"In the Depths of R'lyeh" is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by Canadian author Troy Young. It constitutes the twentieth and final episode of his Nyarlathotep Cycle, a series begun in 2020 with "It Came from the Sea".
Synopsis[]
The newly-awakened Adele Kramer briefs the other members of the Department of Extraordinary Phenomena on the information she has gleaned from her time in the Outer Cosmos, revealing that Nyarlathotep intends for them to thwart a plan by Cthulhu to awaken Azathoth and end all of existence.
Developing a device which can mimic the melodies played by the flautists at the Court of Azathoth, Harjit Singh calls in some favours from his international contacts, and they begin to formulate a plan. Kramer and Singh, along with Malcolm Mayweather and Charlene Hines, travel to South America, narrowly avoiding an attack by cultists of Hastur along the way, where they rendezvous with a navy frigate which has been put at their disposal by the Chilean government.
Undertaking the voyage to the centre of the South Pacific, and barely escaping death at the blades of another group of cultists, the group finds that the sunken city of R'lyeh is already beginning to rise, and they hastily board their submersible. As they reach the city, Cthulhu finally awakens; the psychic backlash from this event results in the deaths of nearly all aboard, but the sole survivor, Adele Kramer, is able to activate the device and send Cthulhu back into torpor.
In the aftermath, Kramer is approached by Nyarlathotep who informs her that there was no need for her friends to have died: he only implemented that part of the plan to watch her suffer. However, Yog-Sothoth makes his appearance and rewards the agent for her acts by removing the cursed powers which resulted from her time at Azathoth's Court, simultaneously warning Nyarlathotep that she is now under his protection. When she is returned to the real world, her experience with the Other leads to an offer of the position as the next director of the DoEP, which she accepts.
Characters[]
- Adele Kramer, field agent, Department of Extraordinary Phenomena
- Harjit Singh, director, Department of Extraordinary Phenomena
- Malcolm Mayweather, field agent, Department of Extraordinary Phenomena
- Charlene Hines, field agent, Department of Extraordinary Phenomena
- Nyarlathotep/William Akeley/The Black Pharaoh, a malevolent Outer God
- Yog-Sothoth, a somewhat more agreeable Outer God
- Captain Juan Rojas, commander of the Chilean Navy frigate Almirante Carrasco
- Dr. Eugenie Girault, senior medical officer, Department of Extraordinary Phenomena
- Cheryl, Director's Executive Assistant, Department of Extraordinary Phenomena
- Sailors Pablo Vargas, Estella Cantero, and Raphael Pescadore, Chilean seamen and cultists of Hastur
Publication History[]
"In the Depths of R'lyeh" was included in the collection The Other: Encounters with the Cthulhu Mythos Book 3 in 2021 (first edition) and 2023 (second edition).
| "The House at the Edge of Time and Space" • "The Shade of Pierre Girault" • "The Misplaced Masterpiece of Richard Upton Pickman" • "The Curse of the Windsor Witch" • "The Bride of the Yellow King" • "In the Depths of R'lyeh" |