Shadows in the Smoke S1E48 - "A Hunter of Hargrave House"

Shadows in the Smoke S1E48 – “A Hunter of Hargrave House”

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
Mr. Hutchinson.

[Gentle wind. Birdsong]

Kim
On the rooftops of Hargrave House. You see a glint of light, and turn to find Tati Brathwaite on a nearby rooftop, pointing a long rifle in your direction.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
This fucking girl…

[Ominous ambient tones]

T.
She’s got me in her sights. How nearby is this rooftop? Could I make the jump?

Kim
I don’t think you could make the jump. The parcels of land here are quite large.

T.
Sure.

Kim
So even with your supernatural gifts, I don’t imagine it would be possible, unless you can secretly fly and I don’t know it. But she is on the same side of Belgrave Square as you. Actually for the last several months now, this house has been unoccupied.

T.
I have bigger fish to fry. So that’s gonna be added to the list of shit that we have to deal with, that we don’t have time for. And Hutchinson is going to head back downstairs.

Kim
Okay. I feel like this has to be a Night Move in order to not get shot by Tati Brathwaite.

T.
Fuck! [Laughs] Okay.

Kim
What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

T.
I’m afraid that she will take me out, leisurely make her way to the rooftop, and see the map of Hargrave House on my hand and bring it back to her mom.

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson, it’s worse than that.

T.
Yeah, it always has to be.

Kim
She will shoot you, but not kill you. She’s bringing you back to Theodora Brathwaite, because Theodora Brathwaite wants to talk to you.

T.
Cause here’s the thing, is I kinda want to talk to Theodora Brathwaite, as well.

Kim
Here’s when I say that when I have called for a Night Move, and we have established the stakes, you are allowed to back down. In this case, don’t leave the rooftop, should you choose to.

T.
And do get shot?

Kim
Yeah.

T.
Uh… You know what? This could actually provide good intel. This seems bonkers, but I am going to… [Laughs] Let this girl shoot me…

Kim
[Laughs]

T.
So I can talk to her mom.

Kim
Well, out of character, you make that decision. In-character, I believe Tati Brathwaite is just a bit too quick for you. And she fires – not a bullet, a tranquilizer – and you slump, unconscious, on the rooftop of Hargrave House.

Miss Douglas. Where is your day taking you now, now that you have enlisted the help of Greco, the Dream Sovereign?

Natalia
Maesie makes her way back to her room, and sees something that she hasn’t thought about in a very long time: the key that she acquired to Mr. Higgins’ cobbler shop.

Kim
Yes! And you know Mr. Higgins to be one of the servants of Theodora Brathwaite.

Natalia
Exactly. So I think I’m gonna go back there and snoop around.

Kim
Do some skullduggery. I love it.

[A London street]

Kim
I don’t think it’s hard for you to find that cobbler shop yet again, considering your escape from it the last time. This humble shop is bustling with activity, but not from patrons. It’s once again that large group of men, all dressed in black – Mr. Higgins’ fixers – who are loitering outside, moving in and out of the shop, talking amongst themselves… If you plan to do this stealthily, it’s going to take a little work.

Natalia
For sure. I assume I would have seen the fixers before today?

Kim
Oh, yeah. You probably spied them as you were making your escape the last time, out the back door.

Natalia
Then before I leave Hargrave House, I would have liked to have changed into just all black. Just to look… At least appear to fit into this space.

Kim
I love this.

Natalia
She’s still very slight and small and presumably a woman, so… Not the best disguise. But at least enough that just a quick glance, someone might just go over her and keep moving.

Kim
Yeah. Think you’re a boy. Like, a very young member of this gang.

Natalia
A young fixer.

Kim
Alright. So disguised, you make your way towards Mr. Higgins’ cobbler shop.

Natalia
Yes. I would love to sneak into the shop and just start looking around Higgins’ office for any notes from Theodora. Anything that seems like a plan of action for this group of people, specifically.

Kim
Alright. I think it’s gonna be a Day Move, just to get in here.

Natalia
For sure. I will use the key to assist with that.

Kim
What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

Natalia
Well, absolutely so many people will know that I do not belong here. And last time it was just me and Mr. Higgins, and this time it’ll be me and so many more men. I don’t think I’ll be getting out of this one.

Kim
Alright. Those are the stakes. This is a Day Move with Composure.

Natalia
[Rolls dice]

[Sharp inhale] It most definitely is not. That’s a 4.

Kim
Alright. So on a fail, your disguise will be found out by the Black Laces. And you will find yourself in the cobbler shop, but not in an investigative situation.

Natalia
Yeah, I’m not gonna use a mask to bump this, so I’m gonna fail.

Kim
Alright. Miss Douglas, you do your best to try to blend in to this group of thieves and killers, when you bump into a very tall, broad-shouldered man.

[Unsettling, threatening ambience]

Black Lace (Kim)
Watch where you’re going, boy. Wait. Fellas, it’s her!

Natalia
Fuck. [Laughs]

Black Lace (Kim)
The one who escaped the shop before!

Kim
And then you are set upon by several pairs of hands that are dragging you into the shop of Mr. Higgins, and slamming the door.

Mr. Lloyd. Leaving the River Thames. Where does the rest of the day take you?

Robert
Rabbit will take some shortcuts back through the hedge, back to Hargrave House. Because he has one more person to ask for help, and it’s a very important person. But it’s someone that in order to do so, he needs to perform a ritual, first. So that he can talk with the very spirit of Hargrave House itself.

Kim
Oh Robert, you’re getting into the deep, deep lore. So this is certainly going to be a Rite of Salt and Smoke. So what does this ritual look like?

[Empty, abandoned ambience]

Robert
Well, we’ve seen Rabbit do summoning rituals before, and this one isn’t that different. He finds a spot somewhere in Hargrave House. Probably in the basement, or some other room deep within the house itself. He sits down. He does not make a circle around himself. He’s not trying to contain his magic. He wants it to reach out to the space around him.

[Dreamlike, magical ambience]

Robert
He does however use his charcoal to draw symbols on the ground around him. Symbols for speech. Symbols for understanding. And then taking a blade, he cuts his own palm, squeezes it into the heart of it, and attempts to awaken Hargrave House.

Kim
Please roll Rites of Salt and Smoke.

Robert
And that blade that he used was Roger the Reaver’s scalpel, which he picked out of Hargrave House itself. So I will be doing this with advantage.

Kim
Alright. Go ahead and roll.

Robert
Alright. [Rolls dice] That is a 9 on the dice. So with my +3 in Sensitivity, that is a 12.

Kim
What is your effect?

Robert
I think it’s simply to communicate with someone or something that you do not share a language with. In this case, it is the genus loci – the spirit of Hargrave House.

Kim
Miss Thanero. What about you? Shaken from your encounter with the ocean.

Cassandra
Having slammed this door with such force, I think it is closed but it splinters ever so slightly. And so there are some long wooden shards on the ground. Ena looks at these, gets an idea, and picks a few of them up and stuffs them in her belt. And prior to walking around Hargrave House and doing her initial strategic assessment, she had sent off some owls to summon some of her worshippers to her. Specifically, our good lady Charlotte from Kilburn Abbey, and the person she’s had essentially tailing Theodora and her group for information… Former Inspector Detective Pettigrew.

Kim
Oh! Fabulous. Sister Charlotte McGowan enters the foyer of Hargrave House. Detective Inspector Pettigrew lingers nervously on the threshold.

Pettigrew (Kim)
I’m afraid you have to ask me in, madam.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh, I won’t be doing that. Why don’t you go to the back garden? Wait for me there.

Pettigrew (Kim)
Yes, mistress.

Cassandra
And she turns to Charlotte. And in her hands is the set of antlers that she took as a prize from the resolution of the Coven. And she places them in Charlotte’s hands.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I would like you to take these as a gift, to Mistress Beaumont. She will appreciate what it took to get them, and what they mean. I would like for you to ask her for some armor, to clothe my compatriots and protect us from what is to come. And if she has any insight into how we might stop the force coming for us, I would appreciate if you would ask that information of her, as well.

Charlotte McGowan (Kim)
Of course, mistress. Is there anything else I might do to better serve you?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Only this. And do not come back to this place without what I have asked for.

Kim
She bows, and leaves. Miss Thanero, please remove the antlers from your Personal Quarters.

[Quiet birdsong]

Kim
Now what of Mr. Pettigrew, in the garden?

Cassandra
Ena closes the front door of Hargrave House, and slowly makes her way toward the back entrance to the garden. As she walks out, she pulls out one of the wooden splinters – essentially, a stake – from her belt, and starts to just flip it in her hands as she walks toward him.

Kim
Detective Inspector Pettigrew is looking increasingly nervous.

[Increasingly ominous ambience]

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Don’t’ be scared now, pet. You had to know this was coming.

Pettigrew (Kim)
But I have been ever faithful to you, my lady.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes, you have. But I can’t imagine that you would be immune to Theodora’s influence. Especially given that you’ve been in the company of your sire, and all his ilk. I can’t have you turning on me at the last possible moment.

Pettigrew (Kim)
Madam, I… I promise… I would never… I would never do such a…

Cassandra
She cuts him off, and grabs him by the throat.

Pettigrew (Kim)
[A choked gasp]

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
You have desecrated too many of my spaces, and I have grown tired of you. So I shall do you this final kindness.

Cassandra
And she stabs him in the heart.

Kim
[Gasps]

Miss Thanero, please scar your reflection.

Cassandra
I will.

Kim
And tell me how the Reflection has changed.

[Distant, melancholy ambience]

Cassandra
The painting had sunlight and warmth about it. But I think simply that the sun vanishes from the panting, and instead is replaced by rain-heavy clouds, mimicking the persistent weather that we’ve seen in London.

Kim
How did destroying Detective Inspector Pettigrew make you feel?

Cassandra
The destruction of Pettigrew leaves Ena feeling more resolute, having taken out a potential Threat prior to what is coming tonight. So I think it bolsters her confidence, in being able to handle whatever Theodora’s going to throw at them.

Kim
Alright. Because you have enacted Taketh Away, by destroying a Side Character physically, you may choose three options from the list below. No roll necessary, because Pettigrew was your servant.

Cassandra
I’m going to clear the Condition: Even Stone Can Be Worn By Time.

Kim
Aright.

Cassandra
I’m gonna take my next roll with advantage.

Kim
Alright. I will make a note of that.

Cassandra
And now the final option…

Kim
Do you wish there to be no long-term consequences for your actions, or would you like a Personal Quarters item from Detective Inspector Pettigrew?

Cassandra
Knowing you, I think I have to take no long-term consequences for my actions.

Kim
[Laughs]

Cassandra
[Laughs] I’ve got plenty of Personal Quarters items for the moment. I think I will just say that murdering him is not gonna cost me anything, down the line.

T.
J’accused.

Kim
Yeah, I have been called out. I was gonna make a note of it, but I will delete it.

Cassandra
I’m sure you were!

[Unsettling, threatening ambience]

Kim
Miss Douglas. Once again, you find yourself shoved into this small back room of Mr. Higgins’ cobbler shop.

Black Lace (Kim)
Boss, the little rat came back.

Kim
And entering the room is Mr. Higgins. This time, already brandishing the gun.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Hello… Shop is looking really good since I was last here…

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
Well, isn’t this a surprise?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Is it? I feel like not much surprises you.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
So I suppose you heard of our infiltration to your mansion tonight, and decided to do a bit of reconnaissance?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Yep. Pretty much.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
Well, wouldn’t I be quite the fool if I let you get away a second time?

Kim
He clicks the pistol.

Mr. Higgins (Kim)
Do you have any last words, Miss Douglas?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Sure. Bye.

Natalia
Maesie drops into Curse of the Deep, as usual.

[Sinister undersea rumbling]

Natalia
Eyes roll over black. Fingers elongate. Teeth start to sharpen. And she runs, full force, at Mr. Higgins, to try and slam into him.

Kim
Okay! Night Move. Vitality. What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

Natalia
There is still a gun between me and him. I worry that he will shoot me with it.

Kim
Miss Douglas, it’s worse than that. You will be killed and skinned, and your pelt will become a new pair of shoes for Theodora Brathwaite.

Natalia
Brutal! I love it. I’m going to use my Personal Quarters item of a broken rib. Not in that I am physically using a broken rib, but that I am trying to inflict a broken rib.

Kim
I love it.

Natalia
Come on, dice. Be nice to me, please.

[Rolls dice] Oh!

[Chuckles] 6 + 5 is 11, +2 is 13.

Kim
Oh, my… Miss Douglas, for the second time…

Natalia
[Laughs]

Kim
How do you ruin Mr. Higgins’ day?

Natalia
I love to do it! It’s so good!

I fully run at him, which I don’t think is the response he was expecting. And I catch him off guard. And I just lean over, and I throw one shoulder right into his chest, in the hopes that my full body weight will snap a couple ribs, and take him to the ground, wheezing and maybe unable to breathe.

Kim
You do so. He is sputtering on the ground. Two members of the Black Laces, when you initially started fighting, started moving as if they were going to join in. But then seeing this carnage that this small feral girl has wrought has given them pause.

Natalia
Maesie is standing over his wheezing body, just staring down at him. And then she looks up at the other two with these black, doll-like eyes. And she just smiles.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Who’s next?

Black Lace (Kim)
Leave, witch. We want none of this.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I have something I need to do first. You have tools for sewing in here, do you not?

Natalia
She doesn’t wait for a response. She just goes into the shop and starts looking for thread and needles. The most basic supplies, to fix her pelt one more time.

Kim
Yeah. On a 12+ on this Night Move, you can absolutely repair a piece of your pelt using the tools from Mr. Higgins’ cobbler shop.

Natalia
I like the idea of finding more of this sparkling blue thread that Theodora gave me. Like, there being another spool of it in this shop. And using it to fix the pelt.

Kim
I like it. Go ahead and check another box on Severed from the Sea.

Natalia
Exciting.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd. Deep within Hargrave House. How does the house itself speak to you?

[Dream-like, magical ambience]

Robert
The spirit of Hargrave House does not take physical form, like the Lady Thames. It does not appear as a person in front of Rabbit. Its voice is like a whisper that booms like a thunderclap in his mind. Because the house is all around him. While Hargrave House itself is fairly young, the spirit that inhabits it is ancient, and suffused with magic.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Hi. I’m sorry we haven’t had the chance to talk until this moment. I am grateful for the shelter you’ve provided us. For the watch you’ve kept over us while we slept. For the space for companionship. For… For being our home, not just a house. And so it may seem strange that I ask you for one more thing. But unfortunately, there are men coming here to harm us. But also, to destroy this house itself. So if you care for those who live within, or for the walls that surround them, I ask for your help in this moment.

Hargrave House (Kim)
[An echoed, chorused voice] Help you shall receive. Defend my threshold, and I will protect these walls, these stones from intruders.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Thank you.

Kim
Please put down the clue The Help of Hargrave House. I think you just get that for free, no Information Move required, considering your very good ritual roll.

Hargrave House (Kim)
You have been a most polite and pleasant resident.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
And you have been one of the nicest places on this earth where I have ever laid my head.

Kim
Miss Thanero. Elsewhere in Hargrave House. There is a knock at the door.

Cassandra
Ena pulls on that gold cord at her shoulder, just to be safe, and pops out her spear, and walks to the door and flings it open.

Kim
Two individuals stand before you. One of them, Sister Charlotte McGowan. And the other, the remaining Sendulla Sister.

[Eerie, haunting ambience]

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I’m surprised you haven’t fled this realm yet.

Cassandra
She just ignores Sister Charlotte completely for the moment.

Sendulla Sister (Kim)
Where my lady is, so I shall be.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Loyalty is always appreciated.

Kim
Sister Charlotte is holding a large box in her hands. And the Sendulla sister is wheeling in a tall piece of furniture that is covered with a fine silver cloth.

Cassandra
Ena moves out of the way to allow the Sendulla sister to push this item in, assessing it for what it might be.

Sendulla Sister (Kim)
Careful, goddess. This object has great power. I daresay it would affect even you. Look cautiously. Know that what you see is merely an illusion.

Kim
And the Sendulla sister gently lifts just a piece of the cloth that covers what you now realize is a very tall, very grand mirror. When you look into just a piece of the mirror, please describe Miss Ena Thanero’s greatest fear.

[Underwater ambience]

Cassandra
When Ena glimpses a fragment of this mirror, what she sees is only water. Endless, overwhelming, drowning water. But as she looks through the murk, she can see the entirety of London is also underneath it.

Kim
Miss Thanero, you are lost in that vision for only a few seconds before the Sendulla sister quickly covers the mirror back up with the cloth, breaking the illusion.

Sendulla Sister (Kim)
My lady hopes it will prove powerful against what threatens you.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Your mistress was very good to send this. And I am in her debt.

Sendulla Sister (Kim)
She knows.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
As she should.

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson.

[Theodora’s theme]

Kim
You come to on a plush, very expensive oriental rug in a lavishly decorated salon. Most of it, in the signature color of sapphire blue.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Well I wonder where I could be.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Good. You’re awake.

Kim
You turn and see Theodora Brathwaite in a tea gown, standing behind you. With a small, quick snap of her fingers, two footmen help you to a sitting position in front of a tea set. And Theodora Brathwaite sits opposite you.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
I prefer coffee.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Of course.

Kim
Theodora Brathwaite smiles and motions for her footmen to bring out cups of coffee.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
I myself prefer something a bit stronger.

Kim
And she pulls out a flask, pours a bit into her cup, and offers some to you as well.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
No sense drinking alone.

T.
And I accept the booze.

Kim
The sandwiches and little cakes in front of you, most are of the typical kind. Cucumber, salmon… But there are several petit-fours and sandwiches that are just raw meat.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
You didn’t have to go through all the trouble for little old me.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Well, I thought it was best to put you in a favorable mood before you and I talk.

T.
Before I sip the booze and this coffee, I gotta give it the poison check. I gotta just make sure this isn’t the last conversation I ever have.

Kim
You smell it. It smells fine. And Theodora, clocking that you are pausing, sips from her cup and then reaches over the table, grabs yours, and sips yours as well.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
We both know that don’t prove nothing, but I appreciate the gesture.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Well, Mr. Hutchinson. Shall we get to it?

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Time is money.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Indeed. I have brought you here because I have an offer for you. You and I both know that you are not long for this world. Whether by your own hand, mine, or those of your fellow hunters, the rabid dog will no doubt be put down shortly. I would propose that you put your last days to good use, and work for me. Unstopper the bottle.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
What’s your definition of “good”? Something tells me priests would find it lacking.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Sir. I speak not of the work you would do for me, for indeed it would be quite wicked and bloody. No, I speak of the good you could do for others. One other.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Little late in the game to be coy, Brathwaite.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Your daughter. She’s very smart, you know. Must have inherited that from your late wife.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
So we do agree on one thing, at least.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Her anger, though. That she gets from you, I surmise. Not that I can blame the poor child. She deserves so much more than the kind of life that Savannah offers her. Deserves more than the cruelty of her grandparents.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
She deserves more than you, or anybody else on this green earth, can give her.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
I’m not so sure of that.

Mr. Hutchinson, if you work for me, I promise you Miss Andromeda will find herself the sole beneficiary of a tidy sum of money. More than she could ever spend in a lifetime. More than any future children she may have could ever spend in their lifetimes.

I would see to it that she is granted the finest education anywhere she chooses. In America, or in any of the capitals of Europe. Your girl would want for nothing. She would have every door opened to her, every opportunity available for her. She would have the means to make any life for herself that she wanted.

All of this, I would do. Anonymously. You pledge yourself to me, leave Hargrave House behind, and I will send a telegram to my man in America and get your daughter out of your family manse this very day.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
A very tempting offer. I never gave that girl nothing. And I owe her everything. I assume you would have me 86 my compatriots?

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
I would simply have you unleash the monster. If I happen to point you in their direction? So be it.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Well, you and I have a common goal in that. See, I already have one employer with whom I’ve struck an irrevocable contract, and with Ena Thanero as his target. So as a stipulation to this contract, you’d have to point me there first.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Very well.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Second, Maesie Douglas is not to be harmed. She can be incapacitated. You can do what you need to at Hargrave, you can ship her tail back to Scotland, but she will remain alive and well. And I think a tidy sum of money will see her good, as well.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Very well, Mr. Hutchinson.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Thirdly, and lastly.

T.
He grins wide.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
For no other reason than I think you’d be settling a bet, I’d like some guarantee that my daughter is your sole beneficiary. And you will give me both of your children. And in exchange, there will be nothing standing between you and the time you so crave.

Kim
Theodora Brathwaite barely looks up from her cucumber sandwich, and simply shrugs.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Fine. I have no love for Tati. While she is my heir, she is exceedingly stupid.

T.
I hold my good hand up, spit in my hand, and hold it out for her to shake.

Kim
She pauses, and regards you. Assessing whether or not this proffered hand is a trap.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Come now. Neither of us can trust one another. The least we can do is put on a good show.

Kim
She shakes your hand.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Ah-ah-ah! [Tuts]

T.
I spit in my palm again, hold it out more rigidly.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
You didn’t spit in yours. If we’re to have an accord, we have to do it on my terms.

Theodora Brathwaite (Kim)
Too right.

Kim
And summoning some of that pirate swagger that she wore so well in her youth, she spits in her palm and shakes your hand.

Mr. Hutchinson (T.)
Hargrave better batten down the hatches.

Kim
Mr. Hutchinson, please take the Condition: The Servant of Theodora Brathwaite.

[An ominous, rumbling woosh]

Kim
Welcome to the Dusk.

[Quiet, contemplative piano]

Kim
A mid-episode Dusk Phase.

Cassandra
Wow…

Natalia
Yikes.

T.
Hee, hee, hee…

Natalia
Don’t laugh!

Kim
So a lot just happened… Ordinarily the first thing we do in the Dusk Phase is roll moves that are rolled in the Dusk. But Mr. Hutchinson, I don’t quite know if you’re a hunter of Hargrave House anymore.

T.
If I may, I am a hunter of Hargrave House! I’m just not a Hunter of Hargrave House.

Cassandra
Wow, alright.

Kim
Very fair. So I suppose the question is up to you. Are we rolling The Quickening tonight? Or are we just…

T.
I think we better had.

Kim
Alright. So let’s roll The Quickening. I am gonna put this at disadvantage, because you are a Servant of Theodora Brathwaite, and she wants you very much to go feral.

[Theodora’s theme]

T.
After tea, Hutchinson is taken to a room in Brathwaite’s apartment which is filled with a smattering of garments. And he decides to play a little dress up, as he waits for the sun to set and the assault to begin.

As we see him now, he’s staring out the window, watching the light fade behind the clouds, darkness dress in its sables. He is dressed in sapphire. A naval officer’s coat with gilded epaulettes. His hook has been properly affixed with sapphire ribbon and is on, no longer askew. He has replaced his father’s silk handkerchief with a proper sapphire blue eyepatch, and he wears an enormous captain’s hat – replete with feather. A peacock feather.

And as he stands, decked in pirate garb, he withdraws and looks at Vera Hale’s face. The first consequence of his time here in London, and his actions or inactions. And I will be rolling this flat.

Alright. I can’t find my usual dice, so I’m using my general advantage die, and a die I have never rolled before.

Cassandra
Oh boy, wow.

Kim
Sensitivity, or Composure.

T.
You know what? Let’s really amp the stakes up. I’m going to be making this with Composure, which is a +0. This is a flat roll. I am letting the dice decide whether I transform or no.

[Rolls dice]

4 + 1 is 5.

Kim
On a fail, you’re going to lose control.

T.
Retire this character, and tell the Keeper to put The Cursed into play.

[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 roommates at Hargrave House, our Kitten Marlowe patrons, in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.