A cornfield drowning in heat haze. A shotgun exploding in the dark. Seasonal flooding and the buttered metal reek of synthetic opioids. Lapping water in a place where light cannot exist.
AMARNA, IL
A mostly abandoned deindustrial town on the Ohio river. The main economic activity is artisinal methamphetamine production, though even that faces stiff competition from industrially produced fentanyl. Abandoned main street, abandoned houses. Lines where periodic flooding painted the walls with mold. Ice storms in winter. Summer heat haze so thick it's almost blinding.
Fuck briefings and fuck Case Officers. Play begins at night with the Agents in the cornfield outside the DEATH HOUSE. They can pull surveillance, attack immediately, or wait until morning to see if anyone leaves.
Fuck briefings and fuck Case Officers. Play begins at night with the Agents in the cornfield outside the DEATH HOUSE. They can pull surveillance, attack immediately, or wait until morning to see if anyone leaves.
THE DEATH HOUSE
A two story house from 1914ish a few miles outside downtown. Sewer and power and an attached garage added some time in the fifties to keep exposed vehicles from icing over. The first floor windows are covered from the inside and no light leaks out. There's a front porch, a garage door and a back door.
THE CORNFIELD
The Death House is surrounded by old cornfields, overgrown and not in active cultivation. The area around the house and the access road are clear but beyond that line of sight is limited to a few feet.
If you're running the MUNDANE version of the scenario there are several bodies buried in the cornfield, in various states of decomp and each with an organ missing. One sans eyes, one without a heart, one without intestines, etc. (In the UNNATURAL version the giant snake eats the corpses)
FLOOR 1
The windows are papered over from the inside. Access is through the Entrance, Garage or Kitchen.
Entrance
The front door is trapped with a bucket of pickling salt that falls on intruders. The salt burns and blinds. The blindness is permanent unless the substance is quickly neutralized.
TV Room
A couch and a blown out CRT television. An extension cord in a wall socket leads under the rug to a floor hatch. Below: a staircase excavated with power tools and reinforced with two by fours. Down to THE PIT.
Garage
Shovels, picks, a jackhammer, all covered with dusty residue of clay. Rolls of linen. A Ford Ranger and a Jeep Wrangler. The MacNeallys use the Ranger for daily commuting and hunting, the Wrangler is undrivable due to problems with the transmission.
Kitchen
Well organized but filthy. The elderly BRIGHTON MACNEALLY dozes with a shotgun and the lights turned off, alert to the sound of intruders through the back door.
Dining Room
A sturdy and handsome wooden table covered with plastic. Where the MacNeallys harvest organs from sacrificial victims.
Guest Bedroom
The MacNeallys keep their victims' possessions here. Items of even the slightest value stacked on shelves to make an impromptu trophy room. Cell phones, jewelry, shoes. A shiny gold watch booby trapped with a syringe and a hot dose of heroin/battery acid.
Guest Bathroom
Toilet and an old claw foot bathtub filled with brine and pickling spices. Plastic tubs and tubes and tools. Where the cult prepares organs to implant in the mummy.
THE CORNFIELD
The Death House is surrounded by old cornfields, overgrown and not in active cultivation. The area around the house and the access road are clear but beyond that line of sight is limited to a few feet.
If you're running the MUNDANE version of the scenario there are several bodies buried in the cornfield, in various states of decomp and each with an organ missing. One sans eyes, one without a heart, one without intestines, etc. (In the UNNATURAL version the giant snake eats the corpses)
FLOOR 1
The windows are papered over from the inside. Access is through the Entrance, Garage or Kitchen.
Entrance
The front door is trapped with a bucket of pickling salt that falls on intruders. The salt burns and blinds. The blindness is permanent unless the substance is quickly neutralized.
TV Room
A couch and a blown out CRT television. An extension cord in a wall socket leads under the rug to a floor hatch. Below: a staircase excavated with power tools and reinforced with two by fours. Down to THE PIT.
Garage
Shovels, picks, a jackhammer, all covered with dusty residue of clay. Rolls of linen. A Ford Ranger and a Jeep Wrangler. The MacNeallys use the Ranger for daily commuting and hunting, the Wrangler is undrivable due to problems with the transmission.
Kitchen
Well organized but filthy. The elderly BRIGHTON MACNEALLY dozes with a shotgun and the lights turned off, alert to the sound of intruders through the back door.
Dining Room
A sturdy and handsome wooden table covered with plastic. Where the MacNeallys harvest organs from sacrificial victims.
Guest Bedroom
The MacNeallys keep their victims' possessions here. Items of even the slightest value stacked on shelves to make an impromptu trophy room. Cell phones, jewelry, shoes. A shiny gold watch booby trapped with a syringe and a hot dose of heroin/battery acid.
Guest Bathroom
Toilet and an old claw foot bathtub filled with brine and pickling spices. Plastic tubs and tubes and tools. Where the cult prepares organs to implant in the mummy.
FLOOR 2
Landing with hallway and three doors. Handsome pump action shotgun on the wall. Loaded, barrel plugged, trigger wired to the placard so it fires and explodes if removed.
Master Bathroom
The only usable bathroom in the house. A heavy switch wired to the wall kills power to all lights in the house.
In the UNNATURAL scenario there's a plastic jug on the counter, full of antivenom extracted from Apep. The MacNeallys use it to avoid death when the snake injects them with its addictive poison.
Master Bedroom
Phyllis and Arnold sleep here when they're not working or doing cult activities. They've got a modern flatscreen TV, a pump shotgun within reach of the bed and a handgun under the mattress.
Child's Bedroom
Disused. Halfhearted furnishings and toys from years ago.
In the UNNATURAL scenario there's an out of place metal filing cabinet with puncture marks from large fangs. Inside is the cult's stash of fentanyl, which Apep tries to get by biting the cabinet.
Master Bathroom
The only usable bathroom in the house. A heavy switch wired to the wall kills power to all lights in the house.
In the UNNATURAL scenario there's a plastic jug on the counter, full of antivenom extracted from Apep. The MacNeallys use it to avoid death when the snake injects them with its addictive poison.
Master Bedroom
Phyllis and Arnold sleep here when they're not working or doing cult activities. They've got a modern flatscreen TV, a pump shotgun within reach of the bed and a handgun under the mattress.
Child's Bedroom
Disused. Halfhearted furnishings and toys from years ago.
In the UNNATURAL scenario there's an out of place metal filing cabinet with puncture marks from large fangs. Inside is the cult's stash of fentanyl, which Apep tries to get by biting the cabinet.
THE PIT
A recently excavated chamber beneath the house. The walls are slimy wet clay. A child cuts perpetually melting Hieroglyphs into the surface with a stylus, kept from escaping the chamber by a chain around his ankle, illuminated by a trouble light covered with blue plastic on an extension cord.
This is DON MACNEALLY. He shouts to alert his parents of intruders to the chamber.
If you're running the MUNDANE scenario there's a stone sarcophagus with a pickled mummy floating in brine. Don's chain is attached to the coffin.
If you're running the UNNATURAL scenario the sarcophagus is hidden in the soft clay. Don's chain is attached to it through the wall.
The hieroglyphs are epithets of Apep, repeated endlessly. Apep who wears the beating hearts of men. Apep lord of the watery abyss. Apep who hides from the sun. Apep whose bite is the delight of his faithful.
A recently excavated chamber beneath the house. The walls are slimy wet clay. A child cuts perpetually melting Hieroglyphs into the surface with a stylus, kept from escaping the chamber by a chain around his ankle, illuminated by a trouble light covered with blue plastic on an extension cord.
This is DON MACNEALLY. He shouts to alert his parents of intruders to the chamber.
If you're running the MUNDANE scenario there's a stone sarcophagus with a pickled mummy floating in brine. Don's chain is attached to the coffin.
If you're running the UNNATURAL scenario the sarcophagus is hidden in the soft clay. Don's chain is attached to it through the wall.
The hieroglyphs are epithets of Apep, repeated endlessly. Apep who wears the beating hearts of men. Apep lord of the watery abyss. Apep who hides from the sun. Apep whose bite is the delight of his faithful.
THE CULT
Phyllis and Arnold MacNeally found the sarcophagus holding the Apep mummy after a flood. It spoke to them in their dreams and demanded sacrifice. Both MacNeallys hate drug addicts due to constantly interacting with them at work and it's rare that anyone comes looking for a missing hophead. They've killed several people to implant their organs in the mummy.
The MacNeallys are cowardly backstabbers. A favored tactic is to pretend they're flushing evidence or that one is about to domestic violence the other to death, luring intruders into an ambush. If cornered they surrender or pretend to be kidnapped victims, then attack the Agents while their backs are turned. They aren't fanatics willing to die in a futile struggle, they sincerely believe that they can fight the police and win with Apep on their side. In the UNNATURAL scenario they are addicted to the snake's venom.
PHYLLIS MACNEALLY
Phyllis works at a truck stop. The place is a hotspot for petty crime and an easy place to scoop up drug addicts who won't be missed and will follow her anywhere for a fix. She's good with machines but doesn't like dealing with people, except her husband. She prefers the shotgun and always carries a concealed blade.
ARNOLD MACNEALLY
Arnold is a nurse at the rural clinic. He uses his surgical knowledge to remove organs from sacrificial victims and implant them in the mummy. He laughs easily and has a thick skin from dealing with violent patients. He favors a large handgun and is a decent shot.
BRIGHTON MACNEALLY
Brighton is old, packs a shotgun and never leaves the house. He sits in the kitchen, smoking and reading magazines, or sleeps in the chair. His sleep has vastly improved since his daughter and son in law started sacrificing people. The old wounds in his stomach no longer keep him up and he no longer dreams of booby traps. Only a vast ocean at night.
DON MACNEALLY
Don is eight years old, nonverbal due to abuse or developmental disability. He understands spoken English but can only read/write Hieroglyphs and can only make vaguely language-like sounds. He is not allowed outside the basement.
THE VICTIM
Annika Lamb is a high functioning drug addict. She went to the truck stop on the way back from a rural concert to pick up a burger. Phyllis sold her fentanyl cut with ketamine and kidnapped her when she nodded off. The cult plans to take her lungs.
The MacNeallys are cowardly backstabbers. A favored tactic is to pretend they're flushing evidence or that one is about to domestic violence the other to death, luring intruders into an ambush. If cornered they surrender or pretend to be kidnapped victims, then attack the Agents while their backs are turned. They aren't fanatics willing to die in a futile struggle, they sincerely believe that they can fight the police and win with Apep on their side. In the UNNATURAL scenario they are addicted to the snake's venom.
PHYLLIS MACNEALLY
Phyllis works at a truck stop. The place is a hotspot for petty crime and an easy place to scoop up drug addicts who won't be missed and will follow her anywhere for a fix. She's good with machines but doesn't like dealing with people, except her husband. She prefers the shotgun and always carries a concealed blade.
ARNOLD MACNEALLY
Arnold is a nurse at the rural clinic. He uses his surgical knowledge to remove organs from sacrificial victims and implant them in the mummy. He laughs easily and has a thick skin from dealing with violent patients. He favors a large handgun and is a decent shot.
BRIGHTON MACNEALLY
Brighton is old, packs a shotgun and never leaves the house. He sits in the kitchen, smoking and reading magazines, or sleeps in the chair. His sleep has vastly improved since his daughter and son in law started sacrificing people. The old wounds in his stomach no longer keep him up and he no longer dreams of booby traps. Only a vast ocean at night.
DON MACNEALLY
Don is eight years old, nonverbal due to abuse or developmental disability. He understands spoken English but can only read/write Hieroglyphs and can only make vaguely language-like sounds. He is not allowed outside the basement.
THE VICTIM
Annika Lamb is a high functioning drug addict. She went to the truck stop on the way back from a rural concert to pick up a burger. Phyllis sold her fentanyl cut with ketamine and kidnapped her when she nodded off. The cult plans to take her lungs.
THE BOOK OF GOING IN BY NIGHT
As Apep is the inverse of Ra, so too is the process by which the living mummy is created. Rather than removing the organs and placing them in canopic jars, organs are taken from sacrificial victims and placed in the body to animate it. The spare parts are brined in a mirror of the bituminous process used to preserve a normal mummy. The resulting animate corpse is a wet, mostly-fireproof thing that smells like pickles and stagnant water.
If you run the MUNDANE version of the scenario, the Apep mummy is just a dead body made from a bunch of stolen organs, floating in a vat of preservatives in the handmade basement.
If you run the UNNATURAL version, the monster sleeps in its coffin in the wet clay of the wall. It comes oozing out when the MacNeallys make new offerings to it (either implanted organs or opioids).
Monster Apep has the following stats.
APEP – Dead Living Mummy
STR 10, CON 15, DEX 8, INT 5, POW 12
HP 13, WP 12
SAN LOSS: 0/1D6
SKILLS: Athletics 30%, Gurgle Horribly 99%, Sense Breath 50%, Swim 99%
ARMOR: See SOMETHING WET
ATTACKS: Draining Touch (50%, D6 WP drained and refunded to Apep)
MAGIC GAZE: In the dark, Apep can project an image of his glowing eyes. If an Agent shoots at the glowing eyes, they hit a friendly.
STEAL BREATH: If Apep was implanted with the VICTIM's lungs, he can spend 6 WP to fill an Agent's lungs with water. First Aid can keep the victim alive until they get real medical attention but taking action while the lungs are flooded leads to unconsciousness and suffocation.
SOMETHING WET: Attacks against Apep's pickled body deal half damage. Lethality success instakills him. Called shots to the head deal no damage (but can destroy his eyes). Called shots to the heart deal full damage. Fire deals no damage unless Apep is soaked in fuel or surrounded by a heat source that boils away the liquid soaking his body.
In the dark Apep can assume SNAKEFORM. Killing him without destroying his heart or incinerating him causes the giant snake to burst forth from his soggy linen.
SNAKEFORM – The Primordial Serpent
STR 20, CON 20, DEX 15, INT 5, POW 12
HP 20, WP 12
SAN LOSS: 0/1D6
SKILLS: See Heat 99%, Swim 99%
ARMOR: 5 points of Flint Head
ATTACKS: Flint Teeth (75%, D8 damage, 3 AP, 10% lethality poison onset D6 minutes)
Swallow (50%, D6 damage, victim is pinned and takes D6 damage each round, healing Apep for same)
SERPENT SORCERER: Apep can still use his mummy-form powers while in Snakeform.
NIGHT CREATURE: The snake is repelled, but not damaged, by artificial light. Sunlight destroys it.
Thanks to the poor quality of the tissues rendered to him by his servants, Apep is addicted to fentanyl. Whether in mummy or snake form the monster can be distracted by the drug. A very large dose causes it to OD.
If you run the MUNDANE version of the scenario, the Apep mummy is just a dead body made from a bunch of stolen organs, floating in a vat of preservatives in the handmade basement.
If you run the UNNATURAL version, the monster sleeps in its coffin in the wet clay of the wall. It comes oozing out when the MacNeallys make new offerings to it (either implanted organs or opioids).
Monster Apep has the following stats.
APEP – Dead Living Mummy
STR 10, CON 15, DEX 8, INT 5, POW 12
HP 13, WP 12
SAN LOSS: 0/1D6
SKILLS: Athletics 30%, Gurgle Horribly 99%, Sense Breath 50%, Swim 99%
ARMOR: See SOMETHING WET
ATTACKS: Draining Touch (50%, D6 WP drained and refunded to Apep)
MAGIC GAZE: In the dark, Apep can project an image of his glowing eyes. If an Agent shoots at the glowing eyes, they hit a friendly.
STEAL BREATH: If Apep was implanted with the VICTIM's lungs, he can spend 6 WP to fill an Agent's lungs with water. First Aid can keep the victim alive until they get real medical attention but taking action while the lungs are flooded leads to unconsciousness and suffocation.
SOMETHING WET: Attacks against Apep's pickled body deal half damage. Lethality success instakills him. Called shots to the head deal no damage (but can destroy his eyes). Called shots to the heart deal full damage. Fire deals no damage unless Apep is soaked in fuel or surrounded by a heat source that boils away the liquid soaking his body.
In the dark Apep can assume SNAKEFORM. Killing him without destroying his heart or incinerating him causes the giant snake to burst forth from his soggy linen.
SNAKEFORM – The Primordial Serpent
STR 20, CON 20, DEX 15, INT 5, POW 12
HP 20, WP 12
SAN LOSS: 0/1D6
SKILLS: See Heat 99%, Swim 99%
ARMOR: 5 points of Flint Head
ATTACKS: Flint Teeth (75%, D8 damage, 3 AP, 10% lethality poison onset D6 minutes)
Swallow (50%, D6 damage, victim is pinned and takes D6 damage each round, healing Apep for same)
SERPENT SORCERER: Apep can still use his mummy-form powers while in Snakeform.
NIGHT CREATURE: The snake is repelled, but not damaged, by artificial light. Sunlight destroys it.
Thanks to the poor quality of the tissues rendered to him by his servants, Apep is addicted to fentanyl. Whether in mummy or snake form the monster can be distracted by the drug. A very large dose causes it to OD.
SURVEILLANCE
If the players want weird equipment, give them an INT*5 to see if they thought to bring it. Laser microphone, thermal camera, etc. Heat vision can see into the first and second floors of the house but not the pit below.
Play begins at night with the players in the cornfield and the MacNeallys moving around the First Floor preparing to sacrifice Anika. They put her on the table, alive but semiconscious, and Arnold retrieves his surgical tools.
The MacNeallys recite a prayer to Apep, beseeching their lord to accept the offered sacrifice. This is loud enough that Agents outside can hear it even without special equipment. Arnold opens Anika's torso and takes her lungs out, killing her. His wife takes the organs to the first floor bathroom and tosses them in the brine.
If you're running the UNNATURAL scenario Arnold goes upstairs to get the antivenom from the bathroom.
After the lungs have quick pickled Phyllis and Arnold open the hatch in the TV room and take the brined organs down into the pit below. If you're running the UNNATURAL scenario they also take the body down to feed Apep.
In the Pit the MacNeallys implant the lungs in the Apep mummy. In the UNNATURAL version of the adventure the mummy assumes its snake form, envenomates them and eats the dead body of the sacrificial offering. While drugged the MacNeallys aren't good for much of anything. The snake is momentarily stunned by the residual ketamine and opioids in Anika's body.
Regardless of what happens in the pit, Phyllis and Arnold fuck in the master bedroom upstairs.
If you're running the MUNDANE scenario, the MacNeallys wrap Anika's non-snake eaten body up, toss it in a wheel barrow and take it out to the cornfield for disposal. They use the kitchen door for this.
In the morning the MacNeallys eat breakfast and leave for work in one car, leaving the house occupied only by their son in the basement and old man Brighton in the kitchen. They never use the front door.
Play begins at night with the players in the cornfield and the MacNeallys moving around the First Floor preparing to sacrifice Anika. They put her on the table, alive but semiconscious, and Arnold retrieves his surgical tools.
The MacNeallys recite a prayer to Apep, beseeching their lord to accept the offered sacrifice. This is loud enough that Agents outside can hear it even without special equipment. Arnold opens Anika's torso and takes her lungs out, killing her. His wife takes the organs to the first floor bathroom and tosses them in the brine.
If you're running the UNNATURAL scenario Arnold goes upstairs to get the antivenom from the bathroom.
After the lungs have quick pickled Phyllis and Arnold open the hatch in the TV room and take the brined organs down into the pit below. If you're running the UNNATURAL scenario they also take the body down to feed Apep.
In the Pit the MacNeallys implant the lungs in the Apep mummy. In the UNNATURAL version of the adventure the mummy assumes its snake form, envenomates them and eats the dead body of the sacrificial offering. While drugged the MacNeallys aren't good for much of anything. The snake is momentarily stunned by the residual ketamine and opioids in Anika's body.
Regardless of what happens in the pit, Phyllis and Arnold fuck in the master bedroom upstairs.
If you're running the MUNDANE scenario, the MacNeallys wrap Anika's non-snake eaten body up, toss it in a wheel barrow and take it out to the cornfield for disposal. They use the kitchen door for this.
In the morning the MacNeallys eat breakfast and leave for work in one car, leaving the house occupied only by their son in the basement and old man Brighton in the kitchen. They never use the front door.
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