Howard Phillips Lovecraft

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Randolph Carter dreams of a majestic city but can not approach it. When he prays to the gods of dream to reveal the city's whereabouts, his dreams of the city stop altogether. Undaunted, Carter resolves to beseech the gods in person at Kadath. However, no one knows where that is. In dream, Carter consults priests in a temple that borders the Dreamlands. They warn Carter of great danger and suggest that the gods purposefully stopped his visions. Carter's knowledge of Dreamlands customs and languages makes his quest comparatively less risky than if done by an amateur, but he must consult entities with a dangerous reputation. The Zoogs, a race of predatory rodents, direct him to Ulthar to find the priest Atal. In the cat-laden city of Ulthar, Atal mentions a huge mountainside carving of the gods' features. Carter realizes the gods' mortal descendants will share those features and presumably be near Kadath. While seeking passage there, Carter is kidnapped by turbaned slavers, who take him to the moon and deliver him to horrible moon-beasts, the servants of malevolent god Nyarlathotep. The cats of Ulthar, Carter's allies, rescue him and return him to a port city. After a long journey, Carter finds the carving, recognizing the visage of the gods in traders who dock at Celephaïs. Before he can act on his knowledge, faceless, winged creatures called night-gaunts capture him and leave him to die in the underworld. Friendly ghouls, including Carter's friend Richard Pickman, assist him in returning to the surface by sneaking through the terrible city of the man-eating Gugs. After assisting the cats in repelling a Zoog sneak attack, Carter buys passage to Celephaïs and learns from the sailors that the traders come from Inganok, [2] a cold and dark land devoid of cats.