at night,
the eyes appear to glow a pallid amber.
Habitat
The breed would seem to comprise but a single large pack that roams over a very wide range
of countryside, the adults breaking into smaller packs to hunt food. Munt have been spotted
in both upland and lowland areas. It is believed they sleep communally deep within dense
woodland, changing locations every few days. Munt Hounds avoid human habitations.
Notes
It is indeed unusual for feral dogs to form a coherent population of such longevity. They
scavenge, as might be expected: rather more surprising is their propensity to hunt in packs of
around ten, in the manner of the African Wild Dog. Such hunting most often occurs during
twilight hours. As is so often the case in this region, many myths have grown around these
beasts: the locals live in abject fear of them. Munt Hounds commonly hunt farm animals and,
it is reputed, the occasional lone human. Despite this, none dare take a weapon to them, for
fear that the greater pack will mete out some form of retribution. When the hounds are
nearby
–
which at night is made evident by their wolf-like howling
–
the local populace bar
their doors and windows and will only venture out by day and in some numbers.
With man offering no threat, the beasts have become emboldened, and would appear to offer
genuine danger to the single traveller caught on a lonely track or stretch of road. While this
threat is real, credence cannot be given to the more outlandish claims concerning these
hounds, such as their alleged collusion with witches and demons, or their ability to vanish
when startled. Most fanciful of all are legends of a pack leader
“as large as a pony and with eyes
the size of saucers”.
Termed locally as
“the Shuck”,
this monster is reputed to stalk a selected
victim and to be able to strike a man dead through fear alone.

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