Death Scenes: Aftermaths of Cthulhoid Kills

First published in Different Worlds magazine issue 35, July/August 1984, pp.14-15 (PDF)

By Sandy Petersen, author of Call of Cthulhu

One of the commoner fates of the hapless investigator in Call of Cthulhu is to be slain or devoured by some alien terror. Naturally, this is often a time for sorrow, mourning, and frantic attempts to avoid that same fate for oneself, but it can also be helpful to the survivors. The very manner in which their comrade has met his doom may well provide other investigators with potent clues as to just exactly what they are up against.



Following are a series of 50 scenes, one for every type of monster included in Call of Cthulhu, as well as one for the 11 new deities and alien races included in the Cthulhu Companion. A Keeper may simply read the quote directly, or modify it to suit circumstances. Or he may simply use the information contained to invent his own death scenes. Naturally, not all beings will slay in exactly the same manner, but there will be similarities. In each case, the victim is assumed to be a male investigator.



Azathoth: "The entire house was leveled, as though by some vast catastrophe. Even the trees for several hundred yards around were injured and broken. Inside the house's ruins we found his corpse -recognizable only by the twisted gold ring set amidst the ruin of his left hand."

Byakhee: "His body lay twisted in the middle of the road. His throat was ripped out, but there was oddly little blood about. The rest of his body was slashed and torn, and his clothes were torn to rags. The corpse seemed strangely shrunken and pale."



Chthonian: "There was a great bruise, nearly a foot and a half across, encircling his body. A hole, with ragged edges, was bored into the base of his throat, so deep that I could insert my hand. His whole corpse was coated with a thick layer of putrid slime."



Cthugha: "The corpse was burnt to a frazzle. His blackened skull and bones still sat upright on the smoldering car's seat. The forest for an acre about was still aflame."



Cthulhu: "All that was visible was a reddish discoloration near the centre of the great green smear across the road. "

Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath: "Black pus filled the corpse's face and mouth. Open, ulcer-like sores covered half his body, still oozing a greasy clear liquid. The expression on what was left of his face was indescribable."



Deep Ones: "Slash marks were neatly incised across the victim's throat, as though someone had drawn four razor blades simultaneously through his neck. Four similar slashes encircled his arm, which was broken, as though some powerful thing had gripped him there unmercifully."

Father Dagon or Mother Hydra: "The great webbed footprint spread for several feet across the sand. In the middle of the print was our friend's body, torn nearly in half from the crushing weight of the Thing."



Dholes: "A great wad of mucus engulfed the entire front half of the car, and a path was visible through miles of forest. But of our friend, there was no sign."

Dimensional Shambler: "We heard him scream, and rushed to his room. But when the door opened, all we found was a slight spatter of blood on the carpet and his despairing cry echoing faintly through space."

Fire Vampire: "The chair he sat in was untouched, but his skull was charred into an awful grimace, as was the upper half of his body. Weirdly, his arms and legs were untouched."



Flying Polyps: "His expression was unendurable, and we covered his face. His corpse was marred with regularly sized circular pockmarks, like hollows in the sand. The flesh seemed slightly desiccated, as though baked in an oven, though it was only slightly reddened."

Formless Spawn of Tsathogghua: "All we found were his bones, sucked clean of flesh. A wet trail led away from the spot."

Ghouls: "The corpse was gnawed and chewed, as though by rats. The eyes had been neatly plucked from the sockets, the long bones cracked for marrow, and the back of the skull broken open to get at the toothsome gray matter. His belly was split open and completely gutted. Whatever had killed had viewed his entrails as quite a delicacy."

Great Race of Yith: "His body was intact, save that his head was severed cleanly, with surgical precision." 

Hastur the Unspeakable: "Every bone in his body was crushed to a pulp, and his skin was one massive bruise, with dull purplish blood tingeing all his features."

Hounds of Tindalos: "He lay flat on his back, a thin bluish slime covering his entire body. His head was severed and sat atop his chest."

Hunting Horrors: "The corpse was mauled as if by a wild animal. Erratically, and with no seeming purpose, portions of his body were curiously missing, as though some being, with alien logic, had selectively mutilated him."

Ithaqua the Windwalker: "The body was found frozen solid, buried halfway into the tundra, as though it had been dropped from a great height. When it was unearthed, both feet gave the peculiar appearance as of having been burnt to stumps, though crusts of ice clung to them."

Lesser Other God: "His corpse lay face down. The back was partially dissolved away, eaten by acid, so that his spine and ribs were laid bare. His ribs were visibly cracked and splintered, and his skull broken, as well as corroded. His face and front were intact, though shoved into the earth as though by some great weight."

Mi-Go: "The victim's entire abdomen and chest were scissored open with dozens of tiny cuts and deep incisions. Blood pooled redly through the myriad wounds and the corpse lolled sideways on the ground."



Nightgaunts: "He had been carried off. A frantic sound, half-screaming and half frightened laughter, came from the night sky and we recognized his voice as he was carried away, toward that black mountain from which no man had ever returned alive."

Nodens: "His corpse was nearly intact, save for the mark of a single blow, breaking his collarbone and neatly sending the splintered end through his heart."

Nyarlathotep: "He was sprawled back on his chair, an awful look on his face, with scorch marks over his body. He had evidently been struck by lightning, though how lightning could have entered that windowless room remains a mystery."



Nyogtha: "His bed was smashed upon the floor, and he was not in it. A trail of destruction led to the window, where the grisly sight of one severed foot, caught in the jamb, met our eyes."

Old Ones: "His body was literally torn apart, though there were no cuts or punctures. His limbs were ripped from the body, and thrown asunder. Strange annular marks were seen on his limbs and around his torso."

Sand-Dwellers: "His body looked as though someone with a sharpened garden rake had struck him again and again, without sense nor reason. When we rolled him over, we could see that great hole through his back where whatever had slain him had chewed and clawed its way through to his liver."