Toadface is a short story by Mark McLaughlin set in H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
Synopsis
Innsmouth accountant John Masters meets a strange-looking man whom he mentally dubs Toadface while having coffee with a coworker at the Pantheon Coffeehouse. Toadface has overheard their talk of dieting, and questions Masters about his regime, making veiled comments about the consumption of human meat during the consumption. Masters makes his excuses and leaves.
That night, Masters believes he is dreaming of an undersea city populated by bizarre aquatic humanoids when he sees Toadface, undressed and with the same fishlike attributes as the others. Toadface informs him that he is not asleep but in fact dead, his mind cut from his body by the creature while he slept. Toadface goes on to say that he is about to travel to the surface world to consume Masters' corpse, but lets slip that it may be possible for a ghost to inhabit the body of another sleeping creature.
Masters explores the underwater city - pursued by Toadface - and happens upon an ancient temple containing the slumbering forms of three creatures known as Silent Ones. He takes control of the largest one and sweeps Toadface up in its tentacle before carrying him off and burying him in the wet concrete of a construction site, presumably killing him. Hungry, Masters then heads back to the ocean with the intention of consuming an entire whale.
Characters
- John Masters - An accountant with Innsmouth Quality Construction.
- Toadface - A psychic Deep One, heavily afflicted by the Innsmouth Look.
- Meg - John Masters' coworker.
- G'hlaballa - A Silent One possessed by Masters' discorporated spirit. Hinted to be some kind of deity.
Behind the Mythos
Toadface was first printed in Mark McLaughlin's short story collection Motivational Shrieker, published in 2004 by Delirium Books, and was later included in the eBook bundle The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack (Wildside Press LLC) in 2012.