Shadows in the Smoke S1E15 - "I So Desperately Wish to Return"

Shadows in the Smoke S1E15 – “I So Desperately Wish To Return”

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]

[Dark, ambient tones]

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?

Kim
 You hear Mistress Beaumont giggle, and you catch the hint of a smile from behind her many veils. And then, quick as lightning, a large spider’s leg comes out from her gown, a bit of Miss Beaumont’s glamour wavering as that leg is pressed against your throat, dripping in venom.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
 Now, now, those are not very kind words considering you are a guest in my home.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
 Well, that’s the magic word now, isn’t it?

Robert
 And he releases her wrist.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
 I see we understand each other in this moment.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
 Perhaps, though I don’t believe that I’ve hurt any of your friends, Morgan.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
 Well, I just am wondering what you’re doing in this city. As far as I was aware, it wasn’t exactly easy to cross The Ways these days.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
 Are you a bit homesick, dear?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
 Well, judging by the way this place is laid out, I’m not the only one.

Kim
 Let’s go to the pub.

Cassandra
 Ena and Mr. John have been walking down the cobbles side by side, and Ena stops in front of a nondescript door, looks over her shoulder at him, gives him a wink. And as soon as the door opens, there is loud raucous music coming out the door.

[jaunty piano music and muffled sounds of people talking]

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Come on, then, Mr. John. You’re certainly no stranger to a place like this.

Mr. John (T.)
 Ain’t ashamed to say I ain’t.

T.
 And he allows her to hold the door open for him.

Cassandra
 When we walk in, Ena walks up to the bar, looks at the bartender, gives two fingers. He nods to her and turns around to a wall of glass bottles very clearly holding liquor. But, instead of being in new bottles, we see old, shaded, scavenged bottles holding this alcohol instead. And he comes back with two worn glasses with amber liquid in them.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Cheers.

Mr. John (T.)
 Uh, with all due respect, Miss, I think I’ll be sticking to coffee this evening. I haven’t been feeling myself lately and I could use more of a pick-me-up than a put-me-down.

Cassandra
 Ena looks at the bartender and just swirls her finger. The bartender nods and goes back to a set of double swinging doors and into what is a kitchen behind the bar.

Mr. John (T.)
 Meaning no disrespect, of course. I like to keep my wits about me.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Not a problem at all, love.

Cassandra
 She slams one of the drinks, picks up his, drinks that one.

T.
 One Shot puts his hands on the bar waiting for the coffee to be prepared, and just kind of rubs his thumbs and fiddles with his fingers, unsure what to do with them. He keeps glancing at Miss Thanero’s, but remembering her shaking away when he tried to touch her hand earlier that morning, doesn’t dare reach out to hold it.

Mr. John (T.)
 So you, uh—not that there’s not something to like—but what is it you like about this joint?

Cassandra
 She turns and puts her back to the bar, having finished both of the drinks, and kind of looks around.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 It’s the people, really. People just going about their normal lives, coming in for a drink, wiping off the day. It’s just so… I’d say mundane but it’s actually quite beautiful to just live a life that is temporary. You don’t know what comes tomorrow. You don’t really focus on what came before. And there’s always an end in sight.

Mr. John (T.)
 Well, all lives is temporary, ain’t they?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 For some, I suppose.

[piano music fades]

Mr. John (T.)
 Not the way it was taught to me growing up. You know, life eternal and all that, if you take the Lord into your heart.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 This, my friend, has nothing to do with God.

Mr. John (T.)
 Eh, I didn’t say God.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Fair enough.

Mr. John (T.)
 I ain’t never put much stock in Christianity myself. I believe Jesus was just another fella and he had some good ideas, and he got himself killed shouting about ‘em.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Well, you would be right about that.

Mr. John (T.)
 You know, I ain’t been in a church in a long time, not unless I was sleeping there unawares. Rather sleeping there with the tenders being unawares. And [sighs] it’s just got me in a mood. I mean, I seen things that I know are something other than mortal. Dare go so far as to say I’ve chewed fat with the divine. I don’t know if ordinary people is capable of supernatural things. I don’t know, science says maybe. There’s Miss Douglas, you know. You know what she is. She ain’t ordinary. I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to believe what Rabbit does is what he does, talking to the dead and the like. But maybe I just wanna believe that life is finite, that there ain’t no divine promise waiting for none of us, and the dead can stay dead.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Yes, there is definitely an allure to unending blackness.

Mr. John (T.)
 Most people picture clouds and harps or, you know, eternal fire. Unending blackness ain’t never had no allure to me.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 I think it’s the quiet. The not having to see. The not having to know. There’s something about that I wish I could understand.

Mr. John (T.)
 Close your eyes and plug your ears. Think all the understanding will come to ya.

Cassandra
 Ena just smirks at that and turns around. The bartender is coming over with the coffee and she just gives him another two fingers, fully intent on drinking both hers and Mr. John’s drink.

Mr. John (T.)
 This is my unending blackness.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 No sugar for you, then?

Mr. John (T.)
 Never. I guess what I’m asking, Miss Thanero—

T.
 And he sets the cup down.

Mr. John (T.)
 Do you believe in God?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 I don’t believe in a singular God. You could say I’ve known many of them over my time.

Mr. John (T.)
 Ah, spiritualist.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 In a way, but not in the way you think.

Mr. John (T.)
 Such a big defining part of my folks, you know, everything that they did was in the name of God. I couldn’t leave the house on Sunday unless I was in my, well, my Sunday best. You always seem to dress like that. I ain’t had nothing tying me to this world for a while. And yet I’m still afraid that, well, that it might be unending black on the other side. I don’t wanna face that.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 I don’t fear death. In a way, I almost long for it.

[low rumbling sound of being underwater]

Kim
 Miss Douglas, taking to the waters of Chelsea Harbor. There is a cool familiarity to treading these waters. You find yourself sinking into the low light, getting acclimated to the cold, to the deafening sound of water all about your ears. Something catches your notice as you are swimming about the harbor. It is a small piece of bone upon which there is something carved within it.

Natalia
 Maesie swims up to this bone and kind of, sort of starts to, like, inspect it.

Kim
 As you do so, it is pulled ever so slightly out of your grasp, as if held aloft by unseen hands.

Natalia
 Maesie jerks back at the sudden movement and I think is willing to engage in this sort of play. And swims back after it a little bit, maintaining not a healthy distance but not fully as close as she was last time, but swims closer.

Kim
 In your transformed state, you can speak with creatures of the sea. Describing this as a creature of the sea would be inaccurate, but I still think there is just this knowing sense in your brain as if whatever this presence is can communicate without words to you. It says—

[slow ethereal notes]

Lady Thames (Kim)
 Such a gift is not given without the promise of a favor, Little Pearl.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
 Well, that depends on how worthy the gift is of the favor.

Lady Thames (Kim)
 You seek one who swims these water, do you not?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
 Very much so.

Lady Thames (Kim)
 I seek one who called me from my waters. You know a Morgan Lloyd.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
 We call him Rabbit.

Lady Thames (Kim)
 Do me a favor and I will give you what you seek, Little Pearl.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
 What exactly would this favor entail?

Kim
 Now held aloft with the piece of bone is a beautiful, small shell.

Lady Thames (Kim)
 Place this under his pillow.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
 Why?

Lady Thames (Kim)
 It is not your place to ask why, Little Pearl.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
 It is my place to accept favors. Whether I want to or not is up to me.

Lady Thames (Kim)
 You may decline, but then I will decline to help.

Kim
 And that piece of bone is pulled further into the inky darkness.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
 I do not do well when others tell me what to do. I feel that you can grasp this from the way I am speaking to you. But there are things out there that are more like anything I have ever known in London that I wish to understand, that I wish to know, because it means that maybe I might be able to return home. Do you feel comfortable preying on a person who is vulnerable and trying to do their best?

Kim
 Sounds like a Night Move. What are you afraid will happen if you fail in your negotiations with the Lady Thames?

Natalia
 Obviously, losing this clue that has just come within her grasp.

Kim
 Miss Douglas, it’s worse than that. The Lady Thames will sweep you away, far away from London, far away from your friends, lost in the inky blackness of the water. This is going to be a Night Move with Presence. I have to play upon Hesitant here.

Natalia
 In order to give myself advantage and therefore be rolling a flat roll, Maesie is going to have brought along her fisherman’s net full of bones so that she can try and sneak that bone away from the Lady Thames.

Kim
 Okay, so this is going to be a flat roll. 2d6 plus your Presence.

Natalia
 My Presence is zero so it’s gonna be great. Just ultimate flat roll. [Rolls dice.] Seven.

[Pleasant piano]

Kim
 Back to the Four Magpies. T., a well-dressed toff enters the pub, clearly cruising for trade. Which eager lads compete—goodnaturedly or otherwise—for his attention, and who just scoffs at him?

T.
 This poncy, scarecrow-statured man closes the raucous music of the outside world behind him when he latches the door. Immediately, two legionnaires have no time for him and position their chairs so that their backs are facing him because they recognize him as a corporal from the Fifth Regiment whose money, and not his valor, bought him his position. But the roughhanded stevedores are catcalling and wolf whistling to him, recognizing him immediately as somebody who does not frequent this establishment like they do. And they also know that they can either curry his sugar and ease the burden of their lives, or worst case, if he chooses one of them, they could blackmail him, knowing the rest of their union would have their backs as witness. But doing neither of these, in the corner, set away from all of the men, drinking by herself, is a woman: a crossdresser in a marigold orange wig and her very best gown, and it is to her that the toff approaches.

[piano fades, replaced by ambient drone]

Kim
 I’d like to return to Miss Thanero and Mr. John. So, it kind of seems like there’s a Vulnerable Scene happening right here. Miss Thanero, your vice is comforting the dying. I think there could be a read that this is what you are doing to Mr. John, who is mortal, as you all are having this discussion of kind of like what lies beyond. I could certainly make a case for it if we want to go down that route.

Cassandra
 I think we could, as long as it helps T. clear a Condition. If it helps him feel less Drained.

Kim
 So, if we wanna go down that route, Mr. John, you can feel free to clear Drained. I think the conversation and the coffee are both helping to alleviate that, certainly. And then, at the end of the night, you can give me a clue. But I also don’t want to stand in the way of this scene. I just wanted to establish what it was we were doing here. [chuckles]

[muffled sounds of people talking]

Mr. John (T.)
 I ain’t never had no promise of just reward. Can’t say that I’m proud of what I’ve done with the time I’ve had, but something keeps me going day in and day out.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 What do you think that is?

Mr. John (T.)
 For a while, it was the pursuit of something. I wanted to put both hands around this world of ours and pick it up and look at it from every angle. Explored all my own country, and I crossed the pond to come explore yours. And I can’t say that I’ve seen half of everything there is to report, but I’ve seen more than I care to. I guess what keeps me going is…

T.
 And he rubs his thumbs around the edge of the coffee cup and then decides something to himself and looks her in the eye.

Mr. John (T.)
 I don’t wanna call it quits until I make up amends for all the wrongs I’ve done.

[ethereal humming]

Cassandra
 And Ena, ungloved for the evening, the tattoo of Aegis on her palm starts to glow very faintly gold. And for a brief moment she puts her hand over Mr. John’s on this coffee cup, still holding this eye contact, and says—

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Don’t trouble yourself with what comes after. Death has its own gentle way of explaining things.

Cassandra
 And then she lets go of his hand and, for a brief moment, much like we saw earlier in the day, her hair kind of flows with a breeze that is not actually present in this room.

Mr. John (T.)
 And here I thought you and I were the only ones natural in our little cohort.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Darling, I am far from natural.

Mr. John (T.)
 I’ve had that opinion for some time now, but thought it was just… well, I don’t know what.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Maybe someday you will.

[slow ethereal ambient notes]

Kim
 Miss Douglas, the churning waters about you still and soften for a moment and you hear the Lady Thames in your head once again.

Lady Thames (Kim)
 It is not my wish to impose my will upon you, Little Pearl. Your choices are your own. If you do not wish to grant me this favor, then I will allow it. You may take your treasure, but I may call upon you, Little Pearl. And the next time I call, I expect you to answer.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
 I understand. I do not mean to offend.

Lady Thames (Kim)
 You have spent much time among the humans. It has softened you. I do not hold it against you.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
 Then you understand why I so desperately wish to return.

Lady Thames (Kim)
 In time, Little Pearl. In time I will welcome you back to my waters. Back to your home.

[rolling underwater sounds]

Kim
 And the little piece of bone drifts back in your direction, as does the shell if you choose to take it with you. I will give you the Condition: Marked by the Lady Thames.

Natalia
 Maesie will take both. And if she could cry underwater, she would.

Kim
 Miss Douglas, as you are inspecting this piece of bone, you find that it is infact scrimshaw. And this scrimshaw depicts a fishlike man rising from the water. That is a clue for the Creature of Cremorne Gardens.

Natalia
 My fish boy!

Kim
 And you also get a Personal Quarters item. I think it makes sense to make it that shell from the Lady Thames.

Natalia
 Works for me.

Kim
 Alright, go ahead and add that to your personal quarters. Let’s go back to Mistress Beaumont’s workshop.

[windlike ambient drone, echoey rasp]

Robert
 Now that the combination of ritual and threatening that serves as a friendly greeting from members of the Unseelie has passed and the Weaver has called Rabbit her guest, he visibly relaxes just a little bit.

Kim
 She pulls a bottle of emerald green liquid off of the shelf and pours a glass and offers it to you.

Robert
 Morgan takes it, holds it up as though he is toasting her, and takes a sip.

Kim
 She sips as well.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
 It is nice to see, well, not exactly a friendly face, but a familiar set of eyes, let’s say.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
 You ask what it is I am doing here on this plane. I am sharing my gift, of course. Those who walk these streets come to me because I offer a chance to be transformed into the person they always dreamed of. Tell me, Morgan, what does your heart truly desire?

[rumbling bass notes grow in intensity]

Robert
 He smiles, stares deep into her eyes, raises a hand to her cheek. But this hand holds one of those iron florin spikes that he previously used to investigate her work, and he presses it against her face through the layers of veil and shawl so that she can just feel the burning. And then he kisses her.

Kim
 So this sounds like a Night Move to me.

Robert
 Actually, it may look kind of weird, but for the darker fae, this is being vulnerable. And by causing pain and enjoying it, I’m trying to start up that Vulnerable Move.

Kim
 I love this. Go ahead and clear a Condition.

Robert
 I think I’m going to go ahead and clear Some People Are Beyond Saving.

Kim
 However, engaging in a Vulnerable Scene with a… technically, rules as written, you can only engage with Side Characters, but I like this too much so I’m going to let you engage with a Danger. It still involves a Night Move though, so we are still doing a Night Move right now. What are you afraid will happen if you fail here?

Robert
 She has already accepted Morgan as her guest, so there’s not much that Miss Beaumont can do to him in this moment. So I think the real danger lies with what Morgan will do. What I’m afraid will happen is that Morgan will get too into this moment and forget his other problems, and just spend his entire…I don’t know, life, let’s call it, devoted to Miss Beaumont.

Kim
 It’s worse than that. Mr. Lloyd, you never return to Hargrave House. You remain here as a loyal servant and consort of Mistress Beaumont.

Robert
 I am going to be rolling with advantage though, as I gave her the rabbit’s foot that was in my personal quarters as a gift, and so I am invoking that.

Kim
 Fantastic. This is going to be a Night Move with Vitality.

Robert
 I rolled a 2, a 5, and a 6. So that is a 10 with my -1.

[pleasant piano]

Kim
 Let’s make our final trip to the Four Magpies. Robert, as last orders are called and people start to file out of the pub, how do we see Polly looking after her customers with words or action where needed?

Robert
 Polly actually walks out the door and gives everyone, you know, a goodbye, makes sure their safe on their way. But really what she’s doing is keeping an eye out for the all too frequent raids that happen in this establishment. It is, unfortunately, still Victorian England and this sort of love is still a crime. And when she does spot someone walking suspiciously in too nice of an outfit for this neighborhood, buttons a little too polished and the shoes are police boots, she immediately stops the men from leaving the bar, shuts the door, and takes the remaining guests out the back exit.

[quick harp music]

Kim
 Miss Douglas, I’d love to hear the end of your night.

Natalia
 As Maesie swims back to shore, the pelt on the sides of her body starts to rip and to burst and to pull apart literally at the seams. The only thing holding it together being the two mends that she’s made so far. And she claws her way to the shore and starts pulling the pelt off as it rips away from her, in agony, and she drags herself ashore. She puts her clothes back on but stays here on the shore, sitting in the sand, listening to the waves and the water, examining this bone for any clues, anything else she might be able to glean from it. And, if I can, like, tries to call out to the creature, tries to find it here at night when there are fewer people around.

[harp music fades, replaced by ambient drone]

Kim
 What is it you say?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
 Excuse me, um, Mr. Fish Man. I do not know your name. It was not in the newspaper and no one’s really spoken of you having a name. If you have one, I’d love to know it! Um, my name’s Maesie. I’d just like to talk, um, if you’re open to it.

Kim
 Miss Douglas, you speak these words into the air. A few moments pass. And then you hear on the wind, this sad, ethereal song washing over you, washing over Cremorne Gardens. This haunting, echoing melody.

[echoing high-pitched notes]

Natalia
 Does she recognize it as vocalization or an instrument?

Kim
 It’s a vocalization.

Natalia
 She’d follow that to the source.

Kim
 You follow it back to the promenade. The music grows louder and then stops as you see a large shape slip beneath the water, ending its song.

Natalia
 She watches that figure slink away and just calls out after it—

Maesie (Natalia)
 I’ll be back tomorrow, if you want. Please.

Kim
 Mr. Lloyd, on a 10+ on the Night Move, narrative control falls to you, so I will leave it to you to describe the conclusion of your night with Mistress Beaumont.

[sensual cello]

Robert
 Morgan and the Weaver fall into each other, tearing off the many that they are each wearing. Kissing each other, biting each other, devouring each other. Morgan pushes her down and, holding that iron spike in his hand, draws delicate designs on her skin which appear as red welts raising to the surface. He then gently kisses them before pushing her all the way to the floor and having his violent, passionate, hungry way with her.

Kim
 Finally, Mr. John and Miss Thanero.

[muffled sounds of people talking]

Mr. John (T.)
 What is that stuff anyway?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 What? My drink?

Mr. John (T.)
 Yeah.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Mr. John, it is the cheapest whiskey you can find.

Mr. John (T.)
 Next time, I’ll be sure to take you up on it. I appreciate ya talking to me like this. I know you didn’t have to and now I feel right as rain.

Cassandra
 Ena looks at him. Her hair calms. She turns back around, slams that one last drink, pats him on the shoulder, and says—

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Come on, then. Let’s get out of here and see what else the night holds.

T.
 And Mr. John tips his hat, stands from the bar.

Mr. John (T.)
 Now, I know you’re not the type of lady that needs such a thing, but I hope you won’t begrudge a man buying your drinks.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
 Oh, Mr. John, your money’s no good here.

Mr. John (T.)
 And it weren’t no good in American neither. Let’s beat tracks!

Cassandra
 [Laughs]

T.
 And he makes a dash for the door and throws it open.

[people talking fades, replace by ambient drone]

Kim
 We linger for a moment inside this pub. In a shadowy corner, at a small little table, sit two forms draped in veils of black lace. They have two cups in front of them, but they have not been touched this entire evening. As the pair of you leave, these figures intertwine their gloved hands with each other and speak quietly in unison—

The Sisters Sendulla (Kim)
 Mr. John, aren’t you a pretty one? A pity about those clothes. You will meet our mistress. What a vision you’ll be once she’s worked her magic on you.

[an ominous, rumbling woosh]

[lilting piano music]

Kim
 So, first thing we do in the Dawn is collect rewards if we resolved any Threats. Nope! [giggles]

T.
 Not tonight.

Cassandra
 Nope, did not. Not today.

Kim
 And then we resolve any moves that resolve in the Dawn. So, we had some Vulnerable Scenes on the table today. Mr. John and Miss Thanero, you owe me a clue, and Mr. Lloyd, you owe me a clue as well. It can be for any of the active Threats. I suppose, right now, just Creature of Cremorne Gardens and Spider Silk Seamstress. We’ve already answered Kilburn Abbey.

T.
 I think on our way back after our night out together, it begins to rain and Mr. John takes out an umbrella and offers to hold it over Miss Thanero. And as they make their way back through the streets, they see people who are getting wet who were unprepared, like, tasting it. And Mr. John holds out the hand that Miss Thanero touched and brings his finger back to his lips.

Mr. John (T.)
 It’s saltwater.

T.
 So I’d have saltwater rain as a clue for the Creature of Cremorne Gardens.

Cassandra
 Nice.

Kim
 I love that. Robert, what about you?

Robert
 In the early hours of the morning, just as dawn is cracking, Morgan is buttoning his shirt back up and slipping his boots back on. And as he slinks out of Miss Beaumont’s workroom, he spots a sketch of a beautiful gown with a list of fabrics and notions required for it. And amongst those are impossible things like thread made of moonbeams, five yards of stolen dreams, and the laughter of a child.

Kim
 Excellent.

Cassandra
 Great clue.

Kim
 Let’s do our Dawn Questions. Did the Hunters resolve a Threat?

[chorus of nos]

Cassandra
 We did not.

Kim
 Did we answer a Question?

[chorus of yeses]

Cassandra
 We did!

Kim
 Did you get an Echo in the Night? Mr. John, what about you?

T.
 Yeah, the crossdresser being the only woman in the Four Magpies sitting apart from the rest echoing the one woman in the workshop.

Kim
 Absolutely. Miss Douglas?

Natalia
 I had a couple. People drawing with charcoal, a little the adjusting of the necktie, the smattering of fur.

Kim
 Miss Thanero?

Cassandra
 I had two, I think. The juggler juggling the old glass bottles and then the old glass bottles in the tavern holding the alcohol. And then the other one was my finger wave of two drinks in Tyrnavos-upon-Thames and then same gesture inside the Blind Owl.

T.
 I’d also say your handholding. Choosing to hold my hand and your intimacy in the Paint the Scene was holding hands.

Cassandra
 Oh, yeah, you’re right! So many, look at me go.

Kim
 And Mr. Lloyd?

Robert
 I had a couple as well, but I’m going to go with holding the face, staring into the eyes, and then kissing.

Kim
 Miss Thanero, did you appear in London society wearing risque or avant garde fashion?

Cassandra
 During the Day, I did.

Kim
 And did you let someone touch you and then make them pay the price for doing so?

Cassandra
 I’m gonna leave that up to you because, I mean, I literally kissed the dying man in my Vulnerable Scene and then my idea was making him pay for it by killing him, but that was also something he wanted. So, I leave that up to you to decide if that was achieved.

Kim
 I think I’ll give it to you.

Cassandra
 Sick, thank you.

Kim
 Miss Douglas, did you trust someone with sensitive information despite knowing the risks?

Natalia
 I don’t think so. I don’t think that came up today.

Kim
 Did you mourn being unable to return home?

Natalia
 That I absolutely did do.

Kim
 Mr. Lloyd, did you have a face to face encounter with a dark entity?

Robert
 I did.

Kim
 And did you make love to a dark entity because it felt good?

Robert
 Same one.

Kim
 Yup.

Cassandra
 Hell yeah.

Kim
 Mr. John, did you encourage a fellow Hunter to let loose for a change?

T.
 Having a drink with Miss Thanero might count.

Kim
 Yeah, I’ll give it to you. Did you have a raw, passionate sexual encounter during which your feral nature manifested?

T.
 Yes, that was with Charlotte.

Kim
 Yes. Does anybody level up?

T.
 I do.

Robert
 I do.

Cassandra
 I do.

Natalia
 [fake sobs] I’m so behind.

Kim
 [laughs] T., Cass, and Robert, you get to pick advancements.

T.
 I’m going to be taking a stat boost and increase my Presence to 2.

Robert
 I think I am going to take a ability modifier boost and bump my Presence up to 2.

Kim
 Y’all are some very smooth people.

Natalia
 Maesie is not. [snorts]

Cassandra
 [giggles]

Natalia
 Presence is still 0.

Cassandra
 I took an advancement last time I leveled up, so I am going to take a new move. I am going to take Giveth.

Kim
 [gasps] Read it.

Cassandra
 Giveth. At any time, you can declare that a Side Character is secretly one of your worshippers. Describe how the Side Character subtly or not so subtly debases themselves before you in the scene. Then, scar your reflection. Whenever you make a gift of something from your personal quarters to a worshipper, they will do exactly as you say, no questions asked, up to and including destroying themselves. If you demand information from them, it may come in the form of a clue at the Keeper’s discretion. If another Hunter debases themselves at your feet, they may take the following Condition: Worshipper. If they do, they mark 1 XP and you scar your reflection. So long as they have the Condition, the following is added to their Dawn Questions list and is always marked: Did you continue to perfect your worship of the Undeniable? You get to answer for them. If you say yes, you mark XP instead of them, then give them something from your personal quarters which goes on their sheet unmarked.

Kim
 Just in case any of you are thinking of joining a cult.

Natalia
 T.’s face right now is so funny.

Kim
 [laughing] T.!

T.
 The storytelling implications of this are incredible.

Kim
 It’s a big choice that I have never seen in play but I would be, like, very fascinated to see it.

T.
 I mean, I feel like we’ve been planting seeds.

Kim
 I feel like we have been inadvertently.

Cassandra
 I think there’s a lot of opportunity in this particular relationship for the debasing piece of that.

Kim
 Yeah.

Cassandra
 Of, like, you debasing yourself in front of me in some way.

T.
 I think so, too. And also, like, it’s such a nice—I don’t know if foil’s the right word—but a twist on what John is like to other people.

Kim
 All very interesting things that I can’t wait to see the ramifications of. Sleep well, Hunters, for a new day is just on the horizon.

[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 join Games from the Wildwood and all of our incredible Kitten Marlowe patrons in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.