[New Encounter] Throne of the Elder Deities

Throne of the Elder Deities

A sickly orange sky appeared just before everything grew a patina of verdigris, yet the mercenaries stood before the bright white marble slabs, seemingly the remnants of a temple from more ancient times. Then the sky opened up just above the marble and something seeped onto the cold stone and began to take shape. A few of the mercenaries broke and ran, it was to be expected. The thing stood before them, nearly eighteen feet tall, gaunt, vaguely humanoid, its head was a tentacle surrounded by hate-filled eyes. Reluctantly the mercenary captain stepped forward and kneeled before the entity. His men, those remaining, did the same. The creature raised its thin arms skyward, the tentacle writhing unnaturally. Then it strode forward and touched one of the mercenaries at random upon his helm. The man convulsed and fell to the ground, screaming silently as his body contorted.

‘I am the herald of Nyarlathotep,’ he said as he stood. ‘I am the mouthpiece of your new master.’

The mercenary captain nodded to his men and they all raised their weapons, swearing loyalty to the strange entity, hard times had indeed hit, their leader said to himself. Then he looked over at his former soldier now transformed. And it looked back, with the same hateful eyes that Nyarlathotep possessed. All six of them now, distributed unevenly about the face.

The sky suddenly seems to turn a sickly orange and everything terrestrial takes on a strange, verdigris color; trees and shrubs, rocks, the ground even, everything except the large white slabs of marble, these seem to be lit by a blazing afternoon sun. And then suddenly it is there, a large disturbing looking creature, it may be the one from last time or it may have just awakened. It is large, has piercing eyes with a malign intellect and it is covered in fur, or scales or blistering skin, with the head of a toad or a goat or something just not right. Do you and your companions run for it or approach the thing as the bluish-green patina begins to fade and the sky slowly becomes normal again?

In the game: This area is actually a magical conduit to many other planets and is used by ancient creatures known as ‘Elder Gods’ to travel to this planet, which is a rare occasion. When one of these entities does appear there is palpable fear in the air, as a Fear spell that causes any with less than 3HD to flee the area. Arriving entities usually have a further destination in mind while others might linger for a few days to see who shows up out of curiosity. It is not uncommon for these entities to cast Geas on those who approach them and many of these entities enjoy scaring or intimidating mortals while others may seek worshipers and servants to further their goals on this planet. For unknown reason entities coming and going through this conduit are loathe to shed blood here, sages posit that they are weakened at this point because of the rituals involved in their interstellar travel. Entities such as Nyarlathotep, Tsathoggua as well as Tsathoggua’s father, Ghisguth, are known to have used this portal frequently.