Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The Shoggoth Formulae

Using the cryptic formulae found in Von Juntz's "De Vermis Mysteriis" and seemingly inert tissue samples from Miskatonic's ill fated 1937 antarctic expedition; I have at last achieved success in the creation of shoggoth protoplasm. However, the protoplasm grew far more quickly than was expected and within seconds had multiplied into a pulsing mass several yards across, filling the laboratory with blindly flailing tentacles.
Shoggoth Formulae

Fortunately I was able to leap into a protective circle I had prepared beforehand according to Von Junt's specifications and was protected from the ravenous thing. My trusted assistant Conrad was not so lucky, several pseudopods wrapped about his legs and dragged him directly into the central mass where he was quite noisily digested.
While the creature was occupied I tossed some high voltage cables in the central mass and threw the switch simultaneously reciting Alhazred's "Voorish Chants". The combination of electrical and eldritch energies proved sufficient to boil the horror down to a greasy liquid. The resultant citywide blackout was not wholly unexpected but I am fairly certain the blundering authorities will never trace the source of the disturbance to my estate.
"Excerpt from the notebooks of Dr. Eugene Kantorius"
Shoggoth Tissue Samples gathered during Miskatonic University Antarctic Expedition of 1937

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Spawn of Cthulhu

Cthulhu Talisman on display at Miskatonic University

   I asked the old shaman if he could call forth the god he claimed dwelt beneath the sea, his reply was that his god, Cthulhu was dead, but still dreamed and spoke to men in dreams. Great Cthulhu could not live again until the stars were right, but the shaman could call to the sons of Cthulhu as proof of the reality of his religion.
  I scoffed as any educated man would, daring him to follow through on his boast. The old shaman hobbled down to the water's edge, he traced a few cryptic symbols into the sand then began to chant a formula written on a tattered scroll. The chant grew into wild shrieking, "IA IA CTHULHU, N'YOG UN CTHULHU", as the old man waved about with a curiously carven little amulet.
  My mockery turned to stark terror as the water began to boil and a thing stright out of nightmare broke the surface. The head that rose was like an octopus but larger than an elephant's, the eyes shone with ancient inhuman intelligence and fixed me with their gaze. I stood paralyzed as the thing dragged itself onto the beach with wiry arms ending in taloned hands large enough to crush an ox. The thing had stubby leathern wings folded to its back and a long sinuous tale that began to transform into legs as soon as it cleared the water.
  I would have died there but for my trusted servant Giles. He rushed forward with a machete, hacking at the creature's newly formed legs. The beast snatched him up with blinding speed, Giles screamed briefly before the monster tore him in half. In that instant the thing's hypnotic gaze was turned from me and I fled into the jungle.
  I ran until I thought my heart would burst from the strain, not stopping until I made the ship. I held my sanity long enough to order the captain to sail and then collapsed into a gibbering heap, crying out for mercy from the Spawn of Cthulhu.
(Excerpt from the diary of Bob Rothwell, dated march 9, 1908)