Into the center of the chamber now, the creature moved, apparently with something in tow. Still to dark to make out the grisly details, VanMeter strained his eyes to see. The beast reared backward, letting out an unholy bellow of a tambor and chorus that sent a chill down Horace's spine in spite of all the bizarre mysteries he had seen before. As the beast gave it's cry, an aperture appeared in the ceiling directly above the dais, gradually opening to allow a beam of light to shine down directly onto the bloody bowl of the altar. The aperture grew just enough that as the creature stepped closer to the altar, Horace could make out the red mottled, fishy skin, the elongated head with it's ring of short tentacles around a mouth not unlike that of a giant lamprey and the eyes, six of them total just as his research had promised. Long horns, slightly curled, extended from the back of the monstrosity's head, and the muscles of it's humanoid shoulders and torso glistened in the light, rippling with power and hunger.

The creature let forth it's bellow once more, this time with a response from above the now man sized hole in the ceiling in the form of a series of long scraping, clacking noises that would make one think of some ancient machinery or massive device. A distant scream came from through the aperture now, and the creature continued it's cry, beating it's chest wildly.

The man fell through the aperture in a tumbling heap, crashing into the bowl of the altar with a splash of what blood remained there and the loud crackling of bones breaking on impact. What consciousness was left in the man gave way to the pain and shock of the fall, as two more bodies came crashing down upon him, more gifts from the unknown benefactors from above.

Grasping the stone wings of one of the stone figures on the altar, the Nylloghast heaved itself up onto the the pile of bodies that had just fallen into the bowl. lifted one of them, a woman of an average build who might have bore some beauty in life and with a loud crack followed by a sucking sound, the Nylloghast wrapped it's maw around the head of the woman it held by the shoulders and tore off the very top of her skull. Spitting this to the ground, it then returned it's mouth to the top of her head, quickly extracting the bloody gray pulp it found. As it fed, a rustling came from the pile. The last of the bodies, a young girl, was not only alive, but conscious and struggling to climb down!

The girl glanced back and screamed at the sight. Juices and viscera dribbled down the neck of the feeding beast, and though focused momentarily on feeding, all six of it's sickly eyes were trained directly on her....