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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4486888" data-attributes="member: 3285">To Walk in Carcosa: Part 10 – Stopping the PlayThe next room was a ballroom, one wall of which was made of a succession of tall glass doors, all giving onto a long balcony.  Ilmarė tentatively advanced into the room.  She could see the terrace where the summoning was taking place below her.  Steps curled down from the balcony onto the terrace from both left and right.  Beyond was the dark water of Lake Hali.But all of it was eclipsed by the byakhee.  There were hundreds and hundreds of the beasts outside, thick on the balustrades, roofs, and walls. Streams of the creatures were still flying down from the sky to join those already present, thickening the ranks each minute.  The usually raucous monsters were silent, rapt, facing inwards.  They were all focused on a small group of ten men in the center of it all.“Edwards!” hissed Lucius, “They’re casting a spell to free Hastur.”They were nearing the end of the performance.  The cultist playing Cassilda was striking her son Aldones with a sword, but it was no faux swordplay.  Blood was everywhere: soaking Aldones’ robes, pooling underfoot, and flying from the sword tip—and yet still Aldones delivered his lines. In the role of Aldones, Edwards’ body knitted together even as he was slashed apart. At Ilmarė’s throat, the Sign of Belisarda pulsed.  She held it up high overhead and shouted.“Then spoke Belisarda: We praise her name, stilling the song of the birds and quieting the call of the beasts, even stopping the breath of the air!”As the Sign was presented the actors stumbled and then halted in confusion.  The play stopped.Edwards turned and stared up, bloody and disbelieving.  “Then spoke Belisarda: We praise her name, roaring!”There was a sucking sound as a vortex of wind centered on Edwards.  A massive blast of accumulated magical energy hit him.  Blood immediately started to well and flow from his mouth, his eyes, his ears.  He collapsed, coughing, unable to cry out.  In seconds, he was dead.Kham skidded into the room just as Edwards fell.The cultists turned, raising their blades.  There were byakhee everywhere, too.  Many of the creatures were airborne, but others had landed to stare through the windows of the ballroom as though it was a cage. Lucius turned to Kham.  “I think I can help.  May I borrow your weapon?” One of the byakhee shattered a huge glass pane.  It crept shyly in.“Only I can stop the summoning!” shouted Edwards. “You have to trust me!  The byakhee can’t harm me!”Kham reached into his coat and threw Lucius the Freeport pistol he took from Spence. “No!” shouted Ilmarė.  “He’s going to—“There was the crack of pistol fire.  Everyone, even the byakhee, froze.Lucius fell to the ground, seeping blood. Kham skidded over to him.  “Lucius, what the hell were you thinking?”“It is done,” said Lucius, a strange smile on his face.  Blood spattered his chest. “It is by my hand that Carcosa is here, and by my death that it will be released.  Let me die.”Carcosa rippled around them.  Scarbelly took a few warning swipes at the byakhee.  “We’d better go!” Scores of the things were gathered together, slowly creeping forward.  Kham patted Lucius’ hand.  They couldn’t bring him with them. But Lucius looked past him and out of the window, a horrified expression on his face. A shadow fell across him.</blockquote>

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