The Curse of the Scarab (comic story)

The Curse of the Scarab was a Fifth Doctor comic story published in Doctor Who Magazine.

Plot
The Fifth Doctor and Peri materialize on a studio backlot in 1930s Hollywood, where eccentric director Seth Rakoff is filming a movie with Raschid Karnak as the Mummy. The film is running over-budget, and producer Monroe Stahr threatens to remove Rakoff from the project; but the Doctor is more concerned with the fact that the sarcophagus at the centre of the set is the genuine Scarabaeus, which according to legend holds the beetle-god Kephri. Stahr is killed while watching rushes of the day's work, and his internal organs are removed. The Doctor and Peri, meanwhile, enter the pyramid prop to find it filled with Osirian technology, including the mummy robot which killed Stahr. Karnak is waiting for them there, to tell his story; he is dying, his body eaten away from within by the curse of Kephri. Rakoff hired him as a guide in Egypt and took him to the tomb described in the grimoire of Anubis, where Karnak fell under the spell of Kephri and was forced to accompany Rakoff and the contents of the tomb to America.

Rakoff shoots and kills Karnak, telling the Doctor that in Hollywood, nobody will even notice that he's casting a spell to raise Kephri. He casts a spell which brings the extras - and Peri - under his psychic control, and forces the Doctor to complete the ceremony which will raise Kephri. The Scarabaeus turns out to be empty; Kephri has already entered Karnak's body and has been feeding on him for months. Peri removes the ankh around Karnak's neck, restoring Kephri to full power, and the scarab god releases a plague of locusts which consume the greedy Rakoff and prepare to devour the Earth. Before they can do so, the Doctor holds the ankh in front of a studio light, casting its shadow over Kephri; he then orders one of the Osirian robots to seize the totem, and the robot rips Kephri apart trying to seize the shadow. The Doctor and Peri depart, but the Doctor is unaware that earlier, while alone on the lot, Peri was removed and then returned by someone - or something...

Characters

 * Fifth Doctor
 * Peri Brown
 * Seth Rakoff
 * Raschid Karnak
 * Monroe Stahr
 * Kephri

Individuals

 * Seth Rakoff fell under the spell of Kephri after visiting an Egyptian tomb described in the grimoire of Anubis.
 * Raschid Karnak was hired by Seth as a guide in Egypt.
 * The Osiran service robot is able to retract multiple blade-like claws from its hands.

Objects

 * The film props include a genuine Scarabaeus.
 * The Doctor holds the ankh in front of the studio light.

Psychology

 * Peri is under the mind control of Seth.

Species

 * Kephri releases a plague of locusts.

Continuity

 * Peri is briefly taken by the Threshold. (COMIC: Ground Zero)