Shadows in the Smoke S1E31 - "When the Blood Had Dried"

Shadows in the Smoke S1E31 – “When the Blood Had Dried”

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
Good morning, hunters. Rather an eventful night that we had last night. More than the hunters know, honestly, because as far as you know, the Limehouse Lurker is still active within Limehouse.

Before I introduce a brand new threat, certain developments have happened between Mr. Hutchinson and Miss Thanero that begged an out of character discussion, namely considering the… pledge, I suppose, that Mr. Hutchinson gave to Miss Thanero concerning not seeing anymore sex workers? Which does make your playbook move As Cruel as the Harlot’s Curse a little difficult to trigger.

T.
Yeah.

Kim
Yeah.

T.
Unless I want dire ramifications.

Kim
T and I were putting our heads together, trying to figure out a replacement move. Like, it could have just sat dormant on the character sheet, but I wanted to have something that replaced it that didn’t count as like the advancement that is a custom move. I just want to make sure that everyone had an even number of playbook moves. So this was the best solution that we came up with. So why don’t you let everyone know what you’re rolling with now?

T.
To replace As Cruel as the Harlot’s Curse, I pitched a reskinning of The Factotum’s move, The Employer. This is called The Mistress. You’re a devotee of one of the other hunters. Decide which hunter it is. (It’s Ena.) That player is now your Mistress. The following rules apply: your Mistress is the only hunter you can request a scene with for the purposes of triggering a vulnerable move, though others may request a scene with you in the normal way. Rolls associated with any action done in direct defense of your Mistress are taken with advantage.

Kim
There we go.

Cassandra
That’s pretty baller.

Kim
But to add a little wrinkle, you’re still keeping the vice of prostitutes, right?

T.
Yeah. I don’t think it’s a particularly potent vice if it’s not going to tempt you. But if I want to trigger that vulnerable move, it has to be with Ena’s express permission.

Cassandra
That’s sexy!

T.
Mmhm.

Cassandra
I’m just so powerful!

Kim
Alright, fantastic. The next thing that I do in the Day Phase is introduce a Threat if we have fewer than three. And we only have one right now.

This Threat is called Figg’s Piggs.

T.
Nooo!

Cassandra
Oh, boy…

[Ominous accordion music]

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson, our Most Beloved.

T.
Fucking god damn it…

Kim
The Figg family has sent you one of their famous Figg’s Piggs – a meat pie, with a little pig stamped on the crust. You enjoyed the first few bites before realizing it contained human meat. What gave it away?

T.
As Mr. Hutchinson is biting into it, savoring… the nice surprise. Finally, somebody doing something decent out of the goodness of their heart for him. He’s wolfing it down, when he pauses and recognizes that… That’s not short pig. That’s long pig. And that is a familiar taste for Mr. Hutchinson, as neither this nor the eyes of the Demon of Kilburn Abbey are the first time he has tasted human flesh.

Kim
Scotland Yard was called, and Mr. Figg was arrested. His wife and two sons managed to escape capture. Mr. Figg is being held at Bethlehem Royal Hospital. He won’t tell the inspectors anything about where his family might be, though eh has been singing a little song about them. The lyrics are as follows:

[Sings]

“Sing a song of three Figgs
The apples of my eye.
Snatch a bunch of long pigs
And bake them into pies.

First comes Little Patrick,
About on paw or hoof.
He thinks he is an animal
And has since troubled youth!

Obert the Blade has fine taste,
More than most I know.
It has to be the right pig, see
The meat must be just so.

My love, La Bella Hortencia,
The gravy to my crust.
To hold that which she loved and lost,
She’ll do what she must.

Sing a song of Three Figs,
Their names you all now know.
You’ll see them down old London town
And in the sack you’ll go!”

Amazingly, Scotland Yard has asked for Hargrave House’s help in capturing the Figgs. They want to keep the investigation of the Figg’s pie shop in Shoreditch fairly quiet, without official police presence, so as not to set off a pie hysteria throughout the city. You have come to the conclusion that Mr. Figg’s song is a guide for how to find the other Figgs. It has helped you form some questions, the answers to which will lead to their capture.

Kim
There are three Questions associated with Figg’s Piggs, all of which must be answered to resolve the Threat. Each question is tied to a member of the Figg family.

The first Question, “What kind of animal does Patrick Figg think he is?” Complexity 2. This unlocks the opportunity to lure the animal out in the open, and then capture or destroy him.

The second Question, “What type of victim does Obert Figg prefer?” Complexity 2. This unlocks the opportunity to lure Obert Figg to you, and then capture or destroy him.

And finally, “What did La Hortencia Figg lose that she is trying to recapture or remember?” Complexity 2. This unlocks the opportunity to find La Hortencia and then capture or destroy her.

The unique rule with Figg’s Piggs is that for the first two Figgs, you may attempt to capture or destroy them during the Day Phase. It is only the last, final Figg that must be resolved at night.

Figg’s Piggs also has a unique mask associated with it. It is, of course, the Mask of the Pig. I can also tell you that after five Night Phases, the remaining surviving Figgs will break their father out of Bethlehem Royal Hospital and escape London, and the Threat will no longer be able to be resolved.

T.
Where are other counters at right now?

Kim
So, the good news is that you don’t have to worry about the countdown for the Limehouse Lurker anymore!

T.
We kind of do, though. Because things will happen.

Natalia
We can’t resolve it, so there’s nothing we can do.

Kim
So the Limehouse Lurker countdown was tied around vampires arriving in London. I think it’s just going to happen whenever I want now, because the Lurker is a servant.

T.
Gotcha. Cool, cool, cool.

Kim
The Nutcracker, you still have four more days before the campaign immediately ends.

Natalia
Well, we’re up to six Clues, so that’s pretty good.

Kim
I would say about a week has passed since the last time we checked in on the hunters of Hargrave House. Since Miss Douglas’ fateful audition for the Royal Ballet Company. I suppose I should cue to the breakfast phase…

[A fireplace crackles. Birds chirp]

T.
I get the feeling it’s a lonely breakfast.

Natalia
Maesie is not there.

T.
What’s the timbre like between Ena and Agustus after a big reveal, and it was also kind of tense and contemptuous?

Cassandra
I feel if we’re saying a week has passed, that Ena’s temper has cooled off significantly. But there’s also now this interesting undercurrent, I think, between her and Augustus, of maybe not knowing how to act a bit around each other. Because I revealed a lot, to you specifically.

T.
Mmhmm. Is it maybe one of those, we have been kind of avoiding each other, like tiptoeing around the kitchen, but today we both come in at the same time?

Cassandra
Yeah, I think it’s probably that. Like I don’t think they’ve had any real like one-on-one…

T.
For sure.

Cassandra
Date type moments.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Ena.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Augustus.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Coffee?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes, please.

T.
He pours you a cup of coffee. He’s still looking peaked. He is not sleeping well and his shaking a bit, almost as if he is suffering from delirium tremens.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Have you seen the others at late?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
No. I haven’t seen Rabbit much at all. And Maesie for some reason is just holed up in her room.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Well, I would check on her, but I think that would only exacerbate things.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
You’re probably right. I’ll find my way up there later and check and make sure she’s alright.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
I’m sure she’d appreciate that from you.

I, uh… I feel like I owe you an apology.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Go on.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Well, I was hoping that would cover it, but… [Clears throat] I spent a lot of time on my own back in the States. Moving from person to person. And when you don’t have a stationary life, you try and make a bold first impression. Because you want to be remembered. That people take you seriously, or think twice about you to do you a kindness, or stay away from you, as the case may be. And it doesn’t make for fine table manners.

I tend to speak bluntly and comport myself even moreso. And I’ve not been doing well to adjust myself to a lady of your pedigree, and I didn’t right now how to react when you… when Sister Charlotte… when that nun… uh… I didn’t know how to react. And I realized, over the past few days, that I don’t need to. Not my business what you do or who does what for you.

But between you and me and the walls of Hargrave House, I feel like I might be having a feeling toward you. And I… Well, if I’m just wasting my time or barking up the wrong tree, I’d just as soon you tell me now so I don’t make a fool out of myself. I would do much to entertain you, but I don’t want to be your fool.

Cassandra
Ena reaches out and covers Augustus’ hand – one of these shaking, tremoring hand son the table – and lets that little shield of Aegis glow a little bit to imbue him with a little bit of power, a little bit of juice, a little bit of healing. And looks him in the face and cocks her head a little bit.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I don’t so much mind your bluntness. There are so few who are willing to be themselves in front of me. I have shown you a great deal more than I’ve shown others. But there is still some things to see, and perhaps one day I’ll show you the real rub of it all.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
The masterwork?

Cassandra
She looks away for a moment, smiling, knowing full well she said it and he heard it.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes. But there are rules around looking upon it. I don’ t know that they are rules you will willingly comport yourself to.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
I think a lot of that still depends.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes, I think it does. But your company is of value to me.

T.
He hears that word – value. Nods quietly to himself, because it doesn’t really answer a question, but it doesn’t take another one off the table.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Is that what you require of people who dedicate themselves to you? Is that what love looks like to you? Worship and devotion?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Worship, not so much. Men worship all manner of things. Value, I think, is in the eye of the beholder, and I am the one watching. Your value is very, very different to me, and it is something precious. Something that rises above what my worshippers offer me.

T.
He smiles and looks down at the tablecloth.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
I think that’s what I needed to know. Well, I won’t be your fool, but if you find yourself in need of a knight…

Cassandra
She gives his hand a squeeze and pulls it up, with Aegis still glowing, and kind of waggles her fingers at him.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Don’t you know, darling? I’m the knight in this relationship.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
A steed, then.

Kim
Miss Douglas, where do we find you this morning?

[Peaceful harp music]

Natalia
As one of the most recent additions to the Hargrave House borders, Maesie was not given the full selection of rooms to choose from. But never having had a room before, this didn’t upset her in the slightest. And she selected a bright room on the second floor with a large bay window, and a view of the turbulent Thames in the distance. Two doors that lead to a small closet and the restroom off to one side.

The bedroom was sparse naturally when she moved in, only a modestly sized bed and an empty bookcase remained from the previous tenant. And Maesie had very few belongings she arrived, but the room became a little bit more personal with these additions: a Viking flag spread out on the bed, a conch shell on the shelf, and an old fishing net dropped in a corner on the floor.

After several months of living here, the room hasn’t changed all that much, because Maesie doesn’t spend that much time in here usually. She’s unused to being confined and alone. She prefers to be outdoors or in a shared room downstairs, where she is likely to bump into another hunter.

The few items that she firs arrived with are all gone now. Instead, the walls are decorated with sketches from the artists at Cremorne Gardens. The bookshelf has slowly been filed with all manner of deep-sea treasures – urchin husks, spiraling shells… A barnacle jewelry box filled with a few gold earrings, and gemstone necklaces that she never wears but admires often. A large flawless pearl holds a seat of power in the very middle of the shelf, next to a copy of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales.

The closet holds a few clothes, most of them simple woolen items strewn about the floor. But a few nicer skirts and blouses are hung with care – out of deference to Ena’s teachings. A box tied with a silver ribbon rests on a shelf.

The only thing that has remained since she moved in is the scuff marks on the window sill, from Maesie climbing up onto the roof…

[Wind blows, birds chirp]

Natalia
Which is where she is now. Staring out at the sky, lost in thought.

Robert
As Maesie is sitting on the roof, she hears a pair of footsteps come up behind her.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Hello, love. Let’s say we get you out of this place and get a proper meal in you?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Not hungry.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Well, at the very least, a change of scenery, love. Trust me, it’ll help.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Aye. Um… Rabbit, does everyone you love leave you too? Or is that just me?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
It’s an odd thing to have happened to you. It’s happened to me more than once. But let’s discuss this a bit further with a good meal between us.

Kim
Where is everyone off to today?

T.
That depends on something for me. Is Moc’h Maesie’s little secret, or do we all know about that?

Natalia
I don’t think Maesie hid the fact that she met a pig god in the larder.

T.
It doesn’t sound like something that she would do, but I was just curious.

Kim
I think you know that there’s something in the larder, certainly. Yeah.

T.
I’m already halfway through cannibalism. I’ve got the other half of that meat pie. Fucking pig god, fucking pigs? I feel like I should go down and ask some questions.

Kim
Okay. Miss Thanero?

Cassandra
I believe I would like to start my day getting a new pair of shoes. And once I’ve accomplished that, I would like to drop in on Theodora Brathwaite in her London apartment for a spot of tea.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd and Miss Douglas, it seems like Robert, you were keying up perhaps a vulnerable move?

Robert
I was.

Kim
Let’s start there. Where do the two of you go?

[A quiet London street]

Robert
So, we join the two of them again on St. James’ Square in the West End of London, in front of a very nice, wealthy-looking establishment. Rabbit knocks on the door very confidently, and a man in full dress livery answers. Rabbit catches his gaze and doesn’t let it go, and raises two fingers to his throat, and says in another voice…

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
[In a deeper, posh voice] Hello Charles, I believe there is a private room where I could show this lady a nice meal. If you would show us to that, thank you very much.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Rabbit, what… what is that… what are you doing with your voice?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
We’re going to be dining out on someone else’s penny today. Don’t worry, I have it in good authority that he’s not in town at the moment.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Weird man. You’re a weird, weird man.

[A fireplace crackles]

Robert
And they are led through the halls of this private gentleman’s club to a private room, where a full English breakfast is laid out in front of them. Beans, tomatoes, toast, multiple sorts of sausage and meat.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
[In a deep, posh voice] Thank you very much. That will be all for now, Charles.

Kim
How does this servant address you?

Robert
When he does address me, he says, “Very well, Captain Campbell-Amherst.”

Kim
Magnificent.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Right. You are grieving right now. I can’t do anything for that, except to show you that I have been there myself, and give you the same piece of advice that was given to me. When things seem helpless, the best thing you can do is help out others.

And on that, note, I have a proposition for you. Well first, a bit of news. You are no longer in debt to Miss Beaumont, the Weaver. That has hall been sorted. You do not have to worry about that. I have offered her certain services of mine in order to pay that debt off for you.

What this means is I don’t know how much longer I’ll have at Hargrave House. I might be leaving in the not too distant future. And before I do, I thought I would pass on some of my knowledge, some of my expertise to you. If you would be willing to take me on as a teacher.

Natalia
All Maesie has just heard is, “I am leaving.”

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Uh… Hmm… Right. Thanks. I think, um… When will you be going?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Not right away. There’s some personal business I have to deal with first. I don’t want to leave this world until I’ve settled a few things that… Let’s just say are biting at my heels, I’m sure.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I’m really sorry, Rabbit.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
It’s not your fault, love.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
It is my fault.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
No, it’s not. You made a mistake. We all do.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
It’s all I seem to be doing.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Well, you’re lucky in that you have friends that will pick you back up when you fall. And the best thing to do is just try and learn from those mistakes. Try and make sure you don’t make the exact same ones again. You will make lots of mistakes. I know I’ve only got a few years on you, but…

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
You’re practically ancient. You’re so old.

Kim
[Laughs] Oh, wow…

Robert
Rabbit laughs at that. Like a loud, hearty laugh.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Regardless, I thought I could give you the help that I can before, you know, I have to leave.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I’ll try to listen better this time.

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson.

T.
I don’t have very far to go. I walk down the familiar hall to the larder.

[An ominous, empty rumbling]

Kim
And what is it that you’re snacking on?

T.
I have a lace doily which I am unfolding, that has the other half of Figgs’ gift pig. And I walk down the stone steps, into the cool room below the house, and say…

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Little pig, little pig, let me come in.

T.
And take a bite.

Kim
Alright. Utilizing the Larder. When you succumb to the urge to consume raw flesh in the Larder, you draw the attention of the pagan swine god Moc’h. Roll with Sensitivity. If the flesh belonged to a humanoid creature, roll with advantage. Which is good, because I was going to give you disadvantage, because you’re Most Beloved.

T.
Point of order. The pie was cooked. Does it have to be raw?

Natalia
I will point of order as well. When I ate my human fingers, technically canned goods are not raw.

Kim
I think because it’s cannibalism… I think in the spirit of it, it’s correct.

T.
So I’m rolling this neutrally?

Kim
Yes, please. Thank you.

T.
4 + 5 is 9, +1 is 10.

Kim
Alright. So on a 10+, Moc’h reveals secrets in the meat. You can ask the Keeper for a Clue, and you may clear an appropriate Condition.

T.
I would like to clear Drained, please.

Kim
Of course. You’re so well fed right now.

[Monstrous rumbling]

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson, you finish this delicious meat pie, lick your fingers… And then, just like what Miss Douglas saw, you see a pile of raw meat in the corner of the larder begin to take animal form, melting and melding into his large boar head made out of raw meat.

Moc’h (Kim)
How did it taste?

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Same as it ever does.

Moc’h (Kim)
You are not one of my worshippers, but I see that you have eaten the flesh. Dost thou wish to worship?

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Sorry, I’m afraid that honor belongs to another.

Moc’h (Kim)
You have called me. Speak.

T.
I was given this gift from one of these pie makers here in London. And its taste smacks of something a little too familiar. Scotland Yard’s come to us to do what we do best. I’m a hunter. I’m seeking prey. And I know you know a thing or two about cannibals.

Moc’h (Kim)
I’d take care, little piglet.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
[Laughs ruefully] Close, but no cigar.

Moc’h (Kim)
Titus Figg has designs on you.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Well, he can take a fucking number.

Moc’h (Kim)
He’ll bake you into a pie.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Yeah, and grind my bones to dust. I’ve heard it all. Where are his kids?

Moc’h (Kim)
If one wishes to contact the Figgs, one needs a proper gift.

Kim
This enormous pig thing opens its gaping maw.

Moc’h (Kim)
Reach inside.

T.
Augustus sighs. Mostly because, like, this is so much rigmarole. As opposed to just, like, pushing somebody up against a wall and asking them a question. Rolls up his sleeve and digs around inside this meat gullet, past all the pharyngeal muscles, over its tongue, and down its pharynx until he feels something hard.

Kim
Several things, actually.

T.
[Small groan]

Kim
A skeletal hand. And then another one. And another, and another. Each one, smaller than the next.  That is a Clue for Figg’s Piggs.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
This your take on a Russian nesting doll?

Moc’h (Kim)
Hold those close, little piglet.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
I’ve never been one for holding hands.

Moc’h (Kim)
[Chuckles]

Mr. Hutchison (T.)
If you insist. If you think this’ll help somehow, I suppose I can talk to a… coroner, or something.

Moc’h (Kim)
I’d ask you to watch your tone when you speak with a god.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
[Snorts] Yeah. I got a bad habit of that. Trying to make amends. Well…

T.
And I bow, deep and low, looking at him.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Your servant, sir. Will you see yourself out, or do I have to huff and puff?

Kim
The large pig thing chortles and looks at you with its glowing eyes, before the beat on the shelf is just a pile of meat.

T.
Hutchinson shakes his head.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Coulda had a nice cushy job making suits for rich folk. Instead you gotta go fuckin’ tap dancing with the supernatural.

Kim
Miss Thanero. Off to the shop of Mr. Higgins. I’d love to know what you’re wearing to go deal with Mrs. Brathwaite’s people.

[A London street]

Cassandra
The winter months approaching and it getting a bit colder out, today she is wearing some high-waisted dove-grey trousers that are sharply tailored from very fine wool. Their seams are piped with plum silk that gleams when she moves. Over them, she’s wearing a structured coat of deep amethyst velvet, which flares like a general’s great coat – very military in cut. The sweeping lapels are embroidered with a faint silver thread that forms the ghost of an owl’s wings. Beneath the coat, we have a sheer ivory blouse that gathers at the throat with a bronze clasp shaped like an olive branch. Her boots are polished black leather laced to the knee, and her gloves are white.

Kim
Beautiful. You arrive at Mr. Higgins’ cobbler shop. There are all manner of young men who are hanging about the alleyway and near the storefront, all dressed in black, just watching you as you walk in.

Cassandra
Ena gives them all a cursory glance, kind of raising an eyebrow at a few of them. Maybe a flicker of knowing, tickling at the back of her brain. As she opens the door and crosses the threshold into the shop, she very discretely scuffs the toe of one of these laced boots against the doorjam as she enters.

[Quiet, unsettling ambient tones]

Kim
You see Mr. Higgins, dressed of course in his tweed suit. He looks at you knowingly.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
And how can I help you today?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well good sir, I seem to have scuffed my boot. And since I was passing by, I thought I’d stop in and see if you could give it a repair. But maybe also get something new fitted.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
Ah, and what would you like today, mistress?

Cassandra
Ena pauses for a second, hearing that.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I think I’d like to try a shorter boot. Something with a higher heel. Maybe in a different, more exotic type of material, if you have it.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
I have a very rare leather, if you think that would suffice?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Show it to me, I suppose.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
Would you please sit?

Cassandra
She does.

Kim
Mr. Higgins pulls from a shelf a very fine, heeled boot in rich sapphire blue leather.

Cassandra
Ena sighs, looking at it.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well, this certainly seems to be a popular color this season.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
Would you believe it’s the latest craze?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I would, unfortunately.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
May I see your foot, Madame?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I suppose. It is in your job description.

Kim
Mr. Higgins, genteel as always, kneels down before you and moves to unlace your boot and place the new one upon your foot.

Cassandra
Ena allows him to do so, keeping an eye on where his hands end up. But for a moment, she’s allowing it.

Kim
He touches your ankle to help you into the new boot, and then laces it up.

Cassandra
Ena cocks her head and smiles to herself, but she’s not going to move right this second.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
Wouldn’t you say it is very fine work?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I have no qualms with the craftsman ship. The color, though. Hmm… It’s very drab. Rather overdone, if I do say so.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
Does it not please you, mistress?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I think what doesn’t please me is a great many questions after me toward one of my associates.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
You are a woman about town, are you not? Such people attract attention, do they not?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Attention, I’m very used to, and it is rather expected. But your employer sems to have taken a greater interest in me and mine as of late. That type of attention, I don’t often take kindly to.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
Madam, you wouldn’t fault a humble servant, would you?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Now now, we both know you’re anything but humble.

Cassandra
And Ena sits back on the stool that she was on, and starts to slowly unlace this sapphire blue boot.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I asked for something extravagant, and you’ve given me something very overdone.

Cassandra
And she slowly pulls this boot off and just has it in her hand at the moment.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
I could fetch you a new one, if you like?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes. I think that would be wise.

[A fireplace crackles]

Kim
Mr. Lloyd and Miss Douglas.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I know that you’ve got a sort of magic of your own. But I can teach you how to focus it, refine it, how to use things that aren’t just your instincts, your natural powers, to get things done. But first, I can teach you more important parts of the craft that were taught to me: that is, how to live a life.

You’re not going to always be a happy person. You’re going to go through these moments where you feel like the world is ending, and it doesn’t somehow. You’re going to have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. And you can numb that. You can lose yourself in all sorts of distractions and pleasures. Trust me, I’ve done that. But I think the best thing you can do to deal with loss, to deal with sorrow, to deal with a feeling of powerlessness in an unfair world, is to work. It’s to find those who are even worse off than you are, and help them out.

So before I teach you any magic…

Robert
And he opens up the carpet bag that has been sitting on the table.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I think it’s probably more important that I teach you some basic… I’d call it medicine, but healing is probably a better word for it.

Robert
And he starts to pull out examples of various native plants of England. Showing her, you know, that this is the bark of a willow. If you boil this, you can make a tea that helps you with pain. If someone has some sort of contagion, you know, the best thing to do is clean it. The sort of folk medicine that may seem like common sense, but somehow gets forgotten when there aren’t people to remind you of it. And really gets stuck in on teaching her how she can help to heal others, and hopefully learn to heal herself in the meantime.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Rabbit, um, thanks. I, um… Every time that something goes wrong, I tend to run away. And Hargrave is the first place where I have felt like even when things go wrong, I have somewhere to go. And Hargrave is not going to be the same without you. But I hope wherever you go after this, it makes you happy at least.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I promise you, I’ll never be too far away. I promise you, if you truly find yourself with your back up against a wall, in need of help that only I can provide, I will always be with you. Maybe not literally. Maybe not actually there. But If I can teach you some things, there will always be a part of me that you carry with you.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Well, as long as that’s true, I think I can keep going.

Kim
Beautiful. So, at the end of the Vulnerable Scene, both of you may clear Conditions, should you choose to.

Robert
I am going to clear A Servant of Miss Beaumont, as the details of the deal that I made with her have worked out more. And I don’t owe her anything at the moment, but I will in the future.

Kim
Alright. Miss Douglas?

Natalia
I will be clearing Sadder But Wiser. Because while I am sadder, I am also wiser. I’m also a little less sad.

Kim
Yeah, that makes sense. And you both get to collaborate on a Clue for me. It can be for either of the active threats.

Robert
I think it would be fun if one of the members of staff here has a clue that they would give to a captain in the Queen’s army, in the Queen’s forces.

Natalia
Especially if Scotland Yard is trying to capture the Figg family.

Robert
Yeah. So, let’s see…

Natalia
It could be a letter from Scotland Yard to this guy, detailing some sort of animal attack on his property. We can therefore link to what kind of animal does Patrick Figg think he is.

Robert
I like that. I like that. Yeah. Let’s say an employee at the club delivers a letter to Rabbit, still mistakenly believing that he is the captain, describing an animal attack that happened somewhere in London months ago. A whole hen house of chickens was mercilessly killed, torn apart. But it didn’t seem to be any sort of animal that lives in London. It wasn’t like a fox or a dog or anything like that. And there were human footprints leading away from it.

Kim
Miss Thanero. Mr. Higgins rises and moves to take the offending shoe from your hand.

[Ominous ambient tones]

Cassandra
Instead of giving it to him, she instead charges at him full tilt, putting her arm under his neck and shoving him into a wall of boots that are for sale, a lot of them tumbling to the floor around them. And she takes this sapphire blue shoe and holds the heel to his temple, and is ever so slowly pressing it in and starting to, millimeter by millimeter, drag it down the side of his face – beginning to draw blood.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
First of all, you know who I am. You know who my people are. Touching me? Hmm. That was your first mistake. But even prior to that, you took something from me with no intention to give it back, and then proceeded to ask questions after who I am and what I am capable of. Why am I of such interest to you?

Kim
Make the Information Move with Vitality, because you are bodily threatening this man. And you make this roll with advantage, because of your most recent Taketh Away.

Cassandra
That’s right. Okay. We have a 5 and a 3, plus my Vitality of 1, which is a 9. If I want to bump it up, I can spend a mask, and that would be a full success.

Kim
But not quite a Mastermind Clue.

Cassandra
But still. I would rather not have any complications, I think, with this man specifically.

Kim
That’s fair. So, Miss Thanero, are you spending a Mask of the Past or a Mask of the Future.

Cassandra
I am going to spend a Mask of the Past. And the mask reads as follows: Narrate a flashback to your young adulthood that shows the first time you met the artist who fell in love with you.

[Ethereal ambient tones]

Cassandra
It was the spring after the war in Attica, when the blood had dried and the mortals remembered how to sing again. Ena walked alone through the narrow streets of a seaside village, cloaked in grey, her sandals silent on the stones. No crown adorned her head, no spear tapped at her heel. The olive trees whispered her name, but she did not answer.

The woman saw her first as a silhouette. Ena had paused before a crumbling temple wall, where paint once lived. A fresco, half-lost to wind and time, clung there: figures in profile, horses mid-gallop, a hero forgotten. She reached out, fingers hovering over the flaked pigment, and the woman, watching from the scaffolding above, dropped her brush.

“It’s not finished,” she said, more a breath than a greeting.

Ena turned, her eyes cool as dusk. “That’s the problem with mortals. Nothing is ever finished, and yet you keep trying.”

The artist expected her to leave then, to vanish like a storm over the sea. But instead, Ena sat beside the wall, knees drawn up, and simply watched the artist work

They met again the next day, and the next. She never told her who she was. She offered critiques, small smiles, silence. The woman painted with Ena’s shadow at her back, and in every figure she shaped from plaster and dust, her likeness waited, unclaimed and radiant.

They never kissed. But one morning she was gone, and in her place on the steps of the temple was a helm made of bronze, and a single olive branch still damp with dew.

She did not look back. Not because she did not want to, but because she had learned long ago: if you look back, you risk turning into something softer than stone. Something was different, though. The woman had painted her. Not as the warrior, not as the storm, but as a woman watching the world. A witness. A thinker. A goddess disguised as a question. No one had ever dared that before.

Back on Olympus, her father asked why she smelled of sea and plaster. She didn’t answer. Her owl blinked once, and nestled in close.

She resumed her duties. Counsel, war, judgment. But sometimes, when mortals offered burnt offerings, she would whisper through the smoke, “Paint what you cannot prove. Love what you cannot touch. That is where truth lies.” And somewhere far below, an old artist, long gray and nearly blind, still traced her face on empty walls.

She had not loved her back. Not in the way that mortals hope. But she remembered her. And for her, that was love. The gods do not love easily. But sometimes, they linger.

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson. As you exit the Larder, there is a knock at the door of Hargrave House.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Well who could that be, I wonder? Who is it?

T.
I don’t open the door. I yell through the door.

Jenny Johnston (Kim)
It’s Ms. Jenny Johnston.

[An eerie tone]

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Oh!

T.
I open the door.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Jenny, what are you doing here? I haven’t seen you outside of Limehouse.

Kim
You see Ms. Jenny Johnston. She is carrying a large umbrella. She is gloved, wearing sunglasses.

Jenny Johnston (Kim)
Hello sir. Could I please come in?

[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 the best people we know, our Kitten Marlowe patrons, in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.