The Spook's Bestiary - By Joseph Delaney Page 0,16

his true shape and terrified him so much that he was forced to continue with his wicked ways. Finally the twenty-four years approached their end, and at midnight the Devil was due to come for Faustus’s soul.

He tried to pray; tried one last time to turn back to the light. It was no use. Years of bad habits were ingrained in his soul, and he failed. In the next room, three scholars from the university prayed for his soul, but their prayers went unanswered. At midnight they heard terrible noises from Faustus’s chamber: thuds, bangs, terrible tearing sounds, and then, loudest of all, the screams of Faustus. Then all became ominously silent.

They waited until daybreak to enter. The floor was wet with blood. The body of Faustus had been torn to pieces by the Devil, and his soul dragged off to the domain of darkness.

No one should ever make a pact with the Fiend. For its practitioners, satanic magic is the most dangerous category of all.

Golgoth

Golgoth is also known as the Lord of Winter and was worshipped so fervently by the first race of mankind that he was able to pass through a portal from the dark to dwell on earth for thousands of years. He has the power to create local pockets of cold so extreme that human flesh and bone become brittle and can shatter into fragments. It is believed that Golgoth caused at least one of the great ages of ice.

Golgoth now sleeps4 under a large barrow on Anglezarke Moor, known as the Round Loaf because of its shape. For the sake of the County and the world beyond, let us hope that he continues to do so.

Hephaestus

Hephaestus5 was the blacksmith of the Old Gods; he fashioned tools and weapons to serve their interests during the first age when they all dwelt in this world. At that time humans had yet to emerge from their caves, where they cowered in fear of the terrible external forces that might extinguish all their lives. Hephaestus was the only one of the gods considered to be ugly. Some say he was also lame. He has fallen silent and now sleeps in the dark, but he has left a dangerous legacy.

Hephaestus

There are supposedly weapons still in existence that were manufactured by Hephaestus. The most famous, a sword able to cut through any armor and even stone, is said to make its bearer invincible. It is also reputed to be a potent weapon against demons and other denizens of the dark. The king who last owned it was betrayed, his sword stolen, and he was slain. People say that it was sealed in an ancient barrow6 with the king’s body, somewhere to the south of the County, but the precise location is unknown.

Another weapon forged by Hephaestus, which has also left Greece, is a war hammer that never misses its target and always returns to its owner’s hand. It is believed to be in the possession of one of the strigoi, the vampiric demons that dwell in Romania.

The Morrigan

This is the female Old God who is worshipped by the Celtic witches in that mysterious place called Ireland, which lies over the sea far to the west of the County. We cannot be sure of the extent of her powers, but she is also known as the goddess of slaughter.

When a witch summons her to our world, she may take the shape of a large black crow and alight on the left shoulder of one who is soon to die. Additionally, she sometimes scratches the heads of her enemies with her claws, marking them for death. In this shape the Morrigan frequents battlefields, pecking out and eating the eyes of the dead and wounded.7

The Ordeen

This female deity is the most powerful agent of the dark in Greece. She visits our world every seven years. While most other deities who use portals need the help of humans, the Ordeen does not.

The Ordeen

Little else is known about her other than she is extremely bloodthirsty.8 Her chief worshippers are maenads, but she brings other denizens of the dark through the portal with her, particularly flying lamias, demons, and fire elementals. Between them they slaughter all in their path, and the bloodshed spreads for many miles around. Few survive to record what happens during these visitations, so knowledge is limited. It’s a mercy that the County is apparently beyond her reach.

Her maenad supporters usually confine themselves to their homeland, Greece, and draw their power from a mixture