Summary: The third story in Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne cycle, the story takes place in the fictional French town of Averoigne. Much as Lovecraft based Arkham on Boston, Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne is based on the very real Auvergne region. Even more closely tying this story to our previous episode, H P Lovecraft wrote a story “Out of the Aeons” that also intertwines with this fictional province as have a number of other authors. In addition, on the gaming front, the Dungeons and Dragons module X2 (Castle Amber) by the great Tom Moldvay contains numerous references to Averoigne. Certainly this is a region filled with potential. All told Clark Ashton Smith left us with eighteen pieces, some incomplete, others mere outlines, of events transpiring in this area. The story itself involves a stonecutter, shunned and feared by the people of the area, whose affections towards a local girl are spurned, if she recognizes he exists at all. Hired to create a pair of gargoyles for the new cathedral, he cuts two pieces of true masterwork but, in doing so, pours all of his negativity, hatred and lust into their creation. Infused with these black emotions, thegargoyles come to life and wreak havoc leaving death in their wake.
