Shadows in the Smoke S1E40 - "A Grand Sacrifice"

Shadows in the Smoke S1E40 – “A Grand Sacrifice”

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 to the Dusk, hunters.

[Gentle piano]

Kim
Or I suppose two of my hunters, considering Maesie Douglas is absent, and I can’t imagine Mr. Lloyd went home.

Natalia
Help.

Cassandra
Oh, no…

[Robert and T laugh]

Kim
But, the two of you. Hello.

T.
Hello.

Cassandra
Hi.

Kim
The first thing that we do at the top of the Dusk phase is roll The Quickening.

T.
[Sighs]

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson, if you please. I will remind you, you are currently full up on conditions.

T.
I’m going to mark the brass Taraxippus that I got from the Man in the Sun Mask. Thumbing it nervously, knowing there’s a lot at stake and I cannot lose control this evening. Do any of my Conditions give me disadvantage?

Kim
I don’t think so.

T.
5 + 6 is 11, +1 is 12.

Robert
Woo!

Cassandra
Of all the times it needed to happen.

Natalia
Bless.

Kim
You are a lucky son of a gun.

T.
Just this once!

Kim
So on a 12+, you can control your transformation. If you wish, change into the feral beast. While in this state, your Vitality and Sensitivity are each increased by 1, max of 4, and your Reason is reduced by 2. Additionally, your heightened sense of hearing and smell will help you uncover an additional Clue no other hunter would be able to detect. During the Dawn Phase, tell the Keeper what that Clue is. It cannot conclusively answer a Question by itself.

Are you going to transform into the beast, in front of Miss Thanero?

T.
Yes, I am.

Cassandra
[Gasps]

Natalia
No way!

T.
Maesie’s been kidnapped. There’s too much at stake.

Cassandra
Do we know that Maesie has been kidnapped yet?

Kim
I would say yes, considering Merricat Ovelia was simply knocked out. Whenever she comes to, she was witness to Maesie being kidnapped by the Figg family.

I’m looking forward to seeing the beast. This is exciting.

T.
I’m so stressed.

Cassandra
I am too.

Kim
So, since you decided to do that, not only do you get to uncover an additional Clue for another threat during the Dawn, also the other hunters get to define something interesting about your transformation. That information is a Clue that can be used on the threat, The Cursed.

Miss Douglas, this is the point where I would ask if you want to do Moonlight Upon the Waves, but you’re a little busy right now.

Natalia
The dice said no, and now I am stuck.

Kim
Now I would like to invite you all to answer a question, should you choose to. Let’s just do a brief rundown on our Threats.

As far as our brand new Threats, we have gathered zero Clues for the Pinkerton. We’ve amassed two Clues for The Coven. We have The Whateley Camera – we have 2 Clues for the Complexity 8 question for The Whateley Camera, so we cannot even attempt to answer it. And Figgs Piggs, the threat that has really been stymieing us recently. We’ve made two attempts to resolve two of the Figgs, both of them failures. We have six Clues for the Figgs.

Natalia
It’s killing me.

Cassandra
This is so embarrassing.

Natalia
It’s killing me!

T.
In this case, it literally is.

Robert
Yeah. I was gonna say, literally.

Natalia
Literally, it is killing me. I am going to die.

Kim
If you would like to answer a Figg question, I will not allow you to answer La Hortencia, because you just failed that one this cycle. But the other two Figgs are on the table.

T.
I would love to answer a Figgs Piggs. At this point, it’s personal.

Natalia
[Laughs]

Cassandra
Third time’s a charm? Maybe?

Kim
Let’s see! Alright, so your Clues for Figgs Piggs are as follows: Miss Douglas found within the personal belongings of La Hortencia Figg a small book of pressed flowers. Written on the inside cover was the phrase, “For my little sweet one.” You discovered carefully folded bundles of long, blonde hair. A very large collection of torn opera tickets. A collection of skeletal hands, each one smaller than the next. A report that a bunch of chickens had been brutally killed in some sort of animal attack – though oddly, there were human footprints leading to and from the scene. And a collection of severed left hands.

Which Figg would you like to go for today?

Natalia
I don’t feel like the Clues we have really fit for Patrick that well.

T.
Yeah, I think we’re working on an Obert.

Natalia
Yeah.

Cassandra
I think we are too.

Kim
Alright. So the question for Obert Figg is simply, “What type of victim does Obert Figg prefer?” It is a Complexity 2.

Robert
I think it might be interesting, since we have the hands and we have the opera tickets, to say that maybe he’s targeting musicians? The left hand on the stringed instrument is what you use to finger the frets. So I don’t know, trying to stop the music from happening, or something? I don’t know. That’s a way to use the hands and the opera tickets together.

T.
Well, would a musician need tickets to go to the opera?

Natalia
Well no, they’re his tickets, when he goes.

Cassandra
Yeah. He goes and watches, to pick out his victim.

T.
Who it would be. Sure, sure, sure.

Cassandra
Maybe there’s world where… Because we already have this like rhyme that they sing. Maybe she originally was the one that played along for them to sing to?

Robert
Oh!

Cassandra
And so he’s cutting the hands off all the left-handed musicians, in honor of like what his mother lost.

Robert
What if the mother played like the violin or the guitar or mandolin, whatever. And he’s been cutting off the hands of musicians because it’s like, “Well if my mom can’t play anymore, then no one should be able to.”

Kim
Ooh!

Cassandra
I like that.

Natalia
I like this.

T.
I do still like the creepy mother obsession, so I’m glad we can incorporate it into the opera.

Cassandra
Yeah, I think that’s nice. So that gets us severed hands and torn opera tickets.

Robert
And then also the skeletal hands, each smaller than the next. If we say that those are the older. Like, those are his previous kills.

Kim
So even from like childhood, he was killing, you know, child musicians?

Robert
He started with the violinists, now he’s up to the upright bassists.

Kim
[Laughs]

Robert
The cellists…

Cassandra
He’s working his way up.

Kim
The size of the instrument you play does not imply your hand size. I have a really tiny hand, and I play viola, which…

Cassandra
Yep.

Kim
…Is way too big for me.

Cassandra
The instrument plays you. [Laughs]

T.
I just also like the idea that maybe there are people with different sized hands, and we happened to get them in an order, because Moc’h is a weirdo.

Kim
[Laughs] Moc’h just wanted to arrange the hands nicely?

Natalia
“Make them pretty.”

T.
He’s a deity. He’s hanging out in the basement.

Natalia!
He’s got nothing else to do!

T.
Maybe he’s just like, “Yeah, this is my collection.” And he wants to make it more obscene. But there’s no reason that affects the kill order.

Kim
That’s fair. We never established just, you know, how large or how small the hands were. They could all be normal, human-sized hands. They just happened to be presented in descending order of size. I’m down with it! Moc’h’s a little freak like that.

Natalia
I have a pitch for a potential fourth Clue.

Cassandra
Go, please. I think we need four.

Natalia
If the flowers… You know how flowers are presented to musicians, right? The flowers in the book are from La Hortencia to Obert, for like him playing an instrument one time. And her being like, “You were amazing!” And got him flowers, and now those flowers are saved.

Kim
Oh! Like a childhood violin recital?

Natalia
Mmhmm.

Cassandra
Yes!

Natalia
She was proud of him then for playing the violin, and she’s proud of him now for murder.

Robert
Alright, so rolling with a +2, then.

Natalia
Oh, god. I’m not touching any dice.

Robert
I think this has to be T. and Cass.

T.
We’re the two.

Cassandra
I think it does too.

[They roll dice]

T.
Okay, 4.

Cassandra
2?

T.
+6, +2 is 8.

Natalia
Did we do it?!

T.
It’s a mixed success.

Natalia
Have we done it?!

Cassandra
We’re gonna maybe have some problems, but…

T.
I mean, when don’t we?

Natalia
I’m okay with some problems, as long as we deal with one of them, and it’s not just problems because we keep failing.

Kim
That means I get to think of a complication. I think the complication for this is simple. You all are coming to rescue Maesie Douglas… She’s not gonna be there. Maesie is going to have to escape of her own accord.

Natalia
It’s fine.

Cassandra
Sorry!

Natalia
No, I got it. Don’t worry. We’re just continuing the “I face all the Threats alone” situation. [Laughs]

Kim
Ordinarily I would ask if you’d like to do a London Night Phase or a Hargrave House Night Phase. But I think that has been taken away from you, considering Maesie is being held captive by the Figg family. So we must do a London Night Phase. So what is it everyone would like to be doing this evening? Miss Douglas, you’re spoken for.

Natalia
I would like to not die.

Kim
We’ll see.

Natalia
That’s my request.

T.
A-hunting we will go.

Kim
For Obert Figg?

T.
Yes, please.

Cassandra
That will also be my plan for the evening.

Robert
I’d like to pay Miss Beaumont a quick visit.

Kim
[Laughs] Okay…

T.
You need your coven clothes?

Natalia
Unbelievable.

Kim
[Laughs]

[An ominous, rumbling woosh]

Kim
Tonight’s Unscene is called The Prison Hulk at Woolwich.

[Rusty, creaking noises]

Kim
Moored near the industrial town of Woolwich are a number of hollowed-out old warships that serve as temporary prisons for convicts sent to be transferred to Australia and other penal colonies. One of these “prison hulks” is the HMS Bellorophon, now called the HMS Captivity. A too-young cook is walking above and below deck, passing out the evening’s portion of hard biscuits and pea soup. Paint the Scene: how do we know the Captivity is a nightmare of filth and desperation?

T.
At night, rats scurry over the sleeping prisoners. And they’re so accustomed to it, not only do they stay sleeping when the rats cross them, if a rat misses them in the night, they wake feeling less than rested.

Natalia
During this meal time, and every meal time, every prisoner is allotted one bowl of soup. And it is not rare to see a prisoner who drops a biscuit, who drops a bowl, to kneel down and pick up every crumb and every drop that he can from the floor.

Robert
The floors themselves still have that sort of sodden texture of wood that has been in the ocean for far too long. Even though these are in dry dock, just because of all of the effluvia that has soaked into them.

Cassandra
The dinner hour, as this food is being passed around, is the only time during their captivity that they see light. The rest of the time, the prisoners are confined below decks with no lanterns, no light to speak of. And any of the grating or openings across the deck of the ship are completely blotted out, so that they spend the majority of their day in total darkness.

Kim
Let’s begin with Miss Thanero and Mr. Hutchinson. I believe you have managed to rouse Merricat Ovelia, and she has told you of what transpired with the Figg family and Maesie Douglas.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
You leave that girl alone for four minutes…

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes, she does seem to find her way into trouble rather quite a lot. Of course, we have to go after her.

T.
Hutchinson steals a glance over his shoulder at the setting sun.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Don’t even know where to start or where to begin.

Cassandra (Miss Thanero)
Well, I can assume that they won’t go back to the storefront, as we’ve already been there. So we need to try and figure out where they might have taken her.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Wait, we’re going about this all wrong.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Do tell.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
They came to our home and abducted one of us. They’re hunters. We just gotta set a trap for them.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
So you want us to play prey?

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
I didn’t say anything about us.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Go on. What do you have in mind?

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
We bait a trap for that one with the big knife. When he comes to get you, obviously I wouldn’t allow you to be in any danger. But I can tail you, and he’ll take you right back tow here he’s got Maesie. And then you, playing all helpless, reveal that you are very much in fact not. And then we bag him ourselves.

Cassandra
Ena cracks her knuckles at the idea of being helpless.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well, if I must. I think there’s a way, though, that we can sweeten the pot, so to say.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
How do you mean?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well, if you remember our encounter with Mistress Beaumont, she was quite good at masking what is right in front of you, to look like something else. So what if we do that? What if I put on a glamor to look like exactly what he likes?

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Lot better than sticking a pig like me in a wig.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes, I think that’s true.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Alright. We don’t wanna get caught with our pants down, like we did last time.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
No, definitely not. That did not go well.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Give me a moment to gather my effects from my room. I’ll come meet you here in a minute. We’ll see if we can’t lure this piggy to us.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Sounds like a plan.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
It’s been ages since I went hunting boar. A lovely date.

Cassandra
Ena blushes ever so slightly, and gives him a wink as he goes up the stairs.

Kim
Miss Thanero, as Mr. Hutchinson leaves, tell me. What are you making yourself look like?

Cassandra
I’m actually going to use one of our custom moves, Draw the Veil, to transform myself into a musician who will be playing on the streets – perhaps near Cremorne Gardens or another area we’ve been to where you would find street musicians.

Kim
I love that. Draw the Veil reads, “When you invoke the powers of the fae realm to obscure the true nature of a person, object, or situation, roll with Presence.” Go forth.

Cassandra
[Rolls dice] Okay, so… Woof. Um, 1+2 is 3, +3 is 6.

Kim
So on a miss, you unknowingly violate an obscure aspect of fae etiquette. Take the Condition: Trespasser until you make amends.

Cassandra
I’m gonna use a mask to bump this up to a mixed success, even though I realize that also has some complications in it.

Kim
Alright 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 Future. And I’m going to mark my Cosmic Passage.

Kim
Please read it.

Cassandra
The Cosmic Passage reads, “Once per session, when you gaze upon the Masterwork in an attempt to uncover something hidden in the world, roll with Sensitivity. On a 10+, the masterwork reveals a Clue or a Mastermind Clue, your choice. On a 7-9, as above, but you also scar your Reflection.”

Kim
Fantastic. Alright, so that moves Draw the Veil up to a 7 to 9. So your deception goes unnoticed, roll with Advantage when acting to maintain it. However, an unknown fae entity takes interest in your actions.

Cassandra
Yikers…

Kim
Alright. So tell me what it is you look like, Miss Thanero.

[Magical, dreamlike ambience]

Cassandra
As this glamour starts to take hold over Ena, she shortens ever so slightly. She rounds out a little bit, and is wearing very plain attire – perhaps just a brown, simple dress. A cape with a hood, since it’s cooler out. Her hair changes from its dark black waves to blonde, straw-colored hair, tied back in a braid. She’s significantly paler, and her eyes are a deep chocolate brown. And she carries in her hands a violin case.

Kim
While that transformation is going on, Mr. Hutchinson, what is happening in your rooms?

[Monstrous groans and roars]

T.
Thumbing the brass Taraxippus, watching the sun dip blow the horizon, and knowing that he can master this, just needs to take a moment to do it. Take a moment alone. He goes into his room, and does not go into the cage. He just paces, waiting for the sun to set so that he can get this over with. And that overconfidence is his undoing. As the shadows sink, the dark, oily slick hair sprouts on his back. The snout elongates, and the wolf head emerges. His wing-like fins sprout on his back, and the porcupine quill of the silvery white protrude from his chest. Inhuman eyes, fear takes hold. And as he reaches for the cage, to try and lock himself in, his hands turn into horse hooves. He falls onto all fours, and the fours becomes eight as the legs sprout, and The Cursed transforms.

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson, please increase your Vitality and Sensitivity by 1, and reduce your Reason by 2.

T.
Done.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd. I assume walking down the streets of Saville Row, towards Mistress Beaumont’s atelier?

[Magical, dreamlike ambience]

Robert
Not walking down the streets of Saville Row, no, but heading there anyway via little paths through the feywild, dips across the hedge, shortcuts through London itself… To get there as quickly and unnoticed as possible.

Kim
Are you arriving at her door, or within the shop itself?

Robert
I would not be so impolite as to appear directly into her shop, but I do knock on the back door.

Kim
The door opens for you, and you enter into Mistress Beaumont’s workshop. You’re passing all of these exquisitely dressed mannequins, ala the fae courts that you both remember. And alone on a shelf, as if put in a bit of a place of not quite honor, but just of note, is this small little bundle of very plain wool.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Hello, my lady. I’m so sorry to disturb you in this moment, but I’m coming with a bit of a warning, a message. There are a group of men currently working within London, who—

Kim
Mistress Beaumont holds up several of her hands to bid you stop.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
Manners, Storyteller. What did you bring me?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I bring no gift but my company, and this warning. There are a group of men in London who would love nothing more than to capture and drain every Lord and Lady in the land of their essence. They are truly despicable men, not above using any sort of magic, whether it be fae or diabolic or eldritch of some other nature, to get their ways. But they have a particular hatred for the Gentry. So I guess what I am saying is leave. Hide. Run. Whatever it takes. Do not be in London for the next several days. Tell every other member of the Good Neighbors that you know to get out.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
Well, I suppose I could make a brief sojourn to fairy. We are out of the exciting fashionable seasons. Though I did assume you would come with me next I time I went, Storyteller.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
If I were to leave London now, all of England might be lost to us.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
And yet I heard that you were a particular target for these dangerous men.

Kim
And she starts winding her many limbs about you.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
It seems the safest thing to do would be to take you with me.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I know you are a political creature, who has her sights set on a higher seat in the court than she used to sit in. This would be a bad move. This would be very short-sighted. If the Lords and Ladies are known for anything, it’s for thinking not in minutes, but in millennia.

Kim
She pouts a bit, but doesn’t release her grasp.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
Fine, Storyteller. I will find a secret place.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
You don’t need to get to fairy. You don’t even need to leave the mortal realm, if that’s too much trouble. Just get out of the city, stay out. I will find you and let you know when it is safe for you to return.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
Don’t tell me you came all this way just to give me a warning?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
In truth, that was my only goal coming here this evening. I have other things I must attend to. But if there is something else you need from me, before I leave?

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
I do believe that my attention deserves a proper gift.

Kim
And she tightens her many limbs around you and pull you into a kiss.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
That will have to wait until after I finish what I’m doing tonight. Stay till the morning. I will come see you before you leave.

[Unsettling ambience]

Kim
Miss Douglas. You wake to the feeling of a great pain in your arms and in your shoulders. As your eyes open, you see that your arms are tied, and that you are being held on a meat hook by your bound wrists. To the right and left of you are immense sides of beef and pork. You are in an abattoir. A slaughterhouse. A place for butchery. And looking around, you see several robed figures, all wearing that same pig-shaped clasp at their necks. And one reaches a single arm up to move their hood off of their head, and it is La Hortencia Figg.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
You all are friends with Moc’h too, aren’t you?

La Hortencia Figg (Kim)
Now now, pet. We heard that one little worshipper hasn’t been pulling her weight. Hasn’t been giving any offerings to the Great He-Sow. Just been taking, you have. Not very nice of you. Not very respectful of you. Ordinarily the Great He-Sow gives his worshippers a choice. A sacrifice of status, of riches, of blood. I think we’ve made that choice for you, love.

Kim
And she holds out a butcher’s knife.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
So kind of you to provide me with the tools of the trade. If you just let me down, I will give you a grand sacrifice of blood. Right here int his room.

La Hortencia Figg (Kim)
[Chuckles]

Kim
La Hortencia laughs, and you hear chuckles from other members of the Cult of the Pig. You’re surrounded by easily a dozen people in this abattoir.

La Hortencia Figg (Kim)
I’m sorry to disappoint you, pet. It was very nice to meet you, and I’m not denying that Moc’h is fond of you. But, sacrifices must be made. Do try not to wiggle too much. I’d hate to miss my mark.

Kim
And other members of the Cult of the Pig start surrounding you and holding you still, as La Hortencia approaches you with the butcher’s knife.

Natalia
Is there a sink in this room?

Kim
Yeah, sure.

Natalia
I would like to channel the sea and tides, and bust that sink off the wall and flood this room right now.

Kim
I like this very much. So this is gonna be a Night Move, obviously, with Sensitivity. What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

Natalia
I worry that I’m gonna be absolutely butchered in this room.

Kim
Miss Douglas, it’s worse than that.

Natalia
Oh, good!

Kim
You will be killed and presented as a sacrifice to Moc’h, and you will spend all of your afterlife in service to the Great He-Sow. Night Move with Sensitivity. This is with advantage, because you are using your Cosmic Passage.

Natalia
[Rolls dice] That is going to be 6 + 3 is 9.

Kim
Let’s return to the Prison Hulk at Woolwich.

[Rusty, creaking noises]

Kim
T., narrate a scene in which we see the convicts at leisure. How do they entertain themselves? How do they maintain their connection to God and society, if at all?

T.
The crew of passengers awaiting transportation to the Americas are given little privilege, little light. However during meals, they are passed out this bread. And on Sundays, a preacher who is being transported for blasphemies consolidates what he can amongst the faithful, and breaks them out for eucharist. Though this hardtack is a poor approximation for the body of Christ, it will serve.

Some who avoid the service save a little bit of their meager meal, and leave it just outside the slatted bars that pass for windows, for favor from the fae. And hope that they can follow them, across the wide sea.

Kim
Let’s pick back up with Miss Douglas.

[The sea rumbles]

Natalia
With everyone approaching and people putting hands on Maesie, her eyes roll over black, her fingers lengthen into claws, and a sink on the far wall that is used to clean instruments in this room starts to shake. And that is enough of a distraction for a couple of the cult members to turn towards that, as the sink bursts out of the wall, hitting one of them, knocking him into the ground. And water starts flooding into this room at such a pace that a few more are knocked off their feet. And that is enough of a distraction for Maesie to lift her lower legs up to the hook and maneuver her bound hands off of that hook. She tumbles to the floor, smacks into the ground. But at least she is out of that confinement.

[Unsettling, monstrous groans]

Kim
The Cult of the Pig is sent briefly into disarray, and you hear in the back of your mind a familiar voice.

Moc’h (Kim)
Yes, little piglet. Give me a good sacrifice.

Kim
And then all of the members of the Cult of the Pig still as we see these slabs of meat that were next to you all start falling off of their meat hooks, and congealing into this enormous raw meat effigy of Moc’h himself. Flies buzzing about. And this horrifying altar of Moc’h speaks to you all.

Moc’h (Kim)
Choose your strongest, and we shall see which of the two leaves this temple alive.

Kim
Miss Douglas. You now find yourself in the center of a circle of cultists. La Hortencia Figg nods to this hulking monstrosity of a man, who takes off his robes – he’s stripped to the waist – and he cracks his knuckles and squares up with you.

La Hortencia Figg (Kim)
Our lord has issued a challenge, pet. You may go, but you have to earn the right to leave.

Natalia
Maesie rises from the floor, dripping, and standing in a bout a foot of water. And she turns to this effigy of Moc’h.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
My great lord. Alas, I cannot serve you, as I do serve another. But it will be my great pleasure to do this for you.

Natalia
And she uses some of the water to lift herself, grabs the hook from the ceiling and yanks it down. And now has a length of chain with a hook on the end of it as her weapon of choice.

Kim
Elsewhere in London, the transformed Miss Thanero and Mr. Hutchinson. Miss Thanero, are you just waiting for Mr. Hutchinson to show up in like the foyer? Have you already left?

Cassandra
I feel like Ena waited, maybe hearing those thumps up above. And, worried about Maesie, said, “I don’t know what he’s doing, but I can handle this on my own because I’m me.” And went ahead and left. And I think we see her, fully transformed as this busker, outside the opera house. Knowing that this is a place that Obert frequents to find his victims.

[Violin music, rain]

Cassandra
Standing on a little box, playing her violin for the people who may or may not still be milling around at this hour.

Kim
Miss Thanero, I imagine you play beautifully. You’ve had a lot of time to perfect the myriad arts.

Cassandra
Naturally. Athleticism doesn’t just apply to sports. You have to have a certain amount of stamina to play all that a stringed instrument requires.

Kim
As you finish a particularly exquisite little cadenza, you hear a small bit of applause, and some money is deposited into your violin case. And when you look up, the young man who is applauding is Obert Figg.

Obert Figg (Kim)
That playing is very fine. How long have you studied.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
[In a Cockney accent] Oh I don’t know, sir. Quite a few years, though. Me mum started me when I was quite little.

Obert Figg (Kim)
I used to play, you know. Soon I had to focus on my work. Being a musician did not sate me the way that a good, hard day’s work could. Pray, are you busy? I’m throwing a little party tonight. We could use some entertainment.

Kim
And as he says this, he drops an even larger stack of bank notes in your violin case.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well sir, that’s might kind of you. I suppose I could pack it up early here and come and play your little soiree.

Obert Figg (Kim)
Do. I’ll wait.

Cassandra
And Ena climbs off of this box and begins to pack her violin away. As she’s doing so, she very discretely reaches under a fold of this dress and lightly fingers her gold cord, just to make sure it’s still in place and she can get to it quickly if need be. But she packs up her violin, stands and turns back to him.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
After you, sir.

Obert Figg (Kim)
Excellent. Just this way please, miss.

Kim
And he starts leading you away from Covent Garden, and down an alleyway. And Miss Thanero, I think you see gleaming in the moonlight and slick with rain, Obert’s very long butcher’s knife propped against a wall of this alley. And he grabs it and rounds on you.

Obert Figg (Kim)
So sorry, pet. I’m afraid I can’t wait. Do try to hold still.

T.
At that moment, he hears the sound of feet running toward him. And looking up, he sees The Cursed in its full bestial form, galloping toward him. And the wolf mouth opens wide, showing rows and rows of shark-like teeth coming right toward him.

[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 our coven of vampires, our Kitten Marlowe patrons, in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.