[ public ] text | un: astudyinviolet

[astudyinviolet]

Type: Text
Sender ID: astudyinviolet (Sherlock Holmes)
To: Public
Subject: Who is familiar with this entity?
Warnings: The worst book club ever, talk of eldritch horrors, potential poking at the 4th wall for Sherlock

I made the purchase of ‘Encyclopedia Necronomica’ earlier but had not the opportunity to make a study of it until now. Having done so, I must ask: who is familiar with the entity pictured here? What do you know?

I shall include photographs from the book and of my sketches in reference to imagery related to my world.

Furthermore, if anyone else wishes to reference or compare this book with entities encountered recently, I am at your disposal.

S.H.

[ Sherlock had some sense of mind to not study this particular book while feverish and ill. He should be praised for that, honestly, because he spotted something frightening familiar when he finally did.

Wait a minute, when did Arthur Conan Doyle write about Holmes going up against Cthulhu? ]

[ photograph of a book page which claims there are Cthulhu-type entities out there that are almost squid-like but impossible to say without more research ]



[ A sketch of the painting, including the frame ]



[ A sketch of only the Cthulhu statue (no Sherlock) ]



[ A sketch version of the above image ]



[ A sketch pulled further back of a nondescript figure sinking in water with Cthulhu looking up at them from deeper below. ]

Comments

[withermarked]

[ And he takes this at face value. Plenty of gods are real where he's from, it doesn't seem especially wild to him. ]

Do you think this book is from your world?

[ If not, if the same god exists in both places, or even the same legends... he's not sure he likes that. Though he supposes the other option might mean the book is not actually of much use here. ]

[astudyinviolet]

The book? No. I do not believe this is from my world, but as there are other commonalities between worlds, I fear this might be one as well.

[withermarked]

If I'm honest I'd hope the same powers don't have dominion in more than one.

[ His own prayer-marks don't work. Not even now that he has magic. Not even now that he has water magic. He's been taking comfort in that. ]

You think he's here? With the rest of the creatures down below?

[astudyinviolet]

You will find no argument from me. I would prefer this threat to remain one of my world only. Yet, with this book showing his image and claims that he could exist, I cannot deny the possibility. The happenings underwater are beyond my ken and ability to investigate.

[ Blacking out whenever partially submerged in water makes that very difficult. ]

[withermarked]

You can't visit the depths?

[ He supposes it would be prying to ask why, now that he thinks about it. ]

I suppose I can keep an eye out, if I know what I'm looking for.

[astudyinviolet]

I cannot. For one, I get seasick.

[ That is not the main or only reason, but that should be reason enough. ]

Besides the image in the book, I can tell you something of the cultists wanting to wake the entity, but really any cultist sacrificing people should be warned about.

[withermarked]

[ ...There are ways to get there without being on a moving boat this point, but, he decides not to question it. He's got his own issues with the water, despite his persistence in pushing through them. ]

That's a point, but I'm still curious.

[astudyinviolet]

They abducted a great number of people from across my world, from many different nations and races, before conducting the ritual. Those abducted were then brainwashed to repeat the same phrase over and over. Blood sacrifices, hanging people from frames around a large bonfire, piles of skulls, strange symbols written in blood are found in their lairs and camps.

The ritual itself involved those people chanting while mesmerized by special glass lenses casting a sickening light. They would then sacrifice themselves from jumping from atop a lighthouse to their deaths in the ocean below. A terrible storm arose around the area, possibly even before the ritual fully took place as many ships had found themselves wrecked on the rock coastlines nearby.

[withermarked]

[ Something in his stomach twists a little. Even before disowning his own god, he wasn't comfortable with sacrificing people on that scale... whether the distinction being in the numbers was rational or not.

But it answers another question, too: they don't really sound like any version of the Parish of Tide and Flesh. There's something both comforting and depressing about the idea the Trawler-man is limited to one world. That he's not that important in the grand scheme of things. ]

They don't sound exactly like anyone I've encountered, in this world or in mine.

[ Not that that says much; they still wouldn't be all that out of place if a version of them were there. ]

[astudyinviolet]

I sincerely hope it stays that way. I've seen the piles of skulls and the gathering of brainwashed people atop the lighthouse. There were still more who did not survive the ordeal of being moved from one area to another.

I cannot begin to fully comprehend how many people suffered at the hands of that cult.

[ He could estimate it to be the population of a single leviathan the likes of Eltrut. Terrifyingly large. ]

[withermarked]

It sounds like a massive following, and a massive ritual, even by the standards of my world. How successful was it?

[ As much as he doesn't exactly enjoy the topic, he can't help but be curious. ]

[astudyinviolet]

It neared completion, but Watson and I managed to interrupt the ritual by destroying some of the components before the Great Lord awoke. Were it not for Watson, I fear the worst outcome would have become reality.

[withermarked]

I'm not sure who that is, but it sounds for the best you two were able to intercede.

[astudyinviolet]

If what the cultist texts and members said proved true, I would not be here to tell the tale had we not.

[withermarked]

Then I suppose it's also for the best that you don't know how truthful they were.

[ Even if not knowing could be frustrating in its own way. It's good to be aware of the details of a threat. ]

[astudyinviolet]

Perhaps a small mercy in the larger scope of things.

[ Not knowing is frustrating. He wants to know, often to his detriment. ]

[withermarked]

Perhaps.

[ He's not quite sure what else to say about that, though. ]

Anything else of note in the book, do you think? I wouldn't mind sitting down to catch up on the thing.

[astudyinviolet]

I've not found more on the one from my world, but there are many variants of a similar design. Other beings and creatures are the main form with bat-like wings and tentacles covering the mouth. It is almost like an extended family. Perhaps they share other elements between them.

[withermarked]

I'm used to gods having plenty of angels and saints that look similar, if not the same. They shape things in their image. Could this be something similar?

[astudyinviolet]

It could be possible. Some give me the impression of varying levels of strength, so they could be servants of one greater. I will need to do further study into their depictions.

[withermarked]

I suppose I've run into multiple gods with the same following, as well.

[ And the first ones to come to mind are horrible, even by the standards of his world. ]

[astudyinviolet]

Would you be willing to write something about the gods of your world? It need not be long, but you seem to know a decent amount on the subject. It could prove useful with understanding how a different pantheon and their following functions.

[withermarked]

If you like I'll see what I can do. I'm no expert, mind you.

[ This isn't even a lie. He might be an expert on one god, but only one. The rest is half-remembered secondary school essays and hearsay. Aside from a few actual close encounters.]

[astudyinviolet]

Nor am I about the cultists from my world. However, we work with what we can.

[withermarked]

True enough. I'll see what I can write up. There's an 'official' definition of what makes a god, we all had to learn that one back in school. Then there's the commercial gods and the false faiths, and the Legislatures' rulings on that. But that first one might be the best place to start.