Sandy petersens cthulhu mythos 332

IX Mythos Bestiary
Sandy’s Notes

What You See

DESCRIBING A
DIMENSIONAL SHAMBLER
A dimensional shambler is a twisted parody
of a creature. As it moves, it passes through
intermediate dimensions and may seem to be
shifting or jumping from position to position,
sort of like a real-life version of Picasso’s Nude
Descending a Staircase or a stop-motion image. The
effect is profoundly unsettling and might cause
nausea or induce headaches.

This twisted, nearly featureless
humanoid has a loose-hanging hide
and an insect-like head. It has four
limbs, but the joints twist in every
direction as the creature's form
flickers in and out of visibility. A cold
sensation like the brush of the wind
covers your body, even beneath your
clothes as this entity brings a new type
of sensation from an alien universe.

negation of all energy, light, and life, with few but
terrifying exceptions.
The origin of the beings now known as dimensional

carrying the victim with it. But there is purpose to this

shamblers is largely unknown. They could not possibly

attack. The shambler typically takes the victim across

have emanated from the Nothing between the

the Nothing to another, alien reality. This is potentially

dimensions, but wherever they started, they have now

far more dangerous than anything the shambler could

taken up the Nothing as their undisputed home.

do on its own, particularly if the victim’s companions

The shamblers are able to move from the timeless,
vacant Nothing to other dimensions with ease. More
terrifyingly, they can abduct individuals from those
other dimensions, carrying them back to the Nothing
or to other dimensions.

Physiology

don’t know the shambler took their friend.

Ecology
The shamblers feed by kidnapping hapless individuals,

and abandoning them in other universes. When a
victim is pulled into the Nothing, the event produces
a nearly-invisible astral trail that reaches back to the

Dimensional shamblers have bizarre, twisted, only

origin universe. When the shambler hurls the victim

vaguely humanoid forms, with smooth, semi-blank

into a different plane, that astral trail now links the

heads, and massive grasping claws. While they can kill

two realities and sets up an energy differential between

with their claws, they have far more terrifying abilities

the two. One of the two universes is typically more

at their command.

magical or energetic than the other, and this energy

First is their terrifying ability to appear almost
anywhere—inside a magically-warded space, for

starts traveling along the astral trail. The shamblers
feed off this energy, and this is how they survive.

instance. No spell and no wall can guard against them

Shamblers typically do not pick universes that are

if they wish to emerge and it is nearly impossible to

too immediately dangerous to deposit their victims

stop them. The only way to keep them out is to set up a

because they want them to survive for at least a few

magical ward too small for one to emerge inside.

hours (though if the victim goes mad in this other

When a shambler attacks, quite often it grasps the
victim with its claws, then fades back into the Nothing,

universe, that’s fine with the shambler). The astral trail
dissipates if the victim dies or assimilates to this new.

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