A Madness from the Vaults

"A Madness from the Vaults" is a Cthulhu Mythos short story by Ramsey Campbell. It is set on the planet Tond, first mentioned in "The Inhabitant of the Lake".
Two different versions of "A Madness from the Vaults" are known to exist. In the introduction to his collection Cold Print, Campbell explains that he wrote the first version in 1962, but felt at the time that it was "too fantastic" for inclusion in The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants, so it ended up being published in a fanzine instead. In 1971, when asked if he could contribute a story to the Lovecraft-dedicated anthology HPL, Campbell decided to submit "A Madness from the Vaults", but felt upon rereading it that the tale contained an excessive amount of "sadism". Unsatisfied, he reworked it into what he described as "virtually a new story under the same title". The two versions have since been published together in the magazine Crypt of Cthulhu #43 (Hallowmass 1986).
==Synopsis==
===1972 version===
On the planet Tond, the city of Derd was built by the Yarkdao atop the ruins of a far more ancient civilisation. Underneath the city is a vast labyrinth of vaults, the original purpose of which is unknown to the Yarkdao, who are unwilling to explore them due to old legends. At one point, Opojollac, the cruel and tyrannical governor of Derd, decretes that all crimes will be punished by casting the criminal into the underground vaults.
One day, a Yarkdao administrator announces to Opojollac that the body of a Yarkdao, crushed and trampled beyond recognition, has been found near one of the vaults' entrances, along with the tracks of an unknown beast with an "ill-matched number of limbs". Further investigations reveal several other cases of citizens killed by the beast, which seems to be moving along the many entrances to the vaults, closer and closer to Opojollac's palace. Reluctantly, the governor decides to seek help from the Globes of Hakkthu, alone because language is power on Tond, and only Opojollac has the language to converse with such powerful beings.
After traveling through the white desert, Opojollac enters a cloud of sand and speaks to the Globes, who have come to Tond from the depths of space at the time of the world's formation. They in turn explain that the vaults were built to contain a monstrous avatar of Azathoth. As the beast has finally found its way from the center of the labyrinth to its entrances, the Globes instruct Opojollac to enter the vaults and move a lever that will contain the monster once again.
By the time Opojollac returns to Derd, he finds the city empty, and concludes that it has been abandoned during his absence. Inside the vaults, a line of light appears to guide him to the deepest chambers, where the lever is located. On the way, he fancies he can see the ghosts of some of the criminals he had condemned to the vaults earlier. At the center of the maze, Opojollac moves the lever, yet nothing seems to happen. The monster emerges from a pit and chases him, but the line of light allows him to find his way back to the surface and escape his pursuer.
Once outside, Opojollac notices that a giant transparent dome has formed around the entire city of Derd, imprisoning the monster, as the Globes had promised, but leaving Opojollac himself trapped inside with it.
Category:Expanded Mythos Works
Category:Ramsey Campbell works