Riel's Story

Cthulhu!

The library in Malacandra had a number of ancient texts slowly disintegrating in its vaults. The library director decided to inventory these texts and display them during a fundraising drive. The director hired a young druidess named Riel to catalogue the rare books. Riel spent day after day in the dusty vaults and naturally grew curious about the manuscripts she catalogued. She skimmed many of the texts, reading any passages that caught her interest. One book, however, kept drawing her back. Time and again she would glance at it and put it aside and time and again she would return to it. The book spoke to her, tantalized her, seduced her. Stolen glimpses at work weren't enough, she needed to read it in its entirety. She needed to study it. The book was the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred's Necronomicon.

One night when she left the library, Riel smuggled the Necronomicon out with her. She spent the whole night poring over Alhazred's words. When she finished the book, she went back to the beginning and started rereading. The book became her life. When she read it, she could hear the Old Ones, the former masters of the Earth, calling to her. Riel's obsession grew. The Old Ones live and will once again rule. They are imprisoned but will one day be free. Riel began to worship these ancient gods and wished to serve them. Finally she decided to do the unthinkable. She decided to summon Yog-Sothoth--the gate, the key and the guardian to the Old Ones. She would release the Great and Loathsome Cthulhu, brother to the Old Ones, from his deathsleep in the sunken city of R'lyeh.

Riel spent many a night trying to summon Yog-Sothoth and many times failed. Parts of the text were missing and it took much of Riel's druidic magic to restore the evocation. Finally the reason for the failure was revealed, the stars weren't in the correct alignment. Riel watched and waited until the time Yog-Sothoth could be brought forth. Finally the day came, Riel's preparations were complete and the incantation was spoken. Yog-Sothoth appeared. Its presence in the Barren Realms did not go unnoticed. Citizens feared this unknown creature and, even more so, they feared what it represented, the return of the Old Ones and the end of life as they knew it. Riel was torn between the prospect of her new masters and her previous life and home. She came up with a compromise. The time for the Old Ones' return was not yet at hand so she and Yog-Sothoth travelled to R'lyeh where they would await the coming of the Old Ones and the awakening of Cthulhu. Meanwhile, the people of Barren Realms were free to enjoy the time remaining without the spectre of Yog-Sothoth and Riel, Priestess of Cthulhu, always before them.

Cthulhu waits...

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn." "In his house in R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."
and Riel waits as well...

Visit more of Riel's undead minions