"The Curse of the Monolith" by L. Sprague de Camp & Lin Carter (1968) Originally appeared in Worlds of Fantasy #1, 1968 as "Conan and the Cenotaph". Plot: Returning from am embassy to Khitia, Conan is lured with false tales of treasure to a monolith with magnetic properties. His heavy mail shirt and sword pin him to the stone while his deceiver, Count Feng, a spy for a Khitan factionthat hates outsiders, pays a flute to summon the monster that lives at the top of the monolith. This shoggoth-like creature devours victims with corrosive liquid. Conan manages to get ahold of a broken, rusty knife and cut the leather thong that holds his mail together. He grabs feng and feeds him to the mosnter before torching the monolith. He hurries back to his camp to save his men from an attack by headhunters that Feng arranged. Monsters: The Monolith Monster- a liquidy slime that flows from the top of the monolith when summoned by a flute. It turns red when it devours flesh. History: Probably my favorite deCamp/Carter pastiches. The authors were obviously influenced by Howard's "Valley of the Worm" where monsters are summoned with flute music as well as Lovecraft's shoggoths.
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