The Lizard Who Would Be King

Dr. McFadden, world renowned archeologist and professor of archeology at Harvard University, has been reported missing.

## KEEEPER INFORMATION

Dr. McFadden is in fact the serpent man SsRuahh, who has adopted this form to research and locate the Nameless City of legend. However, his investigations into the mysterious and occult have attracted the attention of several government agencies; Majestic-12 NRO Delta agents, who have been overtly tailing him for weeks, hoping to scare him into changing his line of work, and Delta Green A-cell, who have been discretely monitoring his progress and assessing his potential use within the agency.

Dr. McFadden is sure that the government agents following him are on to his secret identity and has decided that the time has come to move on. He has fled to Oman, to locate the Nameless City. His plan is to resurrect the hibernating Reptile Men high priests, the foundation of his reptilian army.

### A-Cell Information

Intelligence reports that Dr. McFadden purchased a one way ticket for Oman via Expedia.com. He left Logan International, to Muscat, Oman. Also purchased are a rental car from Muscat to Salalah and a guided day tour to Ubar from Salalah via LOST CITY TOURS.

### Tracking the Doctor

Landing in Muscat, the agents can ask the car rental desk clerk in the airport for information regarding Dr McFadden. Successful fast talk rolls will reveal that the doctor rented a small sedan to be dropped off at the car rental office in Salalah.

Salalah is about 8 hours drive south west from Muscat. Flights from Muscat to Salalah take about 2 hours and are available via Oman Airlines, leaving every 5 hours.

The car rental clerk at the Salalah airport will report with a successful fast talk roll that Dr. McFadden dropped off the car and was picked up by a LOST CITY TOURS 4 wheel drive bus along with 3 other men.

The tour guide used is difficult to locate in this crowded desert town; the streets are small, crowded with crazy taxi cabs, merchants and winding, unnamed roads. Once located (a successful Party LUCK roll), the tour company will report, if shown a photo of the Doctor, that the tour bus was stolen by the doctor and 3 unknown men during the tour of the Lost City. While the group was taking the foot tour of Ubar, Dr. McFadden and 3 other men snuck back to the bus

and drove north into the open desert.

Directions to Ubar are easy enough as it is one of the primary tourist destinations in this city. Approximately 3 hours drive to the north to the village of Shisr, the location of the Ubar dig site is on the northern side of the town.

Any agents speaking Arabic at less than 20% suffer a -10% to fast talk rolls 20% to 59% suffer no penalty, with 60% or better, they have an additional +10% to fast talk when dealing with the locals here.

### Timeline of Events

10DEC09 – 1820 hrs Dr. McFadden flies out of Logan International Airport

11DEC09 – 1220 hrs Dr. McFadden lands at Muscat international Airport and rents car for Salalah

11DEC09 – 2100 hrs Dr. McFadden checks in rental car at Salalah Airport and hails cab

12DEC09 – 2100 hrs A-cell contacts the Agents

12DEC09 – 0800 hrs Dr. McFadden boards tourist day trip by Landcruiser to Ubar

12DEC09 – 0500 hrs Agents leave for Ubar

12DEC09 – 1200 hrs Dr McFadden and Desert tour trip arrives in Ubar

12DEC09 – 1300 hrs Dr. McFadden and 3 other men steal bus and head north into the desert

12DEC09 – 2000 hrs Agents arrive in Salalah

### The Majestic Option

If the party seems to be getting bored, moving to slow, or going in completely the wrong direction, the keeper may choose to add an extra problem to the mix, NRO Delta goons. Having followed the same clues as the agents, Majestic has sent 2d4 NRO Delta agents to tail the PCs. They can come in at any time, and at any level of aggression that the keeper sees fit. Possibilities include tailing the group quietly (spot hidden to notice) to storming in complete with black helicopter and heavy machine guns.

### Searching the Desert

When the Agents land in Salalah, it is 1900hrs, Dr. McFadden and the 3 other men have been in the open desert since 1pm. A three hour drive to Ubar from Salalah in a Landcruiser puts the agents in Ubar at 2300hrs. Tracking the stolen bus in the sand, in the dark, will be impossible. Renting a single engine airplane (with pilot) at Salalah airport is the best option. After three hours of flying, the agents are able to spot the stolen bus with a party LUCK roll each subsequent 30 minutes of searching. Abandoned and stuck in the sand, the bus sits 100 miles north of Ubar and about 20 miles south of the Saudi border. Spot Hidden rolls will find the men walking through the sand somewhere near the Saudi Arabian border. The 3 Arabic men with the doctor will open fire on the agents and the airplane on sight, the Doctor will flee into the desert night and hide.

Providing the agents survive the plane crash (they were flying very low) and the subsequent gunfight, the Doctor will come out of hiding and frantically plead with them to spare his life. Once the agents identify themselves as being there to save him, he will repeatedly thank them for saving him from those terrorists.

He will explain that they had planned to hold him for ransom and were taking him to their camp and waiting compatriots.

## STRANDED

The airplane is destroyed, and the agents and Doctor McFadden are at least 120 miles from the nearest village. Everywhere is sand and darkness. Camping near the plane wreckage is the safest bet, this is when the doctor will try to get the agents to drink his Dominate Serum and convince them to join him in the search for the nameless city.

Any agent who is not dominated by the serum, during daylight hours, may make a spot hidden role to notice that the doctor's shadow is not right. Confronted by this the doctor will attempt cloud memory, or if the doctor takes 1 point of damage for whatever reason, the Dr. McFadden likeness will be dropped and SsRuahh will reveal his true form (0/1d6 san). Dr. McFadden clutches a courier bag constantly. He will not discuss the contents, and will not let the bag out of his sight. The bag contains the alchemical equipment and artifacts needed to perform the ceremony to raise the hibernating reptile men.

## FINDING THE NAMELESS CITY

Provided the doctor's true identity has not been revealed, the group will spend the entire day hiking through the desert, searching for help (and being steered in the wrong direction) or, if dominated by SsRuah, searching for the Nameless City. Either way, at nearly 2100hrs the group will come across the ruins of an ancient village. The doctor will be ecstatic, exclaiming that he has found it at last, the Nameless City of legend!

The doctor will begin frantically scouring the ruins searching for the entrance to the temple cavern.

## RAISING THE DEAD

Once Dr. McFadden / SsRuahh locates the temple entrance, he will disappear into the cave. Following him down into the steeply winding, descending cave, flashlights or torches reveal intricate murals on the walls. The paintings depict the rise and fall of some kind of degenerate race of crocodile men.

Deeper still the group will come to the hall of the high priests. The walls are lined with 23 polished wooden coffins with glass lids. Inside each is the hibernating / mummified body of a reptile man high priest. Lose 1/1d6 san after seeing the murals and realizing the truth. SsRuahh will remove the glass covers on each of the coffins and begin chanting and mixing chemicals in his makeshift lab on the cavern floor, beginning the process of waking the reptile men. If they haven't noticed the shadow yet, they will now. In the flickering light of the small fire in front of Dr. McFadden, his shadow looms across the cavern wall like a dinosaur hovering above its prey.

## SERPENTIS REX

If SsRuahh completes the process, He will abandon his disguise, if he hasn't already. The Reptile Men will begin to stir within the coffins and SsRuahh will stand triumphantly in front of them and command them to feast upon the agents and build their strength for the war to come. In the chaos that follows, there is a Spot Hidden -20% chance that the agents will notice 3 of the reptile men are not revived and appear to be missing an amulet that the other 20 seem to have.

All 20 of the revived reptile men will attack the agents and attempt to devour them. They will follow the agents out into the desert and will not stop until killed or satisfied.

## STATS for "The Lizard Who Would Be King"

### Imran Davi – Hired Gun

**STR** 11 **DEX** 10 **INT** 9 **CON** 12 **APP** 10 **POW** 9 **SIZ** 11 **SAN** 45 **EDU** 7 **HP** 12 **MP** 9

**Skills**: AK-47 45% dmg 2d6+1 Knife 63% 1d4 Grapple 68% English 22%

### Farooq Gandapur – Local Muscle

**STR** 8 **DEX** 13 **INT** 11 **CON** 9 **APP** 11 **POW** 9 **SIZ** 11 **SAN** 45 b9 **HP** 10 **MP** 9

**Skills**: AK-47 58% dmg 2d6+1 Knife 67% 1d4 Grapple 48% English 19%

### Mahmood Rajput – Neighborhood Goon

**STR** 9 **DEX** 11 **INT** 12 **CON** 12 **APP** 12 **POW** 10 **SIZ** 9 **SAN** 50 **EDU** 8 **HP** 11 **MP** 10

**Skills**: AK-47 49% dmg 2d6+1 Knife 53% 1d4 Grapple 62% English 21%

### Dr. McFadden / SsRuahh – Professor / Ancient Serpent / Would be King of the Reptile Men

**STR** 11 / 17 **DEX** 10 / 16 **INT** 18 / 22 **CON** 11 / 17 **APP** 12 / na **POW** 17 / 25 **SIZ** 11 /14 **EDU** 21 / 30 **HP** 11 / 16 **MP** 17 / 25 **DB** 0 / +1d4

**Armor** 1 point scales

**Skills**: Rifle 38% Bite 73% dmg 1d8 plus 17 POT poison

**Spells**: Domination Serum, Mesmerize, Mindblast, Power Drain, Bring Haboob, Cloud Memory, Dominate, Enchant Knife, Flesh Ward, Parting Sands, Consume Likeness, Contact Serpent Man, Contact Yig, Fang of Yig\*, Find Serpent Folk\*, Hibernate\*, Quicken\* and any other spells or skills the keeper feels appropriate.

**San Loss** 0/1d6

### 20 Revived Reptile Men (average)

**STR** 14 **DEX** 11 **INT** 11 **CON** 11 **APP** 11 **POW** 11 **SIZ** 14 **HP** 13 **MP** 11 **DB** +1d4

**Armor:** 2 point hide

**Skills**: Bite 50% dmg 1d6 + DB

**San Loss:** 0/1d6

## NEW SPELLS from "WHERE A GOD SHALL TREAD" by Scott D. Aniolowski from "AT YOUR DOOR"

### Fang Of Yig

This spell launches an appeal to mighty Yig which must be backed by the caster's sacrifice of 15 MP, and 1 POW. In return, if Yig favors the caster. the god accepts him or her as a fang for 1010 centuries, bestowing then 1d3+ 1 new points of POW as a sign of regard. To be accepted. the caster must be a serpent person or must have found merit In Yig's eyes. Once accepted by Yig, the supplicant becomes totally at the god's command. Sometimes Yig voices his wishes in dreams, which must be obeyed without question: at other times the god commandeers the target's body and does with it as he sees fit and for as long as he desires. The personality of the caster is simply along for a terrifying ride.

How the caster survives for 1d10 centuries to collect the additional POW is not a matter of interest to Yig. The Jealous Yig has POW 28; he never raises fangs above POW 27.

### Find Serpent Folk

This spell tells the caster the direction and distance of the nearest serpent person. The maximum range of the spell is five miles. Each casting costs 3 magic points and 1 SAN. Repeat the spell as desired. Serpent mages know this spell, but no human does, nor has it ever been written down in any human language.

### Hibernate

This spell slows the metabolism of any being which has a heart, and then sustains the target over great lengths of time. The target falls to the floor in deep slumber and dreams endlessly. For a single magic point, the sleep lasts for a year; for 2 MP, ten years; for 3 MP, 100 years, and so on. The target retains

a modicum of perception if clear danger presents itself, awakening if a luck roll succeeds, though the

spell is thereby broken. Hibernate can be cast only on willing targets.

### Quicken

This spell allows the target to be 2 movement points faster and two DEX ranks quicker for one hour, at a cost of 6 magic points and 1 SAN point. The procedure involves three hand gestures and a mental visualization, requiring about five seconds total. Quicken may be recast without limit.

## Credits

The Lizard Who Would Be King was written by JonasA for the 2009 shotgun scenario contest.