Shadows in the Smoke S1E41 - "Until the Dawn"

Shadows in the Smoke S1E41 – “Until the Dawn”

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]

[Rain-soaked streets, low howling groans]

Kim
Miss Thanero. In the alleyway with Obert Figg. You hear the sound of hoofbeats, and you turn and see this horrifying creature. This inconceivable amalgamation of animals and beasts, rocketing towards your location. I just want to know what’s going through your mind at seeing this horrible beast?

Cassandra
In this moment, I don’t feel like Ena is too easy to catch out. But seeing this amalgamation of animal parts come at her at the same time as a blade is coming at her, I think she can sense that it’s too many things to be coincidental. She has no idea it’s Augustus. But looking at it, she’s definitely like, “Huh, what’s that?” And she reaches for that cord, like the second that Obert went for his big blade, she pulled on that cord, pulled it out, and had Aegis as a full shield in front of her. This maybe makes her lower her weapons ever so slightly, as she watches this thing pull up.

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson.

T.
Yes?

Kim
The transformed Mr. Hutchinson.

T.
[In a low, gravelly voice] Yes.

Kim
Is your intent to kill Obert Figg in this moment?

T.
Yeah. I’d say that’s fair. Yeah.

Kim
This sounds like a Night Move. What are you afraid will happen if things go wrong?

T.
I am afraid that Obert will redirect me, and I will swallow Athena.

Kim
[Gasps]

Cassandra
Well, this is something.

Kim
I think the only way to make it worse is just the fact that Ena won’t die. That seems pretty awful.

Cassandra
I’m not really excited about that possibility. But okay.

Kim
This is going to be a Night Move with Vitality.

T.
Mmhmm.

Kim
This is made with Advantage, because you are acting in defense of Miss Thanero. This is being done with a +4. However, I will put this at disadvantage because of Most Beloved. Obert doesn’t clock that it’s you, but I think you are being so conspicuous in this moment, that I think you full-on charging Obert Figg near Covent Garden could prove to be an issue for you.

T.
I am as subtle as a Wagner opera, how dare you!

Kim
[Laughs] So this is going to be a straight roll.

T.
[Rolls dice] 5 and 4 is 9, +4 is 13.

Cassandra
Hell yeah. Good for you.

Natalia
God damn!

Cassandra
I don’t get eaten today!

[A rainy London street]

Kim
Mr. Lloyd. It seemed as though you were planning to leave Mistress Beaumont.

Robert
Yes. Warning having been delivered, I plan to use the rest of my Night Phase to use A Beacon in the Dark.

Kim
Okay. Ordinarily, such a thing takes up your whole Night Phase. But considering you didn’t put dice on the table with Mistress Beaumont, I’ll allow it. Tell me, how are you letting your consciousness spread over London like a vast spiderweb?

Robert
We know that the Coven is using seances and other examples of mediumship as their cover right now. So I think Rabbit is going to do his thing, where he just feels things out magically, psychically, and sees if he can feel something in that area. If there is someone who is tugging the realm between the living and the dead, and try and head towards that.

Kim
Alright. Please roll A Beacon in the Dark with Disadvantage, considering you are Marked for Sacrifice.

Robert
So I think before he does this, as part of his prep, he performs a little ritual where he lays circle of salt around himself. He lays a circle around himself. And he lays a circle of silver, just the finest silver dust, around himself. And in the middle of all of that, he lights a cone of frankincense, and sits there until it is burned down. That is from my Personal Quarters items, frankincense. I am going to be using that to give myself a flat roll.

[Rolls dice] So that is 11 on the dice. So a +3 brings that up to a 14.

Kim
Well I can hazard a guess as to what Threat it is you wish to talk to, but I do have to ask. Who are you trying to make contact with tonight?

Robert
Rabbit’s entire focus is on the Coven.

[Low, dark cellos]

Kim
Elsewhere in London, the gentlemen posing as the Royal Society for Esoteric Research gather around a small table in a finely decorated sitting room. They all reach out and hold hands, and we hear one young male voice call out.

Coven Medium (Kim)
Spirits, far and wide. Come to us. By the ringing of a bell, we call to you.

[An echoey bell rings]

Kim
And Mr. Lloyd, on the streets of London, you hear that ringing of a silver bell. And you know that you are the spirit that is being called in this séance.

[Rusty, creaking noises]

Kim
Let’s go to the Prison Hulk at Woolwich. Robert, narrate a scene in which we see a convict being punished by a ship’s officer. What did the convict do? How is the punishment being carried out?

Robert
As was mentioned, food is somewhat scare here on the prison hulk. You get your one biscuit and your one cup of thin pea soup. And there are those who, as in any situation, will take advantage of this and steal from those unable to defend themselves, unable to hold onto their soup. Sometimes people fight back, and that’s how this brawl started. Unfortunately, Johnny Mayweather, the young prison who found himself being dragged out to be punished publicly, was not the one who stole the soup in the first place, but was rather the one who was fighting back. He is dragged out in full view of the men still eating. His shirt is removed from him. He is tied to a mast that no longer has any sails or rigging, and a whip is brought out. And his back is scourged over and over again, the blood mixing with the rain and pooling on the deck of the ship.

[Low, dark cellos]

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, protected in your magic circle, you hear the gentlemen of the Coven as if you were sharing a room with them. Even see them, bent over their candlelit table. That voice calls out again.

Coven Medium (Kim)
Spirit, we have hunted you far and wide.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
You have found a spirit willing to speak with you. Ask your questions, and I shall ask mine.

Kim
You hear a elderly woman speak up.

Old Woman (Kim)
That must be my son, Peter. Please, can you ask him how he is doing? If he misses his dear mother?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
This is not Peter. This is not the ghost of anyone who has passed from this realm to the other. And if that is what you are seeking here tonight, I am sorry, but you will be greatly disappointed.

Kim
The young man’s voice, with a hint of a smile, speaks up again.

Coven Medium (Kim)
No, good lady. This is a powerful, tricky spirit. One that must be captured. One that must be contained. Where are you keeping yourself these days, O foul beast?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I am keeping myself where I have always kept myself. In my body. In my mind. In the Sceptered Isle. Where is Sommerset’s lair?

Kim
And as you speak these words, you see the young medium stiffen, his head pulled back as if he truly is possessed in this moment, and compelled to answer.

Coven Medium (Kim)
Look for where the water runs upstream.

Robert
The voice coming from the circle shifts again.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
[Thin, reedy] Now, you’ve had your question and I’ve had mine. So I think it’s your turn again.

Kim
The young medium fights you for control.

Coven Medium (Kim)
Why did you leave us?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
If you’re asking that question, then you don’t know who you’re working for. You don’t know the secrets that he’s shared yet.

Robert
The voice changes once again.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
[Older, deeper] I left not of my own accord, but because I was forced to. Because staying would have been a horrible occurrence – not just for myself, but for everything.

Robert
And once more, it shifts.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
[Monstrous] Tell Sommerset I am coming for him, and I am bringing all of my magics with me. But first tell me, what frightens you?

Kim
And once again, this young medium loses control of this séance. And this time, his body instead of being pulled back, is pulled forward. The head slamming on the table.

Coven Medium (Kim)
We fear your power. We fear your dreams and nightmares. The dreams of green. Green turning to black.

Kim
And when the medium rises, you see that he is bleeding from his broken nose.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
As you should. You have set in with the wrong side, I’m afraid. Your power has already failed, and you do not know it yet. No matter what sort of magical protections you may take, I will still put an end to this all.

Robert
And with that, Morgan breaks the connection, snuffs out the cone of frankincense, and drags a finger through the three circles, breaking their power and dispersing any sort of magical signal he may have been sending.

[The sea rumbles]

Kim
Miss Douglas. You have wrenched this meat hook, and now hold it and the chain in your hands. The mountain of man opposite you looks at your weapon and chuckles a bit as he cracks his knuckles.

Pig Cultist (Kim)
Cute toy. I don’t need a weapon to break you.

Natalia
Maesie looks up at him. Her eyes are fully black. There is not a pupil for him to focus on. And she just smiles.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
It’s hard to break what’s already been broken.

Natalia
And lunges at him with the chain, trying to wrap it around his legs to pull them out from under him.

Kim
Miss Douglas, this is going to be a Night Move with Vitality. What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

Natalia
I worry that if I fail, he will grab the chain and deprive me of the one weapon I have.

Kim
Miss Douglas, it’s worse than that. This man will cut you. And Moc’h will deem it an unworthy sacrifice, and tell him to do it again. And again. And again.

Natalia
Horrifying. Thank you, Kim.

Kim
Night Move with Vitality, please.

Natalia
I will be invoking the Sculptor’s ice pick as a secret hidden weapon. That as I throw the chain, I will also pull out an ice pick and try and stab him in the throat.

Kim
I love that.

Natalia
Alright. [Rolls dice] 9 + 1 is 10.

[Rain-soaked streets, low howling groans]

Kim
Miss Thanero and Mr. Hutchinson. Sounds like Obert Figg is dying, on that good of a roll. What does this look like?

T.
As he lunges his blade back to redirect at this new threat, he loses his arm. The teeth so sharp he doesn’t even notice at first until he goes to swing and notices there’s nothing attached to his shoulder but a blood stump. As the Cursed tosses back the wolf head and swallows it down his gullet, knife and all, glowers down, flares the wing-like fins on its back and rattles them, shaking and creating this almost mist with the droplets of the sea – creating a figure even bigger than its monstrous form. And then lunges forward, as Obert begins to scream a pig-like squeal. Bites him to the point where his mouth encases his head, down to his midsection. Tosses his head, and slams him against the alley above Athena. Tosses him into the other side of the alley, and then worries it until his legs sever from his body.

Kim
So passes the brief, bloody life of Obert Figg.

T.
And with entrails still hanging from its jaw, the Cursed turns to look at Athena.

Cassandra
Ena has watched all of this transpire, and is taking in that whatever this creature is, it was here to help her. So she’s not afraid of it, but is definitely curious about it, to see how aggressive it actually is. She flicks the spear, and it turns once again into a cord. And she just holds it in her hand, and starts to slowly approach what she knows to be a chimera. She walks very slowly toward it, observing it, taking in all of the different animal parts that make it up. And as she gets closer, having done this so many times before, she stretches out a hand, as if to touch the wolf-like face of this creature. And waits for it to move up and touch her hand.

T.
At her approach, the creature snarls and bares its teeth, but does not back up nor advance. And seeing her approach, the rain falls on its back… There’s something so humbling about seeing a horse bend its knees to bow. This monster genuflects before the goddess, and lowers its head.

Cassandra
With this monster now in its bowed position, her hands still outstretched, she reaches forward and makes contact with the muzzle of this monster.

T.
As she does, the rain turns to saltwater. And as its saline drops pepper the creature’s back, something that has never happened since Hutchinson received the curse, happens now. And the transformation reverses before the dawn. The monstrous appendages siphoning back into his flesh. There is nothing beautiful or graceful about his return to his human form. And Augustus Hutchinson is left naked, shivering, and humbled, standing in the alley in the rain.

[Rusty, creaking noises]

Kim
Let us make our final trip to the prison hulk. Nat, narrate a scene in which we see a convict finding comfort and companionship within the bulkheads of the Captivity.

Natalia
We see a young boy, only 17 but too old for reformatory school, tuck himself into the bulkhead, hoping that no one will hear his sobs this far from the common areas. However, there is no such thing as secrecy in a place like this. And another prisoner steps forward the darkness. The youth quickly wipes away the tears, fearing the scorn of this grizzled older convict. But instead, finds the offer of a cigarette. He lights it for the boy, and it burns away to ash as they sit together in the dark.

[A rainy London street]

Kim
Miss Thanero, this horrible beast has transformed into Augustus Hutchinson.

Cassandra
Ena stands there, looking down at him for a moment. The smallest, almost imperceptible movement of shock crossing her face. And then she takes her hand and removes the glamour, so that she is once again her true self. She’s quiet for a very, very long moment.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Why did you omit this?

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
I didn’t know how to begin to tell you. Couldn’t tell ya.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
So instead, you weighed my right to know this against your fear? And you let your fear win.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Don’t underestimate the power of my fear. I’d just as soon do this out of the rain. I can feel the shrimps. [Chuckles]

Cassandra
She’s not amused by anything he has to say, and she turns her back for a moment.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Ena.

Cassandra
She does not turn back around.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Ena, I’ve been trying to tell you since… The whole time since I’ve known you. I’d do anything for you, but I can’t protect you from me.

Cassandra
At that, she turns back around and crouches down in front of him, taking his face in one hand. She’s not going to forgive him in this moment, and she’s not going to forget.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Next time, trust me with the whole truth. I am far more dangerous to enemies than to those who are honest with me.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Being honest with you making an enemy of myself.

Cassandra
She cocks her head a little bit at that, and stands, but does extend a hand to help him up.

T.
He kneels there in the blood of Obert mixing with the rain, and head bowed like a scolded child. Doesn’t take her hand.

Cassandra
Ena notices the salty rain, as it starts to drip off of her fingers of the hand he didn’t take. Looks at it for a moment, and then looks back at him with a new level of understanding. And then she turns and leaves him there, and heads back to Hargrave House on her own.

T.
He stands. The earth doesn’t even feel solid under his feet. And when he can tell that she’s gone, looks up at the clouds.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Happy?

[Soft, magical ambience]

Kim
A small aside. Miss Thanero, as you walk home in the rain, how do you feel the eyes of the Lady Thames upon you?

Cassandra
As Ena’s walking, still running her hands through this salty rain, she sees the Thames start to rise up out of its banks a little bit, as if it’s moving toward her. And in that moment, holds out her hand, preparing to pull Aegis out to protect herself.

Kim
The water does not swell to overwhelm you. It does not rise up in attack. It simply deposits a small owl feather in your hand.

Cassandra
In this moment, she was expecting to perhaps see someone else. And now, seeing the owl feather, is even more rattled by what she’s experienced this evening.

Kim
And as you close your fingers around the owl feather, the Lady Thames sinks back into the banks of her watery home. Miss Thanero, take the Condition: Marked by the Lady Thames.

[Magical, dreamlike ambience]

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, the séance broken. You have a promise to keep.

Robert
Morgan returns to Hazel Beaumont’s shop. Again, not using obvious routes and not appearing at her front door, but rather knocking around back.

Kim
You no longer see Mistress Beaumont in her glamoured state. Instead you see The Weaver herself – large and imposing, its many limbs spread out amongst her workshop.

Robert
Morgan pulls a couple of the hand-rolled cigarettes that he often has on him. Puts two to his mouth, lights them, and passes one to one of the many limbs of the Weaver.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
It’s as I feared. A confrontation will be happening soon, and either London will be safe… Well, safe-ish again for your sort. Or I’ll be dead, and my promise will be unable to be held by that means. Make yourself scarce for a few days, few weeks. I’ll let you know if and when it is safe for you to and all of the Shining Ones to return.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
Do not worry yourself, Storyteller. The Lords and Ladies know how to endure, and we know how to wait.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I have an idea of how to stop this, but I don’t know if it’ll work. So in case it doesn’t…

Robert
He reaches a hand forward, towards one of her limbs. Takes it in his hand, gives it a gentle kiss.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
It hasn’t always been the easiest thing, working with you. But it has been a pleasure, recently.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
You have turned into one of my favorite pets.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I believe I owed you a kiss.

Kim
This enormous spider-thing leans its head over you.

Robert
And, very gently, very much unlike the last time that they liaisoned, Morgan takes the spider’s head and gives it just a very gentle yet deep kiss directly on its mandibles.

Kim
The Weaver returns the kiss, and wraps her many limbs around you.

Mistress Beaumont (Kim)
Stay the night.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Until the dawn.

[The sea rumbles]

Kim
We end with Miss Douglas. On a spectacular success, tell me how you provide Moc’h with a worthy sacrifice.

Natalia
As Maesie throws the chain to draw her rival’s eye, she pulls out the Sculptor’s ice pick from a pocket in her side and plunges it into the side of his neck, catching him fully off guard. She then proceeds with her plan of wrapping the chain around his legs, pulling sharply on the chain to knock him down. And as he hits the water, the blood from his neck starts mixing with it and turning everything red. And she slowly walks over to his head, and presses a knee slowly down on his neck, as he tries to breathe. And instead, just inhales water and blood. And she kneels over him and says.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
You’re going home. I’ll be there soon. Say hi to the Deep for me.

Natalia
And then turns to Moc’h, waiting for a response about whether or not the sacrifice is deemed worthy.

[Unsettling, monstrous groans]

Kim
The pile of raw meat chortles in amusement.

Moc’h (Kim)
So, the little piglet does have teeth. She is a worthy huntress, after all. Swine! Let this one pass. She has pleased me. She has earned a night of rest.

Natalia
Maesie rises from the floor, the body of this enormous man lies still. And she doesn’t acknowledge anyone as she just walks out, and finds her way back to Hargrave.

[An ominous, rumbling woosh]

Kim
Welcome to the Dawn.

[Gentle piano]

T.
Th-thank you?

Natalia
We did it!

Cassandra
Yeah, thank you?

Robert
A weirdly tense episode for one where we all rolled so well.

Natalia
I know! God!

Kim
[Laughs]

Natalia
So stressful.

Kim
First things first, we resolve moves. We have one, but it is in two parts. T., I would like you to define a Clue for me for any of the active Threats. Something that your heightened senses picked up on, that the other hunters wouldn’t have noticed.

T.
The mud on Obert’s boots was of a strange composition – particularly of note, is that it included algae and things of the sea.

Kim
And secondly, the rest of my hunters, you all get to define something interesting about Mr. Hutchinson’s transformation. That information is a Clue that can be used on The Cursed.

Cassandra
I had something.

Natalia
Yeah, go for it.

Cassandra
While Ena was taking in the myriad parts that make up The Cursed, she noticed that the mane along its neck was not a mane of hair, but of jellyfish tentacles.

Natalia
Gross.

T.
Tentacle mane!

Cassandra
[Laughs]

Natalia
He’s already so gloopy and weird! Just make him gloopier and weirder!

Kim
And Mr. Hutchinson, please re-adjust your stats back to normal.

T.
Done.

Kim
Thank you. Let’s go to Dawn Questions. Did we resolve a Threat?

The Entire Cast
Yes??

Kim
No.

Natalia
No? Okay… [Laughs]

Kim
Nice try. You resolved 1/3 of a Threat.

Natalia
Got it.

Kim
Did we answer a Question?

Robert
Yes.

Natalia
Yes.

Cassandra
We did do that!

Kim
Did we get an Echo in the Night?

Natalia
Maybe?

Robert
Yes.

T.
I did.

Cassandra
I don’t think I did.

Kim
Robert, what was your echo?

Robert
Sharing the cigarettes with Miss Beaumont.

Kim
Nat, what do you think your Echo was?

Natalia
I threw out my Echo as the cigarette, emulating the frankincense that Rabbit lit and let burn out.

Kim
I like it.

Natalia
Okay, cool.

Kim
T., what was your echo?

T.
Blood and water mixing together on the cobblestones, Robert’s description of blood and water in the ship.

Kim
Nice. Miss Thanero, did you express a clear preference for the beautiful over the mundane?

Cassandra
I did not.

Kim
And did you appear in London society wearing risque or avant-garde fashion?

Cassandra
The forever yes is a no, because I was not out and about today.

Kim
No, you really were not in society at all.

Cassandra
Nope.

Kim
Miss Douglas, did you delight in uncovering lost, forgotten, or ancient magic?

Natalia
Yes, I learned a new ritual from Rabbit.

Kim
You did! And it went well, until you threw up rats. And did you mourn being unable to return home?

Natalia
I wouldn’t say I really mourned, no. Just sort of a little comment about it, but no.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, did you counsel someone using your supernatural affinities as the basis for that advice?

Robert
I would say yes. Both in teaching Maesie the magic, and in warning the little old lady at the séance to get away from these men.

Kim
[Chuckles] Yeah, that’s true. And did you make love to a dark entity, because it felt good?

Robert
We faded to black, but yes.

Kim
Things were certainly progressing in that direction with Mistress Beaumont. Mr. Hutchinson, did you encourage a fellow hunter to let loose for a change?

T.
Yes. I believe this is me encouraging Rabbit to go out with a bang.

Kim
Yeah. To un-stopper the bottle, you said. And did you share a treasured memory from the states during an intimate moment with another character?

T.
Yeah. I told Rebekka Salomon where I got my gun.

Kim
You did. Did you continue to perfect your worship of the Undeniable?

T.
I think the opposite?

Cassandra
That’s for me to decide, thank you. I’m gonna say no.

Kim
[Laughs]

Cassandra
That’s a pretty big lie. I’m gonna say no. Sorry, no.

Natalia
Technically, you’re denying yourself XP, so.

Kim
[Still laughing]

Cassandra
I mean, you could say that he defended me, I suppose. But also lied about something… The lie of omission is still a lie.

Kim
Were you feeling worshipped in that moment?

Cassandra
I wasn’t, no.

Kim
No.

Cassandra
I was quite angry, and still am.

T.
The horse pliéd! The horse legs pliéd!

Cassandra
Not enough.

Kim
[Laughs] Does anyone level up?

Natalia
Yes.

Robert
I do.

Kim
Lovely. Alright. Choose your advancements, please.

Robert
Well, this was the last one available to me. But I think it’s pretty fitting, considering we’re about to run into the end of the season. I’m going to unmark everything in my Personal Quarters.

Natalia
Gosh…

Cassandra
Hot damn, that’s a nice one!

Natalia
Everything is available to you!

Cassandra
Wow…

T.
All the toys.

Natalia
And I am going to increase an ability modifier by 1. I’m going to increase my Vitality to 2, which also feels fitting for today.

Kim
Yeah, that makes perfect sense, considering what you got up to today.

Alright, hunters. Another night falls in London, but the rain continued unabetted. I will see you all in the morning.

[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.