From: pcalvert@economics.adelaide.edu.au
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: ...sage [Arkham] Kron thread / The nature of the beast
Message-ID: <1992Jun23.142547.1@economics.adelaide.edu.au>
Date: 23 Jun 92 04:55:47 GMT

Characters : ...sage, of interest to those in the Mother thread

[with apologies to H.P. Lovecraft]

It was morning and the trees surrounding the ancient hill looked as though
they had suffered a millenia of pain. The hill itself was capped with a balding
pate of scorched earth and moss, making it slightly slippery underfoot in
the misty early winter air.

A figure wrapped in a mottled green cloak lying atop the hill stirred as the
first rays of dawn pierced the misty veil that covered the land.

Slowly sitting up, ...sage sifted through memories of the night before and
catalogued away the images that had inhabited his dreams. Visions of huge
amorphous masses, winged creatures with rubber tentacles surrounding gaping
maws beneath high domed foreheads. And through it all a pervading sense of
dread, a dread that only madness or oblivion could alieviate. The echos of
alien despair and insatiable hunger for the souls of all mortals still
marched along the corridors of his mind, and the effort with which he had
uttered the phrase that sent them back to the darkness.

How had he come here? And where did the path yet lead?
Since the attack on his precious books in the Great Library of Generica,
..sage had surmised that a creature related to the ones mentioned in those
tomes had been responsible, but most of the books only refered to other ones,
finally tracing their source back to some housed in the Miskatonic University
Library in Arkham.
..sage had never heard of Arkham, nor of the United States of America, and
suspected that it was probably a place outside the normal ken of the scholars
of Generica. But that would not stop him from finding out.
Divinations of many and varied sources had revealed nothing until he found,
in an adventurer's log from many ages past, a reference to a land where
magic was almost unknown and science held sway. Where people travelled in the
bellies of huge metal beasts and could communicate over vast distances.
Further research showed ...sage that this world was in an alternate Prime
Material plane, on the edge of the multiverse and that the nexus joining the
two planes was erratic and not in sync.

Journeying through the Gateway in Generica, he had stopped at many worlds
along the way, seeking the next step, but despite the adventures he had, he
always managed to keep on going (ADMIN: hook for later stories or new
characters from other planes who want a familiar face in Generica later on).

At last he had arrived in a ring of giant rocks, some of which had fallen,
that were obviously a relic of ancient rituals. Investigations led him to
discover he was on the Salisbury Plains in a land called England and that
the United States, and Arkham, were not far away (relatively speaking).
The journey brought many new experiences and ...sage absorbed much of the
science that this world offered, but through it all his objective never
changed, until he discovered, in the library of Miskatonic U., that a
powerful being from the primordial era, called Shub-Niggurath (the Black
Goat with a Thousand Young) had a mate (whose name was lost) but lost her
when they were still young. In an effort to assuage his grief he spawned
many children, but none ever came close to replacing her, for she would
draw him utterly and commune at the deepest level when they were one.

How he lost her ...sage never found out, but he had to be sure, because the
author of the text was mad, madder than most, and had never been seen since
the day he had written that entry.

"Y'ai 'ng'ngah Yog-Sothoth H'ee-L'beg F'ai-throdog Uaaah" was the command to
summon the spawn of Yog-Sothoth to this world where they might usher in the
age of chaos, and this command could be given on the night of the full moon,
when the winter's snow was yet to fall but autumn's rain had ceased to fall,
on the very hill where ...sage sat. Many times they had lured men with visions
of power to summon them, but always their victims' minds would break before
their tenuous hold on this plane was firmly established.

"Ogthrod Ai'F Geb'L-ee'H Yog-Sothoth 'Ngah'ng Ai'Y Zhro" was the command to
drive them away, yet it had never been tried (or at least recorded) for
madness or death were the ultimate rewarders of those who had previously
used such knowledge.

But the truth had been revealed.
..sage struggled with the concept of a being from this world's primordial
age somehow being responsible for the damage to his books in Generica.
And if it could affect the Great Library in Generica, what other havoc
could it wreak. Surely these beings are destructive beyond measure, with no
other desire than to spread madness and death and an all-consuming hate.
Surely power such as this must have manifested itself in Generica, but where?
Or could this being have changed, learnt to control rather than destroy,
learnt to build rather than demolish, love rather than hate.

The voices had confirmed that the author was not mad and that a being had been
lost to the others millenia ago. And it's description of a mother to the
spawn of the Black Goat did give ...sage encouragement that this was not as
destructive a being as the others, but would still want to destroy any 
knowledge of itself that existed in the hands of others.

"Time to get back", thought ...sage. "Back to Generica."
"Still no word from Kron and the others." "Others ...." "Hmmm..."
"I recall someone at the Inn saying that they were looking for a mother."
"They couldn't be. Surely!" "I wish I believed in coincidences, but I feel
 that there might be a lot more to this than any of us realize."

..sage took out a small object from his pouch and went to bury it in the
hill. Scraping away some of the moss and burnt ground he was surprised to
see a large flagstone surrounded by many smaller ones.
"Curious," he thought, and levitated the flagstone.
A small cavity existed underneath and in it was a small clay amulet.
..sage took it and put in its place the small object he wanted to bury.

After replacing the flagstone and covering it up with dirt and moss, he looked
at the amulet.
It seemed to show two large masses in a huge underground grotto, with swarms
of smaller creatures around and in the masses.
Puzzled, ...sage pocketed it and headed back down the hill.

ADMIN: Meet you all at the climax. One more thing though, I'm going to have
       an encounter with Iglyarch (since Mithrandir has left), so please don't
       write him into plot.  Thanks
                                                       ...sage