Amelia's Eye View

From me

So, here's the roughly Amelia-eye view.

She's been in Carcosa in her weird, warped psycho-sexual relationship with the King in Yellow, aka Hastur. Geoffrey became the Stranger, aka the Pallid Mask, basically becoming something of a hollow shell for Hastur to fill. Some might say he was the lucky one. There just basically isn't a Geoffrey.

About a decade passed on Earth. Uncle Vito started investigating something connected to the Outer Gods. Hastur took an interest and permitted Amelia to help, warning Vito when critical information was missing or misinterpreted. It's possible this was the happiest point, apparently cherished by Hastur despite her sin of putting safety before art, unable to return home, but able to help Vito.

Then, one of Vito's new friends, Martin, asked her to take a message to Hastur. Martin's lover, Jeremiah, was now a brain in a jar. Nyarlathotep promised to re-embody Jeremiah if Martin walked away from Vito and the others and their quest to defeat the Liar. Would Hastur make a counteroffer?

Hastur did, via Geoffrey / the Stranger. Many details were discussed and debated, but when the dust settled, there was a deal.

Martin would stay with Vito and the others, working to kill or banish the Liar. Hastur could not name the Liar, though, clearly, the King wanted to. But, Hastur would give what information he could to help.

Hastur would also re-embody Jeremiah. And, if Martin died while fighting the Liar, Hastur would bring him back, though Amelia suspected that Martin would not like the form of his resurrection. And, should Geoffrey or Amelia ever desire to return to Earth, they could do so.

There was no Geoffrey to desire to return, not really. And, certainly, Amelia never thought she would wish to return.

Then, against all odds, Martin and his companions banished the Liar from Earth.

As they climbed from the Liar's crumbling terrestrial body, Vito fell to what would surely be his death. And Amelia chose to return to Earth, guiding him to safety in Calcutta.

Perhaps she was tricked into this by Hastur. Perhaps she already suspected the cruel truth behind the King's tender smile as Hastur reminded her that she could, if she chose, leave Carcosa for Earth.

An Earth in which ash was beginning to fall like rain, everywhere. An Earth now continually lashed by roiling storms and deadly green lightning. An Earth where people went mad at the sight of what surely must be signs of the End of Days.

Amelia had returned to Earth to die. Hastur forbade her return to Carcosa and laughed as Vito realized how he and his companions had played right into Hastur's hands.

And why, after all, would Hastur choose to help against the Liar?

Thirteen years ago, another group interrupted a ritual intended to sacrifice the Liar to draw the attention of a being so powerful that its mere gaze could destroy the Earth.

But, the ritual was merely interrupted, not undone. And, on the cosmic scale of the Outer Gods, the thirteen year hiatus was no more than an indrawn breath between reciting one line and then another in a ritual. Martin, Vito, and the others had been tricked into completing that ritual.

Vito and Amelia and Geoffrey and Remy and John had thwarted Hastur's plans to take the Earth, to destroy or absorb it into Carcosa? Then let Geoffrey become the King's Herald. Let Amelia become the King's pawn, used to manipulate Vito into destroying the world he fought so hard to protect while Hastur looked on and laughed

(And Remy? The book collector proved unintentionally instrumental in keeping information that might -- possibly -- have helped those who fought the Liar realize the dangers. Possibly. And John? John's life was a gray, unending disappointment, and he had no idea why. Perhaps the End of Days would be a mercy for him.)

So, bidding goodbye to Sivakumar, the man who had led them through India and Nepal, who had put Vito's lavish gifts of money to good use for his children (as Vito had instructed0, who had found himself unable to stand idly by when the Liar's cult spread to Calcutta, and who had pulled Vito and Amelia to safety from some unspeakable orifice of the Liar, Vito took Amelia on a train to Delhi. There, he met his companions, Martin (traveling with Jeremiah), Lillian (now a mother, reunited with her infant son and her aunt), and Joyce (traveling with Douglas, the lone survivor of the group that interrupted the original ritual).

The King is laughing as the world that rejected his rule dies.

Player's Response

) :) :)

That is an excellent end for Amelia.