Shadows in the Smoke S1E23 - "Eat, or Be Eaten"

Shadows in the Smoke S1E23 – “Eat or Be Eaten”

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
It’s a brand new day in London. I would say about a week, a week and a half has passed since we last looked in on the Hunters of Hargrave House. Today’s a little unique. I don’t have a new Threat to introduce for you today because we are full up on Threats. We are working on the Creature of Cremorne Gardens, which we have answered, and we are just waiting to resolve it. The Creature of Cremorne Gardens is sweet on Maesie Douglas, and we gotta figure out what we’re gonna do about that. We have the Spidersilk Seamstress, which we seem to be very actively working on. And the Limehouse Lurker, a Threat that we have kind of barely touched at this point. I would like to pick up with the Breakfast Phase [laughs] because you all receive a bit of mail this morning. However, before I figure out who is receiving mail, I suppose I have a question for you, T. Where is John spending his time nowadays?

T.
All over the place. But most frequently, the Isle of Dogs.

[Birds chirping. A crackling fire.]

Kim
Then, Miss Douglas, Miss Thanero, and Mr. Lloyd, you receive three silver envelopes with wispy, spidery calligraphy addressed to each of you. Opening this envelope, each one says, “You are cordially invited as my guest to the Midsummer Masquerade. Costumes to be provided.”

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
So Rabbit, you don’t even have to worry about what you’re wearing because it’s gonna be given to you!

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
That is both a relief and an entirely new set of terrors.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
So I was thinking of… I thought maybe it’s… agh, this is embarrassing. Um, I was thinking of maybe inviting the Fishman? But I don’t want to intrude on the etiquette that you were telling us about the fae people. Would it be bad if I asked the Fishman to come with us? [pause] Someone say something!

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
[chuckling] I don’t have an answer for that, darling. I’m not terribly familiar with some of these more specific customs.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
It seems as though there’s enough wiggle room in here that he could be interpreted as your guest, but just make sure he’s on his best behavior. Because if he breaks the rules of hospitality, then it will fall upon your head, not just his.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Okay. I will make sure to communicate all rules that I know, which are not many, as effectively as I can to someone who is a fish.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Like I said, if you have any questions, now you’ve got two resources here with me and Merricat. Ask anything you like and I’ll tell you what I can.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Thank you, Rabbit.

T.
Oh yeah, is Merricat at breakfast?

Kim
Merricat is serving breakfast.

T.
Oh, word, yeah. [starts laughing]

Robert
Is she?

T.
[still laughing] She spent all that time in the Fae, she came back, got her old job back as a servant.

Cassandra
Oh my god.

Kim
I imagine she is. Like, she’s, like, puttering in and out, bringing out trays, and then disappearing back into the servant’s quarters.

T.
Yeah, flitting here and there.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Merricat, do you speak fish? Did you learn that while you were in the fae realm by any chance?

Merricat Ovelia (Kim)
Well, I speak all manner of languages, lady.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I might require your services. How does one invite a fish somewhere?

Merricat Ovelia (Kim)
Well, I suppose you’d get him a gift first.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
[soft gasp] I have just the thing.

Natalia
Maesie takes off and, like, goes to her room and disappears out of breakfast. [chuckles]

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well, that was decisive and quick.

Cassandra
Ena just takes a sip of her coffee.

Mr. Lloyd
I think Miss Douglas is likely to get out of this unscathed. I think the Other Crowd might be a bit more interested in her as a, uh, novelty. It’s you and I that I think need to be most worried as Miss Beaumont has seemed to set her sights on us, in one way or another.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
This is very true. Do you have any thoughts on how we should approach it? Should we go alone as not to risk our guests or our guest’s etiquette?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
No, I don’t think that’s a bit of a problem. Just, you know, be wary of making any promises or deals. I don’t know if you’ve ever encountered the Other Crowd before, but the Lords and Ladies, they enjoy a good game. And I have a feeling that, at least for you and I, this ball might be nothing more than a game for Miss Beaumont.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well, I do consider myself an old hand at strategy.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Yes, but think about if you play chess against a pigeon. It’ll just kick the pieces off the board and shit on it. Make sure you’re playing the same game that they are.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Wiser words, Rabbit. Wiser words.

[Birdsong and fire sounds fade away]

Kim
Elsewhere in London, Mr. John, you find a similar silver envelope trapped in a spider’s web.

[Waves lapping, church bells ringing, horses and people moving about]

T.
Mr. John, waking up to the sounds of the dock workers coming in to start their day on the Isle of Dogs, for the Isle is full of noises, hurries outside into the alley behind this trio of warehouses and goes smackfaced into the cobweb.

Mr. John (T.)
[disgruntled exclamations]

T.
Just throwing off that invisible, can’t get it, where is it, is it off, is it on me? And then peels the envelope off of his face.

Kim
It reads, “You presence is requested at the Midsummer Masquerade. Costume to be provided.”

T.
Is it signed?

Kim
No.

T.
The first thing that occurs is John realizes that this means his hideout has been found, as he found where his quarry goes to ground. And he goes,

Mr. John (T.)
Well, this is what I think of your request.

T.
He says to the air, completes his morning constitution, and wipes his ass with the invitation. With the request, cause it’s not an invitation. With the summons.

[Dock soundscape fades away]

Kim
Alright. What is everyone up to today?

T.
I got two things I wanna cross off my list, if I can squeeze them in. I would like to engage in my vice with Philomena Fu so I can clear Hunted.

Kim
Okay.

T.
And I would like to go, speaking of dogs, to The Dog and Whistle.

Kim
Alright. So, Mr. John is heading to Limehouse. Miss Douglas, what about you?

Natalia
Maesie is gonna go down to Cremorne Gardens to invite the creature to the Masquerade.

Kim
Okay, fantastic! Miss Thanero?

Cassandra
I don’t have a leaning one way or other, but I kind of want to go with Maesie.

Kim
Oh, yes, and also Jenny Snell, your servant, I think is also going to check in with you. So I think we’re gonna do that probably at the top of this Phase before you tag along with Maesie. Mr. Lloyd, what about you?

Robert
Knowing that the Midsummer Ball is coming up, Rabbit’s going to go to the market and get some items to prepare for it.

Kim
Let’s begin with Miss Thanero. Miss Thanero, I do believe it’s time to check in with your cultists, Jenny Snell. I’m curious where it is you meet up with her.

[Birds chirping]

Cassandra
Ena makes her way out to the gardens of Hargrave House and is sitting on a bench that is accessible through a gate near, like, the street, but that is hidden from prying eyes once you’re inside the garden. And she has alerted Jenny that that is where she will be this particular morning, and that she is to not be late.

Kim
Miss Thanero, you have not seen Miss Snell since you set her off on this errand, and she returns much changed. Jenny Snell enters the little garden and uses the side of her body to close the gate after her because you notice that her hands are bandaged. Or what would have been her hands: her wrists are bandaged. And she is balancing precariously on her arms a wrapped box tied in silver ribbon.

Cassandra
Ena gets up from the bench and, not as gently as she probably should, puts an arm around Jenny and, like, forces her over to the bench, sits her down, takes this box from her hands, and tosses it down onto the ground next to her. And starts to examine what were her hands?

Kim
Yeah, Miss Thanero, you peel away that bandage and the wound is very clean, but Jenny Snell is missing her hands. Her arms simply end at the wrist.

Cassandra
Ena is baffled by this. This shakes her. She doesn’t know how to respond to something so aggressive. Because normally when Ena sends someone off to gather information, this is not the result. So, she is very taken aback by this. And she is just, like, very gently, like, touching her wrist and looking at the wound.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
What did you do that merited this action?

Jenny Snell (Kim)
I worked for her, mistress, exactly like you told me to. Pledged myself in her service. I did the best I could. She scarce let me sleep, though. Working all hours of the night, never fast enough for her. Never fast enough.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Was this a punishment of some kind?

Jenny Snell (Kim)
She said that if she had my hands, she could do much faster work than what I was doing with them. I didn’t understand it at the time. When I was walking home from work that evening, I think it was two ladies. Two ladies pinned me down and took my hands from me. Said that they would be better used in someone else’s care.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Did you recognize these ladies? Did you know who they were?

Jenny Snell (Kim)
I recognized their voices, mistress. I think I’d heard them about the shop.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I believe you have encountered the Sisters Sendulla, which are the assistants of Mistress Beaumont. When they took your hands, did anything feel different about it? Did you have any type of remaining connection?

Jenny Snell (Kim)
That’s the thing, mistress. I do still feel them. Working, ever working.

Cassandra
Ena looks heavenward for a moment, just trying to, like, gather herself over the fact that Mistress Beaumont has taken her hands and the implications of the fact that they are still working.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Pray tell, how were you able to continue your employ with your hands taken from you?

Jenny Snell (Kim)
I haven’t. I ran away.

Cassandra
She gently pats the side of Jenny’s head.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Understood, darling. We don’t want your loss to have been in vain. Did you learn anything during the time that you were there that would be helpful in ridding us of Mistress Beaumont and the Sisters Sendulla?

Jenny Snell (Kim)
I heard that Mistress Beaumont has a new paramour. A playwright, I believe. A Mr. Blackwood. He’s doing a play at some fancy party. The Masquerade. He seems quite taken with her. They all are. All of the gentlemen and ladies that she sees.

Cassandra
Ena is kicking herself internally for falling for the charms and being herself infatuated. Almost feeling, like, a little bit of embarrassment about it. And is grateful that Jenny cannot see the ever so faint blush that comes across her face.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes, she does certainly have a way with wooing.

Jenny Snell (Kim)
And when I woke up this morning, there was this box near me, this gift. A voice I didn’t recognize said that they knew I was to see you today, that I was to give this to you. A present.

[Soothing, ethereal ambient drone rises slowly]

Cassandra
Ena stands up in front of Jenny. She looks at the box. She’ll deal with it in a moment. But she looks at what has happened as a result of her request, and feels a sense of guilt over what this girl has lost at her behest. She gently lifts Jenny from the bench and starts to walk her around to the back of Hargrave House into a more secluded part of the garden.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I want to thank you for what you’ve done, and I want to ease the suffering that you now experience.

Jenny Snell (Kim)
It was hardly suffering, mistress. It was done in service of you. I was happy to do it.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
And, for that, I will be eternally grateful.

Cassandra
And she pulls the gold military cord off of her shoulder and gives it a little flick. And then, facing Jenny, she ties it around her neck and starts to, ever so slowly, looking her right in the eye, strangle her with this cord.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Your favor has been curried for eternity. Don’t struggle, don’t fight it. Just go quietly into the dark or into the light, that you may see once again.

Kim
At your words, Jenny Snell relaxes and smiles and her last breath is just a pleasant sigh as she collapses back into your arms. This feels like Taketh Away to me, because you are destroying a Side Character physically.

Cassandra
I am indeed.

Kim
Now, ordinarily, you must roll with Vitality when you use Taketh Away. But when the Side Character is a worshipper, there is no need to roll. You simply get to pick three of the options below: clear any Condition you wish, including Most Beloved; your next roll is taken with Advantage; you may take something from your victim and add it to your Personal Quarters; or there are no long term consequences for your actions.

Cassandra
Given the information I have now received about Mistress Beaumont’s many suitors, I am going to clear Infatuated because now I’m upset. [Laughs.]

Kim
Makes sense.

Cassandra
I’m going to choose that, so I’m going to clear a Condition which is Infatuated with Mistress Beaumont. I will take my next roll with Advantage. She doesn’t really have anything I want, so I’m going to also take “there are no long term consequences for your actions.”

Kim
Fantastic. Go ahead and scar your reflection, please. Tell me how destroying Jenny makes you feel.

[Ambient drone grows more ominous]

Cassandra
Much like when Ena indulges in her vice, there is a fueling. Her eyes glow a little more gold. Her hair kind of flutters in this unseen breeze. And in taking away Jenny’s pain and discomfort, it’s like a balm to the guilt she feels over Jenny having lost her hands doing, what Ena would consider, a relatively simple task. And the reflection changes, and as you look at Ena’s neck on the painting, there are large red welts that look like Ena herself has been strangled.

Kim
Lovely. What are you doing with the body?

[Ambient drone becomes ethereal again]

Cassandra
Ena puts two fingers in her mouth and whistles. And we see a large tawny owl descend from a tree branch, and land on her shoulder. The owl cocks its head a couple of times, nuzzles into the side of Ena’s face. And then she looks to the owl and they have a conversation completely in silence. Just her relaying information that will be transferred to the appropriate cultists to come and retrieve Jenny’s body from the garden of Hargrave House.

Kim
Let’s pick up with Mr. Lloyd.

[Birds chirping. A lively outdoor market.]

Robert
So, Morgan has gone over to the neighborhood of Newgate, and specifically the Newgate Market, which is a place where a lot of the farmer’s from the countryside outside of London bring their wares to sell. It is one of the best places in town to get fresh meats, to get cheese and butter and milk, to get products made of wool. It is basically the closest thing you can get to a farmer’s market in Victorian London. And there he is going through the stalls and picking out what might be an odd but not suspicious grocery list, as he grabs a loaf of bread, carefully some and sniffing them before picking one, a jar of honey, a bottle of ice cold milk. And then he wanders away from the stalls, down an alleyway, away from prying eyes, where he sits down very carefully, takes out a piece of chalk from his pocket, draws a little circle on the ground, spills the milk in it, pours some of the honey, and tears off a piece of bread.

[Market sounds fade, replaced by a hollow ambient drone]

Robert
Cait appears at this point in time. And Morgan whispers a little secret in his ear as the enormous tomcat bounds off amongst the refuse in this alleyway and brings back, caught in his mouth, not a bird, not a rat, but a small winged human, a little pixie, and places it gently inside the circle.

Kim
Are you doing a Rite of Salt and Smoke right now?

Robert
No, he is just looking for someone who might have a little bit more knowledge about what is going in the Other Kingdom than he does at the moment.

Kim
Alright, so you’ve trapped a pixie in this circle, summoning it with milk and honey. I love this. This is very Harry Dresden trapping a pixie with, like, a piece of pizza.

Robert
Yeah, they don’t have pizza in Victorian London so I had to make do with what I had.

Kim
Indeed, yeah. Okay, let’s try an Information Move with Sensitivity here. And you can take this at Advantage because Cait certainly helped draw things to you.

Robert
Okay. [Rolls dice.] That is a 13.

Kim
Very interesting. So you get a Clue but you also get a Mastermind Clue. I have an idea of the Mastermind Clue to give you, but I think it’s going to come at the end of this Day Phase. Mr. John, off to the Songbirds of Shanghai.

[Ambient drone fades away]

T.
Please and thank you.

Mr. John (T.)
But I ain’t here to see the show.

Kim
[Giggles.] You arrive at the stage door. The man in the back, Al, first holding out his hand for a bit of money before he lets you in.

T.
And he receives a fistful of bank notes as John barely pauses to acknowledge him.

[String instruments tuning, quiet hubbub of an audience]

Kim
We hear the sound of your bootsteps as they climb the rickety little stairs into these cramped dressing rooms. And as you appear in the doorway of Ms. Fu’s dressing room, which she shares with several ladies, she looks at them all and says,

Philomena Fu (Kim)
Girls, get out.

[Instruments cease]

T.
John walks inside and then lets them brush past him to get out, rather than stepping out of their way, eyes fixed on Philomena.

Philomena Fu (Kim)
Hello, sir. Are you seeing the show today?

Mr. John (T.)
I’m not interested in the show. I’ve seen it.

Philomena Fu (Kim)
Well, pray, what are you interested in, then?

Mr. John (T.)
Prey, exactly.

T.
And John gets to his knees in front of her and backs her so she is up against one of the vanity mirrors, wrenches her petticoats to the ground, and with his breath still smelling of the eels he ate from the Thames this morning, begins to devour her instead.

Kim
This is As Cruel As the Harlot’s Curse, I feel.

T.
11 plus 3 is 14.

Kim
Jesus Christ. [Laughs]

T.
Let’s eat.

Kim
Alright, so on a hit you may clear a Condition.

T.
I would like to clear Hunted.

Kim
Sounds good to me. And on a 10+, you get to choose two options: you don’t draw any unwanted attention; you befriend a Side Character; you gain some mastery over your curse, increase the success tier of your next Quickening roll by one step; or you stumble on a Clue.

T.
I’m gonna take a Clue and increase my resistance to the curse.

Kim
That sounds important. We probably need you on your A-game tonight.

T.
I think I got work to do.

Kim
And then on a 12+, you take a memento, again from Philomena Fu. So, ask another Hunter what that is.

T.
If anybody has one, I’ll ask you.

Cassandra
I think you grab the garter that’s around her thigh, yank it off, and that’s what you take with you.

Kim
Oh, I love that.

[Audience sounds fade, replaced by an ominous, rumbling ambient drone]

T.
But I am still a man, and still a bad guy. I yank the garter down with my bare teeth and I spit it out on the ground. And then, kissing and biting and nibbling all the way up her body to her neck, I sink my teeth into the soft of her trapezius muscle, just between her collarbone and her jaw. And it starts as, like, a love bite. And then the pain kind of intenses and I taste blood as she winces and reminds me that she has a show to do, so I shouldn’t be leaving any marks. Coming up, I spin her around so that we’re both looking at ourselves in the mirror, although both eyes are angled toward John. And he growls in her ear,

Mr. John (T.)
You know the difference between a prostitute and an actress, dont’cha?

Philomena Fu (Kim)
[Breathing heavily] What?

T.
He wipes off all of the makeup and fragrance from the counter, and leaves a stackful of bills there.

Mr. John (T.)
You can make a living as a prostitute.

[Ambient drone fades]

Kim
Miss Douglas, off to Cremorne Gardens, right?

Natalia
Actually, Maesie is going to rethink the conversation she had with Rabbit and knows that she hasn’t been taking everything super seriously in terms of the fae, and decides that it might be a good idea to directly ask Mistress Beaumont if she can bring a guest before she, you know, puts her foot in her mouth or does something wrong that will jeopardize the Masquerade.

Kim
I love that. Now, it was initially the notion that you and Miss Thanero would go to Cremorne Gardens together. Has that plan changed? Are you leaving without Miss Thanero?

Natalia
This, I think, takes place while Miss Thanero is dealing with Jenny in the garden.

[Windlike ambient drone, wind chimes tinkling]

Kim
Okay. Miss Douglas, we find you walking down Savile Row and you see the shop of Vittorio Clemenza, now changed to be Mistress Beaumont’s atelier. And you knock on the door, and you a very pleasant voice say,

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
Enter, please.

Natalia
Maesie pulls the door open, sort of takes a deep breath, and steps through the door, remembering the last time that she was here, that the person running this store turned out to be not the best, and knowing the very little bit she knows about Fae, and sort of being more concerned now with doing something wrong. Steps through the door and says,

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Hi, good afternoon, Mistress Beaumont. I, um, I’m sorry to interrupt. I know I don’t have an appointment or anything of the sort. I just had a question for you? A request.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
Of course, child. You may have an audience with me. What did you bring me?

Natalia
Maesie pulls her pelt out from behind her back.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I know that the fae deal with making deals and the like.

Kim
At you saying “the fae”, her eyes flash.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I’m sorry, I know I’m not– I do not know enough to be dealing in these things. I– I simply am trying my best to be gracious and to speak correctly and I do not mean to offend.

Kim
She holds up a pale hand.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
You are forgiven, once. But it would be good to remind yourself that words have power, child. It is not wise to speak unless you wish to bid it to come near.

[Wind chimes fade away]

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Right. Apologies. I was hoping you would allow me to bring a guest to the Masquerade that you so graciously invited me to. And in exchange, as a seamstress, I would like to offer you a chance to work with a material you may not have worked with before.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
Hmm. And this, I can keep this?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
No, you may not. I do also request that I may keep the garment once you are done working with it, inspecting it, anything you would like.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
You come with many requests, little selkie. Asking my favor to allow a guest, asking my expertise on your pelt. But I have yet to hear what it is your are giving me.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Very well, what would you like?

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
A gift worthy of my services. Worthy of my kindness.

Natalia
Maesie pulls out the shell that she got from the Lady Thames.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I owe the person who gave this to me a favor. If I give it to you, I will owe you a favor instead.

Kim
This feels like a Day Move to me. What are you afraid will happen if things go wrong here?

Natalia
I worry Mistress Beaumont will use me against the rest of Hargrave House.

Kim
That feels like a very valid possibility. This is going to be a Day Move with Presence. Because you are using the shell from the Lady Thames, you can mark it and take the roll with Advantage.

Natalia
[Rolls dice.] Alright, it’s a 7.

Kim
Mistress Beaumont turns the shell over in her hands.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
You would owe me a favor?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Seeing as nothing I have offered you seems to be of interest, I, perhaps unwisely, leave it in your hands what you would like from me.

[Wind chimes return]

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
This is a worthy gift, little selkie. [chuckles] Come, let us see the pelt.

Natalia
Maesie lays the pelt very delicately out on one of her tables.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
So the mends that have been made so far, one was by the previous owner of this shop.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
And this one, I recognize this thread.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I believe I have taken it from you.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
Huh. The material is fine, but the stitching is shoddy. Yes, we can do much better than this.

Kim
Tell me how Mistress Beaumont repairs a piece of your pelt.

Natalia
Mistress Beaumont’s shop, as Robert has told us before, contains intangible things and materials, but she doesn’t pick any of these things. She instead chooses a bottle of sea salt and pouring it over the separation, the rend in the fabric, using a little bit of her magic, presses it into the fabric until it seems to melt itself back together.

[Wind chimes fade away]

Kim
You may check one of the boxes on Severed from the Sea.

Natalia
Yay.

Kim
I would like you to change your Condition: Marked by Lady Thames to A Servant of Mistress Beaumont.

Natalia
Oh god, that sounds so worse. That sounds so bad.

Kim
And I have a question for you, Miss Douglas. You have snuck out into the lair of a dangerous woman who has designs on all of the rest of your Hunters. You have pledged yourself into her service for somewhat personal gain. How is all of this making you feel?

Natalia
Maesie is feeling incredibly, in a way, independent cause she feels like she’s, like, solving her own problems. Like she’s not relying on Rabbit or Ena or Mr. John to, like, help her get out of her situations or anything. But she also feels like maybe if someone else had been there, this would have gone better. She feels kind of like a child, like a lost child.

Kim
Take the Condition: Lost Girl. Let’s pick back up with Miss Thanero.

Cassandra
Ena, having sent her owl off to tend to the body of Jenny Snell, her eyes are glowing. She’s full. She’s feeling a little reckless, given what she’s just done. She walks back out to the bench and sees the box sitting in the dirt. Picks it up, goes back into Hargrave House, kind of tosses it on the table very nonchalantly, starts to tear the bow off, and then opens the lid of the box.

Kim
And inside is a beautiful, crimson silk corset and matching gloves. The note says, “Beauty is pain.”

[Scraping, echoing tones]

Cassandra
Ena reads this note and smiles a bit to herself, acknowledging the corset and everything that goes with getting into a corset. Sets the note down, and picks the corset up and starts to inspect it and admire the craftsmanship.

Kim
It is very fine work, but you notice that the interior of this corset is lined with thorns.

Cassandra
Ena kind of chuckles to herself, looking at the thorns, and then gently runs her hands over them. And if you could see her palm, you might see little cuts start to appear and then heal themselves almost instantly.

Kim
And examining the gloves, you see a similar pretty trap. Tiny, near invisible hooks along the interior of the gloves to catch the palms and fingers.

Cassandra
She looks at these and goes to put one on but doesn’t put it on all of the way. But sticking her hand into it, she can feel the snag and pull of those hooks. And then pulling the glove back off, her hand is no the same color as the exterior of the gloves and corset. But then that color seeps away and we’re back to just her normal palm with that faint hint of Aegis.

[Quiet hubbub of an audience, slow string music]

Kim
That is a clue for the Spidersilk Seamstress. Mr. John, your activities with Mena Fu concluded, you leave her spent, catching her breath against the vanity, and close the door to the dressing room. And as you exit, your boots brush against flower petals, hundreds of them, roses that have all been littered on the floor of this little backstage hallway. And crouched in the corner of the ceiling is a small form, its long hair hanging in front of its face. It says quietly,

The Limehouse Lurker (Kim)
I can smell her.

Mr. John (T.)
Yeah, that makes two of us.

The Limehouse Lurker (Kim)
I’m hungry.

Mr. John (T.)
Don’t we just have so much in common. This world’s eat or be eaten. You looking to have a snack?

The Limehouse Lurker (Kim)
Are you finished with her?

T.
John glances over his shoulder, and then remembers Vera Hale.

Mr. John (T.)
I’m just getting started. I already took a bite out of her. That means she’s mine. But I’ve got room for dessert, if you wanna try anything.

Kim
We see a glint of white as this pale figure flashes a sharp smile in your direction and leaps from the corner of the room.

[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 Weebkins and all of our incredible Kitten Marlowe patrons in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.