Shadows in the Smoke S1E36 - "The Ice Starts to Crack"

Shadows in the Smoke S1E36 – “The Ice Starts to Crack”

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

[Shadows in the Smoke theme]

Kim
Welcome, hunters, to the Dusk.

[Soft, contemplative piano]

Kim
We begin the Dusk, as always…

T.
[Surprised] Oh!

Kim
…with a Quickening roll. Mr. Hutchinson…

Natalia
[Laughing] How could you forget?

Kim
As a reminder, you are currently at three Conditions. So let’s hope you roll well today.

T.
Oh, shit. I forgot that bit.

Kim
Do you have a Personal Quarters item you’d like to use right now?

T.
Uh, I just got a gramophone.

Kim
Okay.

T.
And I’m gonna put on a record of a sonata, to try and keep the sunlight lasting as long as it can.

Kim
Soothe the savage beast, I like it.

T.
[Rolls dice] 3 and 5 is 8, +1 is 9.

Kim
Alright, Mr. Hutchinson, so you have to take the Condition: Drained.

T.
But I can’t take another Condition…

Kim
Mmhm.

T.
I’m going to spend a mask of the past.

Kim
Alright. Please read the prompt.

T.
Narrate a flashback to the incident that caused you to receive the Quickening Curse.

As the sun begins to set in the West, the music plays and the record skips, over and over. [Imitates a record skipping three times] Until it becomes the sound of hoofbeats.

[Hoofbeats throughout]

[A happy crowd murmurs]

T.
In Grand Rapids, Minnesota, February 1846. We see John on one knee, a diamond ring in a box. Hoofbeats. A crack and a hiss. A daguerreotype of the couple on their wedding day, the bride’s belly swollen with child. Hoofbeats. The calendar turning from April to May. Hoofbeats. A rattle. John waking up alone in a bed. John looking over the iron balcony of a townhouse. Constance below, swinging her leg up over a saddle in the dawning light. Hoofbeats. A rattle. A woman on horseback. A man on horseback. A fork in the road. Teeth above the fork. A horse rearing. Hoofbeats… Hoofbeats…

[The hoofbeats fade away]

T.
He spends the summer and the autumn and the winter chasing legends, looking for an answer. He asks as many cunning folk as he can lay his hands on. The voodoo mambos in New Orleans, Curanderas in Texas, even the Hexenmeisters in Wisconsin. He went to the sources of as many rivers as he could. The Missouri, the Snake, the Red. Up and down, all these fucking rivers. For every one he finds the headwaters of, it seems there are two more to explore. But they all stem from the same source. The queen mother bitch of them all: the Mississippi. 

Finally, it is an Akicitas in Sioux territory that tells him what he needs to know. It’s February by the time he finally makes it to Minnesota, to the spot the Sioux woman had called the Lake of Darkness. The local whites had shuddered to talk about it too, but he approaches it with the first lamb of the year over his shoulders. So begins 1846, his 23rd year and the worst year of his fucking life. 

When he finally gets there, it’s smaller than he expects. Water black as obsidian and intensely smooth. There’s a man sitting on the bank fishing, with a mass of dark hair and a thick beard. That, he does expect.

“Who are you supposed to be? F-fucking Nero?” The fisherman looks at him. “This Lake L-Lenore?”

“It is. You’re a long way from home, son.”

“Why ain’t it frozen over like the rest of them?”

“Too much salt in the water. But trust me, it’s plenty cold. You wanna wait till it warms up a bit? I’m waiting for my niece. We could wait together. You know what you’re doing here?”

“You see the fucking sheep, dontcha?”

“And why would you bring that poor creature all the way up here?”

“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter. I’ve read the tales. I know my part.”

“It’s not too late to turn back.”

“I didn’t fight my way to this far fucking north in the dead of fucking winter to be p-persuaded away at the eleventh fucking hour.”

“You look hungry.”

“Not for food.”

“Let me see it.” The dark haired fisherman takes the lamb, and drawing a three-tined fork from within the folds of his clothes, plunges it hard into the animal’s neck. He yanks it out and puts the wound to his lips, draining it with a long, sucking sound. “I prefer steak.”

“Well you’re shit out of luck, cause I’m shit out of cattle.”

“You certain she even wants to come back?”

“That’s between me and her. Now will you let me do this, peaceful like?”

“Are you certain you want to see her? That horse ran six miles before you caught up with her. She was mangled to all–”

“I’m sure.” 

The dark haired man shrugs. “It’s your funeral.”

He hands John the lamb back, and John tosses the carcass into the pool, and watches it sink below, its remaining blood not dark enough to stain the wine-dark water. 

“You’re gonna wanna strip. The clothes’ll weigh you down.”

“Ain’t the point to get to the bottom?”

The man just smiles, his face still caked with blood.

[Water rushes and rumbles, dark ambience creeps in]

T.
The water is so cold, John doesn’t even feel it. Don’t think his mind could even register the pain. His breath abandons him. He’s thrashing, sputtering for air.

The fisherman just laughs. “Hahaha… Ah, must be some woman! Married, and she can still take your breath away! Well, go on then! Go get her!”

Still thrashing, he looks up at the dark haired man grinning like mad from the shore. 

“Stupid fucking mortals. Hand them the secrets to fire, and they still don’t have the sense to keep warm. Looks like you’ve got a choice to make, son. So which is it gonna be? You wanna go see your lady love again? Or you wanna live?”

“L…L…Li…”

He cups a hand to his hear. “What’s that?”

Well, y’all can guess what he chose. The dark haired man round John, ties it to his own horse, and tows him to shore. 

“Thought so. You always were a coward. Selfish as shellfish. C’mon, then.” Somewhere far away, something mighty splits in two as the dark haired man leans in close. “You work for me, now.”

[Gentle piano]

Kim
So that bumps up your Quickening roll to a 10+. So your body is stronger and faster, and you manage to keep the Quickening in check. You roll with advantage when taking actions that use Vitality until the next Dawn Phase. Miss Douglas, would you like to do Moonlight Upon the Waves this evening?

Natalia
Uh, no. I will not be doing Moonlight Upon the Waves tonight. I think we have other fish to fry, if you will.

Kim
Now I would like to invite you all to Answer a Question, should you like to. We have three Threats that we are currently working on. We have Figgs Piggs – we have amassed four Clues for Figgs Piggs. We have the Whateley Camera, our brand new Threat. We have two Clues for that one. And we have the Nutcracker. We have amassed eleven Clues for the Nutcracker.

Robert
I’m still not feeling comfortable rolling on it, I think should get a few more maybe.

[Everyone laughs]

T.
Exactly.

Kim
Hold off one more day? [Laughs]

T.
I don’t trust things to go our way. We gotta… we gotta strike while the iron’s cold. 

Natalia
I have to save Sacha, guys. I have to!

Kim
Sacha will die tonight, if you do not rescue him.

T.
He also might die tonight, if we do.

Kim
It’s possible!

Natalia
But the likelihood that he will die is exponentially greater if we do nothing. [Laughs]

Cassandra
Kim said, “It’s a sure thing, though.” [Laughs] If you choose to walk away from this in this moment, he’s not gonna be here anymore.

Kim
Listen, Nat failed and didn’t spend a mask. Kim will remember this. 

Natalia
Yeah, well, I’m gonna fix it now!

Kim
So you have three Questions for the Sculptor. We have, “Where does the Sculptor carve their works?” Complexity 4. “What winter tradition does the Sculptor still enjoy?” Complexity 6. And “How does the Royal Ballet train its featured dancers?” Complexity 8 – and it is that final question that gives you access to the move The Dance of the Nutcracker.

Your Clues are as follows: Mr. Lloyd, in a vision of the past, saw the Sculptor singing a distorted Christmas carol. The Snow Queen told you of a strange nativity story, in which one of the three wise men gave the baby Jesus a pair of ballet slippers, which she then gave to you. The frost-bitten legs of the Sugar Plum Fairy, which were swaddled in bandages. Rabbi Rebekka Salomon told Mr. Hutchinson about a string of suicides 15 years ago amongst the Royal Ballet. The Sculptor dreamt of a recently doomed voyage to the arctic. Greco told Miss Douglas about rehearsals performed at odd hours of the night at the Ballet. The cobbler Mr. Higgins told Miss Thanero that there was talk of a “final performance” from the Ballet, on Christmas Eve at St. Paul’s. An excessively exotic centerpiece – this being a live polar bear. A pistol that smells of pine. Miss Douglas received a pair of ballet slippers lined with glass. And stories of sabotage amongst members of the ballet.

Natalia
Okay. So I have a pitch for the Complexity 8 Question, “How does the Royal Ballet train its featured dancers?” Primarily that the dancers are highly encouraged to physically incapacitate their other companions at the school, as a competition for who gets to perform in the final performance. The final performance on Christmas Eve is the thing that they are all competing for. The stories of sabotage at the ballet are indicative of just different ways that dancers have been trying to take each other out. The suicides are actually murders that were disguised as suicides of a performer in the past who was trying to get rid of a bunch of dancers. The frost-bitten legs are another example of sabotage of a dancer, getting left out in the cold and trying to ruin them legs. The glass lining the slippers is, again, these are mostly just examples of different ways people are trying to fuck up other dancers. Glass shards in your feet? Not great for dancing on. The performances at odd hours are dancers just trying to find a time to practice when other people aren’t awake or around, so they can try and get their work done…

Kim
Hmm.

Natalia
Without being fucked with. The gun given to Maesie during the dream dance is sort of a… new inductee to the ballet? Here is a weapon, either for defense or offense. Up to you.

Kim
Oh, okay.

Cassandra
Okay!

T.
Just like, we’re aware of how this is going to go, so you get a pistol with one shot.

Natalia
Yep. There you go. And then the pair of ballet shoes present at the birth of Christ, I have as a very extreme version where someone got sent back in time, to Christmas, to get them fucking out of here.

Kim
That is fucked.

Cassandra
Wow.

Kim
That’s fascinating.

Natalia
One of the three wise men is a ballet dancer who went so far back in time that they were like, “Well I have some shoes for you, baby Jesus.”

I am struggling to incorporate the Sculptor whistling the Christmas carol, the polar bear centerpiece, and the Arctic expedition.

T.
I had a thought. So 15 years ago, when the murders disguised as suicides started, I have a theory that that is the first season Zelia started working there.

Natalia
Mmhmm.

T.
And she was known for her particularly unique training ethos, which included a trip to the arctic with the dancers, where they had to do it over and over again. So this recent voyage has stirred psychic trauma among the dancers – who I think the Sculptor was one of those dancers at that time.

Natalia
I have that too, yeah. That the Sculptor was definitely a performer at the school. The Christmas carol could just be, like, this is one of the dances that is performed at the final performance. 

Robert
What if the Christmas carol is like some sort of sort of… magic might be going too far, but like some sort of like discordant song to put people on edge, and make people… Like, while the dancers are practicing, they aren’t practicing to the normal version of The Nutcracker that we all know. They’re practicing to a discordant, harsh, minor key, “evil” version of The Nutcracker…

Natalia
Sort of throw them off.

Robert
Well, because I mean the idea is like they’re all competing with each other viciously, right?

Natalia
Mmhmm.

Robert
Putting them even more on edge.

Natalia
Yeah. I like it. The polar bear has got me baffled. [Laughs]

T.
Well, there’s polar bears in the arctic.

Natalia
True.

T.
So the Sculptor’s bringing back a polar bear to be like, “Hey, remember 15 years ago?”

Natalia
[Hums affirmatively]

Robert
What if whatever happened to shape Zelia and the Nutcracker happened in the arctic on that expedition? 

T.
What if Zelia was the prima ballerina from 15 years ago who got to dance Clara? The Sculptor would have been her Nutcracker, if she hadn’t sabotaged him in order to get her part. And left him for dead in the arctic!

Natalia
Nice.

Robert
Mmhmm.

Kim
Is that why the Nutcracker, like, has no lips? Because they froze off in the arctic?

Cassandra
Ooh, yes!

Kim
[Excited squealing]

Cassandra
I like that. And like, that does make sense. Like if his leg got mangled by a polar bear and he couldn’t dance anymore, then naturally – that’s why he’s going after all of these elite male dancers in such a gruesome way.

Natalia
Yeah.

Kim
So this roll will be at a +3.

Natalia
Alright. I’m gonna roll one.

Robert
I’ll take the other.

Natalia
[Rolls dice] I got a 6.

Robert
I also got a 6.

Cassandra
[Gasps]

Natalia
Fifteen!

T.
Fifteen, motherfuckers!

Cassandra
That’s a fifteen, y’all!

T.
Could you go higher? I don’t think that you can.

Kim
So let’s talk about what happens on a 12+ when you Answer a Question. On a 12+, this answer is also a Mastermind Clue. 

Robert
Well that fits in perfectly, with everything we’ve seen with the connection between the Nutcracker and our Mastermind.

Kim
We have seen the Sculptor is an admirer of Mrs. Brathwaite. He carried her portrait in his pocket while he was doing his murders, and indeed dreamt about one of her masquerades.

Robert
Maybe whatever happened to him fifteen years ago in the arctic changed him, and Theodora’s shown interest in things that aren’t quite people.

T.
Ice is also a way to preserve bodies.

Natalia
And prolong life, for sure.

Robert
That’s really good.

Cassandra
Oh, you’re nasty for that.

Kim
A lot to think about. And, good news, you all still have the Threat Mask available to use at some point tonight, should you be resolving the Threat tonight.

I think I know, but I have to ask. Are we interested in a London Night Phase or a Hargrave House Night Phase?

T.
London.

Natalia
London.

Kim
Alright. So what are we all doing tonight?

Natalia
I’m going to the ballet.

Kim
Alright.

Robert
With the help of Greco, I’m going to be going into dreams.

Cassandra
I believe tonight I’m going to do some work on Figg’s Piggs.

T.
I’m doing whatever Miss Thanero is doing.

[An ominous, rumbling woosh]

Kim
Tonight’s Unscene is called An Evening Promenade in Covent Garden.

[The buzz and chatter of a large crowd]

Kim
Covent Garden houses a large market, selling mostly fruit, vegetables, and fresh flowers, recently covered by a  new market building. While most of the stalls have packed up by the time dusk falls, the area is still abuzz with visitors. Both the Royal Opera House and the Theatre Royale can be found here. And while it has cleaned up its image a little, it still has a reputation for hosting ladies of the evening.

Paint the Scene: as crowds gather for evening performances and market porters clean down stalls, describe how this place is a crossroads for all strata of London society?

T.
As the upper class is flocking to the theatre and the opera, dressed in their finery, they are mingling among night workers and porters who trade insults and quips with the merchants breaking down their stalls, and buy leftover lunch pastries and dinner items to have for their breakfast, before they start their graveyard shifts.

Cassandra
As we see all of these people weave in and out amongst each other and we see the last of these stalls start to empty, I think the most poignant thing you’d recognize is the smell. You would have all of these leftover smells of baked goods, fish, crushed herbs, things that were for sale in the market. But then you would also have the smell of rich perfume coming off of these more elite London society members.

Natalia
With this gathering of wealthier folk, there also begins to be more of a police presence, as constables gather here to keep an eye on pickpockets and the like. But occasionally, you do see one of them slipping away from his companions to play a little card game with some folks sitting in a shady corner.

Robert
And the evening rain comes, cold on this winter’s night. And regardless of the wealth of the person walking through it, they are all chilled to the bone equally.

Kim
Let’s begin with Miss Maesie Douglas.

[Backstage chatter, the hum of an audience]

Kim
Arriving at the Royal Opera House for a performance this evening. It will happen in just a few hours. And the ballet is abuzz with chatter, specifically that their lead mouse has gone missing.

Natalia
I approach anyone who is talking about that.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I’m sorry, did you say that Sacha is not here?

Ballerina (Kim)
I haven’t seen him since class this morning.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
[Nervously] Mmhmm…

Ballerina (Kim)
Well if you find him, could you tell him that if he doesn’t show up before the curtain rises, he’s going to get replaced?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Yes. I will… I will make sure to do that. I’m gonna… I’m gonna go look for him now. Yup.

Ballerina (Kim)
Don’t you have to warm up?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Uh… Looking is also a kind of warming up.

Kim
On such a good roll for resolving this Threat, I don’t want you to roll to try and find your way down to the Sculptor’s lair. I simply want you to tell me, Nat, where do you find a passageway in this theatre that leads down, into the underground of London?

Natalia
Backstage where the dressing rooms are, there is chaos because there are so many racks of costumes, and boxes of props, and that sort of thing that it’s very easy to miss a very small maintenance closet door that’s tucked away, behind all these things in the shadows. But Maesie senses a cold draft that comes from it, as this door has been left a little bit open. She beelines for that.

Kim
Miss Douglas, you do, and you find yourself in the bowels, in the catacombs of the Royal Opera House – nay, in the bowels of London itself. We see decaying props, some half-dismantled sets. This seems to be just a dumping ground for the ballet at large. Distantly, you hear the pitter patter of feet. Rats, perhaps, or something else.

[A wet, dripping, cavernous space]

Kim
I have a Paint the Scene: What was the last meal you had? What about walking through this place is reminiscent of being devoured?

T.
There are icicles hanging from the roof of the tunnel that resemble incisors and canines.

Cassandra
In a corner of this room there is a rack of old costumes. And on the end of it is a decaying suit of a servant boy.

Robert
Especially on a cold December’s night like this, they have to warm the opera up a fair bit. A lof of that residual heat leeches down here, underneath. But so does the moisture and the wetness from the streets, creating this almost organic feeling to the walls and the floors of this room that are sodden with warm water.

Natalia
The last thing Maesie ate was the meat pie. And the smell of that still a little bit in her mouth, in her nose, like from her stomach, mixes in with the smell of the decay and the mold and the humidity down here, and just… Creates this toxic perfume that makes her wanna throw up. And the rumbling of the heating system of the pipes is very akin to a roiling, rumbling stomach.

Kim
Miss Dougas, as you proceed down this wet tunnel, distantly you hear the scrape of metal tools being sharpened, and the sound of someone humming – that same discordant melody that Rabbit described to you, all those weeks ago.

Mr. Lloyd.

[Airy, dreamlike ambience]

Robert
Once again, Rabbit goes up to Greco’s room and knocks gently on the door.

Kim
And yet, as you ascend the stairs, there is no door. You have arrived at a small dock. And Greco is sitting there in a small boat, and holds out a hand for you.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
How appropriate, you knew we were going to be taking a trip tonight.

Robert
Rabbit joins him in the boat.

Kim
You never see Greco row. And yet, the dock starts pulling away until you and Greco are simply floating in the middle of this inky, underground lake. You seem to be sailing towards an island lit with torches – this pinprick of distant light in the vast darkness. I have a Paint the Scene for you all: how do we know the boat will never reach the island?

Natalia
Instead of there being a tide that pushes or pulls the boat, it’s almost as if the boat itself creates the tide, and ripples extend outwards from it.

T.
The island itself is the center of an immense whirlpool. And no matter how much the boat moves, it cannot get closer without going around, and being siphoned back out the other side.

Robert
It’s hard to judge distance on the open ocean. But there are just enough other landmarks – the odd rock here or there, a few other ships on this endless sea. The island never changes in size, no matter how close the boat gets to it. But everything else passes by.

Cassandra
And despite the ripples that go out from the boat, it leaves no wake.

Greco (Kim)
I sense you are not here for a mere pleasure cruise.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
The gentlemen who we visited this morning, he seems to dwell in both this realm and the waking world. I think it’s time we paid him another visit.

Kim
Greco hands the oars to you, not that he was rowing in the first place.

Greco (Kim)
Lead the way.

Robert
And as Rabbit takes the oars, the shape of the ship itself changes. It is no longer a small rowing boat. It is rather now an enormous galleon. Its sails are the dark grey of a sky just before dawn. No flags are flown from its mast. And it cuts through the water like a pair of shears across a yard of silk.

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson and Miss Thanero, investigating Figg’s Piggs. I assume you’re off to the pie shop?

Cassandra
I think the pie shop is a great place to go and do some investigating.

T.
I think there’s a mutual understanding that, with all due respect to Maesie, she probably missed something.

Natalia
But it’s fine for me to go solve the Nutcracker alone!

T.
[Sputtering] I don’t know… you’re going to the ballet every night. I don’t know what you’re doing.

Natalia
Mmhmm…

Cassandra
That’s very funny.

Kim
I described the layout of this place a bit to Miss Douglas, but I’ll go ahead and review it. We have the restaurant area itself, which is what Miss Douglas took a look at. We have the kitchen. There is the upstairs flat, where the Figg family lived. And then we have the basement.

T.
Let’s start upstairs, shall we?

[An abandoned building]

Kim
The two of you climb the stairs to the small but very cozy living quarters of the Figg family. We see a couple small bedrooms, inside of which are very comfy-looking beds with quilted coverlets. There is delicate, cream-colored wallpaper. The fresh smell of lemon and mint hangs in the air. 

I have a Paint the Scene. The Figgs were a loving family. Looking around, how do you know this?

Natalia
There are children's drawings pinned to the walls of the kitchen by Obert and Patrick, where all of the family are drawn as little piggies.

T.
There is only one bedroom in the upstairs flat, filled with an extra-wide bed – big enough to accommodate all four Figgs.

Robert
The door has little notches carved into it. And you can see the names “Obert” and “Patrick” written next to each notch, along with dates.

Kim
I imagine at some point, Patrick’s stopped going up, and possibly started going back down?

Cassandra
Much like the photos that we see down in the restaurant of the Figgs happily posed with various wealthy patrons, in this bedroom that the family shares, there’s a dresser with a beautiful photo of the family by the sea.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Best way to know what you’re hunting is to see where they bed down at night. Take a look around and see if you can’t find anything that might indicate where they would have fled.

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson, this sounds like an Information Move with Reason. I’m gonna invoke Most Beloved, because you’re a special target of the Figgs.

T.
So with Reason, that is a 3.

Kim
As the two of you start poking around in the upstairs flat, you hear the door downstairs swing open. And you hear a young man’s voice…

Obert Figg (Kim)
Little pig, little pig, come out…

[Rusty, metallic scraping]

Kim
And then you hear this long scraping sound, as if something metallic and long and sharp is dragging on the ground, as this figure starts slowly climbing the stairs.

Let’s return to Covent Garden. 

[A crowd mills about]

Kim
Robert, a young girl sells bouquets outside the flower hall, made up from the leftovers from the day’s trade. Who comes to her to buy, and who are they taking the flowers to?

Robert
As we mentioned in the Paint the Scene, this really is the crossroads of all strata of London society. The people who buy flowers from her are the wealthy going to the opera and the theatre, hoping to buy some roses to throw at their favorites onstage at the curtain call. They are the shopkeepers and other workers going home for the evening, bringing home a few daisies or maybe a single rose for a loved one. And they are the extremely poor, given flowers by this young girl out of a sense of camaraderie. And they tuck them into their hats, their coats, or their hair.

Kim
Let’s check back in with Mr. Hutchinson and Miss Thanero.

[Rusty, metallic scraping]

Kim
Someone is coming up the stairs…

Cassandra
Ena immediately takes off the glove over the hand with Aegis on it,and pulls out that golden shield and holds her spear at the ready, prepared to fight.

T.
Hutchinson positions himself slightly in front of her, but to the side. Not to block her access to her, but to show if any hit’s gonna come, it’s gonna hit him first. And he withdraws a long machete-like butcher’s knife – that he got in the larder earlier this morning.

Cassandra
Ena ever so slightly steps in front of him, and then gives him a look, like, don’t try to step in front of me, because… she’s not mortal.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Damn it all to hell, I’m gonna have to give you a lesson in chivalry.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Now listen here, Beau, my little worshipper. You will stand behind me, but on equal footing, shall we say?

T.
And he slides up next to her.

Kim
A man appears in the doorway. He is wearing a long, bloody apron. And he is carrying a butcher’s knife as long as your leg. And as he looks at the two of you, he smiles this thin, oily smile.

Obert Figg (Kim)
Two little piggies… Delicious…

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Don’t you fucking tak about her like that.

Obert Figg (Kim)
There are only two states of being: a piglet suckling at the teat of Moc’h, swollen and happy. Or food for the trough. Which will you two be today, I wonder? Will you join me at the breast of the great He-Sow? Or shall we grind up your blood and bones for the slop?

Kim
And he raises this butcher’s knife, this sword almost, and with surprising grace and speed, starts bringing it down towards you.

T.
Want to split to either side and spit roast this mother fucker?

Cassandra
Ooh, I like that idea.

Kim
Alright. Who’s putting dice on the table?

T.
If this is gonna be a Vitality move I’ve got advantage from my Quickening. And it’s in direct defense of you, so I feel like I’ll throw those dice.

Cassandra
Alright. If you wanna throw them, throw them.

Kim
This is a Night Move. What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

T.
He will rend me in twain.

Kim
Yes. He will kill you, and keep you rotting in the basement until his father Titus is released from Bedlam, so that he may prepare you into a most delicious feast in offering for Moc’h. But it’s worse than that. Miss Thanero, you will also be rend in two. And no, you can’t die. But being alive while that happens somehow seems worse.

Cassandra
I would agree.

Kim
This is a Night Move with Vitality. With advantage because of your Quickening and it’s in dense of Miss Thanero. With disadvantage because you are Most Beloved, so just a flat roll.

T.
[Rolls dice] 8 + 3 is 11.

Kim
Miss Douglas. Proceeding down this hallway, the sound of the humming grows louder, as does the scrape of the Sculptor’s tools. And the air around you starts to grow colder. You start to see frost on the walls. As you enter, appropriately named, the Ice Box – the lair of the Sculptor himself.

This room is cast in this harsh blue, cold light. Your breath is fogging. The skin on your arms is prickling. You see a small sculpture of a rat, matted in frozen blood, that is suspended in a pirouette. You see Sacha Delov, restrained on a chair. And you see another sculpture. Paint the Scene: What sculpture, nearly complete, features the victims’ missing testicles?

[A slow Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy plays]

Natalia
The unfinished sculpture is that of a Christmas tree. An evergreen that is heavily decorated, but still missing the star at the top.

Cassandra
At the bottom of the tree there is a festive basket with an ornately carved Christmas bow. And in the basket, there appear to be apples. But if one looks closer, one would see that they are not.

T.
Perhaps the most intricate component of this sculpture is a small track that runs along the base, encompassing the tree and the basket and gifts below it. But in lieu of a locomotive, there is a sailing galleon that even has a functioning cannon. But it does not fire cannonballs.

Robert
And appropriately for the ballet that is going on upstairs, there is a large nutcracker, his mouth open, but not empty.

Kim
Miss Douglas, you see all of this. And of course, you see the Sculptor. Tall, lithe, their lips completely pulled back off of the mouth, teeth exposed.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I’m here for my friend.

The Sculptor (Kim)
Your friend will be a most pleasing sculpture.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Not today.

The Sculptor (Kim)
Of course not today. It takes time to sculpt. But tomorrow…

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Allow me to be clear, not ever.

The Sculptor (Kim)
I think I'll put him in the garden of Hargrave House. [Chuckles unnervingly]

Natalia
With my Cosmic Passage unlocked, it says that I can move large bodies of water. Would you allow ice to be a large body of water?

Kim
Sure, why not?

Natalia
Yeah, I would like to chuck this giant rat ice sculpture at his head.

Kim
This will be a Night Move with Sensitivity. What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

Natalia
I mean, I’m afraid that my powers won’t work on ice the way that I hope that they will, and I will not be successful in knocking the Nutcracker unconscious.

Kim
Yes, it’s worse than that. The Sculptor’s newest masterpiece will now feature two figures: you and Sacha Delov. Night Move with Sensitivity with advantage because of your water, but with disadvantage because you’re Dependent – Sacha is here because of you.

Natalia
Yep. Very much so. [Rolls dice] That is a 4 + 3, which is a 7. But I think we’re gonna use the Threat Mask to boost that to a full success.

T.
Yeah, for sure.

Cassandra
Agreed.

Kim
The Mask of Perfection reads as follows. Each hunter narrates the last time they danced. What was perfect in those moments?

[The Sugar Plum pas de deux plays]

T.
The last time Augustus Hutchinson danced was at the MIdsummer Masquerade with Ena. And she was perfect.

Cassandra
The last time Ena danced was also at the Midsummer Masquerade,with none other than Theodora Brathwaite. And despite her age, Ena could not help but to admire her athleticism, her strength, and the perfect pressure between their hands as they wrestled for control.

Natalia
The last time Maesie danced was earlier today, at the rehearsal with Sacha. And what was perfect about it was the lack of pressure, and the ability to just have fun with someone new. It’s always fun to discover the way someone else moves, and learn to adapt to it.

Robert
And the last time that Rabbit danced was also that morning, but in the realm of dream, with Greco as his partner, amidst a crowd in sapphire blue masks. And this was the first time in a very long time that Morgan had intentionally spent in the realm of dreams. And to him, that realm will always be perfect.

[The groan of the sea. Ice starts to crack]

Natalia
Maesie stands off with the Nutcracker, him standing behind Sacha, her in front. And suddenly, the room, which was so cold, starts to warm. And the ice starts to melt, and it starts dripping from the ceiling.

[Thunder roils]

Natalia
Her eyes roll over black, and her fingers become longer and sharper. And she raises a hand to this bloody sculpture of a rat dancing, and the ice starts to crack as she lifts it, and just pelts it across the room, straight into the side of his head.

[A thundercrack]

Kim
The Sculptor falls, still breathing but unconscious.

Natalia
Maesie goes to loose Sacha from whatever is holding him to this chair.

Kim
Sacha stirs.

Sacha Delov (Kim)
M…Maesie?

Natalia
She so quickly gets out of Cursed of the Deep. So quickly!

[The rumbling sea and thunder quiet]

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Sacha! Are you alright?

Sacha Delov (Kim)
I think so, miss. What… where am I?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
You are in… Uh… you’re somehow underneath the ballet, and you need to be upstairs. You’re not supposed to be down here.

Sacha Delov (Kim)
Oh! Alright…

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Yeah, so if you just wanna… Here, get up. Let me help you.

Natalia
I lead him to the door.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Right, so… Oh, shoot. I left something back there. But if you go up those stairs, you will get to the ballet and you’ll be ready – you don’t want to lose your spot. They were telling me that if you're not up there soon, they’re going to give your spot to someone else. And we cannot have another Lead Mouse.

Sacha Delov (Kim)
[Gasps]

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Run!

Kim
Sacha starts running down this hallway, leaving you alone in the lair of the Sculptor.

[Airy, dreamlike ambience]

Kim
Mr. Lloyd. Traveling with Greco through the realm of dreams… Entering the dreams of the Sculptor. What is it that we see?

[Soft sleighbells, snow whips through the landscape]

Robert
It is a replica of Covent Gardens, but instead of being made of brick and stone, it is carved of ice, glittering and shining. The various people who walk about are not the merchants closing up their stalls, the young flower girl selling her wares, the actors and the sex workers running off to their specific jobs. 

[an old music box plays “The First Noel”]

Robert
But instead, are sprightly beings. Nymphs, spirits of the air and the cold. For this is the winter wonderland of the Nutcracker’s dreams. And at the center, a beautiful sculpture, still in process, of a Christmas tree.

Kim
And appearing in this scene, gradually, the way that an image in a photograph develops, is the Sculptor – still laying on the ground, as if reeling from where Maesie, in the waking land, had thrown him.

Robert
A gloved hand is offered to the Sculptor. The body that it’s attached to is that of an older man in his 40s, 50s, maybe even well-preserved 60s. The audience would recognize that it’s Rabbit, but older. Lines around his face and eyes, dressed in threadbare but very nice grey tweeds, and a heavy overcoat. And a smile that is not quite Rabbit’s.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Hello, there. Looks like you could use a hand.

[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 Caz!, and all of our Kitten Marlowe patrons, in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.