The Werewolf's Hand

Long ago, in the far north, where werewolves run in packs under the moon and the snow flails among the pines and the peaks, there was a warlord named Jannor Wolvesbane who had risen to the head of his tribe by virtue of the slaying of an entire pack of werewolves. Jannor's hatred of werewolves knew no bounds, and he went out of his way to slay any werewolf he came across. Soon, Jannor became a dominant military force among the Nordic tribes, and eventually bore the crown of the Vatnajarl of all the North. His first act as Vatnajarl was to create the Wolf Slayers and institute the Pogrom of Werewolves. The Wolf Slayers hunted out and brutally slew any who were or were believed to be werewolves. The feral lycanthropes of the north are not passive, however. Meeting in the ever-snowy forests by an ancient altar to a forgotten god of the hunt, the werewolves who had survived the Pogrom decided that there was only one solution: To slay all the humans. So, at the next full moon, the lycanthropes gathered at the head of the valley were Vatnajarl Jannor and his Wolf Slayers had built their stronghold, Jannorstadt, and raced down the cliffs with their lupine companions. Wolves and werewolves assaulted Jannorstadt, burning down the gates with the citadel's own signal fires. Jannor and his Wolf Slayers were completely unprepared, and a full third of the fanatic anti-lycanthropes lay dead within the fortress before they could fight back. In a climactic final confrontation, Jannor and the remnant of his Wolf Slayers battled the werewolves in the courtyard of the citadel. At dawn, they were dead, and the werewolves had gone, back to the howling winds and the blowing snows, back to the whipping pines and the hunts. Jannorstadt, grand symbol of Jannor's burning racism, lay bloodsoaked and empty. The Nordic peasants carried away their lord and his men and set them on their funeral pires. They kept a single memento of the grand battle: A werewolf's twisted hand, which they strung on a silver chain for the new Vatnajarl to wear. It was a bad mistake, however. On the first full moon of his reign, the new Vatnajarl howled to the moon, devoured all of his servants, and fled into the woods to join the werewolves in their roaming packs. The hand was left behind, and cast into the sea to drift away to farther shores....

Magical Properties:

The Werewolf's Hand, when worn, gives the wearer great strength and speed, as well as an increased sense of hearing and smell. However, every full moon, the wearer of the Hand transforms into a werewolf and seeks a way towards the North so that it can join the feral werewolf packs. The effects of the Hand, beneficial and destructive, last for two weeks after the hand has been removed.