VIII Great Old Ones and Outer Gods “Listen, fool! Listen hard! It has heard As it grows more powerful, Rhan-Tegoth becomes me, and is coming Can’t you hear more and more difficult to damage Missiles discharged It splashing out of Its tank down at it have their mass and velocity reduced to impotence there at the end of the runway? I dug Spells directed toward it find their effects radically it deep, because there was nothing weakened This reality-warping effect grows over time: too good for It It is amphibious, at first it seems comparatively minor and Rhan-Tegoth you know—you saw the gills in the can be attacked almost by normal means, but as it picture It came to the earth from feeds, it grows frighteningly stronger and reality makes lead-grey Yuggoth, where the cities less and less sense in its proximity are under the warm deep sea It can’t All those around Rhan-Tegoth find the universe stand up in there—too tall—has to changing to affect their perceptions Rhan-Tegoth’s sit or crouch Let me get my keys—we cultists gain the ability to see beyond the normal planes must let It out and kneel down before of existence, allowing them to detect intruders through It Then we will go out and find a dog walls and earth Rhan-Tegoth uses its gate spell-like or cat—or perhaps a drunken man— ability to reach into other planes and summon forth to give It the nourishment It needs.” monstrous defenders, such as dimensional shamblers or gugs Unfortunately, this effect also occurs for RhanTegoth’s mortal enemies They, too, see beyond the normal realm, but this is a curse and a terror for them, and these visions can lead to madness or delirium (they are a source of dread) Ultimately, Rhan-Tegoth begins to open an interdimensional gate to the otherworld, which makes it disastrously easy for other Great Old Ones and Outer Gods to grow their influence and ravage the world Rhan-Tegoth's goal is to be able to maintain its warp connection indefinitely, at which time RhanTegoth itself ceases to be and essentially becomes the Gate and the Way At this point, the world is doomed and all is lost The only hope is to destroy Rhan-Tegoth before it succeeds (even while in the process of the final change) or, more simply, to starve it so that it reverts to its hibernation form —H P Lovecraft & Hazel Heald, The Horror in the Museum Rhan-Tegoth in Combat In combat, Rhan-Tegoth's six pincer-tipped tentacles can each strike independently When a victim is grabbed firmly by one of the claws, it is dragged to the mass of feeding tentacles and palps dangling from Rhan-Tegoth’s head, and the horror begins to feed by draining the victim of body fluids A victim freed from Rhan-Tegoth’s grip can slowly recover from the damage over time, but the scars and welts are permanent Between Rhan-Tegoth's many ways of draining strength from its foes, its thick shell, and its protective slime (which reduces or eliminates damage from magic), it is very difficult to harm effectively 273