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Chaosium Digest Volume 33 Number 07
Chaosium Digest
Thursday, April 19, 2001
Volume 33, Number 07
RISE OF THE OPHIDIAN EMPIRE: PART ONE
(Continued)
by Mervyn Boyd - jack@ktana.freeserve.co.uk
Three men suddenly appear out of a doorway, and approach him. Words are
exchanged. As he transfers his walking stick to his other hand for a
handshake the players see on a SPOT HIDDEN roll that his stick is topped
with a silver serpents head. The characters do not recognize him. The man is
then led to one of two separate, four wheeled cabs. He gets in as do the
others then it departs. During this time another SPOT HIDDEN check should be
made to spot a scruffy-looking man skulking around pretending that he is
reading a newspaper. Following his gaze it seems that he too is interested
in the briefcase carrying man.
Moments after the man and his escort depart, the scruffy man folds his
paper, hails a cab, gets in and leaves in the opposite direction. This
suspicious type character, for all intents and purposes, is nobody
important; he's just being suspicious to invoke player curiosity, though he
may be met later. Unless the players intervene, this action flows smoothly.
Intervening can mean anything from accosting the briefcase carrying man for
questioning, starting a firefight or staying in the background hoping to
follow him to his final destination.
Accosting the man
The man becomes nervous when he sees the players coming for him. He'll
quicken his pace to reach his waiting cab. His escorts likewise become more
alert giving questioning looks to one another. The players are an
unnecessary complication for all concerned. The keeper shouldn't allow the
players to get close to the man. His bodyguards should see to that, though
they won't escalate the tension. They begin to take note of the characters,
for ease of later identification. The man has no time to spare and any
questions the players ask will remain unanswered. Once he reaches his cab
he gets bundled in, a bodyguard takes a good look at a character, before
getting in himself then leaving.
Aggravating the Situation
This situation can get well out of order unless properly handled. If for
whatever reason guns are drawn and the threat of a firefight is perceived,
the crowd of people scatter and the briefcase man will make a run to safety.
His bodyguards likewise take cover and pull revolvers, and if necessary,
return fire. Armed police arrive in 1d6+4 minutes having been alerted by a
law abiding citizen.
In total there are seven bodyguards who will try to draw the players fire,
giving the man much needed room to make a run to safety. Once in the cab, it
clatters off over the cobblestones. For reasons of the plot, the man should
live through this encounter, even if it means he dies more times than he's
able to. This can be explained away by him having a spell cast on him.
Sanity rolls should be had in this case.
If the players manage to kill a bodyguard and search the body, they'll find
nothing of import. Characters arrested by the police will need a damn good
lawyer - especially if they kill innocent people with their missed shots.
Briefcase man has enough influence to ensure they are prosecuted to the
fullest, imprisoned and/or even made to disappear.
Following the man
There is a chance of discovery if the players hop in a cab and give chase,
as based upon a LUCK roll of the one who's driving. Failing the roll results
in a 50% chance of being spotted. Several opportunities of being spotted
should be had, if the players are not too careful. If seen, a cab chase will
likely ensue which may also end up in a firefight. The cab with the man will
try to escape leaving the second cab to delay the players. Have some fun
with this before having the players make a LUCK or DRIVE roll at a critical
time. Failure results in them having a minor accident: perhaps a child
dashes in front of their cab chasing a bright red ball, perhaps they are
stopped by a policeman for reckless driving, perhaps a wheel breaks, or
whatever. Perhaps in order to delay them, a carefully aimed shot rings out
from a fleeing cab. They players won't get far if one of their horses is
crippled.
The keeper should, however, make sure that the players are not delayed too
long so that the first cab escapes. That would mean that the scenario would
effectively draw to a close. If they can't find the manor; they won't go
through the gate and discover the plot... The end. Keep it on the verge of
collapse - but not quite.
Successfully following the cabs without detection, the players are lead
North, out of the city, into the countryside, and along a dirt track to a
large two story manor and stable. The cabbie will make mention that its not
common procedure to leave the city, but he can be bought off, if the
incentive is there. Once in the countryside the gunmen will have no
compunction about setting an ambush and killing, or capturing the
characters.
If the players manage to commandeer the delaying cab and take at least one
prisoner they'll likely ask: who's the man, what's he up to, where's he
going, what else do you know? Hired hands brought in for a job are seldom
told everything. Information is on a need to know basis. They're told where
to go, who to meet, and what to do. All they know is that they were to "go
pick up Mr. Collins at Victoria Railway Station at 3.30, and take him out to
the country manor. We were just given a description of him. That's all we
know" Beyond that, there's nothing more that they know. Directions to the
manor can be forced with physical violence. Anything else, such as, asking
who's employ are they in. are left to the keeper - though that guy with the
pasty face and scar would be a suitable candidate. Nobody knows his name
though. Assorted PSYCHOLOGY checks reveal him to be telling the truth.
Country Manor
The cabs stop outside the front door and everyone get out and enter the
house. Unless the players are careless there should be another chance of
being spotted. Sneaking up to the manor is easily done. No guards are posted
that the players can see. A successful LUCK roll is all that is required to
get up to the manor in order to look in through a window or ease open a
door. Failure results in somebody being spotted, which in turn alerts the
guards into taking action. They converge, pulling weapons to see to the
intruders.
Successfully sneaking up to a window and peering in, a player may be
(un)lucky enough to spot a serpent man in his natural form and human pass by
an open doorway (1/1d6 sanity loss). Roll the sanity loss first. Should 5
sanity be lost and the character fail an IDEA roll, the experience is
blocked from the mind and he/she had no memory of it. Those losing four
sanity or less, or succeeding their idea check see: Walking past on two
legs, a tall man-sized, serpentine entity clad in cherry-coloured flowing
robes, with gold braiding. Lithe and sinuous. Clawed hand cupped together,
forked tongue flicking from its gently swaying head. A tail maintaining
balance. It seems to be conversing with its human counterpart.
The front door is unlocked, same with the backdoor. Entering and stealthily
moving around is hazardous. HIDE & SNEAK rolls should be had to keep the
tension. The keeper should include such things like: approaching voices are
heard just around the corner. The clack of a door handle behind them, etc..
Since the house is occupied by several people, the players can get away with
making the odd unintentional noise. Coming face to face with one of its
occupants is a different matter altogether. The guards are not stupid, they
know everyone who should be here and cannot be bluffed. The alarm will be
raised immediately.
If the players are discovered, a raging gunfight will most likely ensue,
unless they wish to be taken prisoner. There should be at least twice as
many guards as there are players. They will be armed with serpentine
lightening guns. The guards are smart and won't present themselves as
targets by taking stupid risks in order to get the players. Use them
smartly.
Capturing the Investigators
If the players are captured they are removed to the dank windowless cellar,
which has been converted into an interrogation room, and chained to a wall.
Then, each character, in turn, is taken, and questioned in plain view of
everyone else. If the players seem to be resilient to their captors
persuasive techniques, other ways of persuasion will be used, these being
left to the sick perverted, and twisted minds of the individual keeper. It's
payback time. Their captors delight in physical and mental torture. Perhaps
the players are just abused without any questions being asked. This could go
on for weeks on end. Sanity loss will be great as will damage and physical
deformity. Finally, a truth serum will be used if no head way is made. Once
their captors are happy that they have extracted all the information the
players know they will be beaten unconscious, taken away and executed,
unless the keeper wishes to bind them into off-world slavery, hand them over
to the Mi-Go for their insidious experiments, or wipe their memories
clean... It's a shame they don't know anything.
If all the gunmen are killed or captured, the players can search the manor
at their leisure. Captured gunmen who are left alone for any periods of time
will try to escape and if possible secure a weapon for themselves - even if
it's nothing more than a steak knife. Questioning them will be a long and
hard process. These men have been conditioned to withstand pain. No one
knows anything anyway, though they have seen the odd serpent-man from time
to time.. They're just guards. Nothing more. A search of the house reveals
the following:
The Living Room
A hidden wall safe in the study is found with a successful SPOT HIDDEN
check. The combination to the safe is unknown to anyone and there are no
obvious clues to its combination number. Cracking the safe requires the
specialized SAFECRACKING skill, or FOUR CONSECUTIVE LISTEN AND DEXx2 rolls.
The safe contains $2,000 in assorted donations, a half pound of a powdered
form of Domination Serum, and a black leather suitcase. The case itself also
has a three digit combination lock, and unless anyone can guess the
combination (274) the locks will need to be forced. Inside are military
secrets such as coastal defense diagrams, written information of British
military positions and strengths (world-wide), naval charts, colour
photographs of assorted people at rallies, and unsigned orders for
specialized house-to-house searches and seizure training, as well as urban
and mountain warfare tactics for soldiers. There are also orders for the
extensive construction of thousands of miles of rail track, as well as
hundreds of specially built freight train box-cars. Another order is a
requisition for 3 million brand new shackles. Player handout 3, a 100-page
document, can also be found which outlines a diabolical six-phase plan. No
times or dates are supplied though.
An upstairs room
A small lab of chemicals and laboratory paraphernalia is set up. Some
equipment, to those who are familiar with such accoutrements seems odd (of a
likes never seen before). Perhaps its new and experimental. Whoever designed
and constructed it is quite the scientist. A successful CHEMISTRY check
cannot identify the chemicals, by visual inspection, smell or touch. A
couple of stoppered test tubes are held in racks. They contain a colourless
liquid with the faintest taste and odour of raspberries (POW x1 to detect).
Anyone familiar with Serpentine technology who makes a successful MYTHOS
check can identify it as being Domination Serum. A drug which makes those
imbibing it very suggestible (but only to Serpent people), short of
endangering his own life or that of others. Two strange-looking triangular
metal plates inscribed with a cursive script can also be found. These are
serpent-man books. Anyone who can read serpent-man discover them to contain
complex formulae for the creation of powerful elixirs, toxins, drugs, and
assorted compounds. Each book weighs a hefty two pounds each.
Another room
The room contains dozens of cages, in which rats, mice and other rodents are
kept. Several hundred of the small furry critters are here. Why? Food for
the occasional Serpentine guest, of course.
Yet another room
A large ornate mirror is directly embedded into the far wall. Its glassy
sheen sparkles oddly and ripples periodically as though made from a viscous
liquid. In fact this is no mirror and anyone attempting to break it will
find that items thrown against it vanish beyond (san loss 1/1d2 - more if a
body part is used - such as kicking it). A successful MYTHOS check
identifies it as a Gate. To view what lies beyond the character has to
completely step through the looking glass. Those brave enough to do so lose
5 magic points and 1d4 sanity, and appear through a similar shimmering
portal. See Stepping through the portal.
The cellar / prison / dungeon
This door to the cellar is locked, and bolted. A SPOT HIDDEN roll can find
the key somewhere, otherwise the players need to overcome the door's
strength of 12. A flight of wooden steps lead down into the darkness. Light
sources are required. Manacled to a wall, the players come across a
disheveled human. Dirty, black and blue and mindless. He stares blankly
around, totally unaware he has visitors. He drools. Five red needle marks
are seen at the base of his skull, when FIRST AID is administered. Players,
then realize something. They know him. Frank Barberton - their friend. There
is nothing the players can do to help him. First Aid will only stabilize his
condition, Psychoanalysis does nothing. He's been subjected to total memory
erasure, save for the most basic of instinctual responses, such as
breathing, and eating. For all intents and purposes he has an INT value of
1. Just why this shell of a human is here is known only to his captors.
Seven other sets of empty manacles hang loose from the wall.
A small room adjoining the cellar has been converted into a torture room,
and is segregated by a locked iron gate (STR 20 to bust open). It contains:
a surgeon's operating table, a tray containing an array of surgical
implements of pain; a wooden chair, complete with restraining leather
straps, and a metal cap of some kind, which would appear to fit the head.
Attached to this via a couple of cables, the players see, sitting on a table
in the corner of the room , a foot tall metal machine of some kind.
Constructed of bronze plates, and surmounted with a luminescent yellow
diamond-shaped gem or crystal. A dial is inset on the contraption and a
lever pokes out - ready to be pulled. If pulled, the gem begins to glow
brighter. A whine is emitted from inside the metal casing. Anyone who
touches the metal skullcap is shocked (with accompanying jolt) for 1d6
damage on a successful LUCK roll. Failing the roll, or if the dial was
disturbed, the character instead takes 1d10 damage (with violent muscle
spasms) after which the damage is matched against his/her CON in a
resistance roll. Failing the roll results in death by heart failure,
otherwise he simply falls unconscious for 1d6 hours. Sanity loss for seeing
this death is 1/1d6.
Sitting on a shelf, the players can also find a small, slim rectangular
copper box covered with tiny indentations. From one side of the box, five
one inch needles protrude. The Yithian constructed device is used to erase
memories. Unless the players have read up on, or encountered Yithians and
their technology before, there will be no way of identifying the box as a
Tabula Rasa Device. The needles are inserted into the subject's head at the
base of the brain. 1d3 damage is done in the process. Once the device is
inserted and activated, the subject is paralyzed unless a POWx1 roll is
made. Each round the machine is connected, it erases up to a year's worth of
memories, or permanently removes 1 point of INT, at the operators
discretion. These memories can be stored in small removable data cubes and
can be restored at a later date in a reversal of the process, or inserted
into another living being. The mind wipe is not totally effective however,
every year there is an INTx1 chance that some vague memory returns in a
dream. If compared with the needle marks on Frank, the players see that the
marks and needles are equidistant. A Possible match.
Stepping through the Portal
As the characters travel through the gate they feel themselves being pulled,
crushed, twisted and stretched to no end, although no damage is taken. It
takes practically no time at all to arrive on the other side. They emerge
disorientated and nauseated into a room (1) that is quite unusual to say the
least. The air is humid and smells of rotting cabbage. As the investigators
move from place to place they see the walls, floor and ceiling all seem to
be made of some kind of organic fungal substance. Ferns, brackens, moulds
and spore-pods grow all over the place. Ulcer-like perforations spit a
viscous mucus into the air which lands with a heavy splat. Other wall-sores
have a continual disgorging gloopy stream of slime which form pools of
mucus on the floor. Although similar to earthly plant-life, these alien
growths are entirely different and cannot be identified. The plants range in
colour from dark earthy browns up to bile-greens and sickly yellows. Some
of them also have the ability of natural bioluminescence (to that of several
candle power). Sanity loss for this strange vista is 1/1d4.
Occasionally, the characters hear strange twitters and buzzing sounds from
things unseen. The occasional (human!?) scream or outcry of insufferable
pain and anguish is also heard. Fortunately for the players they are limited
to a small part of this alien world. Wandering off beyond their ken will
only serve in getting them lost. If they lose it here they'll be in a world
that really hurts. Occasionally weird alien glyphs (Mi-go writing) are
inscribed upon the walls. These are nothing more than sign posts alerting
the Mi-go to where they are.
There are plenty of nooks and crannies and outgrowths available to hide
behind when attempting to evade detection, however sooner or later they may
be discovered. Unless otherwise noted the players will be mistaken for
escaped prisoners and the Mi-go will attempt to recapture them and place
them back in the holding pens (10, 11). If the players are proving to be too
troublesome to capture, the Mi-go will simply kill them - plenty more from
where they came from. If they are captured, those of superior quality (one
or more statistics equal to, or greater than 16) will either be sent to the
mines as slaves or sent for immediate dissection. Anyone else will languish
in the cells until needed. Those who are deemed worthy may even be
sacrificed to Shub-Niggurath.
Random Encounters
Although not necessary, the keeper should check for a random encounter, or
event once or twice. These should be used sparingly - just enough to keep
the players on edge for the safety of their characters. Examples of which
could be:
* A mass of maggots erupt from the ceiling which covers an unlucky character
in a crawling horror, which causes 1/1d6 sanity loss.
* Up ahead, the players discern the shapes of things moving about and
echoing noises. What are they? Serpent-men, Mi-Go, something even worse?
Have the players likewise been detected? Is whatever it is hungry?
* As the players view the way ahead, their light source picks out an upside
down human head with six or eight spider-like legs emerging from its crown
and two eye stalks sprouting from its neck. Its mouth opens and closes as
though trying to speak; a rasping gurgle coming from inside. The thing
scurries past them causing 1/1d6 sanity loss. Six damage will kill it. This
is an escaped Mi-Go experiment.
* The players come across a bloated decaying body of a female which has been
partially devoured. The undead human corpse is slowly dragging itself across
the fungal floor, moaning in pain. It comprises only the head, neck, torso,
left arm and half its right arm. This is another escaped Mi-Go experiment,
which causes 1d3/1d6 sanity loss.
1. The Gate
Illuminating this room is a single, man's head-sized pearl-like orb. It is
just sitting in the middle of the floor. If anyone wishes to take it they
may do so. It weighs six pounds. These orbs are scattered everywhere and
afford ample light to see by. Other than that there are three exits.
2. Empty
Fungal re-growth is beginning to sprout in this lesser used chamber.
3. Recuperating Room
The recuperating room is used for those serpent-men who have undergone the
brain swap operation. Whenever the players first enter the room there will
be 2d4 human-looking men here apparently sleeping in cots or gazing blankly
around their surroundings. These Serpent-men are recovering from their
ordeal and are adjusting to their new bodies and so are not all that aware
of who they are, or for that matter where they are. Characters can pass
through this room without fear of being caught, however, if the players
regularly pass through the room a snake man may, in time, recover his senses
and raise the alarm.
4. Brain Transplant
This large cavernous chamber contains eight wide tables, of which 1d8 of
them are in use. On those tables there lays a Serpent-man with a human
laying beside. For each operation in progress there are two pinkish crab or
lobster-like, and bat-winged entities about five feet in length, each
possessing a multitude of articulate limbs, and oval-shaped brain-like head
of changing hues, sometimes accompanied with a strange buzzing sound
present . (Mi-go), performing the complex medical procedure required in
removing the Serpent-man's brain and placing it within the head of the
human. (If all the tables are filled there will be 16 Mi-go in here.) Sanity
rolls should be had with a loss of 1d4/1d10. The vast array of alien
technology, bubbling gurgling tanks, tubes and utensils found here to
bizarre in nature to describe, and too complex for the layman to use without
proper study. Once the brain swap is complete the Snake-man bodies are taken
into a nearby room for storage. The snake-men themselves are taken to a
recuperating room where they wait and adjust to their new bodies.
5. Body Vault
This room is filled with approximately 170 Serpent-men bodies. Transparent
tubes and other strange objects are inserted into various parts of their
bodies and the characters see that a bluish-green liquid is either being
sucked out or pumped in. These Serpent-men have already undergone the brain
transplant procedure. Their bodies are being kept alive until their world
domination plans have been accomplished then they can have their brains
replaced into their old bodies. The tubes seem to disappear into a huge
pulsating throbbing pustule growing from the ceiling forty feet above. From
the space left in the room the players can assess (IDEA roll) that the room
could easily hold 700 to 1000 bodies. In order to 'kill' the Serpent-men,
all that is required is for the players to destroy the pustule. The pustule
has 2 armour points and requires 20 damage to destroy it. Once destroyed the
pustule explodes into a cloud-burst of vile-smelling goo which spatters
every one in the cavern.
6. Gigantic Cavern And Maze Of Tunnels
This cavern is by far the most populated area with regards to fungal growth.
The jungle-like fauna is a strange and eerie fog-laden purgatory. In some
areas the bulbous fungi grow up to as much as 10 feet in diameter, or as
towering stalks 20 feet in height. Here the characters need to filter their
breathing through cloth otherwise they start to choke and suffocate upon the
many millions of ultra fine spores that are carried upon the slightest
breeze.
Gruesome calls and unnatural twitters permeate the supernatural biosphere.
Weird alien life are seen flittering in the murky undergrowth. Branching
from the main area are smaller tunnels that interweave to form a vast
complex maze. No one knows where the tunnels lead - not even the Mi-go who
live here. Several explorer parties have went in. None ever returned. As the
players tentatively move through the entanglement of plant life, a ropy
tendril uncoils itself above the players and attempts to grab an unfortunate
character and hoist him aloft into the waiting slavering maw of a Venus
flytrap-like plant where he will be slowly digested over a period of days
equal to his SIZ. Check for surprise (POWx3) when the attack occurs, those
able to act do so at 1/2DEX, those failing are stunned one round. Sanity
loss for seeing the plant is 1/1d4. If the character is successfully
grabbed, he has 3 rounds in which to free himself. His best bet is to cut or
saw away at the tendril that has him or try to use brute strength to break
free. Each round the character has been lifted into the air results in 1d6
damage for the possible drop he has to make - should he finally escape.
Fortunately the ground beneath is not entirely solid and will absorb most of
the impact. Should the character succeed a jump roll he may reduce the
damage by 2d6 when landing, otherwise it will only be 1d6.
The Plant
STR 12 CON 9 SIZ 45 INT 1 POW 3 DEX 10 MOVE -- HITS 27
WEAPON ATTK % DAMAGE Armour: 3 point tough and fibrous
Grapple 75% 1d6 + grapple
Mouth 99% 1 hp per hour Note: Only 8 points of damage
and an additional is required to sever the tendril
1 siz point each holding the character. 27 damage
day due to kills the plant outright.
digestive acids.
If the players are determined to go exploring themselves it will be up to
the keeper to determine their outcome. Will they wander forever, eventually
succumbing to whatever lives in there or will they emerge in some other part
of the alien city. One thing is for sure however; the maze is extremely
dark. Pitch black in fact. The deeper the players go the more complex the
maze seemingly becomes. Cold winds occasionally gust through chilling
investigators to the bone. Fine spider-like webs break across their faces.
Mites irritatingly crawl on their skin, sometimes burrowing beneath it. At
times they are forced to wade chest deep through slime. Maybe the lamp they
carry flickers and dies - plunging everyone into darkness. Maybe they come
across the remains of a lost Mi-go expedition with some salvageable
equipment. Either way, fear and paranoia soon takes its toll causing
1d3/1d10 sanity loss. Each day spent wandering causes similar sanity loss.
7. Human Vivisection Lab
Stretched out on benches are 1d6+1 bodies of men, women and children. Black,
White and Oriental people. They are in various states of vivisection; their
skins pealed back, ribs cracked open and their internal organs scooped out
and placed in a messy pile beside them, plucked eyes hang from sockets, and
one or two have the tops of their heads removed exposing the brain. Pinned
on the walls are various anatomical charts of the human body, showing
skeletal structure and muscle configuration. Lining the walls are a vast
array of glass-like cylinders which are filled with a yellowish-brown
liquid. Floating within the cylinders and magnified by the distorting
effects of the glass are body parts: heads, brains, eyes, limbs and parts
there of... This is all very disturbing indeed and the smell of
decomposition and preservative lends itself to the repugnance causing 1/1d6
sanity loss.
Three Serpent-men assist a Mi-go in its deranged examination. These beings
are scientists and are not armed although they can pick up scalpels or throw
flasks of acrid, burning preservative fluid or acids at the investigators.
The Serpent-men will try to corner the investigators (unless they are
outnumbered) as the Mi-go flits off to raise the alarm and bring
reinforcements.
8. Poly-embryonic Chamber
Suspended, in clusters, from the ceiling are strange translucent pods.
Contained within the cocoons in varying states of gestation, liquefaction,
or digestion are humans. Hundreds of them. Sanity rolls are required with
the loss of 1d3/1d6. Anyone taking a close look at one of the corpses
receives a shock as its eyes suddenly snap open causing a further loss of
1/1d3 sanity. All corpses are covered in a white mucus-slime. While looking
around the players might realize that the bodies are being grown - not
dissolved. Then, if a LISTEN roll is succeeded, the players are alerted to a
hissing, slithering, sound as two serpent-men come in wheeling a trolley.
They bicker to each other. They slit open one or two of the pods, haul out
the bodies and dump them on the table and wheel it away.
9. Pool
The main feature of this room is a pool of what appears to be water that
measures roughly 30 feet in diameter. The pool is kept full by a continual
seepage from the ceiling that constantly rains down. The pool over-spills
the room and forms a small waterfall at another cave opening which overlooks
the largest cavern the players will see.
Fungus grows in large quantities here affording plenty of hiding spaces from
the dozens of Mi-go which frequent the pool to drink its contents. The
keeper may wish to include several Mi-go here for effect, or leave the
cavern empty. Players who taste the water find it to be pleasantly sugary
tasting and warm, which does nothing for their thirst, but will replenish
those sapped energy reserves.
10. Empty
11, 12. Prison cells
Imprisoned behind iron-like bars are some 30-odd poor wretches who have been
abducted by the Mi-go and have been brought here to suffer one of two fates:
work in the mines, or end up on a slab as an experiment. Some of these dirty
underfed human beings cry out to their captors for mercy, but their pleas
fall on deaf ears. When the characters appear (unless they are keeping to
the shadows), the prisoners begin to plead with them for freedom. It will be
up to the players themselves to make that choice, however leaving them to
their fate will involve substantial sanity loss - as determined by the
individual keeper. Guarding the captives is one elderly wingless Mi-go who
carries a weapon of some kind. He, it, currently has its back to the
characters and is not all that alert and can be easily overcome by swift and
aggressive action. It carries a key which unlocks the cells. Unlocking the
door to the cells causes those prisoners who are able to do so to madly rush
out and make their escape into the unknown. Unless the players can somehow
marshal them they will all be killed or recaptured, possibly with the
investigators amongst them. Under careful direction, and all the time
fighting and fleeing from pursuing Mi-go, 1d100 percent (keeper depending)
of them will make it back to the gate to be transported back home. A
successful rescue attempt incurs sanity gain - also left to the individual
keeper.
Mi-go Guard
STR 7 CON 9 SIZ 11 INT 10 POW 12 DEX 9 MOVE 7/9 HITS 10
WEAPON ATTK % DAMAGE Armour: All impaling weapons do
Nipper 50 1d6 + grapple minimum damage.
Freeze Gun 70 1d20 special Sanity: 0/1d6
The Freeze Gun fires a blast of icy mist out to a range of 20 feet. Its
damage is matched against the target's current CON on the resistance table.
If the victim is overcome he loses 1d20 CON. Providing he survives the
experience he will be frozen stiff and unable to act until properly warmed
up. Succeeding the roll, he simply loses 1 point of con. The contraption has
a base chance of 20% for anyone using it. It has enough coolant for another
25 uses.
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