VIII Great Old Ones and Outer Gods “Here was done the very secret and ancient rite in detestation of Bokrug, the water-lizard, and here rested the altar of chrysolite which bore the DOOM-scrawl of Taran-Ish.” —H.P Lovecraft, The Doom That Came To Sarnath the inciting crime, the more time the Water Lizard little time, and if Bokrug's influence is banished before spends devising a suitably horrendous punishment For the fading is complete, the victims are restored example, when the city of Sarnath drove the original Beings of Ib into extinction, it took Bokrug 1000 years to respond—but when Bokrug did finally strike, the mighty city of Sarnath and all its inhabitants vanished forever Only marshlands remained in its place The Ghosts of Ib Bokrug in Combat Bokrug physically fights like the lizard it resembles, biting and swallowing most foes whole His neck distends to let him swallow larger targets Bokrug can swallow creatures even larger than himself, though this may take several rounds of gulping Any When Bokrug appears, hordes of ghosts of Ib (his creature swallowed by Bokrug is transported to his original cultists) appear with him These spectral, frog- extradimensional stomach from whence there is no like humanoids have all the powers of typical ghosts escape, only an eternity of digestion This swallowing as well as spellcasting abilities (see page 219) While process is supernatural, and Bokrug does not get larger they can be individually driven off or banished, they as he eats prey always return and multiply while Bokrug manifests The Return to Nature Bokrug typically returns civilized or built-up areas to their primeval state In the case of humans, they literally vanish, as he normally restores the area to its form before humanity even evolved, so they cannot exist All buildings and manufactured items gradually vanish or are replaced with the building materials from which they were constructed (uncut timber or stone, mud, and so on) Humans and more recent creatures also gradually fade away This fading process takes a Bokrug has a prehensile tail which can grasp, hold, and constrict victims as well as simply lash them, and clawed arms which he can use to hold and rake victims When enemies strike back at Bokrug, he typically has the resistance and immunity of the graven stone statue from which he emerged, though he seems to be flesh when attacking When damaged sufficiently, Bokrug returns to its statue form and the ghosts of Ib stop appearing However, defacing or trying to destroy a statue of Bokrug can cause him to reappear seeking revenge 221