Tatters of the King - User contributions [en-gb]

File:Beast.jpg

2007-01-10T01:08:57Z

Kinginamber: The Beast

The Beast

Aftermath

2006-10-06T02:31:37Z

Kinginamber:

Locating [[Francesca]] quite easily, [[Nathaniel Browne]] asks her to return to England with him, a request to which she happily agrees. The two elope soon after [[Andrew Saunders]]' memorial service which is held near the end of April, 1931, and spend some time in America, where Browne finally meets with Robert Chambers. The two return to England and settle in the west country.

Meanwhile, [[Captain Withers]] marries the widow Morrison in a church ceremony on the 14th of December, 1930. Over the next few years, he and Browne meet on occasion to reminisce, and to wonder if, and when, the [[King in Yellow]]'s prescence on Earth might be felt. When war stirs in Europe, each wonders whether this is the King's influence, and whether armies united under the banner of the yellow sign might soon be marching across the continent.

The Brownes' first child arrives stillborn in the February of 1932, and despite trying, they have difficulty conceiving again. Nathaniel continues his writing. Despite never turning in an adequate sequel to [[Tatters of the King]], he continues to write horror stories. His book "The Frozen Tomb" about an ancient horror buried beneath the Antarctic Ice who's dreams invade those of researchers in the southern continent, enjoys some popularity, especially after the tragic Starkweather-Moore expedition of 1933 makes the news. Eventually a living son, Andrew Frederick Browne, is born on the 18th of February, 1937 although the birth is difficult and Francesca almost perishes in childbirth. After this, Nathaniel's stories become, like Chambers before him, light romances. Fortunately, in wartime England, these prove, although critically reviled, massively successful. Indeed one, "Love At Sea", which tells the tale of an author meeting a beautiful woman on an ocean liner to India, is eventually made into a film starring Alec Guinness in the 1950s.

In 1941, during the blitz, disaster strikes. Visiting relatives in the outskirts of London, Francesca is killed when a building, weakened by nazi munitions, collapses. Andrew, who was with Francesca at the time, is also assumed dead. In fact Andrew, traumatized by the event, wanders, dazed, into London where he is eventually picked up by the police and put into an orphanage. Utterly traumatized, the boy does not speak for the next 3 years.

Nathaniel's writing becomes, again, dark. His stories are now haunted, disjointed things, full of faustian bargains. Nathaniel begins planning an archaeological excavation in the Nepalese highlands, to be funded from his own fortune. On the morning of November 1st, 1947, Nathaniel is found dead in his study, shot through the head. A revolver lays in his right hand. Neighbors say that the previous evening there was a large car outside the house, possibly an army staff car. A heated argument took place in which the word 'Carcosa' was mentioned, and also something about a 'king'. Finding no trace of any foul play in the house, however, and finding copious supplies of opium both in the house and in Nathaniel's blood, the case is deemed suicide. To everyone's surprise, Nathaniel has left everything to his second cousin in Australia. Unable to contact her or arrange for the dispersal of the estate, the house is simply locked up and left. The police do not notice the burned remains of several maps, notes and books in the fireplace.

Withers, by now a Colonel and a war veteran, attended the funeral, then went back to a life that had long left behind the horrors of Carcosa and Leng, except occasionally in dreams. As the only true survivor of the entire incredible affair he never really knew to what extent they could be said to have triumphed.

[[Image:darkp.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Nathaniel's Last Work]]

In the years after Nathaniel's death, his books experience a incredible upsurge in popularity, due in no small part to the mysterious circumstances surrounding his demise. His publishers arrange for his last work in progress to be finished by a leading author of the day. The work turns out to be a magnum opus, a fiction of great emotional power which borrows heavily, although the readers don't know it, from the real adventure of Nathaniel and his friends. Scholars debate the work for decades to come.

In 1965, under hypnosis while undergoing psychotherapy, the now adult Andrew Browne, now known as Alan Tate, remembers his name and his family. To his surprise he finds that, as the only surviving member of the Browne family, he has gained entitlement to his fathers house and belongings. He takes up residence in the house, which has become much overgrown and run down. While cleaning up the fireplace, he discovers a loose brick. behind the brick is a journal, embossed with a strange yellow sign...

File:Darkp.jpg

2006-10-06T02:30:54Z

Kinginamber:

File:Mask.jpg

2006-09-27T09:59:15Z

Kinginamber:

Tatters of the King

2006-09-27T09:58:49Z

Kinginamber: /* Literary Works */

[[Image:Tatters_Cover.gif|right]]
'''Tatters of the King'''[http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=773&osCsid=07f84f248e3a49f3cf6199ee7fbb6629] is a Call of Cthulhu campaign written by Tim Wiseman and published by [http://chaosium.com Chaosium] and through which our role-playing [http://tentaclesandunderpants.info group] is currently being run. Play started on May 8th 2006. See [[current events]] for next session date.

The game is being played in the suburb of Ellerslie, in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland Auckland, New Zealand].

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/1928.doc 1928]. It is the start of a bitterly cold winter, the worst in decades.

London is the capital of an empire covering a quarter of the globe and governing one quarter of the human race. The people busy themselves with concerns of politics and government, finance and production, work and recreation. How fragile things are. What ignorance there is.

There are those whose engage in different pursuits - who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying.........

==Keeper of Arcane Lore==

The Game Master is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

==Players==

The players are:

[[Nicola Bishop]]

[[Julia Blackmore]]

[[Marcus Gustafsson]]

[[Darryn Mercer]]

==[[Player Characters]]==

[[image:crew2.jpg|right|200px]]

[[Nathaniel Browne]] - A failed writer, looking for his big story, played by Darryn Mercer

[[Andrew Saunders]] - British Museum curator and proud Scot, Played by Julia Blackmore.

[[Captain George Withers]] - Coldstream Guards. Career soldier. Played by Nicola Bishop.

'[[Umberto]]' - Mysterious former Vatican investigator. Played by Marcus Gustafsson.

[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] (deceased) - Eminent research psychologist, played by Marcus Gustafsson.

==Notable Non-Player Characters==

'''Prologue - Opening Night'''

[[Talbot Estus]] (deceased) - American novelist, now debuting as a playwright

''The Group'' - an amateur theatrical troupe:

[[Michael Gillen]] - Retired publisher, amateur actor and acquaintance of [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]]. Estus's friend and companion.

[[Hannah Keith]] - Amateur Actress and sister of [[Andrew Saunders]]

[[George Keith]] - Amateur Actor and husband of [[Hannah Keith]]

[[Walter Paige]] - Amateur Actor

[[Jean Hewart]] - Amateur Actress

'''Chapter One - The Madman'''

[[Dr. Charles Highsmith]] - Asylum Superintendent

[[Alexander Roby]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Lucius Harriwell]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Price and Evans]] - Asylum Nurses

'''Chapter Two - A Walk in the Park'''

[[Dr. Lionel Trollope]] (deceased) - Roby family physician

[[Grahame Roby]] - Financier, Alexander Roby's brother

[[Detective Inspector Andrew Taylor]] - of New Scotland Yard

[[Delia Hartston]] - Alexander Roby's former fiancee, now [[Delia Morrison]]

[[Peter Morrison]] (deceased) - Abusive husband of Delia

[[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby

Michael [[Coombes]] (deceased?) - Sinister stalker, Bacon's ex-bodyguard.

'''Chapter Three - Springer Mound & the Canal'''

[[Harold Jennings]] (deceased) - Unfriendly Suffolk farmer

[[Montague Edwards]] (deceased) - Alexander Roby's secret guardian

[[Lawrence Bacon]] (deceased) - Antiquarian, occultist and sorcerer

'''Chapter Four - The Flight North '''

[[Cec Watts]] (deceased) - Tabloid Journalist

[[Henry Lister]] - Terrified cultist and necrophobe

[[Aleister Crowley]] - Famed Occultist

'''Chapter Five - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa'''

[[Quentin Spence]] - Poet and Failed Cultist

[[Noss]] of Yhtill - Leather worker from an alien world

[[Yolanda]] - Noblewoman from [[Cassilda]]'s court

'''Chapter Six - Talk of Goatswood'''

[[Wilfred Gresty]] (deceased) - Writer of letters and spy for the Goatswood cult

'''Chapter Seven - Nug's Farm'''

[[Hillary Quarrie]] - Estranged wife of Malcolm and priestess of the Goat

[[Atkinson]] (deceased) - Ailing leader of the Goatswood Shub-Niggurath cult

'''Chapter Eight - The Brothers of the Yellow Sign'''

[[Paolo Tuminardo]] - Milanese Guide and young Fascist

[[Giuseppe Colombo]] - Ancient, curmudgeonly Italian Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Thomas Villiers]] (deceased) - Insane artist and Brother of the Yellow Sign

'''Chapter Nine - The Viceroy of India'''

[[Julian Knight]] - Minor diplomat and lounge lizard, en route to India

The Reverend [[Ian Gore]] - Missionary, en route to India

Mrs [[Henrietta Tullis]] - Matronly figure, en route to India

[[Stephen Thomas]] - Quiet, bookish man, en route to India

Miss [[Francesca Nicholson]] - Bright young thing, en route to India

Miss [[Patricia Berry]] - Quiet, shy young lady, en route to India

'''Chapter Ten - A Thousand Miles'''

[[Sivakumar Patel]] - Guide and translator from Bombay

[[Jigme Rinzing]] - Nepalese merchant/guide

'''Chapter Eleven - To Drakmar'''

[[Tsewan Pemba]] - Tibetan Guide

[[Carlo Schippone]] (deceased) - Graduate student and Himalayan adventurer

'''Chapter Twelve - The Upper House'''

Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]] (deceased) - ''Alpini'' officer and Himalayan adventurer

[[Roberto Anzalone]] (deceased) - Professor of Asian History and Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Malcolm Quarrie]] (deceased) - Elusive scientist and occultist

[[The King in Yellow]] - Beautiful, yet terrible alien god

==Literary Works==
[[Image:mask.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The Masque of Yhtill]]

[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]

[[The King in Yellow]] - a collection of short [http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/literature/chambers/stories/kinginye/contents.htm stories] by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Chambers Robert W Chambers]

[[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous

[[An Inhabitant of Carcosa and Haita the Shepherd]] - by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce Ambrose Bierce]

[[Der Wanderer durch den See]] - by [[Alexander Roby]]

[[British Gods]]: Religion and Myth in the Western Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain - by [[Malcolm Quarrie]]

[[The Turner Codex]]: A translation of Mesoamerican prayers and libations to Hastur - trans. M. Turner ''et al''

[[The Tatters of the King]]: A book of short stories by [[Nathaniel Browne]]

[[The Revelations of Glaaki]]: The Goatswood cult's compilation of occult knowledge

==Locations==

[http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/mapengwa.htm Map of England and Wales, 1928]

[http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], England - [http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/roads-central.htm Map of London, 1926]

The [[Scala Theatre]], Charlotte St, London

[[St Agnes Asylum]], [[Weobley]], Herefordshire, England

[[Clare Melford]], Suffolk, England

[[Loch Mullardoch]], near Inverness, Scotland

[[Carcosa]], a dream city made flesh

[[Goatswood]], an area of the Severn Valley in Gloucestershire

[[Nug's Farm]], Hillary Quarrie's home, in the Goatswood region

[[Milan]], Lombardy, Italy

[[The Viceroy of India]] - Modern P&O passenger liner, en route to India

[[India]], the gateway to Nepal

[[Bombay]], port of entry to India

[[Nepal]], mountain kingdom, closed to Westerners

[[Mustang]], a small kingdom in Northern Nepal

[[Drakmar]], in Mustang, the legendary site of the death of the ogress Balmo

[[Leng]], legendary icy plateau - not on this Earth

[[The Upper House]], labyrinthine alien structure, found in Leng

==Sessions==

''As referred to in the session reports below, there have been a number of [[murders]] related to the Roby case.''

[[Session 1]] - Opening Night

[[Session 1.5]] - The Madman

[[Session 2]] - The Plot Thickens

[[Session 3]] - Alexander's Friends

[[Session 4]] - Teeth of Winter

[[Session 5]] - Four Go Mad in London

[[Session 6]] - Death by Night, Death by Day

[[Session 7]] - Missing Persons

[[Session 8]] - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa

[[Session 9]] - Aftermath - a Year in the Lives...

[[Session 10]] - Nug's Farm, or "Are You Local?"

[[Session 11]] - Il Fratelli di Signo Giallo

[[Session 12]] - The Viceroy of India, or "May I Have This Dance?"

[[Session 13]] - A Matter of Honour

[[Session 14]] - The Trail of the Pilgrims

[[Session 15]] - Drakmar and Beyond

[[Session 16]] - The King Steps Down

File:King.jpg

2006-09-27T09:53:28Z

Kinginamber:

Session 16

2006-09-27T09:52:46Z

Kinginamber: /* The Plateau of Leng - February 1930 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 2nd October, 2006==

=== The Plateau of Leng - February 1930 ===

[[Image:king.jpg|right]]
The King in Yellow appears standing beside the gate. He was not seen to pass through it.

Malcolm Quarrie

2006-09-26T08:39:25Z

Kinginamber: /* Meeting Quarrie */

== Rumours of Quarrie ==
[[Image:Malcolm.jpg|right]]

Malcolm Quarrie was one of the men who both [[Delia Morrison]] and [[Vincent Tuck]] referred to as spending a great deal of time with [[Alexander Roby]] in 1925. His other associates being [[Lawrence Bacon]], [[Edwards]] and [[Coombes]].

Referred to by [[Alexander Roby]] during his monologue to [[Dr Bartlett]], the following is stated:

- Roby does not know where Quarrie is.

- He may be attempting to 'bring' [[the King in Yellow]].

- It appears Quarrie disagreed with Roby and [[Edwards]] on one or more issues.

- Quarrie believes that [[the King in Yellow]] has called himself [[the White Acolyte]].

Roby also asks Bartlett to pass on a stanza of poetry to Quarrie as a warning or piece of advice:

'' The stars that burn their charcoal death,''

'' Shrink back, they feel the hoary breath,''

'' Of he who ransoms great Carcosa.''

'' He flees where queen and prophet met,''

'' Where twin suns fall but never set,''

'' Escapes the tomb of lost Carcosa.''

According to [[Vincent Tuck]] who saw him in 1925, Quarrie was about 35, upper middle class with black hair and a slim build. A scientist, he worked at the Royal Society in Piccadilly and lived alone at 12 Moreton Street in Westminster.

Malcolm's wife, [[Hillary Quarrie]], apparently lives at [[Nug's Farm]] in the West Country. According to the letters found at Quarrie's former address he was estranged from Hillary.

[[Wilfred Gresty]]'s letters connected Hillary to a man called Atkinson, and Gresty's ambitions. The full story of The Qauarrie family's involvement with the [[Goatswood]] cult can be found on [[Hillary Quarrie]]'s page.

Aleister Crowley believed that Quarrie had gone to Italy in search of [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]].

== Evidence of Quarrie ==

The [http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/23_Malcolm_Quarries_First_Letter.pdf first letter] gave his reasons for breaking with [[Bacon]] and his circle and told of his planned '[[Pilgrimage of Grace]]' to bring [[Hastur]] to Earth. It gives his location as [[Milan]] and says he can be reached by letter through the Thomas Cook offices in that city.

The [http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/24_Malcolm_Quarries_Second_Letter.pdf second letter], far more recent, explains that Malcolm is about to set out on his 'Pilgrimage' and gives specific contact details through [[Thomas Villers]] at the shipping office of [[Giuseppe Colombo]] in Milan.

In Milan, [[Thomas Villiers]] revealed that he and Quarrie had travelled to Italy together, having broken with the [[Bacon]] group after [[Springer Mound]] and met [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]] in Rome, prior to joining a splinter group of the Brotherhood in Milan, with Colombo and professor [[Roberto Anzalone]].

Quarrie and Anzalone formed an expedition, ostensibly to Tibet, but whose true destination appears to be in the Nepalese kingdom of [[Mustang]]. Quarrie left for the Himalaya some weeks ago and according to his letter to his wife expected to encounter [[the King in Yellow]] at some time after December

== Meeting Quarrie ==

Quarrie was finally encountered on the other side of the gate from [[Drakmar]] to [[Leng]]. There is was that surrounded by their [[Tcho-Tcho]] captors the investigators finally caught up with their ‘quarry’.

Astonished to see Westerners, Quarrie at first assumed they were fellow Pilgrims, but it soon became obvious that these men had come all this way to stop him, not aid him.

They told Quarrie of their dealings with [[Roby]], [[Bacon]] and [[Edwards]] and of course of their meeting with [[Hillary Quarrie]], and her message to her husband. They also gave Quarrie the warning that Roby told them to give him. He gave a wry smile and said this was all ‘a test of faith’.

Quarrie trekked across Leng with the investigators and their Tcho-Tcho escorts, and from there spent 2 days wandering the dark halls of [[the Upper House]] with them – all this time they tried to persuade him that what he wished to do was dangerous, but his religious fervour was inpenetrable.

== Quarrie's Death ==

Eventually, while Quarrie sat explaining his credo to [[Nathaniel Browne]], who was finding it more convincing with every passing minute, [[Umberto]] walked up to Quarrie and, without warning, put a bullet through his head.

As soon as Quarrie was dead, Browne realised that Malcolm had been attempting to sway him by the same sorcerous means used on Major Delnegro. With Quarrie gone, the power of his arguments quickly faded.

Malcolm Quarrie

2006-09-26T08:38:59Z

Kinginamber: /* Meeting Quarrie */

== Rumours of Quarrie ==
[[Image:Malcolm.jpg|right]]

Malcolm Quarrie was one of the men who both [[Delia Morrison]] and [[Vincent Tuck]] referred to as spending a great deal of time with [[Alexander Roby]] in 1925. His other associates being [[Lawrence Bacon]], [[Edwards]] and [[Coombes]].

Referred to by [[Alexander Roby]] during his monologue to [[Dr Bartlett]], the following is stated:

- Roby does not know where Quarrie is.

- He may be attempting to 'bring' [[the King in Yellow]].

- It appears Quarrie disagreed with Roby and [[Edwards]] on one or more issues.

- Quarrie believes that [[the King in Yellow]] has called himself [[the White Acolyte]].

Roby also asks Bartlett to pass on a stanza of poetry to Quarrie as a warning or piece of advice:

'' The stars that burn their charcoal death,''

'' Shrink back, they feel the hoary breath,''

'' Of he who ransoms great Carcosa.''

'' He flees where queen and prophet met,''

'' Where twin suns fall but never set,''

'' Escapes the tomb of lost Carcosa.''

According to [[Vincent Tuck]] who saw him in 1925, Quarrie was about 35, upper middle class with black hair and a slim build. A scientist, he worked at the Royal Society in Piccadilly and lived alone at 12 Moreton Street in Westminster.

Malcolm's wife, [[Hillary Quarrie]], apparently lives at [[Nug's Farm]] in the West Country. According to the letters found at Quarrie's former address he was estranged from Hillary.

[[Wilfred Gresty]]'s letters connected Hillary to a man called Atkinson, and Gresty's ambitions. The full story of The Qauarrie family's involvement with the [[Goatswood]] cult can be found on [[Hillary Quarrie]]'s page.

Aleister Crowley believed that Quarrie had gone to Italy in search of [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]].

== Evidence of Quarrie ==

The [http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/23_Malcolm_Quarries_First_Letter.pdf first letter] gave his reasons for breaking with [[Bacon]] and his circle and told of his planned '[[Pilgrimage of Grace]]' to bring [[Hastur]] to Earth. It gives his location as [[Milan]] and says he can be reached by letter through the Thomas Cook offices in that city.

The [http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/24_Malcolm_Quarries_Second_Letter.pdf second letter], far more recent, explains that Malcolm is about to set out on his 'Pilgrimage' and gives specific contact details through [[Thomas Villers]] at the shipping office of [[Giuseppe Colombo]] in Milan.

In Milan, [[Thomas Villiers]] revealed that he and Quarrie had travelled to Italy together, having broken with the [[Bacon]] group after [[Springer Mound]] and met [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]] in Rome, prior to joining a splinter group of the Brotherhood in Milan, with Colombo and professor [[Roberto Anzalone]].

Quarrie and Anzalone formed an expedition, ostensibly to Tibet, but whose true destination appears to be in the Nepalese kingdom of [[Mustang]]. Quarrie left for the Himalaya some weeks ago and according to his letter to his wife expected to encounter [[the King in Yellow]] at some time after December

== Meeting Quarrie ==

Quarrie was finally encountered on the other side of the gate from [[Drakmar]] to [[Leng]]. There is was that surrounded by their [[Tcho-Tcho]] captors the investigators finally caught up with their ‘quarry’.

Astonished to see Westerners, Quarrie at first assumed they were fellow Pilgrims, but it soon became obvious that these men had come all this way to stop him, not aid him.

They told Quarrie of their dealings with [[Roby]], [[Bacon]] and [[Edwards]] and of course of their meeting with [[Hillary Quarrie]], and her message to her husband. They also gave Quarrie the warning that Roby told them to give him. He gave a wry smile and said this was all ‘a test of faith’.

Qaurrie trekked across Leng with the investigators and their Tcho-Tcho escorts, and from there spent 2 days wandering the dark halls of [[the Upper House]] with them – all this time they tried to persuade him that what he wished to do was dangerous, but his religious fervour was inpenetrable.

== Quarrie's Death ==

Eventually, while Quarrie sat explaining his credo to [[Nathaniel Browne]], who was finding it more convincing with every passing minute, [[Umberto]] walked up to Quarrie and, without warning, put a bullet through his head.

As soon as Quarrie was dead, Browne realised that Malcolm had been attempting to sway him by the same sorcerous means used on Major Delnegro. With Quarrie gone, the power of his arguments quickly faded.

Session 15

2006-09-26T08:35:58Z

Kinginamber: /* Friday February 17th 1930 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 25th September, 2006==

=== Thursday February 16th 1930 ===

--''continued''--

[[Image:drakmarnew.jpg|right|thumb|500px|The red cliffs of Drakmar]]
The investigators stand at the threshold of [[Drakmar]], in kingdom of [[Mustang]], the final destination of [[Malcolm Quarrie]]'s [[Pilgrimage of Grace]].

A quick count shows there are somewhere between 50 and 100 caves spread across the cliffs at heights between 30 and 150 feet about the valley floor. The investigators cross the valley for a closer look. En route they locate the remnants of the Italian expedition’s campsite and nearby a large flat stone stained with a large amount of blood. Though the blood is not fresh, nor is it more than a few weeks old.

Following a trail of blood spots [[Withers]] locates a fresh cairn under which it is assumed a body has been buried. The investigators discuss disturbing the dead, but decide against it.

[[Browne]] and [[Saunders]] climb up to the nearest cave. It is worn smooth as if by centuries of feet and leads to a small chamber whose walls are covered in thousands of tally marks in groups of nine. In the centre of the chamber is a small pile of bones which appear to be mix of birds and human finger bones.

[[Umberto]] thinks he catches a glimpse of something from the corner of his eye and sees a stone falling down the cliff. He climbs to where he thinks it came from and discovers a cave with a narrow crawlspace heading back into the cliff. He thinks better of crawling inside.

Several more caves are explored before night falls. Saunders finds a small pit filled with strips of dried human scalps. Other caves are connected by internal tunnels, but there is no sign of life or of fresh activity, and no further sign of [[Quarrie]] or his companions.

The investigators camp for the night in the first cave they had explored. During the night both [[Browne]] and [[Umberto]] have dreams of bestial savagery which feel like the intrusions of an alien intelligence, but which have none of the terrible beauty of Hastur. Each of them awakens, heart pounding.

=== Friday February 17th 1930 ===

As dawn approaches, Umberto is on watch, and it is he who first hears a disturbing human sobbing sound coming from a cave mouth high above the campsite. Taking his gun and a torch, Umberto climbs to investigate, waking nobody else.

When Saunders wakes up, Umberto is gone. He wakes the others and they hear the sobbing sound. Taking their packs and their weapons they clamber up towards the noise and enter the cave from which it issues. In leads into a tunnel that twists through the rock until a pale glow can be seen in the distance. The sobbing, oddly, is fading, but as it fades the deep slow heartbeat sound heard by [[Browne]] the day before is clearly audible to all.

Nervously the party edges forward as the passage opens up into a large chamber dominated by an archway on the far side which is lit up with a pearly glow. Beyond the arch can be seen the silhouette of a vast immobile bulk, a great squatting buddha with the head of an elephant, over the surface of which smaller creatures scurry. Despite the lack of any clarity in the image it is very disturbing.

There are two other entrances into the chamber and it is through one of these that [[Umberto]] now emerges, being held at spearpoint by a hideous black-skinned humanoid. The creature is a mass of naked muscle, but only 4ft tall. Its bald head is mis-shapen, its features inhuman. Before anyone can react a dozen more of the creatures emerge from the other entrance, and from behind the investigators can be heard many more, who have clearly entered the tunnel that they are using.

[[Image:anza.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Anzalone Transformed]]
The creatures do not speak, but from the archway emerges a man - or rather what remains of a man. Despite his hideous injuries and bizarre deformities, this appears to be [[Anzalone]]. Naked, with his eyes put out, his mouth a drooling, bloody, toothless hole and most horrible of all his nose and ears stretched, ragged and moving on their own in sick parody of the trunk and ears of an elephant.

Both [[Withers]] and [[Browne]] raise their guns and fire, putting an end to Anzalone's obvious misery. The black creatures, clearly having never encountered firearms, swarm over the investigators. Saunders fails to get a shot off, but both Withers and Browne shoot a couple dead before they are disarmed. The creatures show no anger or distress at the deaths of some of their number, and do no violence to the investigators beyond disarming them.

The apparent chief of the creatures goes to Anzalone's corpse and examines it in apparent annoyance, then gives an order in a language that sounds vaguely Tibetan. Umberto is dragged over towards the gate and his hand held out. The chief uses a knife to cut his hand open and then paints a crude Yellow Sign on the wall beside the gate using Umberto's bloody palm.

The light from the gate changes to a pale cold blue, and the shadow of [[Chaugnar Faughn]] (as Umberto will shortly identify it to his companions) disappears.

The helpless investigators are forced through the gate, where a horrible high pitched sound overwhelms their senses. The time spend travelling through the gate seems simultaneously to be mere seconds and endless aeons. As the sound fades the investigators find themselves standing in the middle of an endless icy plain under a starlit sky. They are still surrounded by the black humanoids, and there in front of them, with his own retinue of the creatures, stands [[Malcolm Quarrie]].

=== Leng ===

''NB: Whilst in Leng the investigators' watches refuse to keep time in any consistent manner. Within a few hours nobody has any idea how long they have been there, their very sense of time has become unreliable.''

Astonished at the appearance of Westerners, Quarrie is full of questions. He soon discovers the gist of their purpose and how it was they came to be here. He is unsurprised, and not unhappy, to discover that [[Bacon]] and [[Edwards]] are dead, and pleased to find that [[Roby]] reached Carcosa and that his wife and daughter are well.

He answers the investigators' questions, explaing how the black humanoids, who he calls the [[Tcho-Tcho]] worship the elephant god [[Chaugnar Faughn]] and have waited centuries for [[the White Acolyte]] believing that he will bring Chaugnar Faughn to Earth. In truth it was [[the King in Yellow]] who tricked them long ago into believing this, for it is the King that awaits the Acolyte.

He explains how [[Carlo Schippone]], maddened by the dreams of the elephant god, slew Major Delnegro in the night and fled and how [[Anzalone]] was taken by the Tcho-Tcho to be Chaugnar Faughn's companion as had been promised to them long ago. Quarrie regrets the deaths of the rest of his expedition, but believes their sacrifice worthwhile.

He explains that one of the five people here now must be the [[White Acolyte]], though obviously he hopes that he himself will be the one. The Tcho-Tcho are ready to leave now - they are to go to '[[the Upper House]]', the place where the King will come down from [[Aldebaran]] to [[Leng]]. The task of the Acolyte will be to lead him from there to Earth.

Quarrie is erudite, charming and has a pleasant nature, but he is absolutely immovable in his resolve to guide the King to Earth. Bereft of any way back to their homes, the investigators agree to travel with Quarrie, as yet undecided on how to deal with him. As the strange party of humans and Tcho-Tcho starts its trek across the cold wastes of Leng, the investigators start to work on trying to convince Quarrie that what he aims to do is misguided and terribly dangerous. He sees this as a test of faith and sets about trying to convince the others, especially [[Browne]] of the rightness of his cause.

Several hours into the trek across the featureless waste a great flying creature appears in the dstance. As it gets closer its true size and hideous appearance becomes obvious. Even though a couple of the investigators still carry revolvers (the Tcho-Tcho didn't recognise those as weapons and only took longarms) they decide against drawing them now, as the Tcho-Tcho would likely seize them. The monster screeches and dives at the group. Most dive to the ground, but Withers tries to seize a spear from a Tcho-Tcho and as they grapple for the weapon the great alien bird snatches the Tcho-Tcho and flies up with its prey. there is a crunch, a spray of blood and the Tcho-Tcho's severed head falls, striking Withers on the way down.

"Amazing," says Quarrie, "A ''shantak'' bird. this truly must be Leng!"

The Tcho-Tcho chief picks up the severed head and as the group moves on, begins to chew lumps off of it. The humans decide not to look.

The trek continues for hours, and the investigators and Quarrie are exhausted. Saunders is suffering especially badly, having not yet recovered from the trip to Drakmar. Browne realises that they are heading towards a bright star close to the horizon. he points it out to Quarrie and they agree it must be Albebaran. "I feel like I have been travelling toward it for the last year and a half" sighs Browne, "Much longer for me, my friend, much longer..." replies Quarrie. As they continue, it is Browne who first notices that Aldebaran has dipped behind some sort of a structure on the horizon. [[The Upper House]] is, at last, in sight.

=== The Upper House ===

The building is unspectacular. A square structure about 250 yards along a side and 20 yards high with sloping walls and a flat roof. Built of white stone and with a single wide doorway in the middle of the wall that the investigators are approaching.

A ring of plain obelisks surrounds the Upper House at a distance of a few hundred feet and the[[Tcho-Tcho]] do not cross the line of this circle. Quarrie, excited that his destination lies ahead, hurries forward and the investigators follow at once lest Quarrie get far enough ahead to lose them.

The five men enter the structure. The doorway gapes open into a wide corridor whose floor slopes slightly downward and whose walls are painted with images of alien beings in vast cyclopean cities. When they look back, a few tens of feet into the building, the investigators see that instead of the exit, all that lies behind them is an endless stretch of corridor. It is clear that the normal laws and space and time do not apply in this place. [[Browne]] hurries to keep up with [[Quarrie]] while [[Saunders]] and [[Umberto]] whisper to each other conspiratorialy. A faint piping sound can be heard far ahead, and Quarrie heads toward it without hesitation. The others follow.

The Upper House proves to be vast and complex. For hours the investigators and Quarrie wander great halls and vaults with only the light of their flashlights to piece the black. They encounter a great stairway into the earth but give up on its descent after 10 minutes. They decide to always try to move upwards where possible.

They reach a great chasm crossed by a narrow bridge, but instead choose to climb the wall behind them by way of a winding stair, only to find that the chamber at the top leads back to the very same bridge and very same stair. Saunders makes a mental note to tell his friend Professor Tolkien about this place.

They camp twice to get rest and to eat, and it is on the second of these stops that Umberto takes drastic action. He wakes to see Quarrie deep in conversation with Browne, who is finding Malcolm's arguments more and more convincing. Remembering [[Carlo Schippone]]'s account of the use of sorcery to turn the mind of major Delnegro, Umberto realises that Quarrie is more dangerous than he looks. He makes the decision to take an action long delayed.

Umberto stands up, casually walks over to Quarrie and without warning puts a bullet through his brain. Blood and brain matter sprays over Browne.

Despite the shock of this act, the other three had all thought it may be necessary, and though they find Umberto's methods shocking they understand why he has done it. Browne's mind almost immediately clears and he realises that Quarrie had been successful in doing that which Crowley had failed to do at Marx's tomb.

The investigators move on, leaving Quarrie's body behind, unburied. Soon they hear the pipes again, and start to feel they are making progress.

Eventually they pass through a chamber they have already seen, but this time there is a stairway up that was not there before. They have been wandering through the Upper House for an indeterminate time, but it could well be 2 or even 3 days. They are exhausted, but this discovery brings new hope.

=== The Plaza of the King ===

The stairs lead up to a broad open plaza under a starlit sky. Aldebaran, low in the sky, reflects from the polished stones. The piping has stopped, but upon the ground is found a set of pipes carved with the likeness of several [[Byakhee]].

On the far side of the plaza stand a pair of ornate pillars, with a great stone lectern next to them. As the investigators look around for a clue about what to do next a figure appears between the pillars. There is no arrival, he is just there, and somehow he always was.

It is a figure like a very tall, very thin man in flowing, tattered yellow robes that move in a non-existent breeze. There is no face visible within his hood. he does not speak but everyone knows who, or what, he is.

The King in Yellow has stepped down from Aldebaran.

Session 15

2006-09-26T06:55:38Z

Kinginamber: /* Friday February 17th 1930 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 25th September, 2006==

=== Thursday February 16th 1930 ===

--''continued''--

[[Image:drakmarnew.jpg|right|thumb|500px|The red cliffs of Drakmar]]
The investigators stand at the threshold of [[Drakmar]], in kingdom of [[Mustang]], the final destination of [[Malcolm Quarrie]]'s [[Pilgrimage of Grace]].

A quick count shows there are somewhere between 50 and 100 caves spread across the cliffs at heights between 30 and 150 feet about the valley floor. The investigators cross the valley for a closer look. En route they locate the remnants of the Italian expedition’s campsite and nearby a large flat stone stained with a large amount of blood. Though the blood is not fresh, nor is it more than a few weeks old.

Following a trail of blood spots [[Withers]] locates a fresh cairn under which it is assumed a body has been buried. The investigators discuss disturbing the dead, but decide against it.

[[Browne]] and [[Saunders]] climb up to the nearest cave. It is worn smooth as if by centuries of feet and leads to a small chamber whose walls are covered in thousands of tally marks in groups of nine. In the centre of the chamber is a small pile of bones which appear to be mix of birds and human finger bones.

[[Umberto]] thinks he catches a glimpse of something from the corner of his eye and sees a stone falling down the cliff. He climbs to where he thinks it came from and discovers a cave with a narrow crawlspace heading back into the cliff. He thinks better of crawling inside.

Several more caves are explored before night falls. Saunders finds a small pit filled with strips of dried human scalps. Other caves are connected by internal tunnels, but there is no sign of life or of fresh activity, and no further sign of [[Quarrie]] or his companions.

The investigators camp for the night in the first cave they had explored. During the night both [[Browne]] and [[Umberto]] have dreams of bestial savagery which feel like the intrusions of an alien intelligence, but which have none of the terrible beauty of Hastur. Each of them awakens, heart pounding.

=== Friday February 17th 1930 ===

As dawn approaches, Umberto is on watch, and it is he who first hears a disturbing human sobbing sound coming from a cave mouth high above the campsite. Taking his gun and a torch, Umberto climbs to investigate, waking nobody else.

When Saunders wakes up, Umberto is gone. He wakes the others and they hear the sobbing sound. Taking their packs and their weapons they clamber up towards the noise and enter the cave from which it issues. In leads into a tunnel that twists through the rock until a pale glow can be seen in the distance. The sobbing, oddly, is fading, but as it fades the deep slow heartbeat sound heard by [[Browne]] the day before is clearly audible to all.

Nervously the party edges forward as the passage opens up into a large chamber dominated by an archway on the far side which is lit up with a pearly glow. Beyond the arch can be seen the silhouette of a vast immobile bulk, a great squatting buddha with the head of an elephant, over the surface of which smaller creatures scurry. Despite the lack of any clarity in the image it is very disturbing.

There are two other entrances into the chamber and it is through one of these that [[Umberto]] now emerges, being held at spearpoint by a hideous black-skinned humanoid. The creature is a mass of naked muscle, but only 4ft tall. Its bald head is mis-shapen, its features inhuman. Before anyone can react a dozen more of the creatures emerge from the other entrance, and from behind the investigators can be heard many more, who have clearly entered the tunnel that they are using.

[[Image:anza.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Anzalone Transformed]]
The creatures do not speak, but from the archway emerges a man - or rather what remains of a man. Despite his hideous injuries and bizarre deformities, this appears to be [[Anzalone]]. Naked, with his eyes put out, his mouth a drooling, bloody, toothless hole and most horrible of all his nose and ears stretched, ragged and moving on their own in sick parody of the trunk and ears of an elephant.

Both [[Withers]] and [[Browne]] raise their guns and fire, putting an end to Anzalone's obvious misery. The black creatures, clearly having never encountered firearms, swarm over the investigators. Saunders fails to get a shot off, but both Withers and Browne shoot a couple dead before they are disarmed. The creatures show no anger or distress at the deaths of some of their number, and do no violence to the investigators beyond disarming them.

The apparent chief of the creatrures goes to Anzalone's corpse and examines it in apparent annoyance, then gives an order in a language that sounds vaguely Tibetan. Umberto is dragged over towards the gate and his hand held out. The chief uses a knife to cut his hand open and then paints a crude Yellow Sign on the wall beside the gate using Umberto's bloody palm.

The light from the gate changes to a pale cold blue, and the shadow of [[Chaugnar Faughn]] (as Umberto will shortly identify it to his companions) disappears.

The helpless investigators are forced through the gate, where a horrible high pitched sound overwhelms their senses. The time spend travelling through the gate seems simultaneously to be mere seconds and endless aeons. As the sound fades the investigators find themselves standing in the middle of an endless icy plain under a starlit sky. They are still surrounded by the black humanoids, and there in front of them, with his own retinue of the creatures, stands [[Malcolm Quarrie]].

=== Leng ===

''NB: Whilst in Leng the investigators' watches refuse to keep time in any consistent manner. Within a few hours nobody has any idea how long they have been there, their very sense of time has become unreliable.''

Astonished at the appearance of Westerners, Quarrie is full of questions. He soon discovers the gist of their purpose and how it was they came to be here. He is unsurprised, and not unhappy, to discover that [[Bacon]] and [[Edwards]] are dead, and pleased to find that [[Roby]] reached Carcosa and that his wife and daughter are well.

He answers the investigators' questions, explaing how the black humanoids, who he calls the [[Tcho-Tcho]] worship the elephant god [[Chaugnar Faughn]] and have waited centuries for [[the White Acolyte]] believing that he will bring Chaugnar Faughn to Earth. In truth it was [[the King in Yellow]] who tricked them long ago into believing this, for it is the King that awaits the Acolyte.

He explains how [[Carlo Schippone]], maddened by the dreams of the elephant god, slew Major Delnegro in the night and fled and how [[Anzalone]] was taken by the Tcho-Tcho to be Chaugnar Faughn's companion as had been promised to them long ago. Quarrie regrets the deaths of the rest of his expedition, but believes their sacrifice worthwhile.

He explains that one of the five people here now must be the [[White Acolyte]], though obviously he hopes that he himself will be the one. The Tcho-Tcho are ready to leave now - they are to go to '[[the Upper House]]', the place where the King will come down from [[Aldebaran]] to [[Leng]]. The task of the Acolyte will be to lead him from there to Earth.

Quarrie is erudite, charming and has a pleasant nature, but he is absolutely immovable in his resolve to guide the King to Earth. Bereft of any way back to their homes, the investigators agree to travel with Quarrie, as yet undecided on how to deal with him. As the strange party of humans and Tcho-Tcho starts its trek across the cold wastes of Leng, the investigators start to work on trying to convince Quarrie that what he aims to do is misguided and terribly dangerous. He sees this as a test of faith and sets about trying to convince the others, especially [[Browne]] of the rightness of his cause.

Several hours into the trek across the featureless waste a great flying creature appears in the dstance. As it gets closer its true size and hideous appearance becomes obvious. Even though a couple of the investigators still carry revolvers (the Tcho-Tcho didn't recognise those as weapons and only took longarms) they decide against drawing them now, as the Tcho-Tcho would likely seize them. The monster screeches and dives at the group. Most dive to the ground, but Withers tries to seize a spear from a Tcho-Tcho and as they grapple for the weapon the great alien bird snatches the Tcho-Tcho and flies up with its prey. there is a crunch, a spray of blood and the Tcho-Tcho's severed head falls, striking Withers on the way down.

"Amazing," says Quarrie, "A ''shantak'' bird. this truly must be Leng!"

The Tcho-Tcho chief picks up the severed head and as the group moves on, begins to chew lumps off of it. The humans decide not to look.

The trek continues for hours, and the investigators and Quarrie are exhausted. Saunders is suffering especially badly, having not yet recovered from the trip to Drakmar. Browne realises that they are heading towards a bright star close to the horizon. he points it out to Quarrie and they agree it must be Albebaran. "I feel like I have been travelling toward it for the last year and a half" sighs Browne, "Much longer for me, my friend, much longer..." replies Quarrie. As they continue, it is Browne who first notices that Aldebaran has dipped behind some sort of a structure on the horizon. [[The Upper House]] is, at last, in sight.

=== The Upper House ===

The building is unspectacular. A square structure about 250 yards along a side and 20 yards high with sloping walls and a flat roof. Built of white stone and with a single wide doorway in the middle of the wall that the investigators are approaching.

A ring of plain obelisks surrounds the Upper House at a distance of a few hundred feet and the[[Tcho-Tcho]] do not cross the line of this circle. Quarrie, excited that his destination lies ahead, hurries forward and the investigators follow at once lest Quarrie get far enough ahead to lose them.

The five men enter the structure. The doorway gapes open into a wide corridor whose floor slopes slightly downward and whose walls are painted with images of alien beings in vast cyclopean cities. When they look back, a few tens of feet into the building, the investigators see that instead of the exit, all that lies behind them is an endless stretch of corridor. It is clear that the normal laws and space and time do not apply in this place. [[Browne]] hurries to keep up with [[Quarrie]] while [[Saunders]] and [[Umberto]] whisper to each other conspiratorialy. A faint piping sound can be heard far ahead, and Quarrie heads toward it without hesitation. The others follow.

The Upper House proves to be vast and complex. For hours the investigators and Quarrie wander great halls and vaults with only the light of their flashlights to piece the black. They encounter a great stairway into the earth but give up on its descent after 10 minutes. They decide to always try to move upwards where possible.

They reach a great chasm crossed by a narrow bridge, but instead choose to climb the wall behind them by way of a winding stair, only to find that the chamber at the top leads back to the very same bridge and very same stair. Saunders makes a mental note to tell his friend Professor Tolkien about this place.

They camp twice to get rest and to eat, and it is on the second of these stops that Umberto takes drastic action. He wakes to see Quarrie deep in conversation with Browne, who is finding Malcolm's arguments more and more convincing. Remembering [[Carlo Schippone]]'s account of the use of sorcery to turn the mind of major Delnegro, Umberto realises that Quarrie is more dangerous than he looks. He makes the decision to take an action long delayed.

Umberto stands up, casually walks over to Quarrie and without warning puts a bullet through his brain. Blood and brain matter sprays over Browne.

Despite the shock of this act, the other three had all thought it may be necessary, and though they find Umberto's methods shocking they understand why he has done it. Browne's mind almost immediately clears and he realises that Quarrie had been successful in doing that which Crowley had failed to do at Marx's tomb.

The investigators move on, leaving Quarrie's body behind, unburied. Soon they hear the pipes again, and start to feel they are making progress.

Eventually they pass through a chamber they have already seen, but this time there is a stairway up that was not there before. They have been wandering through the Upper House for an indeterminate time, but it could well be 2 or even 3 days. They are exhausted, but this discovery brings new hope.

=== The Plaza of the King ===

The stairs lead up to a broad open plaza under a starlit sky. Aldebaran, low in the sky, reflects from the polished stones. The piping has stopped, but upon the ground is found a set of pipes carved with the likeness of several [[Byakhee]].

On the far side of the plaza stand a pair of ornate pillars, with a great stone lectern next to them. As the investigators look around for a clue about what to do next a figure appears between the pillars. There is no arrival, he is just there, and somehow he always was.

It is a figure like a very tall, very thin man in flowing, tattered yellow robes that move in a non-existent breeze. There is no face visible within his hood. he does not speak but everyone knows who, or what, he is.

The King in Yellow has stepped down from Aldebaran.

File:Anza.jpg

2006-09-26T06:54:59Z

Kinginamber:

2006-09-23T21:57:44Z

Kinginamber: /* The Book */

[[Image:king_in_yellow.jpg|right]]

==The Multiple Meanings of the Title==

The title 'The King in Yellow' applies to several different things

1) A book of short stories by Robert W Chambers

2) A play, assumed to be fictional by most readers, referred to in several of Chambers' stories

3) An ill-defined supernatural entity that appears in the play and whose influence apparently bleeds through to the world of the stories

4) A real French play of which [[Talbot Estus]] owns a copy. It appears to predate Chambers' work. [[Nathaniel Browne]] has borrowed the book and is studying it. It is similar to, but not exactly the same as, Estus's play.

==The Book==

[[Image:kiy.jpg|left|The First Edition]]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow The King in Yellow] - a collection of short [http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/literature/chambers/stories/kinginye/contents.htm stories] by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Chambers Robert W Chambers].

The most notable thing about the book is that Chambers wrote nothing remotely like it before or since. Chambers himself is still living, and is a successful writer of banal romances.

==The Play within The Book==

In Chambers' stories the play is infamous and was widely translated before its suppression. It was banned throughout the world because of its corrosive affect on the human soul.

Those characters who read the play ''The King in Yellow'' go mad or meet horrible dooms. As if to protect his own readers, Chambers quotes only brief passages of the play, like the extract from "[[Cassilda]]'s Song... Act I, Scene 2", that introduces the first story in the collection:


:Along the shore the cloud waves break,
:The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
:The shadows lengthen
::In Carcosa.

:Strange is the night where black stars rise,
:And strange moons circle through the skies
:But stranger still is
::Lost Carcosa.

:Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
:Where flap the tatters of the King,
:Must die unheard in
::Dim Carcosa.

:Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
:Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
:Shall dry and die in
::Lost Carcosa.

Such quotes only come from the first act, allowing Chambers to hint that the second act is far more disturbing: "The very banality and innocence of the first act only allowed the blow to fall afterward with more awful effect."

Otherwise, Chambers gives only scattered hints of the contents of the play, as in this extract from "The Repairer of Reputations":

<blockquote>
He mentioned the establishment of the Dynasty in Carcosa, the lakes which connected Hastur, Aldebaran and the mystery of the Hyades. He spoke of Cassilda and Camilla, and sounded the cloudy depths of Demhe, and the lake of Hali. "The scalloped tatters of the King in Yellow must hide Yhtill forever," he muttered, but I do not believe Vance heard him. Then by degrees he led Vance along the ramifications of the Imperial family, from Naotalba and Phantom of Truth, to Aldones, and then tossing aside his manuscript and notes, he began the wonderful story of the Last King.
</blockquote>

A similar passage occurs in "The Yellow Sign", after the two protagonists read ''The King in Yellow'':

<blockquote>
Night fell and the hours dragged on, but still we murmured to each other of the King and the Pallid Mask, and midnight sounded from the misty spires in the fog-wrapped city. We spoke of Hastur and of Cassilda, while outside the fog rolled against the blank window-panes as the cloud waves roll and break on the shores of Hali.
</blockquote>

==The King Himself==

From the hints given in Chambers' work, the King In Yellow appears to inhabit the city of [[Carcosa]], and to be a much-feared supernatural entity of great power.

The King in Yellow is apparently also known as 'The Living God' or 'the Last King'. His influence is able to extend from the play within the stories to effect the characters in the stories themselves, hence it is probably correct to say that the King exists as a character, or at least a power, in both the play and in the book of stories that refer to the play.

[[The Yellow Sign]] seems to be associated with the King in some way, as are the stars known as the [[Hyades]] and [[Aldebaran]].

In the play [[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]], [[The Stranger]], also known as 'The Phantom of Truth' attempted to resist the King by the use of the '[[Pallid Mask]]'. It seems this was unsuccessful. In addition, the King dwells in [[Carcosa]] and is feared by the inhabitants of [[Yhtill]] and [[Alar]] and appears as a tall figure in tattered yellow robes, bearing a smoking brand.

In the only performance of '[[Carcosa]]', The King in Yellow was played by [[Talbot Estus]].

==The Real Play==

[[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous. Apparently the inspiration for Chambers' work and the direct source for Talbot Estus' work.

According to [[Nathaniel Browne]], who has studied Estus's copy, the play is a deeper, more profound, yet also more complex and difficult to follow than the adaptation performed in London.

==The 'Real' King==

It appears that the King in Yellow is another name for an ancient pagan deity more commonly worshipped under the name [[Hastur]]. It is this entity which [[Montague Edwards]] and now [[Malcolm Quarrie]] appears to be trying to summon to Earth. Having seen the city of Carcosa and witnessed firsthand the reality of the [[Byakhee]], the investigators are willing to accept the reality of the danger this entity poses.

The White Acolyte

2006-09-23T00:25:14Z

Kinginamber:

[[Alexander Roby]] states that [[Malcolm Quarrie]] believes that [[the King in Yellow]] "has called himself the White Acolyte".

The significance of this statement, if any, is unknown, but [[Umberto]] knows of the legend of [[Chaugnar Faughn]], the elephant-headed god of [[Tsang]] who is said to await the coming of 'The White Acolyte'. What possible relationship there may be between Chaugnar Faughn and the King in Yellow is unknown.

Tcho-Tcho

2006-09-23T00:21:17Z

Kinginamber:

The Tcho-Tcho are a legendary race of subhuman cannibals inhabiting the Plateau of [[Leng]]. The name is also used to describe certain populations of cannibal pygmies in places as far apart as the Amazon jungle and the Andaman Islands, who are said by occult sources to be the result of humans inter-breeding with the 'true' Tcho-Tcho, who are a distinct race - maybe a distinct species.

Miri Nigri

2006-09-23T00:17:39Z

Kinginamber:

The Miri Nigri are said to be the servitors of the god [[Chaugnar Faughn]], but their nature and appearance is unknown.

Chaugnar Faughn

2006-09-23T00:16:43Z

Kinginamber:

[[Image:faughn.jpg|400px|thumb|An Idol of Chaugnar Faughn]]
The 'elephant-headed god of [[Tsang]]', Chaugnar Faughn is an obscure legend known to only a very few occultists.

He is said to be an unthinkably ancient being that has the appearance of a great statue whose features are that of a hideously distorted elephant, and that he is almost always immobile, waking very rarely to feed on human sacrifices.

The Hindu God ''Ganesha'' may be based upon legends of Chaugnar Faughn. Served by creatures called the [[Miri Nigri]], whose nature is never described, Chaugnar Faughn is said to inhabit a place called [[Tsang]] where he awaits someone or something called [[The White Acolyte]].

A few human beings are believed to belong to a cult that follows Chaugnar Faughn. This cult is known as 'the Blood'. Once strong and numerous in Europe the cult was wiped out by Vatican agents over 200 years ago and its remnants are believed to have fled to the new world.

File:Faughn.jpg

2006-09-23T00:13:56Z

Kinginamber:

Session 14

2006-09-20T04:46:30Z

Kinginamber: /* Wednesday February 15th 1930 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 18th September, 2006==

=== Thursday January 19th 1930 ===

The investigators have just 2 days left in Bombay to prepare fully for the long journey North to Mustang. [[Browne]] spends as much time as possible with Francesca, in between equipping for the trek across Nepal.

=== Friday January 20th 1930 ===

A farewell dinner is held at the [[Tullis]] home. Francesca and Patricia do not attend, as Patricia doesn't wish to be around [[Withers]] at the moment. Mr Tullis proves a somewhat curmudgeonly, blustering man. The typical ''sahib'', but the meal is fine.

=== Saturday January 21st 1930 ===

The train to the Northern city of Benares leaves first thing in the morning. All 4 investigators board with the Reverend [[Gore]], who offers to show them around Jabalpur if they wish to break their journey at that city.

The investigators' carriage proves to be occupied by a large Indian family, and only after the conductor has been payed some ''baksheesh'' is the problem solved. The train pulls out of Bombay and begins to head North. the investigators are sharing a 6-bed carriage with The Reverend Gore. [[Siva]] insists on more modest accomodation for himself.

Gore continues to show his great knowledge of India in conversation.

=== Sunday January 22nd 1930 ===

The train continues across India. The land is flat, arid and featureless, punctuated by small poverty-stricken villages characterised by communal reservoirs called ''tanks'', straving dogs and wild monkeys.

In the larger towns the platforms throng with passengers and well-wishers.

=== Monday January 23rd 1930 ===

The Reverend [[Gore]] disembarks in Jabalpur. the investigators turn down his offer of a short stay with him due to the difficulties inherent in getting all of their supplies off the train.

The investigaors are now alone and able to discuss their plans.

=== Tuesday January 24th 1930 ===

The train continues across India. As the train travels North the climate gets steadily warmer

=== Wednesday January 25th 1930 ===

As the train slowly edges its way through the suburbs of the city of Benares it passes a crowd standing near to the tracks. The crowd are chanting angrily and some are gesturing to the train. [[Siva]] says they are chanting 'The King Steps Down'.

Suddenly violence breaks out. Rocks are thrown at the train and one smashes a window and hits [[Withers]] on the head as he rumnmages for his gun. The rioters attack the train en masse just as the train grinds to a complete halt.

Withers fires at a man trying to enter the train through the broken window but misses as [[Umberto]] tries to stop him from killing anyone. In the confusion the maddened rioter enters the carriage, falling to the floor where [[Browne]] swings a foot at the man. The kick is ineffectual and the rioter sinks his teeth into Browne's ankle, driving him away and allowing the madman to leap to his feet and grab [[Saunders]] by the throat. A crack on the back of the skull from Withers' revolver finally puts him out.

Other rioters try to enter the carriage but are driven off just as the train starts to move again. Troops who were travelling at the far end of the train soon arrive to restore order. Apparently those rioters who boarded the train have now clamed now and don't seem to know what happened. Some say a man showed them 'the yellow mark' and they became enraged.

The train moves into the city centre and the invetsigators disembark. Their attacker is taken away by the soldiers. Siva arranges the movement of the expedition's gear from the train to the platform for the connecting train to the Nepalese border. Despite the chaos of the station Siva proves most capable and nothing more important than a box of spoons has been lost.

Within 2 hours the investiagtors are on a second, older train, heading North.

=== Thursday January 26th 1930 ===

The train heads North to the border. This train is less comfortable than the Bombay service and the service is less efficient. Siva proves the difference between a pleasant journey and a tiresome one.

=== Friday January 27th 1930 ===

The train arrives at the railhead at Nautanwa. The expedition's gear is removed from the train and placed in storage until a guide and bearers can be found. Yet more ''baksheesh'' is paid to ensure nothing goes missing.

=== Saturday January 28th 1930 ===

In the town a boarding house frequented by Nepalese is located, and with the aid of [[Siva]] a merchant called [[Jigme Rinzing]] is found who is willing to guide the party as far North as Gori Padi where he will find then another guide for the Northern part of Nepal. Rinzing is not planning on leaving for a couple of days, however, which will make for a frustrating delay in this out of the way town.

=== Sunday January 29th 1930 ===

The day is spent in final preparation for the trek. Fresh food is purchased, water-bottles are filled and Nepalese outer garb procured to ease the crossing on the border. At Rinzing's suggestion facial hair is shaved off - very few Nepalese have any - and tea is rubbed into faces to brown them.

=== Monday January 30th 1930 ===

The trek to Drakmar - day 1.

After [[Browne]] manages to negotiate around some last minute concerns about the amount of baggage the Nepalese bearers are expected to carry, the expedition sets off for the border crossing. [[Siva]] agrees to continue with the party, as a translator is required.

Deciding on subterfuge rather than a difficult detour through woods in search of a gap in the border fence, the party almost passes by the customs officers without comment, but [[Saunders]]' pale Scottish complexion raises suspecions and it looks as if the British officer drinking tea in the guardpost may be called upon until Saunders produces a thick wad of rupees to persuade the customs man to look the other way.

Nepal is entered. Crossing the border the party pass through thickly wooded country and stops the night in an inn at the village of Butwal.

=== Tuesday January 31st 1930 ===

Day 2

Today's trek follows a gorge lined with terraced farms and ends at Tansing, a village notable for its fine metalwork.

=== Wednesday February 1st 1930 ===

Day 3

Everyone feels fit and healthy as the day begins, but by mid afternoon the tricky terrain and worsening weather makes for heavy going. It is necessary to camp outside tonight, as no village is nearby. Dreams of the King in Yellow continue to disturb the investigators' sleep.

=== Thursday February 2nd 1930 ===

Day 4

After a tricky morning's travel the expedition reaches the lakeside town of Pokhara, which supports a street bazaar. while exploring the bazaar the investigators meet a trader who sold cooking utensils to another group of Europeans some months earlier. through him they trace the Italian expedition's former guide, Yangser Chumpo.

Yangser needs to be paid to talk, but when he does he shares the following information:

- There were four white men, one spoke Nepalese and Tibetan

- They were going to Drakmar, above the Monastery at [[Te]], near the village of Kag.

- That is not a good place, as the ''chortens'' have fallen and the black ghosts inhabit the caves.

- When he realised that was their destination, Yangser Chumpo told them they must leave, and when they did not, he left them.

- He is sure the ghosts must have taken them

=== Friday February 3rd 1930 ===

Day 5

The ground rises steadily as the investigators trek past several small villages until the reach a place called Rigme, where effigies of a goddess called ''Dhaulitya'' adorn the houses. This intrigues [[Saunders]] who takes many photographs and notes, the villagers in these parts recognise the investigators as westerners, but this deep into Nepal, none of them cares much.

=== Saturday February 4th 1930 ===

Day 6

At 5000ft above sea level the party encounters a narrow rope bridge. [[Nathaniel Browne]], suffering from acute acrophobia, proves quite incapable of crossing it until he requests and is given opium by [[Jigme Rinzing]]. When a second such bridge is reached later, Browne gets a second dose. The others worry that Browne seems used to the evil poppy.

The day ends at the market town of Hille on the main trade route to Tibet.

=== Sunday February 5th 1930 ===

Day 7

By the end of the day the party are 8000ft above sea level and have reached the village of Gora Pani, - [[Jigme Rinzing]]'s final destination, as his home is nearby.

It is just as well that the expedition will be delayed for a day while new help is found, as altitude sickness is beginning to effect the Europeans.

=== Monday February 6th 1930 ===

Day 8

The day is spent in Gora Pani. [[Jigme Rinzing]] locates a new guide, a Tibetan called [[Tsewan Pemba]] and hires a new group of 6 bearers, a smaller number than were hitherto being used, which requires some of the heavier items to be traded in the town for food and other necessities.

The day's rest enables everyone to recover from the altitude sickness of the previous day. From here, the Annapurna range fills the Northern horizon.

=== Tuesday February 7th 1930 ===

Day 9

[[Image:kali.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Approaching the Kali Gandaki]]
Today the Kali Gandaki river gorge is reached, a most impressive sight. the day ends at the village of Gasa, where the women threshing grain on the flat roofs of the houses creates whirlwinds of chaff.

=== Wednesday February 8th 1930 ===

Day 10

A day of slow progress, featuring more rope bridges and more opium for [[Browne]]. in Tukatcha, the first ethnically Tibetan village reached, the bearers have to be replaced, but the new ones are willing to go all the way to Kag. The investigators have decided not to talk of Drakmar

=== Thursday February 9th 1930 ===

Day 11

Now travelling 9000ft above sea level, the expedition passes the treeline today and reaches a land of barren rock and wind-eroded caves. Red, black and white-painted ''chortens'' abound and prayer flags blow in the wind like the tatters of the king in yellow. This truly is the Himalaya.

Altitude sickness begins the threaten again, and [[Saunders]] is feeling the effects.

=== Friday February 10th 1930 ===

Day 12

The expedition, growing weary from its long, high trek has a short day's travel. Reaching the village of Jomoson, where the investigators see their first yaks, the espedition rests as [[Tsewan Pemba]] wishes to meet with a man here about the possible marriage of his young daughter.

While exploring the town [[Saunders]] finds that amongst the five buddhas in the local temple is one that is quite clearly the King in Yellow. Though painted white, the statue disturbingly seems to take on a yellow tinge when looked at for more than a few seconds.

The monk in the temple say that the God in Yellow is a god of the sky.

=== Saturday February 11th 1930 ===

[[Image:chortens.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Chortens, Mustang]]
Day 13

At 10,000 feet, with the effects of altitude quite noticable to all, the expedition follows the Kali Gandaki to the town of Kag. Kag looks like a fortress perched on a cliff, its houses built together, surrounding a central square.

In the monastery at Kag, where Pemba has arranged for the Europeans to sleep for the night, a monk gives [[Umberto]] a book which proves to be [[Carlo Schippone]]'s diary ([http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_1.pdf Part 1],[http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_2.pdf Part 2],[http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_3.pdf Part 3],[http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/30_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_1.pdf Translation Part 1], [http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/30_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_2.pdf Translation Part 2]), which was brought here from the monastery at Te many weeks ago.

[[Umberto]] reads the diary and tells the tale of the Italian expedition - the use of sorcery to cloud the mind of Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]] - encounters with creatures called 'the Tsotowa' - the religious fervour slowly changing to fear, terror and madness - and in the end Schippone's scribbled ravings about 'Miri Nigri', 'The White Acolyte', murder, blood and monsters. It ends with the phrase 'What have I done?' scrawled over and over again.

That night, as the investigators try to sleep they hear their guide and bearers in animated discussion

=== Sunday February 12th 1930 ===

Day 14

The day's trek reaches the deepest river gorge on earth - 18,000 feet deep, an awesome sight. The party has to leave the river and climb to 11,000 feet. It is bitterly cold. As darkness falls the small village of Tayen is reached.

In Tayen the locals say that there was a European at the monastery up at [[Te]]. The boy who came to the village from food for the lama told of him, and brought his book down to be taken the Kag in search of someone who could read it. According to the boy, the stranger came from Drakmar, where the Guru Rimpoche slew the Ogress Balmo and stained the cliffs with her blood. The ghosts in the caves took his companions.

The boy has not come down for many weeks. the villagers of Tayen think that ghosts, or even Balmo herself, have taken the monks too.

=== Monday February 13th 1930 ===

Day 15

This morning [[Tsewan Pemba]] comes to Withers and says he and his men will go no further. Ghosts and demons lie ahead, and no sane man would walk into that. The bearers are paid off, and they leave.

[[Siva]] now approaches the investigators and says that he is too frightened to go any further, and he begs his friends not to go themselves. Siva reveals he has children, and he won't leave them without a father.

He agrees instead to stay at Tayen and guard the expedition's supplies. he has found a local who wishes to go to the monastery and ask the monks to help his sick son. this man will lead the investigators up there tomorrow if the really must go. Since [[Saunders]] still feels ill from mountain sickness the enforced day of rest is a blessing in disguise.

=== Tuesday February 14th 1930 ===

Day 16

This proves to be the hardest day's travel so far. [[Saunders]] is suffering and the terrain is treacherous. the investigators rope themselves together, which saves [[Umberto]]'s life at one point. Meanwhile their guide, who is at least a decade older than any of them, bounds ahead like a mountain goat.

Eventually the Monastery at [[Te]] comes into view. A boulder-strewn plain lies between the ridge and the building itself. As the investigators crest the ridge, they spot a figure moving in a doorway. Before they can react a shot rings out and their guide, a hundred yards ahead, falls to the ground.

The investigators dive behind boulders for cover as the gunman walks out of the monastery, carbine in hand, and moves forward quickly, working the gun's action. He fires another shot in the direction of Withers, but distance and cover make the shot all but impossible, and he misses.

Meanwhile Withers is carefully aiming his rifle from behind a boulder. The Captain fires a single, perfect, shot and hits the gunman in the head. A red mist bursts from his skull and he falls.

The investigators hurry to the two fallen figures. The guide is alive, though badly hurt, but Withers is able to stem the bleeding. The gunman proves to be [[Carlo Schippone]], bearded and apparently suffering the after-effects of frostbite - Withers' shot was instantly fatal.

Withers stays alone outside with the injured guide while the others check out the monastery complex to seek help, or at least to look for something from which to make a stretcher. They find the bodies of the three monks and their servant boy, evidently shot dead at least a month ago by Schippone, and in an unpleasant state.

Outside, Withers catches a glimpse of something moving amongst the rocks on a high ridge. He is glad when the others return and the injured man can be carried into the more defensible surroundings of the monastery. The monastery complex is large enough for the investigators to camp indoors without the smell of the corpses being a problem.

Now the problem of what to do with the injured man is raised. He can't be carried back to Tayen, and nor can he be abandoned here. Its just been decided that someone needs to go back for help when [[Siva]] stumbles out of the darkness. Wracked with guilt at abandoning his friends and employers, he has followed them after all.

The investigators tell Siva he needs to stay here with the injured man and wait for them for at least 5 days. Siva is glad to be of service - this way he is helping them but does not need to go to [[Drakmar]].

An uneasy night is spent at Te.

=== Wednesday February 15th 1930 ===

Day 17

[[Image:mustang.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Approaching Drakmar]]
In the morning the investigators leave Siva with Schippone's carbine and enough food to last a week, then head up towards Drakmar.

There is still a lot of climbing to do, and the going is hard in the cold mountain air. The night is spent camped in the open in one of the loneliest, most desolate spots on the planet. That night everyone's recurring dreams reach terrifying, portentous climaxes. [[Nathaniel Browne]] wakes up screaming.

The investigators all reveal that they have dreamed horrible dreams of the King in Yellow, but none shares the details with his fellows just yet. The rest of the night is all but sleepless.

=== Thursday February 16th 1930 ===

Day 18

In early afternoon the final ridge is crested and before the investigators lies the astonishing sight of the cliffs of [[Drakmar]]. A plain scattered with fallen [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorten chortens] lies between them and a great expense of red-stained cliffs. The cliffs are riddled with dozens of apparently man-made caves.

This is [[Quarrie]] and [[Anzalone]]'s final destination, the places where legend says that the Guru Rimpoche slew the ogress Balmo. [[Nathaniel Browne]] believes that he can hear, almost below the threshold of human hearing, a deep slow rhythmic thumping, something like a gigantic heartbeat.

---''to be continued''---

Session 14

2006-09-19T04:17:45Z

Kinginamber: /* Sunday February 5th 1930 */

Tsewan Pemba

2006-09-19T04:16:53Z

Kinginamber:

[[Image:Pemba.jpg]]

Session 14

2006-09-19T04:16:29Z

Kinginamber: /* Monday February 6th 1930 */

File:Jigme.jpg

2006-09-19T04:14:07Z

Kinginamber: