Elder Sign Puzzle #2

Those pesky dwarfed mobsters from China are running amok! The Tcho-tchos are the busiest lesser servitor beings on the planet and they really know how to strike from the shadows and then disappear into dark corners – nasty little ankle biters!

An Elder Sign won’t do diddly against them but, for some reason, they tend to flee in fear whenever they see one. Let’s see what happens when we put one together: maybe it’ll reveal the source of their insidious power. Answer the following questions and write them in the proper spaces; then rearrange the letters in the orange squares to find the cash crop that brings in the big bucks for the Tcho-tcho menace!

Questions:

T: Although traditionally associated with the Plateau of Leng, from where the Tcho-tcho reach in to Earth’s Dreamlands, they originally emerged from the Plateau of _____.

C: Although very few of the Tcho-tcho worship it now, they are the indirect creation of which Great Old One?

H: A major component of Chaucha cuisine is bak bon dzhow – especially nice with barbecue “White” Pork – otherwise known as _____ ganglia paste.

O: Taking their lead from the British and their intentions towards China in 1942, the Tcho-tcho peoples inevitably wormed their way across the planet by utilising the drugs trade, especially the smuggling of _____.

T: The Tcho-tcho dupe their human cohorts into action by infiltrating and co-opting the criminal organisations known as ______.

C: The Tcho-tcho people themselves believe otherwise, but technically their dietary peccadilloes mean they are all defined as _________.

H: Tcho-tchos are opportunistic above all, and they worship many different deities. However, they worship this particular Great Old One more than almost any other.

O: The perverse Tcho-tcho holy text “The Book of Blackened Jade” is encountered here more than anywhere else.

M: An ancient work concerning the Tcho-tcho is the Tang Dynasty Chinese scroll, “The Abduction of the ________ Hsu”.

E: What is the name of the ancient Tcho-tcho sage abandoned on the Plateau of Sung?

N: The name of the ancient amphibian race which spawned the Tcho-tcho by interbreeding with humans is the Miri _____.

A: According to prophecy, the Tcho-tcho are able to wreak havoc as they see fit, until the day of the coming of the “White _______”, who will bear their creator god hence.

C: The Tcho-tcho, like the tongs of China, are prone to passing secret directives to their confederates concealed in fortune cookies, known to them as a “Moon ____”.

E: The Tcho-tcho are somehow able to pass into Earth’s Dreamlands; the most renowned member of their race dwelling there, is the one known only as the “Slant-____ Merchant of Ill-Repute”.

Answers to Last Month’s Puzzle:

1: CXAXUKLUTH

2: SHANTAKS

3: PIPERS

4: DARKNESS

5: IA

6: SEED

7: HGLA

8: CHAOS

9: IDIOT

10: TULZSCHA

11: EARTHLY CULT

12: S’NGAC

13: DAEMON SULTAN

14: NUCLEAR

15: STYGIA

16: ATEN

17: HORRORS

18: DE VERMIS MYSTERIIS

19: TUNGUSKA ASTEROID

20: AZATHI

21: AZATHOTH

22: SHAGGAI

23: NYARLATHOTEP

Thus, filling in the grid from the centre outwards:

DAEMONSULTANUCLEARTHLYCULTULZSCHAOSTYGIAZATHOTHGLATENYARLATH

OTEPIPERSEEDEVERMISMYTERIIS’GNACXAXUKLUTHORRORSHAGGAIAZATHIDIO

TUNGUSKASTEROIDARKNESSHANTAKS

Or, in numerical order:

13 14 11 10 8 15 21 7 16 23 3 6 18 12 1 17 22 5 20 9 19 4 2