In the darkened eternity of the forest, the toad god sat with throat quivering. Sometimes it was content just to watch. It was amusing to watch some of the heroes, ill fated, badly trained, that stumbled through the forest. But many a hero met their doom, feeling the chill of deep forest air, followed closely by that hot, acrid breath. It walked the world, and between the worlds, serving some stranger, older agenda.

But in a land corrupted by evil, how could even the most well trained ranger parse it all? How could the most keen elf eyes target a new foe amongst the noise of the forest? Certainly nothing on or below the mountains could have prepared even the most battle-hardy dwarf. Especially not when the air crawls in its presence. Fortunately these heroes the toad god was content to merely watch. Their doom was almost certain to come from another’s hand. Why not merely observe the heroes as, for a moment, they doubt everything about their quest. The taste of their momentary despair will be sweet.

And so, bending around the trunks of trees, filling the space like water into a container, the toad god licks around the corner of its lipless mouth as it waits.

*****************************************************************************

This album is about a bleeding of realities, where Clark Ashton Smith's Tsathoggua lurks in Tolkien's Mirkwood

released May 20, 2020

Music by Nahadoth and Zundmarazkhulshilkîn

Cover art by Silvana Massa

Dwarven translations by The Dwarrow Scholar

Ambient field recordings fromFreesound.org- used under a creative commons license