Mythos Monsters – The Chakota

A unique Mythos monster worshipped by the New York sect of the Bloody Tongue as a spirit minion of their god, the Chakota provides a horrifying physical encounter in the Ju-Ju House basement for Investigators. Housed in a deep pit covered by a massive stone block, the PCs usually must make intentional efforts to expose this creature and may suffer dire consequences for their curiosity. Here we will explore this Mythos entity found only in MoN and discuss some additional ways to incorporate it into your campaign in the absence of a harrowing basement encounter. 

Described as a spirit in the campaign book, the Chakota appears in the New York chapter as a very physical monstrosity composed of thirty-six faces set in a thick, serpentine muscular mass with dark purple veins and a disturbing livid hue. This ravenous horror enlarges and sprouts additional faces by consuming other living things. From the standpoint of cultists, they may believe that the many-faced Chakota serves as a living totem for their Thousand-Faced Master. 

Unless physically assisted, the Chakota remains trapped in its pit, as it lacks limbs for effective locomotion; however, if under attack, on fire, or unfed for more than ten minutes, you may allow the Chakota to begin climbing out using the mouths of its many faces to grasp the pit’s irregular stone walls. 

You may want to consider whether the Chakota consumes victims with its terrible biting faces or if it contains an additional monstrous maw on its undersurface. When consuming victims the faces may alternate between their terrible wailing and a frenzied attempt to reach the victim. The Chakota may attempt to wrap its cylindrical form around the sacrifice to allow maximum contact for the consuming faces. Once a victim is ingested, the faces will fully emerge within two, and you may consider calling for a Spot Hidden to identify a gradually developing familiar face with associated Sanity Loss. 

Although the book suggests that the stone block silences the crying voices of the Chakota, you can allow the Investigators to hear the creature’s faint cries. If you like, you can opt to call for a Listen roll. The PCs may mistake the Chakota’s muffled weeping and pleading for the voices of cult captives and attempt a rescue. What they discover beneath the heavy lid will very likely surprise them when presented in this fashion. 

If your Investigators do not glimpse the Chakota during their forays into the Ju-Ju House you can still reference this Mythos creature throughout the New York chapter. You may choose to have cultists threaten to feed Investigators and police officers to “the many-faced one” or “the Master’s spirit servant” during their insane ranting. Alternatively, you may consider devising a small carved wooden totem to represent the Chakota that may be found on defeated cultists. If the Investigators are not on the scene for the storming of the Ju-Ju House, witnesses and survivors can describe a dreadful many-faced beast devouring police officers and firemen.  During our campaign, a deeply rattled Lt. Poole provided a disturbing account of the Chakota’s attack on his fellow officers, and the Investigators had an intense discussion about whether or not to brave the Ju-Ju blaze (started by M’Dari himself)  in an attempt to glimpse the beast and ensure its demise. 

If the original Chakota perishes at the hands of Investigators or police action, the cultists will hastily create another at their newest hideout. One of the Bloody Tongue’s own may volunteer for the grim honor. For a particularly gruesome scene, you could consider having Investigators arrive during the creation of the new Chakota, which could rapidly spiral out of control. If distracted during the final encounter with the Bloody Tongue, the new, smaller Chakota could escape undetected into the wild only to return as a greater problem during future sessions.

Finally, if your Investigators wisely avoided the Chakota altogether, but remain intrigued by clues, including a reference to the creature in Africa’s Dark Sects, you can consider evoking it during dreams, visions, or cultist ramblings in other chapters, particularly Kenya. You may wish to include the Chakota in rites at the Mountain of the Black Wind. Perhaps the terrifying creature will be consumed as an offering to the summoned behemoth Nyarlathotep. 

The MoN campaign brims with exciting scenes and unsettling encounters, and you should not feel obligated to include them all at the expense of player agency. However, when an opportunity slips away, you should take a moment after your session to consider alternate means to insert these elements without disrupting the flow of your game. The Chakota may be frequently overlooked by cautious investigators, but their prudence should not necessarily preclude opportunities to present this creature in some form. 

How did the Chakota figure into your New York chapter?  Would you consider using this Mythos Monster in future scenarios?