TOTENTANZ;
OR, THE MODERN LAZARUS
Summary
Before his death, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor and noted occultist, made a bargain with a being in the guise of Hermes Trismegistus, who promised him that he would be reborn as a member of his line who would be “Emperor of the World”. Four centuries later, Rudolf has awoken inside of the corpse of his eighth great-nephew, Napoleon II. When he died, Napoleon II’s heart and internal organs were removed from his body and stored in Vienna, while his corpse was moved to Paris. Having escaped from his tomb, Rudolf, wearing Napoleon’s skin, has set off towards Vienna to reclaim his organs, which have returned to life independently of their body.
Briefing
One day ago, at Vienna’s Herzgruft, the shrine that stores the hearts of dead Habsburgs, the heart of Napoleon II began beating again. The Vatican was informed, and has secretly organized a commission to determine whether this is a miracle. The man heading this commission, Vincent Aubin, is a Delta Green friendly, and has arranged for several agents to act as consultants. The Agents have been contacted and put on flights to Vienna. They will meet Father Aubin and the commission at the Vienna Airport, and proceed from there to the Herzgruft.
The Commission
While the panel of scientific and theological experts waiting in Rome to review the evidence is quite large, the initial investigatory commission is a small one, composed of the three following members and the Agents.
Vincent Aubin
Monsignor Vincent Aubin is the Promoter of the Faith, a theological expert who finds evidence against the canonization of Saints or the validity of miracles. He and Delta Green first became acquainted during an operation in his native Montreal, and has maintained communications with the group since. Aubin is a warm, genial, and highly intelligent man who has swiftly climbed the ranks of the Catholic Church.
Renata Corti
Renata Corti is a cardiologist from the University of Milan, brought in as a medical consultant for the commission. She likes and respects Aubin, but is something of a lapsed Catholic, and is highly skeptical of the extraordinary claims made about the heart.
Albert Lehmann
Albert Lehmann is an Austrian historian and one of the leading experts on the house of Habsburg. A devout Catholic whose area of study has given him a inflated view of his subjects, Lehmann is already willing to consider this event a miracle. He is highly suspicious of all these strange Americans who’ve been brought in by Aubin.
The Herzgruft
The Herzgruft is located inside the Augustinian Church, which in turn is part of the Habsburg palace of Hofburg. A half dozen monks tend the church, and they solemnly greet the commission when they arrive. The shrine is located in a small chapel on the right side of the church.
The Witness
The church has done its best to keep the news from coming out, but Frederich Aydın, a smalltime paparazzo, has begun poking around the premises. When the Agents arrive, he’s recording them from a bench across the street. If any chaos inside the church causes a big enough distraction, Aydın will sneak in and try to record whatever’s happening. If he notices the Agents going anywhere else in a hurry, he’ll tail them. If he escapes with his life and his camera, he sells the footage to Phenomen-X.
The Heart
The Herzgruft is a small, circular room without much adornment besides the fifty-four silver urns sitting on the shelves. Napoleon’s urn is identified by a tricolor ribbon and the small puddle of blood welling around it. Anyone who approaches the urn can faintly hear the sounds of fleshy thumping. Removing the lid reveals a human heart, beating and immersed in blood. Witnessing this provokes 0/1D4 SAN loss from the unnatural.
Further inspection finds that the heart is producing blood with no discernable source, prompting a 0/1 SAN check.
The Viscera
Napoleon II’s viscera is stored in the Ducal Crypt beneath St. Stephen’s Cathedral, a ten minute walk from the Augustinian Church. Thirty minutes after the commission arrives at the Herzgruft, they are informed that Napoleon’s other organs have been discovered returned to life.
When the Agents arrive in the Crypt, they are greeted by a the cathedral’s sexton, who leads them to the ‘miracle’. An urn trembles slightly, the sounds of wetness against metal echoing out from within. The viscera inside twitches and pulses. Witnessing this provokes another 0/1 SAN check.
The Emperor
Rudolf II, in the resurrected body of Napoleon II, is a pale, blond young man, tall and handsome, though a little disheveled in scavenged and mismatched clothing. Rudolf is terrified and amazed by the modern world, his eyes darting around like a wild animal stuck inside a house. Hidden beneath several layers of clothing, his torso has an empty cavity where his organs should be. He prefers to communicate in German, his archaic style of speech becoming evident the more he talks. He cannot speak English at all.
Rudolf fully believes that he is Emperor of the World, just as his master promised. He announces himself as such whenever an obstacle stands in his way. Any resistance is treason.
When he finds himself outnumbered or outgunned, Rudolf prefers to lie, beg, or bribe before resorting to violence. Preferably, he gets what he needs without even being noticed.
The Gifts of Hermes
Rudolf’s master has granted him the two great powers of alchemy- eternal life, and Projection, the transmutation of lesser materials into gold. His body repairs itself automatically, and he can perform Projection with just a touch. At all times, Rudolf knows exactly how far away from him and in what direction his organs are located.
Mistaken Identity
An Agent with 60% or more in History will immediately recognize how similar in appearance Rudolf and Napoleon II are.
Regicide
‘Killing’ Rudolf is an impossible task without performing specific rituals, removing his head and burying it, or killing him with glass bullets. If he comes back one too many times (or any of his disembodied organs are destroyed), he loses his powers of regeneration and instead degenerates into a twisted mockery of a living thing, a ‘Liveliest Awfulness’.
After transforming, he first attempts to reclaim any surviving organs, then to kill those who have harmed him, and then to enter Hofburg and hold court as Emperor. It screams and gibbers, but only one intelligible phrase can be made out, repeated over and over again- “RUDOLPHUS REX”.
Arrival
Rudolf arrives at the Herzgruft just after the Agents receive the news about the Ducal Crypt. If they have all left, Rudolf enters. He is spotted by one of the monks, who recognizes him as Napoleon II and believes he is witnessing a miracle. Rudolf is allowed through and retrieves his heart. If any of the Agents are still present, he either waits for them to leave or begins sprinting towards the Ducal Crypt. When he arrives at St. Stephen’s, Rudolf kills a security guard with Projection and hurries down to his urn.
Hunting Dogs
Three days ago, Napoleon II’s coffin was found empty, a night watchman at Les Invalides was found dead with his face turned into gold, and a nude young man with a gaping chest wound was reported wandering the streets of Paris in a daze. These facts were taken note of, and then duly removed from the record. Two agents of Félicie, France’s sister organization to Delta Green, are pursuing Rudolf across Europe. Agent Brandin is a stern and impatient woman in her forties, while Agent Mercadier is a sullen and quiet man in his thirties. Their only priority is eliminating Rudolf and getting out of Vienna. While they would prefer to deal with him quietly, they are prepared to eliminate witnesses if it comes to that. Their English and German skills are poor, and they don’t put much stock in claims of camaraderie or shared goals from the Agents.
The Félicie Agents arrive in Vienna soon after Rudolf and track his route through the city. Their first stop is the Herzgruft. If the commission is present, they present themselves as an Interpol investigation and show them blurry security footage of Rudolf, asking if they recognize him. If the commission is not there, they interrogate a few monks and investigate the shrine. If they find the heart, they destroy it. Afterwards, they head to the Ducal Crypt and repeat the process. If they encounter Rudolf, they either attempt to kill him immediately, or to take him into custody and dispose of him away from prying eyes. Their attempts to deal with the body are likely to cause Rudolf’s transformation.
Resolution
- Killing Rudolf after his transformation grants 1D4 SAN.
- If Rudolf escapes with his life, he vanishes among the homeless of a major European city.
- Regardless of the outcome, everyone involved- the commission, Félicie, the Austrian authorities- wants to cover this up. Aubin’s report always claims that the beating heart was a hoax.
Stat Blocks
Rudolf II
The Emperor in his New Clothes, age 59/473, appears 21
STR 8 CON 7 DEX 5 INT 16 POW 14 CHA 6
HP 7 WP 14
SKILLS: Anthropology 12%, Archaeology 24%, Art (Painting) 21%, Art (Poetry) 14%, Bureaucracy 18%, Firearms 28%, Foreign Language (French) 21%, Foreign Language (Italian) 20%, Foreign Language (Latin) 44%, Foreign Language (Spanish) 24%, History 33%, Melee Weapons 62%, Occult 68%, Science (Astronomy) 11%, Unnatural 10%
ATTACKS: Pocket Knife 62%, damage 1D4-1. Unarmed 40%, damage 1D4-2 or see PROJECTION.
HALF-LIFE: As long as he is without his organs, Rudolf must rely on unnatural means to stay alive. He does not need to sleep, eat, drink, or breathe, but he is filled with an incredible hunger, thirst, and restlessness. If he acquires an organ, it automatically knits itself into place after being placed in his body.
IMMORTAL FLESH: Every turn, Rudolf can heal 1D4 hit points. If he drops below 0 HP, his body returns to life 1D8 minutes later at full health. If this happens three times while he lacks his organs, he becomes a Liveliest Awfulness. Trying to dispose of the body with fire or acid causes an immediate transformation into a Liveliest Awfulness.
PROJECTION: At a cost of 2 WP, Rudolf can reach out and transform anything he touches into gold, emanating out from his finger in an area roughly the size of a human palm. If he makes direct contact with a living target, they must make a successful CONx5 check or suffer a 10% Lethality attack as their skin turns to gold.
RITUALS: Immortal Messenger (as Hermes Trismegistus), Finding
SAN LOSS: 0 if chest covered, 0/1D6 if chest cavity revealed.
Organs of the Emperor
HP 4
PHANTOM PAIN: If an organ is damaged, Rudolf feels an intense jolt of pain, regardless of how far he is from it. If an organ is destroyed, make a luck roll. On a failure, Rudolf begins transforming into a Liveliest Awfulness. On a success, Rudolf is merely incapacitated and in excruciating pain as the organ repairs itself, returning to full health 1D4 minutes later.
Agents Brandin & Mercadier
DGSI agents and members of Félicie, aged 44 and 34.
STR 15 CON 12 DEX 14 INT 11 POW 14 CHA 9
HP 13 WP 14 SAN 55 BREAKING POINT 42
MOTIVATIONS AND DISORDERS: Adapted to Violence, Paranoia (Brandin), Depression (Mercadier)
SKILLS: Alertness 66%, Athletics 58%, Bureaucracy 42%, Dodge 53%, Drive 42%, Firearms 74%, First Aid 32%, Foreign Language (Arabic) 26%, Foreign Language (English) 20%, Foreign Language (German) 22%, Forensics 62%, HUMINT 55%, Law 31%, Occult 15%, Persuade 51%, Search 62%, Stealth 52%, Unarmed Combat 65%, Unnatural 2%
ATTACKS: Sig Sauer P228 pistol 74%, damage 1D10. Unarmed 65%, 1D4
Liveliest Awfulness
STR 26 CON 20 DEX 10 INT 4 POW 6
HP 23 WP 6
ARMOR: See UNFORMED.
SKILLS: Alertness 80%, Athletics 50%, Grapple 55%
ATTACKS: Grapple 55% (See RAVENOUS).
AGELESS: The awfulness suffers no il effects from aging.
RAVENOUS: In any turn after grappling a victim, the awfulness can bite them, inflicting 2D6 damage. If the awfulness has taken damage, it heals 1 HP for each HP that the pinned victim loses, up to its maximum.
UNFORMED: The awfulness takes half the HP damage from any attack except for fire or hypergeometry. Due to this incomplete biology, it moves at half the speed of a running human.
SAN LOSS: 1D4/1D10
(From Page 211 of the Handler’s Guide)
Credits
This scenario has the Agents encounter agents of Félicie, the French counterpart to Delta Green. Félicie was created by Philippe Rat in issue #118 of Casus Belli.
Credits
Totentanz; or, the Modern Lazarus was written by Hobocop for the 2025 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17EdOLBBaj22-AOvz4hvYC65JKyCq_XISwWZFOjBBxHA/edit