Nyarlathotep (Story)

18px	This article is about the event story Nyarlathotep. For the playable Dragon, see Nyarlathotep. For the NPC, see Nyarlathotep (NPC).

Facility Event: The Accursed Archives

Episode 4

Nyarlathotep

Previous Quest

The Horrors of Hethiwood

Next Quest

Beyond Darkness

Summary

At last, the truth is revealed: The one pulling the strings was the girl left behind in the village, Lathna—or, more specifically, Nyarlathotep. In order to lay bare the secrets of the spell that can bring about the end of this creeping chaos, the party rushes off to gather information.

Dialogue

Euden! This is bad! Curran? What's wrong? I thought you were going back to check on Lathna. You should get back there right now! I found this note in the castle! Uh oh. Let me see that. A black shadow is in my dreams.
A black shadow seeks my life.
I must learn if it is real. I must know if Nyarlathotep will kill me.

Nyarlathotep?! ...... Are you saying that poor girl went back to that horrid library by herself?! Yes, and we need to find her.

---

...Lathna! Where are you?! Lathna! Laaathna! Look, there's someone on the ground! ...... Oh no! She's injured! Stand back, please. I will help her. I... Uuur... Lathna, are you okay? What happened? Nyarlathotep...attacked... I knew that dragon was dangerous! If that's true, we need to track him down and figure out what's really going on. W...wait... Take...this... Er, what's this? A grimoire? It has the spell...to defeat Nyarlathotep... How do you know that?! Nyarlathotep...said... If spell is cast... he would disappear... Are we certain this information can be trusted? Well, magic books are a job for Heinwald, so let's... Huh? Where'd he go? Now that you mention it, I've not seen him since we entered the library. Just when we need him the most. What's going on with that egghead?! Well, until he returns, I have at least some knowledge in these realms. Let me take a look at the tome. Hmm... Yes, it seems this book has a spell of "sealing the wicked" inscribed within. Would that be enough to seal away Nyarlathotep? It is...probable. Please...do it. Nyarlathotep...will kill me. All right. We'll do it. I would not recommend that—unless you wish to become books yourselves, that is. There you are, Heinwald! Why are you with Nyarlathotep?! Because I knew we could not have a quiet, productive conversation with you around. You had a CONVERSATION with him? What exactly are you scheming here?! I scheme nothing more than to ascertain the truth of our situation. Heinwald, what did you mean when you said we'd be turned into books? Exactly that. If you cast the spell within that book, it is likely everyone here would be transformed into a tome. But the book said that spell would seal away the wicked! This is the Library Obscura—home to every taboo and forbidden thing. It is folly to assume that its judgment of what is good or wicked is the same as ours. Indeed, you should be much more concerned about that thing over there which masquerades as a girl. Wait. You mean Lathna? That girl is the cause of all of this. Or, to be more precise, the thing that has assumed her form is the cause. That Lathna is not a girl of Hethiwood, just as this Nyarlathotep is not the one who guided the village to ruin. What are you saying?! The ritual mentioned in the priest's diary is what transformed the villagers. The diary claimed an "emissary" named Nyarlathotep encouraged and guided them during said ritual. And yet you would stand at his side when you should work to defeat him! Ah, but THIS Nyarlathotep had nothing to do with the ritual. How could he have been involved when he was sealed away in this very library? Wait. Nyarlathotep said something about not having just one name or form, right? Which would mean... Oh no. Your memory serves you well. But yes, it means there is a being OTHER than the being before us that is also called Nyarlathotep. And you think this being is Lathna? How can you be certain?! Think carefully. The people of Hethiwood were 209 souls in total—including Lathna and the slaughtered priest. However, we only found 208 books. That's because Lathna was spared. I thought the same at first. But we found the priest's BODY. He was not transformed into a book, which means we are still one short. Hey, yeah. That IS strange. Every villager was turned into a book, yes? So if only the priest was not transformed, we should have 208 books. But Lathna ALSO wasn't transformed, which means we should have 207. But...we don't. We have 208. We know there was a girl named Lathna in the village, correct? Yeah, I saw her name in the register. Then there remains one possibility: The actual Lathna has been transformed, and the Lathna before us is a fake. A f-fake?! The Lathna before us is the Emissary spoken of by the villagers—but in a changed form. ...That is to say, she is Nyarlathotep! Ah! You changed your form to trick us and offer us as sacrifices to the Ancient One, didn't you, Lathna?! No... He...lies... He's like Nyarlathotep! C-Curran... H-help...me! Don't waste your breath, Lathna. No... Wh-why...? You were...my friend... Friend? The only thing that's a friend to me is the truth. Ah! I thought it was strange when you said you were attacked by Nyarlathotep. How could a little village girl escape a dragon attack with only the simple wounds you seem to carry? Now that you say it, something did feel strange when I was healing her. And Nyarlathotep didn't even steal the grimoire from you—the very grimoire that supposedly spells his doom. There's only one answer to this: You WEREN'T attacked by Nyarlathotep! ...... You've been trying to trick us, just like Heinwald said! Now, what name shall we use for you? Lathna? Nyarlathotep? Or, perhaps, the Emissary of Salvation? Enough of this! Return the villagers to their true forms at once! FORGIVE. ME. Huh? The sweetest sacrifice is the insect
who willingly seeks flame.
O, Ancient One, forgive my inefficacy!
Amnesty! Amnesty! Amnesty! Ah! You reside in the nest of offerings.
The library of the Ancient One.
You shall be given unto It. Sacrifice. SacrifiCE. SaCriFice.
SACRIFIceSACRrificeSAcRIFICe And here we have our enemy at last. But now that we're here, I wonder whose side the library's Nyarlathotep is on? We are Chaos. Chaos is freedom.
We concede no succor to the Emissary. ...You. Does your duty to the
Ancient One lie abandoned? As Emissary, I am Chaos.
My desire. Your desire. Master's desire.
They overlap, but are not one. I'm going to assume that means he's not our enemy. ...Well, that and the fact he isn't attacking us or whatever. The dragon has his own aims, but he is no foe of ours. In that case, we only have one foe left to deal with... Haaaaah! Take this and be judged! Orrraaaaaaghaaa! Gaaaaaaah! Urk.. S-so...powerful... The Emissary's life is null. Thus, infinite.
It exists outside the realm of being. The infinity of zero... Ah, yes. I see. Just as one cannot kill what is dead, we cannot defeat Nyarlathotep. No! And yet we cannot leave such a dangerous being unchecked! There is one option: I have obtained a grimoire with a spell that can annihilate Nyarlathotep from this world. And WHEN were you going to tell us about this?! Alas, the tome is dense indeed, and I am still trying to parse it. Then what should we do? ...We withdraw. We'll head out and get Heinwald whatever he needs to decipher that grimoire. There is no escape. No egress.
Thou awakened the closed casket!
Thou tread upon the cellar floor!
Thou shalt adorn the Ancient One's
dining table and provide It sustenance!
Now...BECOME SACRIFICE!