By the time I got up close, I was sure this guy couldn’t be alive, which made no sense. He, it, was still crying. Maggots were crawling out of everywhere on its face.
Sgt. Brian Carson, during debriefing by CDC officials and agents of a secret government agency.
The flesh was rotting, and the thing smelled like an old corpse. I put a few rounds in it, and it split open like a bad melon. The thing dropped to its knees and fell over, thousands and thousands of maggots exploded all over the street. I’ll never un-see that.
Civilians, still pressed up against the barrier, panicked and ran. That’s when the city really went to hell.
Maggot Walkers are a specialized type of uncontrolled zombie, created primarily to spread terror in a populace, defy science, and force a belief in the existence of magic.
A wizard must first obtain a statuette of a fly, roughly half an inch long and made of silver. Then they invest 1 POW, and lose 1D6 Sanity points, to empower and animate the fly. The wizard may then set it upon an available fresh human corpse, or release it to find one on its own.
Either way, the fly will burrow into the body, animating it within fifteen minutes. At this point, the Maggot Walker will walk aimlessly, decaying, and bloating as it becomes gorged with maggots. Naturally, the smell of it is horrific.
When the flesh of the Maggot Walker is sufficiently rotted, or is subjected to 8 hit points of damage, it bursts open, gushing tens of thousands of maggots.
Even the most basic scientific analysis will indicate this “person” was dead long before it was encountered
Maggot Walker, wandering corpse
char.
STR: 80
CON: 20
SIZ: 65
DEX: 35
POW: 5
HP: 8
Damage Bonus: +1D4
Build: +1
Magic Points: 1
Move: 8
ATTACKS
Attacks per round: 1
Fighting attacks: Fighting (Brawl) 25%, damage 1D3+db (If a Maggot Walker makes a successful hit, its arm rips loose and the creature splits open as above.)
Dodge: None.
Armor: None.
Skills: None.
Sanity Loss: 0/1D8 (When a Maggot Walker bursts, this causes a loss of 3 additional Sanity points. This counts as simultaneous with any previous loss in terms of causing temporary or indefinite insanity.
My name is CthulhuBob Lovely, I live in my childhood hometown of Columbus, Ohio, and have a son and two daughters. I volunteer at MisCon, which occurs each year on Memorial Day Weekend in Missoula, Montana and help out at other shows.
In my younger years I had seen H.P. Lovecraft’s books in the collection of my older brother, Brian, who is also responsible for introducing me to Monty Python, Star Wars and many other things geek.
I began running and playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1977 at the age of 15, and Call of Cthulhu since its original publication in 1981.
I believe geekery and gaming can have positive effects on math, reading and writing, and social interaction skills, as well as family togetherness. I have three published stories online at
http://www.bewilderingstories.com/bios/lovely_bob_bio.html
