It all started so innocently... well, if you consider Necromancy innocent.
There are many pyramids on the plains of Giza - some famous, most not. It is in a hidden area of one of the less-than-famous ones where Egreniel, a Habbalite of Death, has quietly set up shop. His goal: To go back to the roots of the craft, to study the art of the ancient Egyptian Necromancers, and perfect the creation of undead insects!
(Yes, you can use the standard Zombi attunement on insects, but they're anything but "perfected". With no Celestial Forces, they don't get any tougher, and the Numinous Corpus doesn't stick. Waste of Essence, really. Anyway...)
Fearful of having his rightful credit stolen, Egreniel has been working quietly and in secrecy, bringing in insects from the surrounding area and rarely venturing out of his hidden chambers for other supplies. He takes great care to guard his secrets - and to his credit, the only other person to realize anything is going on is the Lilim of Technology who tailed him back to his workshop on a hunch, and has begun spying on him regularly since. (Egreniel may be a bonafide genius, but he's not particularly alert....)
Zejebar, the Lilim, was amazed at the progress made by the Habbalite, and quickly split her time between her local Vapulan duties (causing business to disregard the environment) and sneaking down the air shafts into the pyramid in her rat vessel to spy on Egreniel. As fond of Samingans as any Technologist, Zejebar has formulated a plan to discredit Egreniel and steal his work for herself. Modifying an ultrasonic emitter to send the appropriate tones was easy. Spreading the rumor that Egreniel was about to go Renegade and seek Redemption took some leg work and a handful of Geases, but went off without a hitch... after all, no one has heard from him in some time. Eventually, it'll work its way back to the Game - or Saminga - and then she can act.
This is where the PCs, or their immediate superiors, hear the rumors.
If they serve the Game or the War, they will be ordered to detain this demon for questioning. Any other demon will likely want either the fame of bringing in a traitor, or the chance to bribe a demon on the ropes. Angels have an obvious motive; most will, of course, be ordered to proceed cautiously in case the rumors are false.
When the first group, whoever they are, show up at the pyramid, one of his insects will alert Egreniel, who will rush to see who it is. When he realizes, the Habbalite will panic, fearing the worst. He may attack, or run, or try to stammer an explanation, before heading to his laboratory to gather his converted insects (either as proof of his loyalty or muscle for his attack). But... they aren't there. This causes the panic to hit never-before-charted heights, and the GM should have him do whatever makes the least amount of sense at this point, which will more than likely get him vessel-killed. Such is life.
Where'd they go?
As Egreniel ascends the walkways to greet his visitors, Zejebar shifts into her human vessel, which holds the ultrasonic emitter. Carefully tuning it to best affect the group of sixty insects (twenty horseflies, twenty beetles, and twenty mosquitos), she uses the sonics like a dog whistle to steer the insects up an air shaft and into a waiting box. Hiding the emitter nearby, to ensure that it remains "on" until she gets out, she shifts back into a rat and scurries out as Egreniel gets what he deserves. Then, the sixty undead bugs that the Horror has been working on for the past two weeks will be all hers. The perfect plan.
Or it would be, if those sixty bugs were the only ones Egreniel had been working on. Every other afternoon, as the Lilim was at her "day job", Egreniel took the batch of sixty now-undead insects into a nearby chamber, threw them some human flesh, and brought in sixty new, live "subjects" to zombify. Over five hundred undead insects are now hearing a distorted echo of an ultrasonic emitter that only worked on a lucky break in the first place. Can you blame them for going completely berserk?
Ideally, it will be nighttime, as hundreds upon hundreds of insect zombis take wing and fly through the Giza sky... some towards the encampments and "travelling cities" nearby, some towards the closest town.
Hundreds. Of undead swarms. Of "perfected" undead swarms. With increased strength. Increased resilience. Working Numinous Corpi. Acid. Claws. Tongues. And Bad Attitudes. (See the stats at the bottom for more information.)
This can be played as a straight-up bug hunt, as the players try desperately to swat the horrors before they make it to civilization. Or to play it more suspensefully, let the insects quietly reach humanity before the players can get to them - this version is a desperate race to *quietly* eliminate the horde before the mortals realize what's going on. The swarms can spread out as much or as little as the GM wants, based on how much he wants to split up the party.
Season to taste... and try not to scratch the bites or they'll only get worse.
Habbalite of Death
Corporeal Forces: 2 (Strength 3, Agility 5)
Ethereal Forces: 4 (Intelligence 11, Precision 5)
Celestial Forces: 3 (Will 9, Perception 3)
Vessel: Human Male/2 (Egyptian, 30s)
Skills: Chemistry/1, Dodge/2, *Enchantment/4, Fast-Talk/1, Fighting/1,
Lying/1, Move Silently/2, *Necromancy/6
Songs: Numinous Corpus (Acid/2, Claws/3, Tongue/4), Possession/2
Attunements: Habbalite of Death, Zombi
Discord: Paranoid/3
Lilim of Technology
Corporeal Forces: 2 (Strength 4, Agility 4)
Ethereal Forces: 4 (Intelligence 9, Precision 7)
Celestial Forces: 4 (Will 8, Perception 8)
Vessels: Human Female/3 (White, 20s), Rat/1 (Small, gray)
Skills: Computer Operation/1, Detect Lies/2, Electronics/5, Emote/2,
*Enchantment/4, Engineering/2, Fast-Talk/2, Lying/3, Move Silently/3,
*Necromancy/1, Ranged Weapon (Pistol/1), Seduction/2, Tracking/1
Songs: Form (Ethereal/3), Healing (Corporeal/3), Light (Ethereal/2,
Celestial/3), Shields (Corporeal/1, Ethereal/3)
**Attunements: Lilim of Technology
GENERAL STATS: Egreniel's Zombi insects don't have individual stats per se. They all have Need/3 (Blood) and the effect of a Numinous Corpus (see below). Each insect can be grounded by one point of damage, knocked out by two, and killed permanently by three. Individual insects (for groups of four or fewer) successfully attack on a roll of 5 or less; swarms of five or more successfully attack on a 7 or less, and do more damage (see below). Individual insects are attacked at a -4 penalty and have a Dodge roll of 8 (4 if grounded). Swarms can be targeted, by area effect weapons only, at no penalty, and have a Dodge roll of 6 (grounded insects cannot be part of a swarm); divide the overall damage between the insects as evenly as possible.
HORSEFLIES: These insects can attack from up to five feet away by spitting Acid! Individual attacks have Power -4 (minimum one point of damage); swarms have Power +2.
BEETLES: Imbued with the Numinous Corpus of Claws, these insects attack at Power -2 individually (minimum one point of damage), or Power +5 as a swarm... and add +1 to their target number to hit!
MOSQUITOS: These insects attack individually with Power -4 (minimum one point of damage), and as a swarm with Power +2. Due to their Tongue Numinous Corpus, however, they may choose to do Mind Hits instead!
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