Shadows in the Smoke S1E2 - "People Die Here Everyday"

Shadows in the Smoke S1E2 – “People Die Here Everyday”

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
Hargrave House is an old, Gothic Revival style building. It stands out from its neighbors on Belgrave Square, which are done in the more conventional, classical style. Hargrave House is also different because it’s not just a residence, but a place of work. Dark work. And some more of that dark work has just landed on the doorstep.

[A Beethoven string quartet plays]

The Daily Telegraph has a story about a washerwoman named Clara Yarborough, who was found dead in a hallway of her tenement house in Whitechapel. Her face had been carefully removed. This is the third such crime this month. The other two victims, Edward Clive and Dolly Merryweather, also lived in Whitechapel. People are saying it’s old Sally No-Face who’s doing it, but Sally No-Face is just a legend. Children have been singing her song in the streets for as long as anyone can remember:

Poor Old Sally, trapped in a fire
Her looks burned up without a trace
If you’re lovely, with fate most dire
She’ll come and take your lovely face!

Every Threat, I get to pose a question to one of the hunters of Hargrave House. Miss Douglas, you have a history with the now deceased washerwoman, Clara Yarborough. What is it?

Natalia
I think one day when she was down by – I assume a river, cleaning. I very much scared her, popping up in the water as a seal. Barked in her face, and swam away.

Kim
Hunters, this Threat is called Sally No-Face. Whenever I introduce a Threat, I also tell you some Questions that are associated with that Treat. Sally No-Face has three Questions that are associated with her. Answering any of them will allow you to resolve the Threat. It’s kind of a “choose your own adventure” as to how you’d like to go about it.

So the very first Question is “Where is the killer hiding?” And that is a Complexity 4. And we resolve the Threat by infiltrating the killer’s lair, then capturing or destroying them. The next Question is “How is the killer choosing their victims?” That is a Complexity 6, and you resolve the Threat by luring the killer to you, and then capturing or destroying them. And finally, the Question “What is the true identity of the killer, and what drove them to this madness?” Which is a Complexity 8. And you resolve the Threat by empathizing with the killer, and then bringing them in peacefully.

What Complexity means is, when it comes time to trying to answer those Questions… Like, let’s say for instance we’re trying to answer the first one, the Complexity 4 Question of “Where is the killer hiding?” We’ve gathered up enough Clues to our satisfaction, we have built a narrative we all agree on, and it’s time to roll dice. Let’s say that we’ve applied five Clues to the question “Where is the killer hiding?” When it comes time to roll the Answer a Question move, we are going to roll plus the number of applied Clues – in this case, 5 – minus the Question’s complexity. So 5 – 4, you are making that roll at a +1. So generally speaking, if you want to make sure that the answer you are arriving at is correct, if you want to ensure your success, it is recommended to try to apply more Clues to the Question than the Question’s complexity. Because that way, you are guaranteeing that you are making that roll with a positive number.

Now there being three Questions – each one, if answered, will resolve the threat of Sally No-Face – it’s really a question of how dangerous do you want this encounter with Sally to be? The Complexity 4, if you answer it, you are confronting Sally in their own lair. That’s a pretty dangerous place to be. The second one, you are luring Sally out of their lair and towards a trap that you have devised. Both of those will result in Sally probably dying or being captured – more than likely, you will have to kill her. It is only the third and final Question, the one that asks you to deduce their true identity and what drove them to start stealing faces, that gives you the opportunity to bring Sally in peacefully, with no threat of bloodshed. So it’s really up to you as to how you want to go about this and how you would like to deal with Sally. The easier the Question, the more dangerous the resolution, I suppose is the easiest way to put it.

Whenever I introduce a Threat, I also get to tell you about one unique resource that is associated with that Threat. Each Threat has a unique Threat Mask. This Mask is called The Mask of Beauty. If you are in a situation where you would like to spend a mask but you would not like to spend one of your personal Masks of the Past or Future, you can always choose to invoke the Threat-specific Mask if you are undertaking actions that somehow involve that Threat. However, there are a couple tradeoffs here. The first one being, you must pick this mask sight-unseen. It will ask you to narrate a flashback prompt, but you will not know what it is until you choose it.

Secondly, and this is unique to the 2025 version of The Between: if we get to the point where we are trying to answer the Question about Sally No-Face and we have rolled a miss or otherwise a result that does not please you and you would like to bump that roll up to a higher success tier… If the Threat-specific mask has not yet been used by any hunter during play, you may choose to spend the mask at that point and bump up the result of Answer a Question to the next success tier. This is a pretty major thing, because otherwise the only way to bump up the result of an Answer a Question move is for everybody at the table to choose to spend a Mask of the Past.

T.
Whoa.

Kim
So if you have managed to hold onto your Threat Mask until that point, you are spending one mask instead of four.

And now the Day Phase is yours, hunters. The Day Phase is the phase of play that is really in your hands. You tell me what it is you would like to do about London, whether that is investigating the current Threat – whether that’s having roleplay scenes with your fellow hunters, or perhaps undertaking scenes that pursue and answer one of your Dawn Questions – and I will draft up some scenes for you. The Day Phase, generally speaking, should feel pretty unhurried, pretty languid, relatively safe… At least, compared to the Night Phase.

But before we all get into that, I think the very first thing I would like to do, if you’re all amenable to it, is I would love a little group scene in Hargrave House between our four resident hunters. Mayhaps, over breakfast. Mayhaps, we have just received The Daily Telegraph telling the story of Clara Yarborough – a woman that Miss Douglas remembers.

[Birds chip, a fireplace crackles]

Natalia
I do believe Maesie Douglas is running through this house, holding the Telegraph, going—

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I know her!

Mr. John (T.)
That’s all well and good there, Douglas. It doesn’t have to be a loud announcement. People die everyday here, Douglas. Nothin’ to shout about, we’ll get to it in due time. Please tell me that someone has made coffee in this godforsaken manor.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Mr. John, I’ve got a pot going for you in the kitchen. It’s the best coffee from South Africa that I can find.

Mr. John (T.)
Much obliged, Miss Thanero.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Happy to share, sir.

Mr. John (T.)
Once I have a cup properly coursing through my veins, Miss Douglas, I’d be more than happy to hear about your friend and her untimely demise. Lord knows, it probably concerns us. Everything around here seems to.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Well I should hope so. I mean, her entire face is gone.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well that’s new.

Robert
At this point all the commotion and whatnot has finally roused Rabbit from his sleep, and he enters the kitchen bleary-eyed, shaking off last night’s excesses.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Rabbit!

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
What’s going on, then?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
There’s a dead woman!

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
There’s also coffee.

Mr. John (T.)
Take your pick.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
A dead woman?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I saw her. She’s this washerwoman. I used to know her. Well, “know her” is kind of an exaggerated way of saying it. I barked in her face one time when I was down by the river and she was cleaning her clothes. But yeah, she died. Her face was gone.

Mr. John (T.)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to remember news coming up about some other missing faces.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes, what were their names?

Mr. John (T.)
Merryweather I remember, like that explorer that done made his way to the Pacific at the behest of Thomas Jefferson. Come to think… where did this one turn up? You said she lived down by the river?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Yeah! I know her! I mean I don’t know her, know her, but I know she lives down by Whitechapel. I think that’s where all the other ones were found, too.

Mr. John (T.)
Think you’re right about that.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well three in one place would suggest that there’s a common threat ther ein the area. Maesie my love, can I see the paper please?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Absolutely.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Whitechapel’s a rough neighborhood, innit?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well this says that she was found in a tenement house.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
What are those?

Mr. John (T.)
A lodging where you can fit a lot of people who are down on their luck. Ain’t nobody in Whitechapel’s got too much money to throw around.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
So like this house?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh, dear, not like this house.

Mr. John (T.)
Something tells me she weren’t in the same business we were, this washerwoman friend of yours. Most of the folks around there, uh… earn their living at night.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
So, like... When they’re sleeping.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes, my little dove. Yes. That’s exactly what it is. Mr. John, please keep your evening proclivities to yourself.

Mr. John (T.)
I’m not saying anything the girl ain’t gonna learn someday for her darn self. All I mean to note is that I’ve been to Whitechapel and I know a couple of the neighbors around there. I can ask if anybody’s seen anything interesting, pre-missing faces.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I’ve done a bit of business down in Whitechapel myself. I could probably lend a hand with that.

Mr. John (T.)
Seeing as you and I both know a thing or two about late nights, Rabbit, I think it’s sensible we ask the locals around.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I was thinking I could go down to the river maybe later tonight. You know, when there’s fewer people around, and I can go for a swim.

T.
Would we know, when you go for a swim, the kind of body in which you are doing that? Is that something that you let us all in on?

Kim
I feel that given the fact that in Miss Douglas’s flavor text it is said that Hargrave House is harboring her as she is fixing her pelt, you are aware of Miss Douglas’s selkie nature. However I will say, Hargrave House is unaware of what sort of creature you turn into, Mr. John.

Mr. John (T.)
Seems a sensible point of order there, Miss Douglas. You can navigate ways that we would otherwise be unable to.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I will be around that area myself tonight, Maesie, so I would be happy to accompany you.

Mr. John (T.)
There some sort of fancy gala happening in Whitechapel whose invitation failed to make it down to my quarters?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Of course, Mr. John, you know that my celebrations are always the best.

Mr. John (T.)
One of these days I’ll have to see one for myself.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Someday, Mr. John. Someday. I don’t know that these are particularly up your alley.

Mr. John (T.)
High society ain’t never been too kind to me. I don’t see why I should be too kind to high society.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well, I think that you should go and check out the area and see if you can get any information about our three victims.

Mr. John (T.)
Sounds like my kind of work.

Kim
Alright, hunters. So, where is it you would like to go today?

T.
I think heading to the scene of the crime sounds up my alley. Whitechapel by day sounds more appealing than Whitechapel by night.

Robert
I think I’ll be joining Mr. John on that. I’m familiar with the area. Whitechapel is a place where I’ve probably done my odd work before.

Kim
What about the ladies, here? Miss Douglas and Miss Thanero?

Natalia
Well I don’t plan on going until nighttime, when I can take advantage of my Moonlight Upon the Waves. So I’m happy to tag along anywhere you’d like to go, Miss Thanero.

Cassandra
Well, I typically do a bit of shopping in the early part of the day.

[Natalia gasps in excitement]

Cassandra
So I think that’s what I’m going to do, if we’re going to do our work at night. And I definitely need something to wear this evening. I think I’m going to go to the shops.

Kim
I love this. The gentlemen going off to one of the most dangerous locations in London. And the ladies are going shopping. Fantastic. [Laughs]

Cassandra
You said we could go anywhere! [Laughs]

Kim
I did! I did, and I’m very pleased.

Alright, I would like to head to Whitechapel. I mean, I wouldn’t like to head to Whitechapel…

[Natalia snorts]

T.
Nobody would.

Kim
Whitechapel’s a little frightening. But, let’s go to Whitechapel.

[Sounds of a busy street]

Kim
Mr. John and Mr. Lloyd, you make your way to the Whitechapel tenement house. It is three stories tall. It is dirty and dingy. There are beggars and sex workers all over – both lingering on the steps of the tenement house itself, as well as inside its doors. Once you enter you are greeted with very poorly lit, dirty corridors.

I have a new mechanic to introduce, here. This is called Paint the Scene. Basically whenever we enter a new location I will ask all of the players present – even those who are not currently in the scene being discussed – a question. And basically, we will just do some shared storytelling. This helps us just establish truths about the scene, and about London itself.

So the Paint the Scene for the Whitechapel tenement house is as follows: This building was originally a charity project, now abandoned, for some wealthy do-gooder. What faded remnants of their largesse do you see around you?

T.
As soon as you enter, there’s this long, long hallway. And at the end of it is the brackets where a golden crucifix would have once hung, but has since been stripped away and sold by various tenants over the years. So there’s just these, like, ghosts of the metal holds on which Jesus would have once been, but no longer looks over this decrepit house.

Natalia
I think all of the, like, crown molding around, like, the ceiling has every once in a while the family crest of whoever was designing this building. And it’s all just sort of starting to chip away and yellow.

Cassandra
I’m gonna say that on the front door there used to be these very ornate stained glass windows that were depicting some piece of Christian or religious story, and they’ve just been kind of hurriedly yanked out. And there’s just, like, smoky, foggy glass and a few boards over the front of the windows. But you can tell that it used to be ornate stained glass.

Robert
And inside the building, every room you that go into, you can see where new interior walls have been put up to subdivide the once reasonably large rooms for families into tiny, cramped spaces.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd and Mr. John, what’s the approach here?

T.
I am familiar with one of the working girls who is loitering around outside on the steps there. And I think I’ll give her a nod and gesture over toward the side of the building to see if we can’t have a chat, private like.

Kim
Yes, you would know a Miss Vera Hale.

Robert
Morgan’s gonna take a different tactic. Because he looks rather like he belongs here (if he hasn’t actually ben in this building before), he’s just gonna try and mix his way amongst the people in this building to get to the crime scene itself, where the body was found.

Kim
You would know that Miss Yarborough was found in one of the hallways of this tenement house, right in front of her own flat.

Mr. John, you have caught the notice of one Vera Hale. Today she is wearing a somewhat ratty, velvet gown. She has far too much rouge on her face, and smells overwhelmingly of cheap liquor.

Mr. John (T.)
Morning, Vera. See you’ve been hitting it a little bit late. Just clocking in or clocking out?

Vera Hale (Kim)
Mr. John, you know that my door is always open.

Mr. John (T.)
I do wonder how you do it, girl. I would like to say that I’m here for my usual, uh, reasons. But unfortunately, something a little bit darker has brought me down your door today. I’m asking after Miss Yarborough. Neighbor of yours.

Vera Hale (Kim)
Pretty thing, she was.

Mr. John (T.)
Was, being the emphasis on that matter. I heard her prettiness has gone the way of so many empires.

Vera Hale (Kim)
Aye, sir. I know a lot. I see a lot. But I don’t see nothing for free.

Mr. John (T.)
Now Vera, surely my former hours spent in your establishment have earned me a little bit of goodwill. I’m just here having a conversation.

Vera Hale (Kim)
[Chuckles] Mr. John, I believe you already paid for your goodwill. Now I need you to pay for information.

Mr. John (T.)
Understandable, understandable. But I don’t know what mutton-pokers might be poking around. Come around with me to the back side of the building. I don’t want anyone seeing me paying you in broad daylight.

Kim
She extends a hand to you, rather ladylike.

T.
Mmhmm. I take her by the hand and bring her off to the side of the building, away from main road. And then I pin her against the wall by her throat.

[Sounds of the city fade, replaced by dark, ambient drones]

Mr. John (T.)
Now listen here. Unless you want your pretty face to be winding up in the same place as Clara Yarborough’s, I suggest you start telling me what it is you know about her.

Kim
Alright, this sounds like an Information Move.

Natalia
Oh my god. I got so scared.

Cassandra
I was not expecting that.

Kim
Listen, T’s doing their Dawn Question.

Cassandra
No, I know. That’s exactly what it is. [Laughs]

Kim
Let’s go ahead and read the Information Move. When you search for a clue, conduct research, or otherwise gather information – I think we’re hitting mostly the third one, right there.

T.
Yeah. I’m gathering.

Kim
Describe how you’re doing so, and roll with an appropriate ability. On a hit, you find a Clue. The Keeper will tell you what it is. On a 7 to 9, there’s a complication – either with the Clue itself, or a complication you encounter while searching. The Keeper will tell you what the complication is. And on a 12+, you also find a Mastermind Clue. I would say this is an Information Move with Vitality.

T.
Hooray.  [Rolls dice] 2 and 6 is 8, plus 2, brings me to 10.

[Airy, abandoned, ambient drones]

Kim
Inside of the tenement house, Mr. Lloyd, you are climbing the stairs towards the flat where Clara Yarborough recently lived. The door is ever so slightly ajar, should you choose to enter.

Robert
You said the body was found in the hallway outside the door, correct?

Kim
I did, yes.

Robert
Is there any blood? Like, any… any evidence that there was a body here a few hours ago?

Kim
I would say that there has been some attempt to clean, but a keen eye – especially one that is as touched as yours is – could be able to find something here.

Robert
In that case, I think I’m going to take a dagger out of some hidden place on Rabbit’s costume, and dig it a little bit into the wooden floors of the tenement, where maybe some blood soaked into the timbers. And get a piece of that wood out, which Rabbit will then use as the focus for a spell.  

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, it sounds like you are trying to perform a Rite of Salt and Smoke. Now, I do need you to do a blood sacrifice. The entities require an offering.

Robert
Rabbit takes a small pouch that has a little bit of salt in it, makes a circle on the ground. Rabbit will place the splinter in the middle of that circle of salt, take his dagger and puncture his own finger, squeezing a few drops of blood into the middle of it. As he then closes not his eyes, but the focus of his eyes, so he can see the dark things on the periphery. And tries to see the moment where Clara Yarborough’s body was laid here.

Kim
Go ahead and roll 2d6 plus Sensitivity.

Robert
Oof. That is a 5.

Kim
We will resolve that momentarily. I’d like to go somewhere a little nicer, if you please.

[A calm street. Birdsong. The occasional passing carriage.]

Kim
I’d like to go to a very well-appointed street in London that is lined with all manner of little shops. We see women walking with servants in fine livery behind them, carrying bags or loading packages into very finely-appointed carriages. And we focus on two ladies walking on this street, Miss Thanero and Miss Douglas, heading to Vittorio Clemenza’s shop. He makes very couture garments. He is one of the finest modistes in London.

Cassandra
So I think initially, I see Ena just taking a very… Again, I love that word – languid. Like just slow, just kind of looking around, taking it in, extremely comfortable in this part of town. Like she’s known, people know her, she’s extremely wealthy. Any shop owner would be lucky to have her come in. So yeah, I think I’m just kind of walking and deciding, looking in some of the shop windows, and trying to figure out what shop do I want to go to. Even though I know that I’m going to see Vittorio.

Kim
I would be beside myself if I did not ask in this moment: Miss Thanero, what are you wearing?

Cassandra
Ena is wearing this very masculine leaning but with feminine accents kind of suit. It’s a really dark, luscious, expensive crushed blue velvet. It’s got a little bustle in the back to just give it some, like, flow as she’s walking. If there’s a breeze, it kind of drifts out a little bit behind her. Some very expensive leather loafers with gold shields on the tops of them. And absolutely, completely unbefitting of a woman in this time but absolutely befitting for Ena, a large black top hat with an olive branch kind of popping off of it – like in the style of a feather, but it’s an olive branch. A gold shield that matches the one on her shoes, and the same deep blue ribbon like wrapped around. And it’s incredibly avant-garde, but it’s so regal and it fits so well on her that no one questions it. No one even bats an eye, other than in appreciation.

Kim
Miss Douglas, what about you?

Natalia
[Through laughter] Miss Douglas is traipsing along beside Miss Thanero, wearing no shoes at all. Just sort of flouncing about, like darting here and there, looking at everything with amusement and curiosity, and general expression of emotion that is way out of place here. She’s having the time of her life.

Cassandra
And I don’t think Ena is bothered by this in the slightest. I think for Ena, she looks at Maesie as obviously something to be protected and cared for and cherished. And this absolute delight that she is experiencing, I believe that it absolutely brings Ena a shred of joy that she doesn’t always feel that often anymore.

[The sounds of the city fade into Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier]

Kim
Miss Douglas and Miss Thanero, you find your way to Vittorio Clemenza’s modiste. We see reams of fabric lining the wall – only the most sumptuous and expensive of fabric. Miss Thanero, you would know that he works with only the finest of materials. We see enormous vases all around this well-appointed space, filled with beautiful, vibrant flowers. We see finished gowns on mannequins, both in the store window as well as all about this modiste, as Mr. Clemenza and his assistants are going about pinning, and adjusting, and arranging, and draping just so.

I have a Paint the Scene, here. What lies are people telling about themselves in this place?

Natalia
There’s a young woman standing with her mother in front of a mirror, telling themselves that the baby bump is not visible.

T.
There’s a minor Contessa smoothing out the finest silks just brought over from India, and reassuring herself that the empire will last forever.

Robert
There’s a man there buying a very expensive gown for his wife, telling himself that this will fix all their problems.

Cassandra
I envision this man standing in a corner. He’s sweaty and nervous, and he’s trying to convince himself that he belongs here, and a suit from this tailor will elevate his status and change everything for him.

Kim
Miss Thanero, upon your arrival you immediately catch the notice of, well… everyone in this shop. But most specifically, the eyes of Vittorio Clemenza. This is a middle-aged man. He is balding a little bit. He is wearing a pristine and pressed white shirt. He has very soft, supple hands with very long, pale fingers. And his eyes light up at your presence, and he immediately, grandly, sweeps across the floor of this modiste and gently kisses the air near your cheek on both sides.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Vittorio, my darling, how are you?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Miss Thanero, it is an honor, as always, to have you in the shop.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Thank you, my love. It does seem, though, a little crowded in here today.

Cassandra
Ena’s gonna reach into the pocket of the suit jacket that she’s got and pull out a not small handful of bank notes. And just kind of, like, holds them in front of her, just very leisurely waving them around.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
It does seem like there are just so many people in here. Are you too busy for me today?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Never too busy, Miss Thanero.

Kim
And with those light, quick fingers he gently snatches the pile of bank notes out of your hand. With the other hand he motions over some of his assistants and whispers some very curt little sentences into their ear. This flock of assistants sweep about the modiste and very quietly and graciously start doing all of the, “Pardon us” “Excuse us” “We must close” “It is time for us to lunch”, and escorts all of the other customers out of the modiste, leaving only you, Miss Douglas, and a waiting staff.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh, thank you. That feels so much better. Now, I wish I could say that I was here to play today, but I do need something rather specific for an event that I’m going to tonight.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
How might I help, Miss Thanero? Our shop is ready and willing.

Cassandra
So I think at this point Ena kind of starts like meandering around. Like, touching the fabric, looking at things. And I think she spies this black silk – it almost looks like water – fabric, and just starts running her fingers over it.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I think I’d like to try something in this.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
A fine eye as always, Miss Thanero.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Maesie my love, why don’t you look around and see if there’s anything that you might like to play with?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Well, I was thinking it would be… if it wouldn’t be too much of a bother, um… I have this garment that needs fixing. And I was wondering, Mr. Clemenza, if you could potentially help me with that.

Natalia
And she produces two halves of a white fur pelt that she handles with so much grace, and makes sure it doesn’t touch the floor. Like, this is her most prized possession. And she places them on a table in front of Vittorio.

Kim
Miss Douglas, I feel like this is the Day Move to try and convince Vittorio to do this for you. Let’s go ahead and read the Day Move. When you do something risky or face something you fear, name what you’re afraid will happen if you fail or lose your nerve, then roll with an appropriate ability. Miss Douglas, you have entrusted something very precious to you to Vittorio Clemenza. Not just the pelt itself, but also a bit of your secret. What are you afraid might happen if you fail in this moment?

Natalia
I worry that he will see through what this is – that it’s not just an item of clothing. What it actually is, and who I actually am.

Kim
Miss Douglas, I’m gonna say that this is a Day Move with Presence.

Natalia
Alright, here we go. [Rolls dice]  Okay, that’s a 7.

Kim
Miss Thanero, while Miss Douglas has pulled Mr. Clemenza aside and is showing him the pelt, what are you doing?

Cassandra
I’m, again very languidly, I walk up to one of the assistants and request some coffee while I wait. Because as I am aware that Hargrave House is harboring Maesie, and I do want to give her this time. Since she’s had the presence to ask, I’m gonna let her do that. So I’m just gonna walk up to one of the other shop employees, and…

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
May I have a cup of coffee please, while we wait?

Clemenza’s Assistant (Kim)
Oh, yes. Of course, mum. One moment.

Kim
And they scurry away.

[Dark, ambient drones overlap with the sounds of a busy street]

Let’s go back to Whitechapel. Mr. John, any sort of frivolity has left Vera’s eyes now that she has followed you to this alleyway and she realizes just how alone she is right now. And also how unlikely it is that anyone, especially in Whitechapel, would come to her aid should she need it.

Vera Hale (Kim)
Mr. John, there’s no reason to be taking that sort of tone, now.

Mr. John (T.)
I wholeheartedly agree. Just tell me what I need to know. It’s just the two of us, here.

Vera Hale (Kim)
I see things, Mr. John. I saw Clara. I saw Miss Yarborough. She was going about back and forth from Whitechapel at all times of the night. Done up real pretty, too. Wearing a brand new dress. Makeup. But nice makeup. Looking unusual. I’d ask her sometimes, and she said that she’d go to a fancy neighborhood. There was some sort of townhouse there, lit up at all hours of the night. Some sort of party going on inside. But I couldn’t get any word from her about what it was she was doing there, or who else might be there. But that’s what she was up to. Every night, sir. Until she, well… until she died.

Mr. John (T.)
You weren’t envious of her none, were you Vera? New dresses and pretty makeup?

T.
I kind of finger a hole in her ratted velvet dress.

Vera Hale (Kim)
Times is hard, sir. It’s been a while since I’ve seen anything new.

T.
I ease my grip on her throat and let her down against the wall.

Mr. John (T.)
You never followed her none, did ya? Didn’t let your envy take you to worser sins?

Vera Hale (Kim)
No, sir. I had my own work to be taking care of.

Mr. John (T.)
Keep it that way. Appreciate your time, Miss Hale.

Kim
That is a clue, Mr. John, what you’ve just gathered from this conversation with Vera Hale. Rumors of a townhouse in a stylish neighborhood that is always well-lit at night.

[Airy, abandoned, ambient drones]

Kim
Let’s go inside the Whitechapel tenement house. Mr. Lloyd, on a miss… Now we know that there are always certain dark entities present in your peripheral vision, kind of lingering on the fringes. What do they look like when they come fully to the forefront of your sight?

Robert
The dark entities on the edges of his vision appear at first as though they are animals of the night. Moths, dark cats, even ravens and crows.

[An ominous fiddle drone, and scraping bells]

Robert
But as they move more into focus, they take on decidedly more human shapes, while still retaining their animal characteristics.

Kim
One such entity creeps into view. It is this shadowy, bird-like form. But as it creeps out from the shadows it grows tall, its beak becomes long and jagged, its dark feathered wings become patchy. And it creeps across the floor towards you as you are conducting this ritual. At the sight of you, its beak splits into this unnatural smile, and then closes as it creeps towards your mouth, trying to press the entirety of its beak into your jaw. You feel your muscles start to tear and split as you are unable to scream. This is going to be a Night Move with Sensitivity.

When you do something risky or face something you fear, name what you’re afraid will happen if you fail or lose your nerve. The Keeper will tell you how it is worse than that.

Robert
Rabbit is afraid that this thing will be able to enter him and take him over, consume his soul, and he will never get to lay eyes on his beloved again.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, it’s worse than that. This entity will enter you and possess you, but it won’t kill you yet. We will see you walk down the steps of this tenement house to meet Mr. John out front. To take him down a dark alley, and kill him. Night Move with Sensitivity, please.

Robert
[Rolls dice] That would be a 10.

T.
Yeah, it better be.

[Everyone laughs]

T.
Coming here, meddling with dark forces and other people’s lives.

Natalia
I’m so scared.

Cassandra
Damn, I am so stressed right now!

T.
Mmhmm. Just this shadow of some weird beaked animal leering over me as I’ve got my hands – the talons, as I’ve got my hands on this girl’s throat… [Shudders]

Kim
[Sighs in amusement]

Casandra
Stay tuned as we watch your character get retired in episode 1.

Robert
Everyone had a backup character planned, right?

Cassandra
Right? [Laughs]

[Kim laughs, then sighs]

Kim
Let’s return to the modiste.

Miss Thanero, as Mr. Clemenza and Maisie Douglas talk, you hear just the slightest ‘rap’ on the door. One of Mr. Clemenza’s assistants rushes over, opens the door, and has a brief whispered conversation. As they return, they look at you and say…

Clemenza’s Assistant (Kim)
Apologies, miss. This was an order that was scheduled for pickup today, if you’ll excuse us and allow us to do that.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh, I suppose.

[Moody piano]

Kim
The assistant nods and starts packaging up this beautiful sapphire blue gown, placing it into a very ornately decorated box, tying it up with a trim blue ribbon, and then rushing it to that door. The door is opened and you see a servant standing there, also in sapphire blue livery. They pay Mr. Clemenza’s assistant and take the box away. If you were to look through the window, you would see a very well-appointed, very large carriage that is parked just out front of the modiste. And sitting in that carriage, framed on either side by beautiful velvet sapphire blue curtains, is a woman. A middle aged black woman, she looks to be in her mid 40s. She is dressed in a very fine sapphire blue silk gown. Her hair is neatly pinned atop her head, her face framed with black curls. And most notably, there is a large choker at her throat, the center of which is an enormous sapphire gem. As the gown is loaded into the back of the carriage, she locks eyes with you, Miss Thanero, ever so briefly. Gives you a small smile, and then motions for the carriage to drive away.

[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, a behind-the-scenes show, and more visit Patreon.com/KittenMarlowe and join Jeongju, Jax Gitzes, Ashley S., and Mike Keck in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.