Shadows in the Smoke S1E14 - "A Gift, and a Message"

Shadows in the Smoke S1E14 – “A Gift, and a Message”

Kim
Shadows in the Smoke is intended for mature audiences, and may contain material that some people find disturbing. Please see the episode description for content warnings, and listen with care.

[Shadows in the Smoke theme]

Kim
Welcome to the Dusk.

[Soft, contemplative piano]

Kim
The first thing we do at the top of the Dusk phase is roll moves that are rolled in the Dusk, the first of which is the Quickening roll. Mr. John, if you please. However, because you still have the Condition: Drained, I will be putting this roll at disadvantage.

T.
However, because I have a silk handkerchief that can be used as a gag in my Personal Quarters, I will be doing it straight.

Kim
Okay. Go ahead and mark that item.

T.
[Rolls dice] That’s a 6.

Natalia
Oh god, no.

Kim
Let’s read the miss.

Natalia
I’m simultaneously so excited and so scared.

T.
On a 7 to 9, you manage to keep the Quickening in check but just barely. Take the following Condition: Drained. If you’re already Drained, put on a mask.

On a miss, you’re going to lose control. Retire this character and tell the Keeper to put The Cursed in play. Or, reveal your curse to another hunter and ask for their help controlling you this night. If they agree, neither of you can take any action that would trigger a move during the upcoming Night Phase, though you should narrate scenes showing how the cursed character is being controlled throughout the night. During the Dawn Phase, you each mark 1xp. Additionally, they get to define something interesting about your transformation. That information is a Clue that can be used on The Cursed. This option can only be chosen once.

So even if I use a mask to bump this up to a 7, because I’m Drained, it costs two masks?

Kim
Yeah. Right now, if you were to spend a mask to bump it up to a 7, because you already have the Condition: Drained, that would cost another mask.

Natalia
Good god.

T.
I don’t want to take your night though, Nat. We have to do something with Cremorne Gardens.

Natalia
No, my god. Please do not worry about that.

Cassandra
I also will volunteer to help you.

T.
Fuck. I mean, okay, here’s the thing. Y’all are both great. But that is such a huge decision. I’m also torn if I want to reveal the curse this early.

Kim
That’s very fair. I mean, this will be episode 14. So we’re like a decent way in.

T.
We are. But, like, you gotta let me cook. I’m laying some red herrings. I’m putting in a little dash of this and that…

No, I wanna keep it. I’m gonna double mask.

Natalia
Oh, lord…

T.
Thank you both so much for your…

Cassandra
Oh my god. All right.

Natalia
You’re burning through these! Please god, hold onto them after this!

Kim
Okay, Mr. John. So you now owe me two masks.

T.
This might be a huge mistake. Okay.

Natalia
[Snorts]

T.
Narrate a flashback to your young adulthood that shows the incident that made you start to resent, even despise, your parents.

Georgetown, December 1838.

[Quiet, mournful guitar]

T.
A door, well accustomed to coming and going, opens. The boy, supposedly a man now, doesn’t know how to leave things. He just lingers there in the hall like a bad smell, still fingering the ribbon of his scumbag, staring at the professional standing her doorway, re-establishing the barrier between her world and the mundane. A hug seems overly familiar, despite the nature of their time together. And a handshake much too formal, because of it. He bows, feeling like a pig on ice. She gives him mercy from his own thoughts by placing a hand on either side of his head, and gently kissing the top of it. She smells of jasmine and sweat and animal and cinnamon. And she smiles at him, before slinking back into her burrow.

Agustus’s father emerges from a door further down the hall, checking his gold pocket watch and nodding approvingly at his now properly deflowered son. They’d agreed that it was time for Augustus to have his cherry popped, and Julius Hutchinson decided the thing to do would be to take a trip to Bryan County for the occasion. Not that there was anything wrong with any of the painted ladies of Savannah – far from it – but it would be discouraging for one of their other customers to see the Hutchinson corporation’s heir apparent, and worry he might someday pass to one of their daughters the same French flue they risk bringing home to their wives.

Flies buttoned and pockets lightened, the men return to Richmond Plantation, where Julius’s brother Junior lives. The house boy, John, gives Augustus a knowing wink as he clears his plate from supper. For a long while, Augustus lays in his bed, feeling the sheets against his naked skin, trying to decide whether or not he feels different.

The next morning, Augustus awakes to a sound like logs popping in a bonfire, only over and over. He goes to the window and sees his uncle whipping John, the man who takes care of things around the house. Augustus stares as each lash wrenches more pain from John, until at last he collapses and does not stand again. His uncle turns John over with his boot, and with a mild blasphemy, throws his whip down in the dirt and stomps back off into the house.

“Why did he do that?” Augustus asks his father on the carriage ride back to Savannah.

“Hmm? Do what?”

“Why did he hurt John like that?”

“Oh, something about the weather boards for the big house. I wasn’t really listening.”

“Did he kill him?”

“Who?”

“Did Uncle Junior kill John?”

“I expect he did. It’ll serve him right if he did. Hopefully the time spent going to auction and the expense of procuring a replacement will teach Junior to temper his temper. He has your grandfather’s rage in him, just like you do.” And with that, Julius settles back into his seat in a manner that suggests he’s said all he’s going to say on the matter, and wipes his brow with a monogrammed supima handkerchief.

Augustus stares out the window at the cotton-scape stretching out as far as his eyes can see.

When he gets home, he makes the report to his mother about seeing the man murdered. She places a gentle hand on either side of his head, and kisses the top of it.

“Oh sweetie, don’t you fret another minute about that. It’s not like they’re people.” And she smiles at him, and goes back to her reading.

Kim
So that is one of two masks. Are you giving me another Mask of the Past, or are we going into a Mask of the Future?

T.
I will be taking the Condition: Most Beloved.

[Soft, contemplative piano]

Kim
All right, so you are marking The Gilded Door. I’ll go ahead and read it.

Take the following Condition: Most Beloved Tell the other hunters they can no longer choose The Gilded Door on their own playbook. This does not count as being marked for them. You can never clear Most Beloved.

Cassandra
There’s a lot of choices being made.

Natalia
I know. This is so scary.

Cassandra
I’m so stressed right now.

T.
Sometimes you gotta roll a hard 6.

Kim
So we mentioned this a little bit in the very first episode, but just so you know T, and all the listeners know, Most Beloved is an interesting condition that means that all of the Threats and dangers within London are particularly focused on and drawn to you. There are some reactions and moves I can make that are specific to if someone is Most Beloved, then xyz happens. So Mr. John is inviting much more trouble into his life by taking that condition, but I am very interested to see how it plays out.

T.
I feel like this had to do with poking my nose where it doesn’t belong and learning the Mastermind’s name. That’s why it felt, like, narratively appropriate.

Kim
Oh, I like that. Yeah, very much.

Natalia
What a way to start the episode.

Cassandra
My god.

Kim
You retain the Condition: Drained. Miss Douglas, would you like to do Moonlight Upon the Waves this evening?

Natalia
Yes, I would.

Kim
Alright, fantastic.

I would like to invite you to answer a question, should you like to. As a reminder, we have three Threats we are currently working on. The Creature of Cremorne Gardens, we have zero Clues for.

Natalia
So it seems like we should definitely solve that, I think.

T.
That’s good. We gotta go.

Kim
You actually are not even allowed to attempt to answer something until you have as many Clues as is half the Question’s complexity. You would need to get two Clues to even make a stab at it.

We have the Spider Silk Seamstress – we currently have three Clues for that. And the Demon of Kilburn Abbey, we’re actually looking pretty good. We have nine Clues for the demon, and we have a Complexity 6 and Complexity 8 Question, either of which we could answer. What are we thinking?

T.
I have a pretty strong working theory for why was the demon bound to a girl, and we’d be rolling with a +1. And I’m rolling hot, you know, so we should probably…

Natalia
Definitely, yeah.

Kim
I will go ahead and read the Clues that we have gathered for the Demon of Kilburn Abbey:

Archive records talking about a failed exorcism performed on an orphan girl who, as a result, died. Rabbit found in the study of Sir Harlowe an old, barely legible letter detailing the ingredients and steps needed to conduct a demonic binding spell. Mr. Lloyd found arcane symbols painted on the skin of the entombed girl. Mr. John noticed the monks at Kilburn Abbey discovering hundreds of animal bones buried in the Abbey garden. The Man in the Sun Mask talked of a vision he had of a group of hooded figures near Kilburn Abbey performing a black mass. Mr. Lloyd spied a crying statue within the garden of Hargrave House. Miss Douglas, at the Exhibit, saw exotic birds in gilded cages, all of which died at once. Mr. John and Miss Douglas saw a piece of homosexual erotica hidden in a discarded shoe worn by a nun. And written under the bed of a dying man: he moaned the truth into my mouth as he died.

As a reminder, the Question you are trying to answer here is, “Why was the demon bound to a girl?” And we resolved the Threat by performing a ritual to rebind the demon to the girl’s corpse. Thereafter, the hunters have access to the custom move Demonic Insight.

Let’s hear the pitch.

T.
The black mass that the Man in the Sun Mask saw was actually the church’s planning and building committee, who had been having recurring dreams encouraging them to being renovations – which was the demon’s influence. 99 years ago, the Abbot of Kilburn Priory knew a man who was a merchant. And at this time, the abbey functioned as an orphanage. One of the girls living there, an 11 year old Welsh girl named Myfanwy, was gifted with second sight. The abbot and the merchant used her abilities with augury, which explains all of the animal bones, to influence their own luck in predicting force majeure and investing the church’s money appropriately. She would foresee a hurricane, they would bring in a windfall.

But they had another secret. They knew one another in the biblical sense, which explains the homosexual erotica in the nun’s shoe. They would celebrate the fruits of their labor intimately in the basement on Saturday nights, and then the abbot would preach against homosexuality in his sermon Sunday morning. The hypocrisy, not the homosexuality, is what drew the attention of the demon, which assumed the form of a white crane – an exotic bird – and lured Myfanwy into the abbeys wine cellar, where she witnessed the abbot and the merchant in carnal embrace.

They spied her, cornered her, and then the merchant knocked her unconscious and the two of them performed an occult ritual to bind the demon for one less than 100 years to the girl, as instructed by a friend from the church who wrote them a letter explaining how to do that. That also explains the arcane symbols on her body.

The ritual scarred the stonework of the room itself, so the brothers walled it up and pretended like it never happened. But Myfanwy awoke within the confines of the stone and wept until she died, and the stone took her tears – and that’s the crying statue.

The merchant, now down on his luck without the girl’s gift, tried to blackmail the abbot, and the holy man, to protect his own reputation, accused him of buggery and had him burned at he stake. He wrote that the missing orphan was possessed and had died during an exorcism in an attempt to explain her disappearance – that’s the archive records.

And eventually the abbot, so tormented by his guilt, confessed his crimes and was jailed. On his deathbed, moaning it into the mouth of his lover and cellmate, who then wrote the confession on the underside of his bed.

Kim
…You had a lot of time to think about that, T.

T.
I have been having trouble sleeping.

Kim
I mean, that’s pretty comprehensive. Does anyone have anything that they would like to add to or expand upon?

Natalia
I loved all of it. That was fantastic.

Robert
Yeah, you included everything, so… No notes.

Natalia
Yeah, literally nothing to say. I agree.

T.
I’m gonna shut up for like the next four episodes.

Kim
[Laughs]

Cassandra
No, please don’t. Don’t. The people love you!

Natalia
It’s true.

Kim
So you will be making this roll at a +1.

T.
Would anybody else like to throw these bones?

Natalia
I haven’t been rolling very well.

T.
Yeah, you’re not the only one…

Natalia
I know. I mean, I’ll do one.

Cassandra
And I’ll take some responsibility. I found one clue in all that, so I’ll roll one.

Natalia
I’ll do the other.

Kim
All right, fantastic.

Natalia
Alright, let’s go.

Cassandra
Oh, it bounced out.

Natalia
Fuck my life.

Cassandra
Oh, no…

Robert
[Laughs]

T.
That’s not what you wanna hear!

Natalia
I got a 1.

Cassandra
I also got a 1! [Laughs]

Natalia
No!

T.
Snake eyes? [Gasps] I mean, very appropriate for the devil. But no!

Kim
Alright.

T.
So wait, what are the consequences on a miss for this?

Kim
The clues are not spent. You can still retain your clues. But I will make a hard move, and you need to come up with a different solution.

Cassandra
Oh, I’m worried about Robert now! Robert’s got this bitch inside him!

Robert
So… I think we should spend the mask.

Natalia
If we bump it up, what does that mean?

Kim
If you bump it up, then that means that it is a mixed success. So the answer is correct, but I will introduce a complication to the solution, or just resolving the Threat will be more difficult once you decide to resolve it.

T.
Gang, I think we gotta do that, for Robert’s sake.

Natalia
I feel like, yeah.

Robert
Let’s take the mask.

Kim
So we are choosing to spend the Mask of Sacrilege?

Natalia
We are choosing to spend the Mask of Sacrilege.

Cassandra
Agreed.

T.
Please and thank you!

Kim
The Mask of Sacrilege is a unique Threat mask. Ordinarily, I ask you all to narrate flashbacks. This one’s a little different.

Each hunter narrates a possible future in which they succumb to a sinful act, thereby endangering their health and/or the safety of others.

[Unsettling ambient tones]

T.
I’m really playing off the sinful act part of this. Because John doesn’t really care about most things people would consider “sinful”, especially not when it comes to lust or blasphemy or violence. The reason he visits brothels is because if he were to lose his control or let his guard down and succumb to the Quickening, those women usually don’t have families, so nobody pursues them if they go missing. That’s one of the reasons that is how he spends his pent up animus.

So a sin that could be very possible for him would be worshipping false idols. And there is a very real chance that this little crush takes root in tainted soil, and John begins to worship Athena – which could, at the very least, cost him his eyes.

Cassandra
Ena is ageless, her wisdom guiding leaders through the ages. And as mortals often do, they have ignored her, time and time again. So she does what she’s never done before. She lies.

It’s not tactical. It’s not strategic. It’s a simple half-truth whispered into the ear of a judge who trusts her. This ripple, one false verdict becoming law. And from that one law, chaos. Innocents condemned, tyrants emboldened, the lie growing fat with consequence.

At first she’ll justify it. A correction. A necessary shadow. But the truth, her domain, her crown, will begin to curdle in her mouth. Owls will cease to roost near her temples, the olive trees at her shrines will grow brittle. She’ll dream of blood-soaked scrolls, of shields splitting in her hands, of Medusa turning away from her – not to stone, but to silence. The sickness won’t be in her body. It will be in the very idea of her.

And for the first time in her agelessness, Ena will grow afraid. Not of war, not of death, but of what might become of a world where even she cannot be trusted to wield wisdom without sin.

Natalia
It’s not a secret that Maesie has thinly veiled anger issues, especially when it comes to people telling her what to do or being talked down to. And on an off day, when she is only looking for solace and comfort in a harbor where she can smell the salt and feel the breeze… All it takes is a wayward call from a salty sailor who is much too old to be flirting with young women, for her eyes to take on an unnaturally black appearance… As she lures him down to the water and drowns him beneath the pier, where no one else will find him.

Robert
We see London, its streets more choked with smoke and darkness than ever before. The gas lamps that once lit the city are all out. The only light comes from fires burning in various neighborhoods. We don’t see many people out on the street, and those that we do see are hiding or running in terror from dark, monstrous shapes.

In the ruins of what was once Buckingham Palace, a trio of figures moves through. An enormous, prehistoric cat, its black fur matted with blood. Its teeth shining white in the darkness. A dark horse, its eyes just a little too human, and its teeth just a little too sharp. And astride it is a man who once called himself Rabbit. For London is trapped in an eternal nightmare, and Morgan Lloyd is its king – all because he took a crown that did not belong to him.

Kim
Lovely, hunters. Mask spent, that bumps up the Demon of Kilburn Abbey to a mixed success. So your answer is correct, and you now have the opportunity to resolve the Threat by performing a ritual to rebind the demon to the girl’s corpse. If you do this successfully, you will now have access to the custom move Demonic Insight.

On a mixed success, however, I get to introduce a complication to the resolution of this Threat. I think its quite simple, and in two parts. The first of which is just that presently, none of you other than Rabbit know that the demon is currently housed within the body of one of your fellow hunters at Hargrave House – and removing that demon will be challenging. The other part of this is that on the night that you decide to rebind this demon from Rabbit back into the girl’s body, the monks of Kilburn Abbey will become possessed and try to stop you.

So, what is everyone wanting to do this evening?

Robert
So Rabbit has already kind of made plans tonight, or at least reached out about them. So if no one else objects, I would love to put this Threat off for one more night and pay a visit to the Spider Silk Seamstress.

Natalia
I’m not planning on resolving anything.

T.
Yeah, if you feel like you can handle it.

Kim
Threats can only be resolved in the night, but they don’t have to be resolved the same night that you answer the Question. You know, I’m not gonna say that there’s no consequence of putting a Threat on ice, but that is certainly something that is well within your power to do.

T.
I do think Rabbit’s an imperative part of resolving this Threat. So if you’ve got other plans, let’s put it off for a night.

Kim
Okay, fantastic. Alright, so Miss Douglas is taking to the water. Mr. Lloyd is falling up with Ms. Beaumont. That just leaves Miss Thanero and Mr. John. What are you thinking of doing today?

T.
Mr. John promised in the morning to accompany Miss Thanero on whatever her business is this evening. So I’ll let Cass take the lead.

Cassandra
Ena, knowing that Maesie and Rabbit are going to be going their separate ways tonight, Ena is going to go to a nondescript tavern and have a drink on her own for the moment – until and unless Mr. John wishes to join her.

T.
…H-he does.

Natalia
[Snorts]

Kim
[Laughs]

Cassandra
Excellent.

[An ominous, rumbling woosh]

Kim
Tonight’s Unscene is called A Drink at the Four Magpies.

[Pleasant piano]

Kim
The Four Magpies is a pub popular with working-class gay men, run by the butch landlady Polly O’Donnell. While it seems like any other cramped, rowdy, spit-and-sawdust pub, it is an oasis of relative safety in a dangerous city. Polly does what she can to protect “her boys.” There are a few small rooms available upstairs, and some of the lads make a bit of extra coin entertaining wealthier guests.

Paint the Scene. Describe a moment we see of men sharing a moment of intimacy that would be unwise to do elsewhere.

Cassandra
There’s a bench by the door, and we see two young men sitting next to each other, not necessarily close, but in proximity. They’re talking and they’re drinking, and they are engaging in the very, very simple action of holding hands. It seems so simple to anybody else, but to them that’s something they could never do out in the open anywhere but here.

Natalia
The bar is full of young men, older men ordering drinks. And there is a couple off to one side at the very end of the bar, with their drinks already in hand. And one of them is slightly adjusting the collar of his partner in a very intimate way, that he would not normally be able to affectionately touch another man in this way outside of the bar.

T.
There’s an artist with a charcoal stick and a sketch pad. And his muse is posing for him on the other side of a table in the candle light. And he’s freely, without any guise or façade of “oh, the masculine form!” just capturing how beautiful he thinks this man is.

Robert
And we see the door open, and a man at the bar stands up, for he’s excited to see someone he hasn’t seen in a long time coming through. The two walk to each other, greet each other like old friends. And then the one who just came in gently grabs the man who was sitting at the bar’s cheek, stares into his eyes, and the two of them lock in a tender but passionate kiss.

Kim
Miss Thanero and Mr. John, where are you off to tonight?

Cassandra
Ena and Mr. John are going to a nondescript hole in the wall tavern that Ena does actually frequent, called The Blind Owl. And Ena this evening has already been about London in her usual garb. And tonight, it’s very different. Mr. John is going to see a different side of her in this environment. She’s wearing a very simple shirt. A skirt, normal to the time – very simple. And a black cloak, with the only note to who she is being an olive branch clasp at her throat. Her hair is down but gently pulled back off of her face, and she is still remarkably beautiful, but is trying to blend in and play all of that down to feel normal.

T.
After one of the more strenuous attempts to stave off the curse – the most strenuous thus far – the roiling in Mr. John’s muscles settles, the hair retracts, and his body is back to the regular smattering of fur. He removes his father’s handkerchief from his mouth, folds it neatly, places it on the bedside table, and unlocks the manacle around his neck.

And then, knowing that he has an engagement this evening, puts on his very best suit – which is one of the two or three that he has, not saying a lot. But it’s his gray and dark gray checkered suit that he wore to Vittorio Clemenza’s exhibit. And it is bedecked with a gold pocket square and a gold cravat that holds three gems. And he fastens it in the looking glass, making sure it’s just perfect. Smooths down his hair, shakes his hands and his head, and says…

Mr. John (T.)
Come on now, Gus. You’re acting like a schoolboy.”

T.
And pulls back the bookshelf and descends the stairs. Oh! Doubles back, takes off his worn, tattered shoes, and puts on a fresh pair of spats, brand new from the cobbler’s. And walks down the stairs to discover Ena in understated dress.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Dress up for me, are you?

Mr. John (T.)
Well, I know you tend to frequent these high society-type establishments. And I wouldn’t wanna go ruining the faluting for ya.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Mr. John, tonight is not that kind of party. If you’d like to be a little more comfortable after the day you’ve had, I’m not opposed to you going up and getting into something a little more favorable to where we’re going.

Mr. John (T.)
I wouldn’t wanna keep you waiting, but I do appreciate that.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
[Chuckles] Go and change.

Cassandra
Ena is surprised, delighted, maybe feeling something a little different at this very ornery American, trying to put on like all of the airs for her. And I think she just kind of stands there while he goes back up, just chuckling to herself about it.

T.
And he returns to his room, changes into his regular suit, takes the jewels off, takes the cravat off, toys with the pocket square for a while. Like…

Mr. John (T.)
Well, you gotta have a pop of color.

T.
And finally decides to leave it there. But then unbuttons his shirt, so it’s just kind of exposing his chest, and leaves on the new shoes.

Mr. John (T.)
Better?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes.

Cassandra
And I think she just straightens his coat a little bit.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Come along, then. The night’s not going to wait.

Mr. John (T.)
Ladies first.

Kim
Miss Douglas, now you are taking to the water tonight, but where specifically?

Natalia
Maesie is going to try her luck at Cremorne Gardens, to see if she can approach the creature from the water.

[A London street at night]

Kim
I think we find you walking through Cheyne Walk. It is a street that is along the harbor, and it’s very close to Cremorne Gardens. As you are passing, you can smell roasting coffee beans and delicious suppers from open windows. You hear the whistle of steamer ships in the distance. I think in a little shadowy corner, you hear the hopelessly stupid giggling of young lovers who have found a small place to reconnect.

I have a Paint the Scene for you all here, as Maesie is making her way down the street. This street, just a few hundred feet from Cremorne Gardens, will become the center of an artistic movement in London in a few short years. What do you see right now that hints at this future?

T.
There is a warehouse for typically receiving shipping materials that has already been converted into a multi-occupant loft where impoverished youth, here to embrace the image of the starving artist, have set up shabby curtains in lieu of walls, and all take up residence with one another, sharing bills and wine and food.

Natalia
There is a gathering of artists on a lawn with a delicately dressed model sitting in the middle of them, as they all sketch her with charcoal.

Robert
It’s closed for the evening at this point, but there is a small odds-and-ends store that recently has started putting paints, charcoal sticks, and other tools of the trade in its window.

Cassandra
On Cheyne Walk, we see a small wooden platform. And we see a busker, a young man, 15, 16 years old, who is doing his best to juggle. But he’s juggling these old glass bottles. But he’s very happy to be there. He’s smiling, he feels joy, and he’s hoping that some young lovers walking along the street will stop by and drop some coin at his feet.

Kim
Miss Douglas, I’d love to hear about your transformation.

[Gentle harp music]

Natalia
Much like last time, Maesie takes off all of her clothes as she approaches the water and brings out her pelt, which is still mostly severed in two pieces but has started being put back together. And as she walks into the water, she wraps it around herself and then dives into the waves and re-emerges as her seal self – with the distinction that now across the left side of her body, there are what appear to be gold stitches. And then right below that, the same silver leafy embroidered patterns that were seen on Sir Richard Harlowe’s skin, where she attempted to fix the pelt with the silver thread, it has now taken on that shape. And she dives into the water.

Kim
When we invoke Moonlight Upon the Waves, you get to choose two boons and one complication. What would you like to choose today?

Natalia
I would like to find a clue, and I’d like to find a keepsake. I ask another hunter what it is, and add it to my Personal Quarters. And for my complication… I’m going to say a creature of the deep demands a favor in return for my help.

Kim
And Mr. Lloyd.

[A London street at night]

Robert
Rabit heads down Savile Row, to the former shop of Vittorio Clemenza that is now being run by Miss Beaumont.

Kim
Much like what Miss Thanero found my day, Miss Beaumont’s door remains closed. There is a little sign out front that says “Appointments Only.” But you do see the glow of a lantern burning from beyond the veiled window.

Robert
Rabbit knocks on the door first. Is there any response?

[The sounds of the city slowly fade to a low hum]

Kim
There is no response within the shop, yet the hum of the street grows quiet.

Robert
Then he tries the doorknob itself. Does it open or is it locked?

Kim
The door opens for you.

[Discordant, unsettling ambient tones]

Robert
Rabbit walks into the shop. He’d actually not been here back when it was operated by Mr. Clemenza, but he seems to be led by something not visual. He seems to know where he’s going, despite the fact that he’s never been here before, and heads deeper in towards the light that you mentioned.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, you enter this space. It is very well-attired with beautiful mannequins wearing what looks like impossible couture designs. This showroom is empty. You hear a little bit of humming from a close door further within this shop.

Robert
Rabbit continues on towards the door, stops, and again politely knocks at it.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
And who might that be?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I believe I’ve sent a messenger or two ahead of me, so I think you probably have an idea who I am.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
And what have you brought me?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
A gift, and a message.

Kim
The door opens for you.

Let’s return to the Four Magpies. Natalia.

[Pleasant piano]

Kim
Curtis Jackson is a young barrow boy who has heard rumors of the Four Magpies, but never visited before. How do we see him make his first nervous steps inside, and how is he drawn in?

Natalia
Curtis Jackson is very hesitant in his approach to the Four Magpies. He’s wringing his hands, he’s adjusting all of his clothing. He’s dressed in his nicest attire. And typical to what he’s used to, he is like buttoned all the way up, his hair is slicked back, he’s looking as nice and proper as he has ever looked in his life because he wants to make such a good impression. And as he approaches the Four Magpies, he sees lingering outside the door a man lighting a cigarette whose hair is unkempt, hanging in his eyes. A shirt, unbuttoned dangerously low, showing a smattering of fur on his chest. And this man looks up at Curtis through his hair. And seeing that Curtis is very nervous to approach, approaches him instead, adjusts the little tie at his neck, takes a cigarette out of his mouth, puts it in Curtis’s… Grabs him by the neckerchief, and drags him into the bar.

[Discordant, unsettling ambient tones]

Kim
Mr. Lloyd. You enter into a dimly lit space. Dimly lit, even though there are dozens of lamps hanging from the ceiling. But the candles within are small, as if the flickering light is seeking to escape this modest room. You see shelves overflow with cascading bolts of expensive cloth. The walls within this room are overgrown with grasping vines and withered flowers. There are suits and gowns of the most exquisite craftsmanship that are lining the room of this private workshop, each one connected by faint, silvery thread. Each one frozen in uncannily human gestures. These are not mannequins. These garments are worn on the hollow bodies of gentlemen.

I have a Paint the Scene, here. The bodies dressed and preserved here have been arranged with obsessive attention to detail. How does their presentation mimic the setting of a fae court?

Robert
In addition to the impossible couture that each of these figures is wearing, they are all also wearing masks, most of which have some sort of animal, insect, or natural motif. These masks appear to be handmade, but with a craftsmanship that would put the best Venetian artists to shame.

T.
One mannequin is positioned in front of two chairs, one of which stands empty and has gossamer wings spreading from his back made of spider silk, but they appear to be wings. And he is in the middle of juggling three crystal orbs that resemble dew drops.

Cassandra
In another corner of this room we see two men sitting at a table, the table looking like it has grown out of the floor. And in between these two men is a contract, and the two of them appear to be in the midst of striking a bargain.

Natalia
All of the mannequins are men dressed in formal attire, except for one placed distinctly away from all of the men. That is a female mannequin, wearing the most beautiful black gown that is almost glowing with starlight, and a gilded crown atop her head.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, Mistress Beaumont stands before you. She appears to be in middle age, and she is of captivating beauty – what you can see of her through her man silk veils and scarves that she has wrapped around her face and body.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
Gift first.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Of course.

Robert
And Rabbit reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out a small jewelry box. Leather, with a little bit of gilding along the edges. Opens it up, and inside is a single rabbit's foot.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I wouldn’t dare to dream to meet with someone of your station without providing something. But first let me ask you, what shall I call you?

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
You may call me The Weaver.

Robert
Rabbit bows his head slightly and hands the box towards her. When she reaches to take it from his hands, he immediately grabs the wrist that she proffered forward and pins her up against a wall by it.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I am giving you all the respect that a jumped up, lesser gentry of your station properly earns. Like I said, I reckon I know who you are, and I reckon you know who I am. I may not walk the ways or carry any title but one anymore. But I can still take you, pull those pretty little fangs out of your head, give them to the High Queen as a gift, slit your throat, and use your blood as ink in my book if you try and fuck with me in any way. Do we understand each other?

[Shadows in the Smoke theme]

Kim
Shadows in the Smoke is a Kitten Marlowe production. This episode was edited and produced by Kim Dalton, and featured a theme song by Jake Pierle. You can find out more about us by visiting KittenMarlowe.com, signing up for our newsletter, or following us on socials. For Discord access, an exclusive behind the scenes show, and more, visit Patreon.com/KittenMarlowe and sexy singles in your area, our Kitten Marlowe patrons, in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.