An investigator visits an archaeologist of long acquaintance, Professor Andrew Dutton Long, at Long’s small but well-kept home. The yard is groomed, the house clean and neat, but every room is infested with vermin. Spiders and slugs crawl the walls, fleas infest the carpet, and houseflies swarm so thick the investigator can hardly breathe. No neighboring houses have the problem. Long is friendly and seems completely sane, yet oblivious to the vermin. He does not see them, and he casually deflects all comments. “This is a nice neighborhood,” he says as earwigs crawl over his forehead. “No problems here with bugs or the like.”
Possibilities
1 Long has procured or devised a talisman to summon Atlach-Nacha. The talisman does not work, but it has the side effect of attracting vermin. The necessary research into the talisman snapped Long’s sanity. A strongbox in his basement, covered thickly with ants and wasps, holds the talisman.
2 A serpent man, Haus-saris-sith, has killed Long and assumed his identity. The pests have been drawn by the serpent’s repellent heaps of carrion hidden around the house. As the investigator continues speaking with “Long,” Haus-saris-sith extends its illusion to conceal the vermin, then attempts Cloud Memory. If the investigator succumbs, the serpent plants a post-hypnotic suggestion that compels the investigator to learn Mythos spells and convey them to Haus-saris-sith
3 Dholes spread to new worlds from the Dreamlands by implanting larvae in the dream forms of victims. Eating a dreamer from within, the larvae gradually materialize in the dreamer’s waking world. Exploring the Dreamlands, Long was trapped by a dhole and received a single larva; it now grows in his material body. The manifestation attracts vermin as a side effect. Now mad, Long has blocked all memories of his ongoing nightmare, and refuses to perceive the pests. To stop the manifestation, investigators can kill Long and fight the emerging larva, or enter the Dreamlands, locate Long in the Vale of Pnath, and extract the larva before Long’s dream form dies.
© Allen Varney
Possibilities
1 Long has procured or devised a talisman to summon Atlach-Nacha. The talisman does not work, but it has the side effect of attracting vermin. The necessary research into the talisman snapped Long’s sanity. A strongbox in his basement, covered thickly with ants and wasps, holds the talisman.
2 A serpent man, Haus-saris-sith, has killed Long and assumed his identity. The pests have been drawn by the serpent’s repellent heaps of carrion hidden around the house. As the investigator continues speaking with “Long,” Haus-saris-sith extends its illusion to conceal the vermin, then attempts Cloud Memory. If the investigator succumbs, the serpent plants a post-hypnotic suggestion that compels the investigator to learn Mythos spells and convey them to Haus-saris-sith
3 Dholes spread to new worlds from the Dreamlands by implanting larvae in the dream forms of victims. Eating a dreamer from within, the larvae gradually materialize in the dreamer’s waking world. Exploring the Dreamlands, Long was trapped by a dhole and received a single larva; it now grows in his material body. The manifestation attracts vermin as a side effect. Now mad, Long has blocked all memories of his ongoing nightmare, and refuses to perceive the pests. To stop the manifestation, investigators can kill Long and fight the emerging larva, or enter the Dreamlands, locate Long in the Vale of Pnath, and extract the larva before Long’s dream form dies.
© Allen Varney
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