The entire Chateaugay Lake seemed to be holding its breath in horrible expectation as the night was deathly silent. A thin mist hung over the water and clung to the surface like some evil demon that was reluctant to let go of its hold.
Standing on the shaky dock, Edgar Allan Poe looked across the gloomy lake at the towering silhouette of the Standish Volcano. What weird forces had brought him back to this terrible location after all these years? He had faced an unspeakable evil here twenty years earlier, something mysterious and old.
Evelyn Nesbit, the Shatagee Woods Wendigo warrior princess and reincarnation of Joan of Arc, used a mysterious device known only as the Cosmic DJ’s console to channel her wild powers. That machine had unleashed horrors upon the land that still haunted Poe’s dreams.
Poe had planned to find some measure of peace by writing alone for the rest of his life. His instincts, however, could not be ignored as worrisome news continued to come from this isolated rural village. It was impossible for the strange music coming from the volcano to be a coincidence. The people reported hearing uncanny tones that filled them with dread. Poe would put an end to whatever evil was still brewing in that stygian mountain, or he would perish trying.
The weird sounds grew louder, swirling through the shadows as he moved through the thick woodland up Mt. Standish’s rugged top. The song had tendrils of corrupting sound that wormed their way into the head, giving it an almost sentient malignancy. With the help of his experiences in the cosmic unknown, Poe hardened himself against the telepathic assault. He wouldn’t flinch now when so much was at stake.
As he got closer to the volcano’s gaping mouth, the sulfur odor became more overpowering, and the eerie techno music engulfed him with a bewildering intensity. Poe plunged into the blazing depths while holding an obsidian dagger that had been given to him by a shamanic cult. He felt his blood turn cold as he followed the twisting corridors to a hub of eldritch technology and bizarre idols.
Evelyn Nesbit was positioned in front of a massive console covered in ungodly symbols. She was still beautiful, but something about her had changed; it had become ferocious and predatory. Her mouth expanded into a rictus grin as she turned to face Poe, displaying wild canine teeth that resembled those of a Wendigo that had been sharpened to jagged points.
She said in a voice that was no longer her own, “Welcome Edgar. We have been expecting you,”
She was surrounded by eerie specters with hollow, ravenous eyes. Her Wendigo friends also underwent significant transformation, having cosmic energies transform them into nightmare-like monsters. Poe then understood the full extent of the evil he was now up against. The Cosmic DJ’s dark frequencies had called forth multidimensional extra-planar beings rather than creatures with terrestrial origins.
Poe realized that his terrifying ordeal had only just begun as terrible laughter resounded throughout the room.
Poe kept his composure in the face of the growing tide of lunacy brought on by forces beyond his comprehension. Even in the face of such cosmic dread, he had already come too far to give up his sanity.
Poe said, his voice concealing none of his inward agony, “Your dark schemes stop tonight, Evelyn. I will break whatever profane pact you have made.”
The distorted sound of Evelyn’s shrill cackling reverberated throughout the eldritch cavern. “Poe, you are but a particle of dust in the scheme of things! The Old Ones will return once the Planetary Alignment starts. Your race will submit to our whims as a new era begins!”
Poe’s blood turned to ice, yet his expression remained expressionless. It was impossible for The Planetary Alignment to be a mere coincidence. The cosmic order would move into a terrible alignment once every 72,000 years, creating a portal to the outside world. Every esoteric book and whispered tradition agreed that it was close at hand.
If the portal opened while the Cosmic DJ and his followers were keeping watch, then…Poe was afraid to think about the consequences. But he had to hold onto the hope that humanity will somehow triumph despite all the adversity.
Monstrous Wendigo specters lurked in the shadows, watching with eager anticipation for the return of their horrible masters. Poe noticed odd devices and equipment scattered across the cavern and connected by pulsating tubes. The enormous, obscenely decorated console of the Cosmic DJ loomed in the middle, seeming even more intimidating than before.
The Cosmic DJ was still, his cowled features hidden by a thick cloak, standing next to his creation. Only his long, spindly fingers, which protruded from his sleeves like ghostly spiders, were visible. Poe could sense the entity’s evil power emanating from under that mysterious hood.
With her deformed face shining with intensity, Evelyn marched toward a glowing opening on the chamber wall. She rasped, “The preparations are almost finished. The Path of Screams, the journey we must make to meet those who wait in the Outer Dark, lies beyond this gateway.”
Her Wendigo-like fangs protruded in eagerness as she turned back to face Poe. “But first, a blood sacrifice. This project will be baptized by your name!”
Unnatural energies surged about Poe as he strained and raised his obsidian dagger. Could the will of one man triumph against such unimaginable evil?
What mysteries of Chateaugay Lake haunt you?