Painting the Mythos: Tsathoggua

May is shaping up to be an inordinately busy month.  I have four days left until I hit the road for the remainder of the month attending various conferences, and before I leave I have a presentation to prepare, and a museum studies workshop to help organize.  I also need to grout the backsplash tiles in my kitchen.  Oh, and I also promised Shane that I'd get the draft files of Megadungeon! out to him this weekend.

Naturally, with so many pressing things to do and so little time to do them, I've been spending the weekend painting.

"It needed the nourishment of sacrifice, for It was a god.  Of course I couldn't get It the sort of sacrifices which It was used to have in Its day, for such things don't exist now.  But there were other things which might do.  The blood is the life, you know.  Even the lemures and elementals that are older than the earth will come when the blood of men or beasts is offered under the right conditions."

Tsathoggua

This miniature was an absolute joy to paint because of the impressive detail in the sculpt.

The colour scheme was inspired by studying pictures of Bushbabies, Tarsiers, and Lemurs then trying to imagine how they'd look if they were cosmic horrors instead of cuddly little prosimians.

Tsathoggua, who dwells in the black gulf of N'Kai, far below the earth's surface, is perhaps one of the most interesting of the Great Old Ones and certainly the least malevolent; at least he will answer a sorcerer's call if he is first satiated.  Nonetheless, any supplicant would be wise to have a sacrifice ready lest he become one, himself.  He makes an excellent addition to any sword and sorcery campaign as a capricious patron who will provide sorcerers with arcane power in exchange for blood sacrifice.

Tsathoggua is worshiped and served by his Formless Spawn, amorphous beings that can change their form at will, who are most often found in his temples or in underground caverns.

Formless Spawn of Tsathoggua

Armour Class: 9           Special: Immunity

Hit Dice: 6                    Move: 18

Attacks: see below       HDE/XP: 9/1,100

The Formless Spawn can change their shape in an instant; they can ooze through cracks and enlarge their appendages at will.  They have at least four different attack forms that they can change from round to round.

1. Whip - a single melee attack with +3 bonus to hit (damage: 1d6).

2. Tentacles - a melee attack that may strike up to three targets per round (damage: 1d6).

3. Bludgeon - a powerful crushing attack (damage: roll 2d6, pick the highest roll)

4. Bite - victim is swallowed whole and can take no action until the creature is slain (damage: 1 point, cumulative, each round after being swallowed).