New SubmissionsThe Sorcerer-Priest Ptesh Na-Khet raised blood-encrusted arms, lifting up the pulsing heart of the sacrifice. His hands moved slowly in the gestures of the primordial ritual; his voice croaked out the inhuman syllables of the alien chant. As the ritual progressed toward its climax, the Sorcerer-Priest sensed the fabric of the planes unraveling around him. A sense of vast pressure assailed him, as if once the path had opened, only tremendous force would close the portal again.
As his senses twisted and altered, he began to see strange shapes circling around him. The drifting phantasms moved closer and closer, forced into solidity by the implacable power of the Summoning Ritual of Troa. As the call was answered, the Sorcerer began to intone the ritual of binding, twisting shadowy cords of magickal power around the extradimensional forms of the conjured horrors.
The scrolls' archaic pictograms had tersely warned, "Ye Charnall Rattes yr exceeding horrible, wyth ye formmes as of creatures hangged fromme ye gibbet," but the reality was much worse. The things he had called from beyond only generally resembled rats, being vaguely shaped as quadrupeds with an anterior head-like appendage. Stiff filaments or tendrils covered the abominations’ mottled flesh and congeries of small eyes protruded bulbously from their heads. As hordes of the foul things emerged into the chamber, they shuddered and leapt spasmodically, spattering russet fluid throughout the entirety of the confining Diagram of Lesh. The apalling creatures exuded the stench of a hundred yawning graves as they scratched frantically at the diagram's boundaries.
As he bound the disgusting creatures within the ancient ritual’s power, the priest wondered whether he should continue his planned summoning. If the lesser creatures were this mind-blasting, what would the horror that devoured them as its preferred meal be like?
The Scrolls of the Sorcerer-Priest
Ptesh Na-Khet, infamous master of the sorcerous priesthood of Shetam Kham, recorded much of his eldritch lore on a series of 46 papyrus scrolls, of which 30 are believed to remain. Ancient and extremely fragile, each scroll holds nearly 22 feet of intricately painted pictograms rolled onto a pair of carven bone rods. Several scrolls have been damaged in the centuries since they were first written, and have missing or illegible areas. Others have loose sheets of vellum tucked into them: Pages of commentary, translation of obscure glyphs, or conjecture about damaged passages.
Most of the text is written in the Sallvian pictograms favored in the early Dhakaean period, but some sections have been copied from primordial rites predating the coming of mankind; these glyphs were inscribed in obscure dialects from the earliest days of the continent. Because of the little-known tongues involved, the few scholars and mages who have studied the rambling texts have generally relied on the translations of such scholars as Agarn the Impulsive (better known for his enchanted items) and the Doran Archpriest Grinling Gullan (whose translation often reflects the infamous prejudices of his sect). The abbreviated translation of Lord Graff d’Aumare was once distributed widely among scholars, despite the condemnation it brought from religious authorities. This translation has since become notorious for its sloppy scholarship.
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The opening chapters of the Papyri's eleventh scroll contain an otherwise-lost legend, the tale of the hero Apanoshti and his battle against monsters called "Fathrankh Dentut", often translated as "Those that Hunger Beyonde". According to the tale, these fierce spirits of chaos and hunger were banished in an age before the coming of man by the goddess Nathnalatek, a spirit of knowledge and wisdom. According to the legend, they return periodically, awaiting a time when the gods that banished them will have weakened enough to be overthrown.
In the tale, the hero Apenosti wields a magical khopesh, a blade with the power to "restore order", given to him by Nathnalatek as a gift after he pledged his love to her. This godly weapon gave him the power to banish the invading spirits, but his mortal frame was unable to long survive weilding its deadly energies. After defeating the chaotic horrors, Nathnalatek took her dying lover into the heavens, where he was healed. Unable to return to mortal lands, his spirit remains at his beloved's side, tempering her wisdom with his passion.
The summoned abomination, a horror of roiling fumes and half-seen tendrils, filled the summoning circle like a vile toxic gas. Glittering polychromatic eyes formed in the mist, bursting randomly as the strange thing within hissed and burbled its wrath at being bound.
As the wizards watched in nauseated shock, they could see the thing's vile, caustic secretions splattering across the binding circle. The chalk marks began to discolor and run as the thing slowly ate away at its prison.
The later portions of this text contain rituals of summoning and directions for crafting protective circles and potent hieroglyphic charms alleged to bind the power of the Fathrankh Dentut. Most scholars who have studied this convoluted ritual believe it to be incomplete and partially effective at best.
Those attempting divination about the wisdom of trying these rituals have produced indeterminate results, at best. Some even believe that such a summoning risks the wrath of the gods. Even more alarming, those who have attemted to contact the Fathrankh Dentut have sometimes encountered He That Waits at ye Portalle instead: This malevolent being is easily able to overcome many of the magical protections relied upon by wizards.0xp
The twelfth scroll of the Papyri
This set of unearthly music appears to put the musician's mind into contact with the undersea race known as the "Trench Dwellers". A pattern of clicks and0xp
"Bringer of rich meat, mighty Uep-Hawet, bless your Chosen with bountiful meals! Let pestilence strike down those who oppose your people, that the Chosen may eat and grow strong, until all bow before the god of the charnel-house!"
- from the Prayers of Night's Waund'rer, Chapter 11
This disjointed text contains numerous short rituals and prayers dedicated to the Sallvian jackal-god Uep-Hawet, a grim spirit reveling in death and decay. Some of them are clearly intended to appease the death-loving god, while others are apparently rites of the ancient cult that once worshipped him.
The middle chapters include a lengthy dialogue between a young aspirant of the Cult of the jackal-god, and an elder priest, who is tutoring him in the cult's practices. The dialogue details how the human sacrifices demanded by the god are best performed and the prayers that should be completed during each part of the sacrificial ritual. The closing portions of the dialogue describe the rituals needed to bless the cermonial maces often carried by the cult's priests.
Part of this scroll gives detailed instructions for treating ghoulscorch ague, a disease that otherwise destroys the victim's mind before they perish, often rising as a ravening undead abomination. The poultices and medicines described in the text often allow the victim a full recovery from the dread illness.0xp
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