#Carcosa / Lost Carcosa: The Yellow King.

[nicki0kaye]

I got to do the thumbnail and bumper art for one of my favorite youtubers, Flawed Peacock, for his video on the short story anthology The King in Yellow. It's been a dream project and I'm so proud of how it turned out. And the vid is 9 fucking hours long alksdjfsljd

[vangold]

I already teased on Day 2 that this wouldn't be the last time Rocketbeans' brilliant pen and paper RPG triology "Tor nach Carcosa" would make an appearance in this Creeptober. In this case, I'm also going back to the first campaign - to be precise, to one of my personal favorite scenes, the artwork of Frau von Stockhausen. Once again I can just recommend this awesome RPG Round. If you are able to understand German, please do go ahead and give it a try. Gorgeous story, brilliant GM and the players and their acting talent truely are impressive!

Creeptober-Promptlist by @creep-tober

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[laviniaoftheangels]

"The King in Yellow" by Robert W. Chambers

[rollerska8er]

hp lovecraft: a weird racist who never went outside and was afraid of his own shadow

robert w chambers: pretty normal guy who wrote a bunch of stories about men-about-town kissing pretty girls, made bank off it, also happened to write the king in yellow and accidentally invented weird fiction, just as a side hustle

[carcosa-lost]

Midnight Silence

@nebula-gaster

The television was consumed with static. Dead asleep, Roth snored deeply and loudly. Several crumpled beer cans were littered around his recliner.

You can hear the faint sounds of the city. The garbage collectors, the midnight train, and the nearby freeway. Next door, a baby cries. Upstairs, you can hear a nervous man pacing around. Downstairs, you can hear rock music. There was noise everywhere.

Then, there was nothing. No sound. No crying. No music. The television set was silent.

Somewhere, in Roth’s apartment was a voice calling to Buzz. It sounded familiar. It was called to him by his living name.

“Alexander.”

The voice called, louder than a whisper. Again, it spoke his name.

“Alexander. Come here.”

[lost-carcosa]

These both adequately describe the long term situation here:

Turns out Lost Carcosa had a revolution in the early 20th century, so what you've actually summoned is the Democratically Elected Committee In Yellow

[caesarsaladinn]

i saw your tag; yes Malevolent is sort of about The King in Yellow. I barely know anything about the source material though lol. The podcast is pretty bizarre

cool, thanks—I really liked that book, maybe I should check it out

[buttered-toasty]

Black star

.

“Strange is the night where black stars rise,

And strange moons circle through the skies

But stranger still is

Lost Carcosa.”

From The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

.

.

I was thinking about the eldritch pantheon again and this quote about Carcosa’s black stars—and I was also thinking about the Silmarillion and the Silmarils as horrific objects.

Oddly enough the king in yellow stories fit Maglor well, I think. The book is about tortured artists (and how to drive people mad through art), which Maglor certainly is by the end.

And of course, it’s a companion piece to this anyways. The quote just fit so well.

[evilmidnightlurker]

Along the shore the cloud waves break

The twin suns sink behind the lake

The shadows lengthen

In Carcosa.

Wilhelm, while your in hell, may you please tell that impaling jerk I said hi?

[nightly-valkyrie]

"Along the shore the cloud waves break, The twin suns sink behind 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."

Cassilda's Song in "The King in Yellow." Act 1.Scene 2.

[lihim-oa]

“Hark! Comes the yellow King! Regaled in a gown of yellow. He stands twice as tall as any man! Majestic, he glides over the ground to take his throne in lost Carcosa, for he is the king that was and shall be…!”

[inkdemonapologist]

[BatIM Cthulhu] MORE CTHULHU SCRIBBLES, this time from session 4!! Here we have, uh,

The yellow fog that's taking over New York seems to be able to hijack people and make them think they're one of the characters from the King in Yellow play. Susie DID get brainwashed but we're unclear on whether the knife-twirling skills were there already. IT JUST WOULDNT SURPRISE ME, U KNOW?

AVEDONS HERE??????? If you don't remember Avedon i dont blame you, he last showed up back in seASON 2, in NOLA, where he lost his mind and locked Sammy and Jack in his closet at gunpoint and then started shooting the host at the masquerade party. He seems a little more sane this go round but everyone decided Sammy and Jack should not be in the welcoming party. Anyway sorry NYC is like this for your visit Avedon, I promise there's usually less dread carcosa

Sammy brought Prophet out to see if he could tell whether or not Peter is THE ONE THE PHANTOM SEEKS and Prophet decided to make sure he was getting an accurate reading by smooshing his hands all over Peter's face. Don't worry about it, Peter!! It's fine. Normal Sammy Behaviour.

And if you'd like some Out of Context quotes from our session, those are under the cut!

[Sammy is played by me, Joey is played by Boo (inkyvendingmachine), Henry is played by Maf (inkcryptid), Jack is played by Mochi (whatyouwantedmetosee) and Thren (haunted-hijinxer) is our GM!]

[Sammy] *recapping* Joey tried to do some bullshit, and it, uh, made things worse! [GM] It got some attention, it seems! [Joey] EHhhhhhhhh, [Sammy] Yeah, he was doing his nonsense, and then the Phantom showed up because he was doing his nonsense -- [Joey] ehhhhhhhhhhh [Sammy] And then we hit the Phantom with Jack's car! A rational and reasonable response to the unknowable. [Jack] Joey MADE Jack hit the Phantom with his car. [Joey] EHHHHHHHHH, [Jack] Because Jack wouldn't do this on purpose. He likes his car! [Sammy] I think that's entirely reasonable. No reasonable person would have done this course of events.

[Sammy] What happens if you drive a car in Carcosa [Sammy] It's in the name, it should be a good place for cars... [Jack] It actually cancels out because there's two of them, so you just get "Cosa."

[Joey] One of the times, the Mercedes is going to be missing and it's not because of Yellow Sign stuff, it's just that someone finally stole it. [Sammy] Car gets its tires slashed, "THIS IS THE WORK OF THE YELLOW KING!!!"

[Jack] Even if it's safety glass, I feel like Jack doesn't want to sit in a bunch of glass! [Henry] Exfoliation. [Jack] ON HIS BUTT????

[Joey] Just venting about everything that has been happening, but it's clearly all this other guy's fault? [Sammy] I love Joey having no particular distinction between "annoying person who's getting in the way of me making cartoons" and "eldritch entity" - WHICH IS THE SAME THING, it's just an annoying person who's getting in the way of making cartoons! [Joey] YEAH!!

[Sammy] Jack struck me as someone who'd be a cautious driver. [GM] And he let Sammy drive his car?!

[Joey] It's taking Joey a little longer to finish his ritual, because he keeps getting angry and ranting more, [Sammy] "*draws one line* AND ANOTHER THING--!"

[GM] Avedon says you need to watch out for each other, because something's already messing with Norman -- [Joey] what, wAIT-- WHAT? [GM] --and he needs you guys to come find him, he's at this hotel, and he thinks he knows how to destroy the Phantom. [Joey] Have you called Norman? [GM] He says, "Where do you think I got this number?" And then he hangs up. [Joey] .................................................................. [Sammy/Jack/Henry] *IMMEDIATELY LOSING IT* [Jack] *still cracking up* H-how, how mad is Joey right now, [Joey] ...........................I need to look something up.

[Joey] I know way too much about, the history of phone technologies now, [Sammy] This game is educational. Nobody tells you that.

[Joey] What is up with your crazy friend?! [Norman] You're going to have to be more specific.

[Joey] Wait, DID you get a call from Avedon? [GM] Norman says that he got word from The Advisor earlier. [Jack].... Hm. [Sammy] Norman??????? [Joey] ...iS SUSIE STILL THERE, [GM] Uh, yeah! He hands over the phone. [Joey] IS SHE NORMAL????????????????? [GM] She likes to think so!

[Joey] Nobody's going to let Peter choose his own methods of communication, he just gets to RECEIVE [Sammy] Look! He was warned!!

[GM] Peter's glancing at Jack like, is this concerning? [Jack] Well Jack looks CONCERNED, but he's not concerned about this, specifically. This is refreshingly normal.

[Sammy] And the Traitor mercifully absent! [Jack] I know you said "traitor", but I heard "trader," like no that's a different AU, [Joey] Oh good. No Wandering Traders. [everyone makes villager "Hrrrm" noises] [Sammy] Prophet's ALSO murdering llamas for leads, [Jack] I mean, we could do with a lead about now! I don't know if we have any other than Avedon. [Joey] *uncontrollably giggling at this joke for the next 15 seconds* [Sammy] Oh boy, [Joey] *still giggling* iT WAS A REALLY gOOD ONE,,,

[Joey] Does Jack's car look any different to Henry? [Jack] Well there's a weird splat mark in the shape of a guy,

[Sammy] Be vigilant! His will can overtake your own. [Henry] Hm,,, you too,

[GM] Does anyone want to do a summary of where we were at? [Jack] I have an extremely short summary: [Jack] Shit's Fucked.

[Sammy] Avedon told us to meet him because THE WORLD IS IN PERIL [Sammy] which, I think it's really important to remember that Avedon is French, when you imagine him saying the word "peril." That's all.

[Sammy] It's not TOO late to visit people, but it is maybe an awkward time to-- [Jack] When has awkward timing EVER stopped this-- [Sammy] NEVER. It's never stopped us. [Henry] I think it would be weirder if we arrived at an opportune time, at this point! [Joey] It IS a great time for a snake to show up, I feel like. [Sammy] That's true. It's never a wrong time for a snake to show up, honestly.

[Joey] Enough time has passed that Joey will come out to the parking lot. [Sammy] I really thought you were gonna say "come out to the party" [Jack] Joey's coming out? [GM] *laughing* I think they already know!

[Joey] Also, Norman has started acting very weird. [Henry] How? [Joey] You know how, sometimes people start saying things, in situations like this, where they think... [Joey]...yOU KNOW HOW PROPHET DESCRIBES PEOPLE?

[Jack] I can't believe you're splitting up the boyfriends! [Jack] ...as compared to the other boyfriends, [Sammy] I feel like it's really hard to split this party without splitting up some boyfriends somewhere.

[GM] Jack doesn't want to drive and Sammy doesn't know where he's going - ✨TEAMWORK!✨ :D

[Jack] You go through all of Henry's coats and none of them are familiar, and they're all extremely stylish [Henry] That's not Carcosa, that's Joey.

[Jack] Oh no, his accent's Italian now! [Sammy] That's just what happens when you come to New York.

[GM] Make a sanity check. [Henry] For looking at a clarinet???

[Henry] Henry is... maybe taking a closer look out the window. [Sammy] I support him. I'm not there, but I support him-- [Henry] Then, yeah, I'm gonna say he's doing that! [Sammy] --from afar, where I suffer no consequences.

[Henry] Henry has his hand on his gun. [Henry] ...he knows that he can't, like, SHOOT CARCOSA, but, [Jack] Carcosa's haunted.

[Joey] I actually succeeded the luck check! [Sammy] Congratulations, that's a feat for Joey! [Jack] It's his natural talent.

[Henry] I wish I had the words to describe the face Henry is making. [Henry] If Scared and Defeated had a baby.

[GM] Avedon turns around, looking wild-eyed behind his glasses, and says, because he is the master of smart things, "We need to get out of here!" [Joey] NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!

[GM] In fact, you think you hear conspiratorial whispering in the distance! [Henry] But our conspiratorial whisperer is accounted for...

[Joey] Joey's just going to march up behind them and ask what's going on. [GM] They are both going to jump to their feet, and bow, actually, [Sammy] Um. [Jack] Hmmmm. [Sammy] UM. [GM] and say, "we were just dealing with matters of State, Your Highness." [Joey] [Joey] *quiet giggling* [Jack] Oh no. [Sammy] Joey doesn't need this. Joey doesn't need this. [Jack] His ego's already so big!!

[Sammy] You're going to open the door and the Phantom's gonna be standing there. [Henry] "Want some weed?"

[Joey] Avedon can stay with Norman. They're friends. [Sammy] I don't-- we'll see how Norman is. [Joey] I mean, I don't think, no matter what, that Norman can be weirder than Avedon?

[GM] You can make a psychology roll, if you want! [Sammy] OKAY, we'll see, I'm not holding out a lot of hope on Sammy getting this-- [Sammy] *rolls* ....WELL. That is... an extreme success. I rolled a TWO. [Jack] Are we sure SAMMY hasn't been replaced? [Joey] Has Shazz been replaced? [Jack] Have Shazz's dice been replaced????

[Jack] Jack is probably trying to get... any.... information out of Norman, [Sammy] Sorry, I left you the hard mode one. [Joey] Kiss him!!

[carcosa-lost]

OPERA NIGHT

@themosthatedbeingg

There he is in the shadows. Unnoticed by all, except for one. Dressed in regal tatters, his pallid mask hides away the blasphemous insanity of Godhood.  

He's staring at Lucifer. White buckshot eyes stared out across the vast theater, staring at Lucifer. Then, he vanishes.

There he is again, now closer than before. On stage, with the masked actors all around. None see him, no one take notice. He stands there with purpose as he stares.

Vanishing again, he’s closer now. Now in the audience, turning back to see Lucifer. That pallid mask becoming more hideous as he grows closer, imitating the face of sorrow and pain. He vanishes once more.

Now he’s here. Sitting right next to Lucifer. No guard notices, no one pays any attention. The theater grows silent, coming to a standstill. The air is dead as everyone is frozen. Time is exiled.

The stranger stars out across the grand opera, his eyes casting an emotionless gaze.

“Lightbringer. Morningstar. You have many names, as so do I.”

Three voices in one, his tone was of curiosity. Yet, something else brought him here.

“Does The King enjoy his imprisonment here?”

[janasarty]

"...Song of my soul, my voice is dead;

Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed

Shall dry and die in

Lost Carcosa."

Cassilda's Song in "The King in Yellow," Act i, Scene 2.

[lovelaceace]

Song of my soul, my voice is dead,

Die thou unsung, as tears unshed

Shall dry and die in

Lost Carcosa.

Cassilda's Song, King In Yellow