Hi Everyone,
My name is Gabriel and this is the Hour of
the Raven, your channel for everything Ravenloft,
RPG, Dungeons and Dragons and Horror.
Today we are going to dwell on the dark past
of the domain of Verbrek, where the legends
and beliefs in the Wolf God shape the culture
and history of its people.
Are you Ready?
Then follow me into the Duskpeace Lodge, a
large and fortified stone building, in the
middle of the forest.
In the interior of the Lodge we are welcomed
by our mysterious hosts, the couple Argent
and Celia Whitmoor, and by dozen other guests
that live in the building.
Our presence generates certain unease, but
they kindly grant us a room and a meal, and
share with us their knowledge of the legends
and the past of these inhospitable lands.
Those who wish to unravel the history of Verbrek
are faced with an almost impossible task,
since there are no sources or recorded information,
and no knowledge centers to be researched
in the region.
To discover the past, we must search the ruins
of villages covered by the vegetation, the
legends and tales of the natives, and the
records of explorers from neighboring kingdoms.
With such fragile sources of information,
these reports should be considered with caution,
as the legends and folklore of the inhabitants
are mixed with the unreliable history of the
land.
The most ancient tale of the distant past
of Verbrek refers to the birth of the Wolf
God.
This divine entity emerged fully formed, as
it tore itself from the womb of the mists,
separating his essence to become matter, flesh,
blood, and fangs.
His arrival in the world was marked by brutality,
blood, hunger, and howls of agony.
The Wolf God wandered through the mists for
countless ages, quenching his hunger and fury
against any creature or spirit that crossed
his path.
The Wolf God represented the essence of primitive
savagery, and a herald of all terrors of the
flesh.
After eons wandering in the mists, the Wolf
God grew tired of his loneliness.
Longing for a pack to lead, he inhaled the
mists deeply.
He felt the mists mixing with his flesh, blood
and fur, and seized by great pain and agony,
he disgorged his children into the world,
the first wolves.
Leading his pack, he guided them through the
mists, until the mists parted, revealing a
vast forest.
In this primordial forest, the Wolf God was
the supreme predator, and countless other
beasts roamed these woods, prey to satisfy
their hunger.
The Wolf God showed his children how to hunt
for food, and how to cheat death, breeding
to raise cubs.
Attentive folklore researchers may notice
several similarities between the legends of
the Grandfather Wolf, from Kartakass, and
the Wolf God in Verbrek.
However, while the Grandfather Wolf has clear
human characteristics, such as cunning and
vanity, the Wolf God is more bestial, terrible
and cruel.
Over time, the wolves discovered strange creatures
in the woods, strangers to the forests they
inhabited.
The humans looked fragile and carried their
fangs in their hands.
Despite this weakness, humans were intelligent,
and unlike other creatures, they transformed
the world around them, destroying the woods
with axes and fire.
With hatred and fury in their hearts, the
wolves, guided by their divinity, attacked
the humans.
With cruelty, they invaded their cities, devoured
children in their cribs, and savagely attacked
everyone who crossed their path.
However, they encountered resistance among
the humans, who battled the wolves and made
them retreat to the forests.
The forests burned, and there was carnage
everywhere, and the battle came to a halt.
However, on a full moon night, a small group
of humans infiltrated the forest, and sought
the lair of the Wolf God.
Surrounded by wolves, and in the face of divinity,
the humans would be easily destroyed, but
surprisingly they knelt, begging the Wolf
God to grant them their strength.
Despite the enraged howling of the Pack, the
Wolf God pondered the request of human traitors.
Fearing the intelligence and ingenuity of
humans, he thought of a way to corrupt their
essence in his favor.
He bit the men with his fangs, and then he
tore his own flesh, pouring his blood over
their wounds.
These humans received the blessing of lycanthropy,
absorbing the strength of the wolves, but
maintaining the intelligence and cunning of
humans.
They were now wolves hidden in human form,
capable of spreading their condition with
their bites, and to live secretly among humans.
With the help of his werewolves, the Wolf
God finally won the battle against humanity.
With his divine power, he dried the small
rivers and creeks that supplied the villages
in the Valley of Memory, and the werewolves
and wolves attacked and destroyed the villages
with savagery.
Today only ruins of these old villages can
be found, covered in vegetation and filled
with human bones.
The region that today is known as Verbrek
became practically uninhabited, except for
small and isolated villages, ignored or protected
by the werewolves, who still maintained some
aspect of humanity, or who gained an appreciation
for the taste of human flesh, and wanted to
keep a small amount of their favorite food
source.
The humans who still inhabit Verbrek speak
a dialect derived from the Mordent language,
known as Low Mordentish, which suggests that
these lands have a common origin with the
realm of Mordent.
The first reports about the region from explorers
of the Land of the Mists occur in 708 of the
Barovian Calendar, when explorers of Richemulot
affirm that the mists opened to reveal a vast
forest.
This region was called by the people of Richemulot
as Arkandale and is described by explorers
as a region crossed by several rivers and
untouched forests, where only a few villages
resisted the dangers of a land full of wolves
and werewolves.
South of Arkandale, another region seemed
to be even more inhospitable, where explorers
and lumberjacks were brutally attacked by
the wolves.
This region was first explored around the
year 730 of the Barovian Calendar, and was
called Verbrek.
In the ancient language of wolves and werewolves,
these lands were known as Rrv-Brehk, which
means Unwelcome Place, but this name was adapted
by humans explorers to Verbrek.
Both regions were covered by a single huge
and untouched forest, infested by wolves and
teeming with werewolves.
Perhaps Arkandale and Verbrek were a same
region, with different names given by its
first explorers, but since the Grand Conjunction
in the year 740 of the Barovian Calendar,
the region has come to be referred to only
as Verbrek.
Some scholars and occultists point out that
this change reflects a deeper mystery, and
that Verbrek's expansion over Arkandale may
be linked to it’s Darklords, whose essences
may be directly reflected in these primeval
forests.
Whatever the truth is, in the last decade
the region has come to be known only as Verbrek,
and reports indicate that the presence of
werewolves in the region has become even stronger,
as well as the attacks and ferocity of wolves.
Some traumatized accounts of survivors found
at the borders reveal the existence of profane
rituals, where victims are sacrificed to the
Wolf God or hunted by dozens of wolves and
werewolves, in ecstasy, fury and fanaticism.
Our conversation with Celia and Argent Withmoor
ends abruptly, and our hosts look concerned
as they look up at the night sky.
They rush us to one of the rooms, saying it
is time for us to retire.
Without further explanation, they inform us
that we should not leave our rooms overnight,
for our own safety.
Locked in the room, we observe when the moon
rises, and powerful howls can be heard inside
the lodge, as well as the sound of clawing
scratches on its stone walls.
Trapped with werewolves, we are seized by
panic, and using our skills, we open the locks
that imprison us in this room and flee into
the woods of Verbrek.
Subscribe to this channel, activate notifications,
and join us, while we escape into the woods
under the moonlight, to face the darkest secrets
that plague these lands.
