The Beast Fears Fire - Hell-Brand

Hell-Brand [Malevolence 5]
Impulse - To spread infection. There are a lot of cultures in the world and a lot of hierarchies of transgression and evil, but one of the constants between all the cultures that make up Crickton, and, really, the world, is that treachery is right at the top of those hierarchies, the worst of the worst. It may not be the most punishable, but it is the least justifiable offense, and in a world of magic, the penalty for dramatic or habitual treachery is fairly poetic. Part of your body rots to the bone. This part remains intact and functional, smelling of carrion and drawing flies. Wherever you go, the smell and the negative energy you draw off everything, curses, fragments of ghosts, the attacks that witches and priests inevitably throw at you, those follow you.

Hell-Brands are the least psychologically changed of the cruelties. Their natures and memories tend to survive the transformation, though their better qualities tend to dwindle and die, leaving their worse to run without check. Hell-Brand begin their existence as such looking for revenge for the circumstances that led them to their new status, however justified that may actually be (usually not very, otherwise it would be the hell-brand's tormentors without flesh on some of their bones). Once they manage that or time brings an end to their enemies, they move on to getting revenge on the world. In either case, their behavior is pretty similar.

Harm - 3/Peril - Cursed Hell-brands are drawn to sources of negative psychic energy - hauntings,residual curses, kuons, other magical monsters. Their natures protect them from the worst effects of magic and spiritual or psychic attack, and, furthermore, draws some of the energy into the swirling storm of malevolence that surrounds them. Coming into contact with a Hell-brand is intensely damaging to the psyche, and there is a strong likelihood of picking up one or more of the curses that swirls around them.

Mr. Self-Destruct
When you come into contact with a Hell-brand, face Malevolence.
On a Hit, you force your way through the psychic maelstrom around them and can attack them, but the Moderator can force you to remake this Move as a Soft Move if circumstances change.
On a Hard Hit, the Hell Brand suffers 3 Harm in addition to Harm stated as the psychic maelstrom feeds back on itself.
On a Miss, suffer Harm as stated. The Moderator can choose to make the Curse into a move that you have to make in order to do or avoid a certain action or fate.

Unholy and dirty words I gather to me.
The curses that flail about the Hell-brand tend to transform, over time, into reflections of the Hell-brand's worldview, creating something of a narrative in and of themselves. Common curses that follow a Hell-brand are the attentions of a creature that the Hell-brand has encountered before (e.g. being in transgression of a Specter) or a conditional curse. If the Hell-brand is present, the Threshold on working against these curses is 5. It drops to 3 if the Hell-brand is not around and 2 once the Hell-brand is destroyed.

Step on a Crack, Break your Mother's Back
When you are the subject of a conditional curse and attempt to do (or not do as the case may be) the action specified, face Malevolence
On a Hit, you can do or not do the the thing as you will, but the Moderator gets a Soft Move.
On a Hard Hit, you can do or not do the thing as you will, and in the act (or refraining from the act), break the curse upon you.
On a Miss, the Moderator gets a Hard Move, related to the curse.

Hell-Brands don't tend to bother monsters much; even ones whose whole existence is one big attack-on-sight-fest tend to give the wretches free passes. For their part, the Hell-brands aren't concerned with monsters at all, choosing (or compelled) to focus their hate on humans.

The marrow and joints of a Hell-brand's exposed bones are a treasure trove of eldracite, astracite and maelcryst. Also, residual curses, so beware.