Ghoulmaster

"Ghoulmaster" is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by American author Brian McNaughton. It first appeared in the anthology Miskatonic University (DAW Books, 1996).
==Synopsis==
Felix Aubrey, a man who in his younger days wrote a whimsical book on the folklore of ghouls in the city of Arkham, thereby earning himself the contemptuous nickname of "Ghoulmaster", finds that his young niece Sarah has fallen in with a group which he later discovers to be a cult devoted to these cannibalistic beasts.
Although he succeeds in spiriting Sarah away from the cult, the two are followed by a pair of their goons who ambush them to snip the girl's little finger off. Felix, realising that this is part of a ritual to absorb the sum of her memories, gives chase.
Arriving at the medical school in which the cult hold court, he fails to prevent the finger from being eaten by one of the ghouls, but maims the cult leader before making his long and arduous escape through the catacombs beneath Arkham.
Upon returning to his niece's home, he finds that the ghoul has got there first, and has murdered the girl before assuming her form. He is never again able to locate the tunnel system which leads to the ghouls' lair.
==Characters==
*Dr. Felix "Ghoulmaster" Aubrey, a learned, if somewhat absent-minded, medical doctor.
*Mrs. Kilpatrick, the sorcerous leader of a ghoul-cult.
*Roger Kilpatrick, Mrs. Kilpatrick's son, now fully transformed into a ghoul.
*Sarah Hazard, Felix's wayward niece.
==Publication History==
*Miskatonic University (November 1996)
*Even More Nasty Stories (February 2000)
*The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack (April 2012)
Category:Brian McNaughton works
Category:Expanded Mythos Works