Cryptozoology of the Congo!

“...As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.”

Charles Dickens, Bleak House

The Congo is a dangerous place at the best of times and those who venture in take their lives into their own hands. That being said, the following creatures might have a place in a Keeper’s vision of what a Congo-based story is all about. Perhaps there are relict dinosaurs or other monsters lurking in the undergrowth of the Congo Basin; perhaps they are part of some obscure Mythos plot. Those who are mining a solid ‘Lost World’ vein of adventuring might choose to add one of the following to their narrative.

Note that the following creatures are all unique entities.

The Mahamba

This mysterious creature is an inhabitant of the Lake Likouala swamp regions of the DRC. It has been reported to have attacked boats, capsizing them and menacing the crews, killing and eating them in some cases. The Bobangi people who share its territory compare it to the ‘nkoli’ (crocodile) although some feel that it is more reminiscent of another cryptid – the Nguma-monene – a large python-like snake with a back like a crocodile’s.

Most cryptozoologists agree that the Mahamba is most likely a relict Mosasaur, leftover from the Cretaceous Era.

Mosasaurus

Characteristics:

STR: 75

CON: 60

SIZ: 100

POW: 20

DEX: 35

Move: 4/15 Swimming

HP: 80

Damage Bonus: +9D6

Weapon: Bite 60%, 2d10+db; Death Roll: Automatic after Bite, 6D6

Armour: 10 point hide

Skills: Glide Stealthily through Water 75%; Hide in Water 80%

Habitat: Lake Likouala and surrounding swamps, the Congo

The Mbielu-mbielu-mbielu

One of several ‘living dinosaurs’ investigated by noted cryptozoologist Roy P. Mackal, this creature is also said to inhabit the district of Likouala in the Republic of the Congo. It is said to be herbivorous and easily startled. Mackal’s two expeditions to the Congo in 1980 and 1981 recorded sightings at the villages of Ebolo and Bounila, but no physical evidence of the creature has been found.

The name given to it by the local people has given rise to the theory that the creature is a relict dinosaur of the Stegisauridae family, possibly a Stegosaurus or Kentrosaurus. If so, the bit to watch out for is the spiked tail - or ‘thagomizer’, to use the technical term - at the rear end of the beast.

“The Animal with Planks growing out of its Back”

Characteristics:

STR: 40

CON: 30

SIZ: 50

POW: 10

DEX: 20

Move: 10

HP: 40

Damage Bonus: +5D6

Weapon: Thagomizer 55%, 5D6+db; Rear & Plunge 25%, 4D6+db; Trample 50% 4D6+db

Armour: 10 points of hide and plates

Habitat: Forests of the Likouala district, the Congo

The Mokèlé-mbèmbé

This is by far the most well-known and well-documented cryptid in the Congo region with documentary evidence and recorded attempts to locate it stretching from the 1700s up until 2011. Most cryptozoologists suspect that this is some kind of giant lizard, a leftover from some earlier time, possibly similar to the extinct giant monitor of Australia, Megalania.

The earliest report of this creature (although the name is not used) was made by a French missionary to the Congo, Abbé Lievain Bonaventure Proyart, who included in his journal of 1776 an observation of “monstrous” three-clawed footprints, three feet in diameter. Since then, many expeditions have been mounted to find this beast – the latest in 2011 – and some have been of such a size that their impact on local communities has given rise to the creature’s epithet as “The One Who Stops Rivers”.

Argument exists in the cryptozoologist community as to the shape of the beast: Roy Mackal reported that pygmies shown pictures of Diplodocus agreed that it was the creature that Mokèlé-mbèmbé most resembled; others have described a lizard-like or snake-like configuration. Reports agree that the creature is herbivorous, although it tends to attack and kill anything which it considers to be a threat, including hippopotami; one account of a Pygmy feast of the beast’s flesh records that everyone who ate of it died of poison shortly afterwards. Some accounts claim that the creature makes a "low windy roar [that increases] to a deep throated trumpeting growl", while others claim the monster is silent. More recently, local tribespeople claim that Mokèlé-mbèmbé is more rightly to be considered a spirit rather than a physical manifestation; in 1985, one adventurer was warned away from the creature at gunpoint, being told that one cannot approach it, although the Mokèlé-mbèmbé can approach the seeker if it so pleases.

Regardless, today there are reports, both written and filmed, blurry photographs, sketches, plaster-casts of its three-toed feet, and eyewitnesses galore; more than enough to pin the creature down, surely?

“The One Who Stops Rivers”

Characteristics:

STR: 60

CON: 65

SIZ: 100

POW: 20

DEX: 20

Move: 8/18 Swimming

HP: 83

Damage Bonus: +9D6

Weapon: Bite 60%, 3D6+db; Claw 25%, 2D6+db

Armour: 10 point hide

Skills: Swim 75%; Hide in Jungle 85%

Habitat: Forests and swamps of the Congo River region

The Ngoubou

The Pygmy people refer to this monster as the ‘Killer of Elephants’ and they have many tales of it competing more than successfully with the giant herbivores over territory and grazing rights.

Reports fairly universally agree that the creature has a long horn on its nose and is about the size of a rhinoceros; some other accounts attribute to it the horned frill protecting its neck. ‘Ngoubou’ is the Pygmy word for ‘rhinoceros’, but the tribespeople are quick to assert that this ‘ngoubou’ is very different from the usual types. They also note that the population has declined sharply in recent times.

Many cryptozoologists agree that this creature is most likely a relict dinosaur, possibly one of the Ceratopsian family of dinosaurs, like Triceratops or, more likely, Styracosaurus. The difficulty with this theory is that the Ceratopsian dinosaurs range from North America to Asia, with one species discovered in Australia; they have never been revealed in the fossil record in any other part of the world. Despite this, a rather compelling eyewitness account was published in a 1919 edition of the London Times newspaper.

Styracosaurus

Characteristics:

STR: 45

CON: 30

SIZ: 40

POW: 20

DEX: 10

Move: 15

HP: 35

Damage Bonus: +4D6

Weapon: Gore 25%, 6D6+db; Charge 50%, 2D10+db; Trample 75%, 3D10+db

Armour: 9 point hide

Skills: Hide amongst Trees 80%; Power Through the Undergrowth 75%

Habitat: Forests of the Congo River region

Other Cryptids

The four creatures listed above should be enough to keep any party of Investigators on their toes. There are however, three more of the ‘Big Seven’ Congolese cryptids remaining. Keepers who would like to consider them should regard the following:

The Emela-ntouka

There are enough similarities between this beast and the Ngoubou, that the statistics for that creature can be used for this one. The only real difference between them is that the Emela-ntouka has been reported as semi-aquatic, so a Swim skill of 55% should be added with a Movement rate of 8 when in the water.

The Kasai Rex

This is a fictitious creature invented by an unscrupulous adventurer from South Africa. He has made some cash out of the yarn, selling it to newspapers and the organisers of safari trips. Investigators can try to track the source of this fantasy if they like, using the articles provided here, and may even uncover the wily hoaxer in his lair in Capetown, if they seek to pursue the lead to its bitter end. Alternatively, the monster may be real, in which case Keepers can use the statistics given here for the Mokèlé-mbèmbé to best represent it.

The Nguma-monene

This is simply a huge python with a back ridged like that of a crocodile. Investigators seeking it may find that it is actually some kind of mutant reptile – a legless crocodile or a snake with unusual scale formations. Or they might discover the Mahamba...

Giant Python

Char.: rolls/averages

STR: 3D6+12/22-23

CON: 2D6+6/13

SIZ: 5D6/17-18

POW: 3D6/10-11

DEX: 2D6+6/13

Move: 6

HP: 15-16

Av. Damage Bonus: +1D6

Weapon: Crush 40%, 1D6+db; Swallow: Automatic after Crush, suffocation & digestion

Armour: 2 points of glistening skin

Skills: Hide in Cover 75%; Move Quietly 90%

Habitat: Tropical forests

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