Nyogtha

[HK Salem (online text)]: A being spoken of in the Necronomicon as the Dweller in Darkness (2), the Thing that should not be. He dwells in "nighted caverns of hidden foulness." He is referred to as a brother of the "Old Ones." From the context it is not clear which "Old Ones" are referred to: the Old Ones of Yog-Sothoth, the crinoid Old Ones of Antarctica, the humanoid Old Ones of K'n-yan, the Great Old Ones of Cthulhu, or some other grouping.

Entry Points and Followers

The Necronomicon says that Nyogtha "can be summoned to Earth’s surface through certain secret caverns and fissures, and sorcerers have seen him in Syria and below the black tower of Leng; from the Thang Grotto of Tartary he has come ravening to bring terror and destruction among the pavilions of the great Khan."

In 17th century Salem, the witch Abigail Prinn boasted that she was a "high priestess of a fearfully potent god which dwelt deep in the hills," evidently Nyogtha. In a cellar room beneath her house, there was a hatchway from which Nyogtha could emerge. Nearby was a mosaic of varicolored stone, with curves of purple and violet and angled lines of green and blue, and shapes including circles, triangles, a pentagram, and other figures. In the center was a black stone which served to magnify psychic influence.

Appearance

Nyogtha is described as "a great wave of iridescent blackness, neither liquid nor solid, a frightful gelatinous mass." He is also compared to "an incredibly huge, jet-black amoeba." He is capable of moving with frightful speed. He can extend pseudopods and use them like tentacles to grasp things.

Abigail Prinn was said to have had a "worm-eaten, crescent-horned image of dubious origin." However, it is not clear that Nyogtha has horns; the modern writer Carson didn't see any horns when he glimpsed Nyogtha.

Feeding

Abigail Prinn was known to have made detestable sacrifices to an image of Nyogtha. Carson dreamed of Nyogtha pursuing and engulfing human victims.

Emergence

In modern times, Abigail Prinn returned from the grave to her old house in Salem and summoned Nyogtha. The occultist Michael Leigh was able to injure Nyogtha and force him to withdraw, but it appeared that Nyogtha survived.

Defenses

The Necronomicon states that "Only by the looped cross, by the Vach-Viraj incantation, and by the Tikkoun elixir may he be driven back to the nighted caverns of hidden foulness where he dwelleth." In modern times, Michael Leigh used all three of these techniques against Nyogtha. The creature advanced despite the looped cross (crux ansata) and the incantation, but was seriously harmed when Leigh threw a vial of the elixir at it.

On a previous occasion, a rat-familiar of Abigail Prinn was unable to pass the sign of the cross. This suggests that the cross (even without the loop) has some effect against Nyogtha's followers.

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