This post is in the Eldritch Icons project which will weave a narrative to supplant the 13 Icons of the Dragon Empire with more sinister icons born of Weird Fiction.

Elk Over Druid

Those who saw it happen, the Rangers and others who chose not to take sides, said the battle ended almost before it had begun. Druids, secure in their bond with the forests surrounding their Iconic mistress raised their staffs and called on the power of the land—but that power did not come. The blades of the fanatical priests cut them down and the forest was silent.

She followed in the wake of her envoys, the shimmering elk-goddess with blood-encrusted antlers. She soaked in the power of the Wild Wood. Druids and rangers felt their arts fizzle out in her wake. And yet she promised to restore all those who gave her love and devotion. In past Ages, challengers had taken the power of the High Druid before. Would it be so wrong to kneel before her?

While the Elf Queen deserts her Queen's Wood, leaving it to the Black Goat of the Woods, a very different battle starts in the Blood Wood along the Iron Sea and moves inland to the High Druid's own Wild Wood. Yhoundeh, the elk-goddess challenger, does not raise finger or hoof to fight. She glides in the wake of her priests, whose magic combines druidic power with forbidden blood magic.

Something about the elk-goddess's presence overpowers the natural tie Druids and Rangers feel with the woods. If her priests fail to erect and guard shrines, that power fades as she moves on. But wherever they establish her presence, only her followers may call on the power of the Earth. If, once her priests are installed, order returns and Druids may go about their business with only a different name to call on, how many will simply switch loyalties? Some darker Druids might even welcome the opportunity of learning from her priests.

Then, there will be the hardcore partisans. Some are half-elves like the High Druid. They cling to her as their last point of stability in a chaotic world where their Queen has abandoned them. Others may have strong relationships with her or owe her favors. Perhaps some were influential to her own power grab.

The High Druid may counteract the negating force of the elk-goddess. Is it only in her presence? In designated sites of power? Does she need the players’ help to conduct a rite or spell to expand that force? Ultimately, the elk-goddess and the High Druid's fight comes down to their connections to Nature and how they draw on its power.

The Elk-Goddess Yhoundeh

Yhoundeh, the Hyperborean elk-goddess is a mysterious figure in the writings of Clark Ashton Smith. Is she elk? Is she woman? Is she some other creature or some kind of hybrid being? From Smith, we know one thing about her worship—her temples are dominated by priests of great inquisitorial spirit:

They were disappointed because the formidable writ of arrest, with symbolic flame-etched runes on a scroll of human skin, was now useless and because there seemed to be no early prospect of trying out the ingenious agonies, the intricately harrowing ordeals which they had devised for Eibon with such care.

While priests who take the trouble to make writs of arrest in flame-etched runes on scrolls of human skin certainly add color as adversaries for your players, the goddess herself is so completely absent from the texts that a GM could describe her as a misunderstood being of natural power. Is she close enough to human to understand what her priests do? Is she so far above human that she doesn't care? Is she more interested in love than hate? What is life like for people who turn their loyalty to her, who they see as a new High Druid?

Another factor in shaping Yhoundeh is her marriage. Will Murray quotes from a Clark Ashton Smith letter which, sadly, I can't confirm as it's not in my collection:

As to the marriage of Y'houndeh and the flute-player Nyarlathotep, I am inclined to suspect that something of the sort is hinted at or adumbrated by Pnom. I quote the reference: ‘Houndeh in the 3rd cycle of her divinity was covered by that spawn which pipes perennially the dire music of chaos and corruption.’ If this doesn't refer to the Azathothian flute-player, I'll undertake to drink a straight gallon of the next segur-whisky that is imported from Mars.

(Smith's letters are a glorious exercise in collaborative fiction creation, rather like fandom beliefs (such as Jon Snow's parentage) spawning on modern forums or tumblr truths.)

With the assistance of the Crawling Chaos (who we will see later in conflict with the Prince of Shadows), what devious schemes might Yhoundeh undertake? How many might simply be undertaken on her behalf?

In part 2, I'll give some plot hooks and priest/ally stat suggestions.

The previous Eldritch Icons post for Shub-Niggurath described her conflict with the Elf Queen and gave a background on her description in literature. Now, let's take a look at some of plot hooks her introduction might produce and what kind of beasts you'll find fighting on her side.

Plot Hooks

Havoc Among the Halflings: the noxious influence of the Wood is extending into one of the Halfling towns that sit near its borders (Old Town, Twist, or Burrow on the map). This may include attacks by The Goat's minions or a taint spreading among the Halflings or their farms/livestock. Can you quarantine it? Or is hope lost and should you cover their retreat?

Dealings With the Drow: the [insert icon of your choice here, probably Emperor/Archmage] has heard that the Drow are battling this new influence. They seek information and/or an alliance. You are dispatched, but what will it take to win the trust of the Drow?

Relic Retrieval: something of great value was left behind when the Court of Stars departed. Your party is on a quest to retrieve it.

The Queen's Quest: someone who has a positive icon relationship with the Queen receives a parting message from her. You are to a) retrieve an item (see above), or b) be her champion in reclaiming the Wood, or c) stop the spread of the blight, or d) your own inspiration.

Delving for Dholes: When a Dhole strikes at the heart of Concord (or one of the Halfling towns, if you prefer), your party is dispatched through the tunnels to find the source.

Servitors and Allies

Some of The Goat's servitors come from the mythos. Other races she has corrupted or allied with were already in the 13th Age.

Dark Young

As the Goat With a Thousand Young, she must have some kind of Young along with her. Paizo has published a stat-block for huge, high-level Dark Young. If your party is at a lower level, you may want to reduce these or split it up into smaller Dark Young.

Much of how we picture the Dark Young of The Goat is taken from Chaosium's decision to adapt Robert Block's description of Shoggoths into Dark Young for its Call of Cthulhu RPG. A character hears the sound “shub n***** ath,” indicating The Goat's connection to these creatures. The narrator also discovers hoofprints, solidifying the logic for a goaty connection. So while the creatures are definitively identified as shoggoths by characters in the story, they have become the Dark Young of gaming.

The Call of Cthulhu Anniversary Edition book describes Dark Young on pages 154-155:

These beings are enormous writing masses formed out of ropy black tentacles. Here and there over the surfaces of the things are great puckered mouths which drip with green goo. Beneath the creatures, tentacles end in black hooves on which they stamp. The monsters roughly resemble trees in silhouette—the trunks being the short legs, and the tops of the trees represented by the ropy branching bodies. The whole mass of these things smell like open graves. Dark young stand between 12 and 20 feet tall.

Given their lack of real description in the mythos writings, however, GMs should feel free to break from this tradition and describe Dark Young as they see fit. Actual goat-like creatures? Swarms of tiny tentacled-things overpowering the party? Great, shaggy beasts?

Chaos Beasts

Chaos Beasts couldn't get more mythos-esque if they tried. Whether they're The Goat's minions or simply found her chaotic arrival as an excellent time to manifest in the Wood, they're a threat to aventurers, Drow, and the poor Halfings who are just trying to go about their lives.

See the Bestiary, pp.38-41 for Chaos Beast stats.

Corrupted Drow

An important part of this scenario is the Drow's shadow campaign against The Goat. However, just as her presence taints the wood, so it may also turn some of the Drow. If you've chosen to play with non-black Drow (the Bestiary and other 13th Age sources suggest dark blue and albino white as logical skin colors), this may be the time add black veins or horrible motifs to indicate their taint. Perhaps they are the above-mentioned cultists and the only way The Goat could have undermined the Queen's power.

If not corrupting actual Drow, you may also choose to use their Spider Mounts’ stats for evil forest spiders, in the theme of Ungoliant.

See the Bestiary, pp. 57-62 for Drow and Drow Spider Mount stats.

Cultists

Whether these cultists are human or other, whether they're necromancers or have a variety of skills, they're bad business. In fact, they may well be the forces behind the summoning of The Goat in the first place. Stop their ritual, destroy their sacreligious shrines, and uproot them from the Wood. Do they form their own Court of Corruption in place of the Court of Stars?

Dholes

…whatever it was, it seemed of an abnormal length unless it was several creatures in a row. Again I caught a glimpse of something albino white, bleached and glistening, and for some reason my breath caught in my throat and I felt the sick clamminess of fear. Then suddenly the white thing reared up against the wall of the house, and I saw that it had no limbs, no limbs at all, and the—size of the thing!—

— Lin Carter, “Dreams in the House of Weir”

Dholes are entirely alien to the denizens of the 13th Age, although perhaps they have lived on this planet for millenea and may have featured in previous ages. To your adventurers, they might look like limbless proto-Deep Bulettes (13 True Ways, p.28). They're Huge in size, a sickly greenish-white and mushy-appearing, but they absorb a lot of damage before they begin to show wear. Parts of a Dhole taking may come off in globules. Only their faces are defined, with large snouts that give them an excellent tracking sense. There's no hiding from a Dhole, as they can track you from underground and legends on other planets say that they can sense you in your dreams.

Fungaloids

While in the past Fungaloids may have been neutral in the Queen's eyes, another part of the forest, these creatures now act with a terribly malignity toward the Wood. You may find them deliberately draining the life from trees where they stand. There are entire portions of the Wood where mats of mushrooms cover everything that meets the eye. You may have to clear a path, but beware, tampering with these toadstools may forewarn the Fungaloids of your approach.

See the Bestiary, pp. 82-87 for Fungaloid stats.

Twilight Treants

The roots of these treants absorbed the foul contagion that issues forth from the abode of the black goat. They, like the trees of the wood, have turned black as pitch and their personalities have been likewise corrupted. What green vitality they may have possessed before has been erased, as has their loyalty to anything in the forest but their new mistress and her minions.

See 13 True Ways, pp. 202-203 for Treant stats. However, consider changing vulnerability to fire to vulnerability to Holy damage.

This post is in the Eldritch Icons Project, which will weave a narrative to supplant the 13 Icons of the Dragon Empire with more sinister icons born of Weird Fiction.

The Goat Against The Queen

It began when travelers reported dozens of beautifully-crafted Elven ships sailing from the mouth of the Goldleaf into the Iron Sea. Halflings in Old Town, Twist, and Burrow, and residents of Concord noticed that their elven neighbors in the town had disappeared overnight, leaving neat, empty, abodes. Those with icon relationships with the Elf Queen could barely sense her presence. Many half-elves who remained behind fell into melancholy and some began journeys to reunite with their elven kin.

Those seeking answers at the Court of Stars found all edges of the once comforting forest had turned to a sinister Darkwood (13 True Ways, pp.123-14, but more so). The once-tidy paths into the Queen's Wood were now overgrown with ragged moss and fungus. Some reported seeing Drow in pitched battle with legions of Fungoids, Treants the color of pitch, and less-familiar tree-like creatures whose ropey tentacles and slavering maws could consume half a dozen Drow calvary and their mounts. A lone Chaos Beast made it as far as Burrow before a party of Drow, hardly ever seen in the city, descended to slaughter it. Even the giant spiders may be turning against those for whom they once had an affinity. Rumors speak of a new, unspeakably foul queen at the center of the Wood.¹

Whether the Elf Queen departed across the sea of her own volition (as elves are wont to do) and opened a hole for The Goat to take over or whether The Goat and its servitors forced her out, the forest has become hideously tainted by its presence. Surprisingly, the Drow have remained behind. Do they fight for their Queen? Or are they simply too tied to the caverns beneath the forest to leave? Either way, your party may find them surprising allies in this time of upheaval.

Is there a way to save the Queen's Wood? Can its new potentate be uprooted? Can the Elf Queen be persuaded to return?

The answer here depends entirely on your decisions as the GM. You could pose an eldritch campaign in the same way one seals a door in Arkham Horror or you could focus on smaller, immediate goals. Some possible plot-hooks below will determine your answers. Moreover, you can ask your players a meta-campaign question: do you want the 13th Age to be saved? Or do you want to be fighting to slow its demise and mediate the ills that will follow? …or are you on the side of these new icons?

The Black Goat of the Woods

We start with the unfortunately-named Shub Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, who will continue to be called “The Goat” unless in a textual quote.² She, for Lovecraft established her gender in “Out of the Aeons,” was a creation of H.P. Lovecraft (although he calls her a “he” in “Whisperer,” but most stories consider her a she), although she never appeared directly in his stories. Her name is used primarily in incantations by cultists.

In Lovecraft

As I said above, because she is a Lovecraftian creation, I will first give some background on her use there.

Lovecraft's works (including collaborations, where he loved sneaking in references) in which she is used in an incantation, reference, or text from the Necronomicon:

• “The Last Test” (1927)
• “The Dunwich Horror” (1928)
• “The Whisperer in Darkness” (1930)
• “The Mound” (1930)
• “The Medusa's Coil” (1930)
• “The Horror in the Museum” (1932)
• “The Man of Stone” (1932)
• “The Thing on the Doorstep” (1933)
• “The Diary of Alonzo Typer” (1935)

These references to her are all fairly nebulous beyond establishing her identity and her position as a potent figure in the world of mythos entities.

Fortunately, in “Out of the Aeons,” (a collaboration with Hazel Heald) Lovecraft describes her high priest. The story also introduces her sons—Nug and Yeb. This high priest attempts to make contact with her and solicit her, her sons, and Yig, the Serpent-god (stay tuned!) to help in a battle against the darker mythos entities. To spoil this part of the story—no, The Goat, her children, and Yig are not ready to take up with humans, although it would be an interesting campaign if they were. Of Lovecraft's work, this is as concrete a reference as we get.

Other Mythos Writers

Clark Ashton Smith sculpted how he imagined the head of Shub-Niggurath, although alas we do not also have a side photograph. This vision is rather different and much more goaty than how she later came to be seen.

Otherwise, one of the best places to read about her is Chaosium's Shub-Niggurath Cycle., ed. Robert Price. Not all of the stories are good, but the work as a whole serves to establish a sense of how a GM might write her and her cultists. The stories it collects are:

• “The Horn of Vapula”, Lewis Spence
• “The Demonic Goat”, M. P. Dare
• “The Ghostly Goat of Glaramara”, J. S. Leatherbarrow
• “The Moon-Lens”, Ramsey Campbell
• “The Ring of the Hyades”, John S. Glasby
• “A Thousand Young”, Robert M. Price
• “The Seed of the Star-God”, Richard L. Tierney
• “Harold's Blues”, Glen Singer
• “Dreams in the House of Weir”, Lin Carter
• “Visions from Yaddith”, Lin Carter (sonnet cycle)
• “Prey of the Goat”, M. L. Carter
• “Sabbath of the Black Goat”, Stephen M. Rainey
• “The Curate of Temphill”, Robert M. Price and Peter H. Cannon
• “Grossie”, David Kaufman
• “To Clear the Earth”, Will Murray

Stories before “Moon-Lens” are not connected to The Goat but are good the imagery of goats in horror (in fact some were written before Lovecraft conceived of The Goat). “Hyades” deals at least as much with the King in Yellow as The Goat. “A Thousand Young,” and “Seed” are both reasonably good but contain rape, so be warned. “Curate” may not deal specifically with The Goat but is an excellent story of how the worship of an evil entity may infect a town of ordinary folks, a good insight into how one might balance a world in which the mythos entities are icons (the third story with rape). “Dreams in the House of Weir,” on the other hand, gives a fascinating perspective on tensions between servants of The Goat. “To Clear the Earth” briefly treats The Goat's twin sons Nug and Yeb, or rather their legacies on Earth.

Conclusion

In sum, the Goat is a surprisingly-flexible and visually ill-defined entity in mythos literature. Sometimes she's goaty, sometimes she's a blob, often she has some kind of tentacles. You could make her specifically goaty, but you could also style her more on her Dark Young (see Pt. 2) or really however you see fit.

Coming in Pt. 2, Plot Hooks and Servitors.

Footnotes

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1. Excerpted from a longer campaign I'm writing for this situation. ↩︎

2. While some would point out the obvious spelling difference and pronunciation, knowing Lovecraft's history it's hard to shake the feeling of an insidious racism (even perhaps an unconscious one) attached to it. ((And thanks to Robert Bloch for totally going there in a story.)) Many Lovecaftians have taken to pronouncing it as Ni-GOO-roth/ath in an attempt to deal with this. For the purposes of my writing on the subject, I will refer to the entity known as Shub Niggurath as “The Goat.” ↩︎