Werechicken, the Scariest Thing Afraid of You

Monster Mondays

Welcome to Monster Mondays, the blog post where we look at a specific monster in detail (not necessarily on Monday). We will cover lore and mechanics so you can run monsters with slick verisimilitude!

Today we will be taking a look at werebeasts, specifically the werechicken. Everyone knows about werewolves, and many people have their own ideas about what a werewolf should and shouldn’t be. But werewolves, well they are so cliche. We need something with a little bit more zest! Something that will be frightened instead of frightening. Introducing the werechicken!

It is a cold and foggy night. You hear a cluck rise above the quiet. The full moon above you makes your skin prickle. You catch something rush in front of your face. Giant claw tracks can be seen scuttling across the ground. A massive feather lies upon the tracks. It can mean only one thing: werechicken!

Like all werebeasts, werechickens suffer from a curse. They transform uncontrollably during a full moon. Werechickens are more terrified than terrifying though. They flee at the faintest sign of danger. They are said to be the preferred food source of werewolves, but no one really knows. Werechickens are hardly ever seen directly, but can be observed indirectly by the tracks and feathers they leave behind. 

Werechicken Anatomy

Because werechickens transform, they can have a variety of forms while they are in their humanoid state. While humanoid they will look like the human, elf, ork, halfling, or what-have-you that they are. They will be entirely indistinguishable from a humanoid who isn’t cursed. When werechickens transform a semblance of their humanoid form remains. They retain their size, but grow feathers all over their bodies. Their face deforms to create a toothed beak and they grow a comb (that red thing you find on the top of chickens heads). Their feet become talons and their hands turn into wings with fingers at the joint, kind of like what you would see with an archaeopteryx.

Werechicken Physiology

Like all werebeasts the werechicken curse can be transmitted to other humanoids. Anyone who suffers a peck from the werechicken will transform on the next full moon. Werechickens are capable of limited flight. They can fly, but not very far and not for long. They might make it twenty meters in the air after a good freight. Werechickens, both male and female, have the ability to lay eggs. Pregnant females will lay fertilized eggs. If that egg is kept warm it will hatch a humanoid. The baby humanoid will be cursed and become a werechicken. If the werechicken is not pregnant, the eggs they lay will be unfertilized. Werechicken eggs are prized as delicacies. 

Werechicken Psychology

Remember werechickens are skittish by nature and will only attack if pursued. The curious often become werechickens as wounds from a werechicken are rarely lethal. Sometimes entire towns can become cursed with werechickens! Werechickens run around in circles as they become frightened by a noise over here, and that shadow over there. They cluck loudly when frightened, signaling to the other werechickens nearby that the area is dangerous causing the flock to rush about wildly. 

Example Encounter

Penny Cockborn, a halfling woman from the village of Henderson, requests aid to protect a giant egg. She needs the PCs to guard a large egg for three nights (the three nights of a full moon). Unbeknownst to the characters, Penny is a werechicken and the egg is her unhatched child. She has managed to keep the egg safe for most of the gestation, but each month it seems there are more and more beasts in the town of Henderson. She is afraid that the egg will be broken. Last month something broke into the barn where Penny keps the egg. The egg should hatch soon, but Penny wants to ensure its safety until it has hatched. Rex Cockborn, Penny’s husband, isn’t thrilled about having to pay for the PCs to watch their egg, but Rex wants Penny to be happy. If the PCs ask what kind of egg it is, Penny will lie saying she is pretty sure it is a Roc (a large mythical bird) and that she plans on raising it. If the PCs press her further she will become indignant saying that they don’t have take the job and that she can find someone else.

The First Night

During the first night while the PCs watch the egg, describe the strange clucking sounds and have a werechicken rush past just outside of the boarded area of the barn. Try to describe it vaguely so that the players don’t really know what is going on, but get the idea that it isn’t something normal.

The Second Night

Two werechickens should rush past the boarded area and peck violently, splintering most of the wood. The werechickens are actually Penny and Rex Cockborn, the egg’s parents. The werechickens will continue to peck until the PCs drive them away. If the PCs manage to kill one of the werechickens, the other will flee, immediately escaping. In the morning the werechicken will revert to its humanoid form and the PCs will know that Penny and Rex are werechickens. Whichever one survived will then come clean about what the egg really is.

The Third and Final Night

A dozen or more werechickens should all try to get into the barn. They seem crazed like zombies and drawn to the egg. The egg begins shaking as if responding to all of the werechickens. In 1d4 rounds the egg will begin to hatch and the other werechickens will go into a frenzy pecking whomever is closest to them, even other werechickens. If a werechicken is able to make it to the egg, they help it by pecking away the shell. Once the chick is hatched, the werechickens stop their frenzy.

If the PCs manage to kill or sufficiently keep at bay all of the werechickens, the egg will not be able to finish hatching. If no one helps it hatch, the chick will die. In the morning the PCs should be able to piece together that the werechickens were in a frenzy to help the egg hatch. Werechickens that are hatched need help to get out of their eggs, and if they do not hatch during the full moon, then they won’t be able to hatch at all.

Wrapping It Up

Werechickens offer an interesting spin on werebeasts. They undermine the assumption of terror most werebeasts inspire, and instead offer us a silly look at lycanthropy. I hope you use them in your game. You can find more interesting monsters each Monday. If you would like to support my work, you can purchase my tabletop roleplaying game: Along the Leyline.