Shadows in the Smoke S1E6 - "Where the Spirit Takes Him"

Shadows in the Smoke S1E6 – “Where the Spirit Takes Him”

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]

[Sinister church bells]

Kim
Mr. John, this crouched girl looks at you, grinning. And then her gaze travels back to Brother Elijah, who, with trembling hand, is picking up an iron crucifix and drawing it ever so slowly to plunge into one of his eyes.

T.
I split my lips in an equally large grin. Wolfish, some might say. And growl…

Mr. John (T.)
Hello, little girl.

T.
And then I go and I snatch Elijah’s wrist, like I did Vera’s throat.

Kim
This sounds like a Night Move with Vitality. What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

T.
Uh, that crucifix is coming for my eyes. And what big eyes they are!

Kim
It’s worse than that. The demon, after taking your eyes, will inhabit your body, and will walk out of Kilburn Abbey with you, in search of pious souls to torment.

T.
I mean, I’m gonna do that anyway. But I’d like to do that with my eyes. [Rolls dice] 2+4 is 6, +2 is 8.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, I’d like to pick back up with you. What would you like to do for the remainder of your day?

Robert
Given that he’s just seen a very clear supernatural sign of the statue crying, he’s going to ride this.

[The sounds of a busy London street gradually fade in]

Robert
Mr. Lloyd is going to feel the energy within him. He’s going to close his eyes and just wander, letting his feet fall where the spirit takes him.

Kim
Your eyes close as you take to the streets of London.

[The sounds of London become muffled and fuzzy]

Kim
You hear the passers by of carriages, of people, but it all seems… Quiet. Fuzzy.

[The drone dissipates as London comes back into focus]

Kim
And then everything comes back into sharp focus as your feet naturally come to a stop. And you look up, and it’s a location that you mayhaps have heard of. It is the mortuary belonging to one Bartholomew Gastrell, where you know the body of the girl sealed up in the wall currently is.

Robert
Does this mortuary have, like, a workman’s entrance? Or another entrance that isn’t the front door?

Kim
Yeah, I would say so.

Robert
Then I think Morgan is going to do his best job of looking like some dogsbody who’s come here to move something here or there, lift something heavy, whatever. And just try and sneak in the back.

Kim
Miss Douglas, what about you? What’s the rest of your day?

Natalia
I think having collected the pearls, she wants to string them together. And she doesn’t really know where to do that, other than going back to Mr. Clemenza’s.

[The sounds of a posh London street]

Natalia
And I think she’d go there to have that be done. Right into the lion’s den, as it were! [Laughs]

Kim
Miss Douglas, you find yourself once again walking down that same fashionable street that you walked with Miss Thanero. And as you approach the modiste that belongs to Mr. Clemenza, you hear the muffled exclamation of joy from the other side of the window as he quickly motions for an assistant to open the door for you.

[The sounds of the city fade into Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier – slowed down]

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
I had been hoping to see you again, Miss.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Mr. Clemenza! Hi. I… I had, uh, a request of you today, if you don’t mind.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Why yes of course, dear child. How could I help you?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I have been collecting pearls all day, and I was hoping that you could help me put something together, your keen eye obviously being what it is. I want to put something together for Miss Thanero. Just a gift.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Yes, I believe that I have some thread that could do quite nicely.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Right. Well, um…

Natalia
She fishes into her pocket and just hands him a bunch of loose pearls.

Kim
[Laughs] That just start spilling all over this modiste, and we see assistants flying to and fro to try and catch all of these little pearls and collect them into a neat little pile.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
While you’re here, my dear, could I interest you in perhaps a fitting? The right clothes can turn a chimney sweep into a prince, that’s what I always say. Or princess, as it were.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Well I’m no chimney sweep, but… Yeah! Alright. Do you have anything in a tartan?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Do I?

Kim
And he motions for an assistant to open up a drawer, and there’s all these beautiful folded pieces of tartan wool.

Natalia
Maesie starts just, like, running her hands over them and selecting any of the ones that have, like, blues in them. Just because that matches sort of her style already. And yeah, happily takes a page out of Ena’s book and tries to, like, let herself enjoy having other people take care of her and dress her in pretty things.

Kim
One of the assistants is quickly pinning that wool tartan about you, taking measurements. And Mr. Clemenza is standing by with a little notebook. He’s writing in it.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Now, last time you were here, you did bring in that most interesting pelt. I don’t suppose you have it on you?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
No, that is a very, um.. precious article of mine. I don’t really bring it with me very often. But last time… I didn’t know I was going to find myself here today, but last time I did. So I knew I would bring it, and you’d hopefully be able to help me fix it a little bit more. But I don’t have it today, no. Sorry.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
What a shame. It was such a pretty thing, that pelt. I’ve never quite seen anything like it. Where did you say you were from, my dear?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Just, um.. The north.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Very vague. Very mysterious.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Well, I’m not really from anywhere specific. I’ve done a lot of traveling, so…

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
You know I have ears everywhere, Miss Douglas. A girl such as yourself, wandering around all sorts of stylish places with no shoes? You do catch notice.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I’ve been meaning to wear shoes more often. I just really don’t like the feel of them.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
I’ve heard some people say that you spend quite a lot of time near the water.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Yeah. Well, as I said, I’ve done a lot of traveling. Mostly by sea. So I guess I find it comforting. Where are you from originally?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Here, of course.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
With a name like Clemenza it seems a bit… odd.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
My dear, London is a beautiful mix of people from all over the world.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
You’re right about that.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
I did hear the most odd story.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Oh?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
About you, about the water.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Do tell.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
About what happens when you step into the water.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Do tell.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Well. Someone said you change into the most curious of creatures.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Well. And who might be telling that to you?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Oh, I never reveal my sources, madam.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Hmm. Well. I wouldn’t be trusting just about anyone, what you hear. London is a big city, isn’t it?

Kim
I feel like this is the Day Move. What are you afraid will happen if you fail here?

Natalia
Ugh. I think… If Maesie can’t get herself out of this one, Clemenza will have someone follow her home.

Kim
This is gonna be a Day Move with Presence.

Natalia
Lord. Okay…

Kim
I do think this is taken at Disadvantage because you have the Condition: The Notice of Mr. Clemenza.

Natalia
I do. I do. Oh, Lord… It’s all good! It’s all good! It’s gonna be fine…

Kim
If you have a Personal Quarters item, you can invoke it to make it a flat roll. Otherwise this will be rolling 3d6 and taking the two lowest.

Natalia
Okay. I do think Maesie is gonna pull the locket from around her neck.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
You know, we never discussed payment for… any of this. For the necklace, for the dress, for the tartans. Would you be interested in an item such as this?

Natalia
And she holds out this golden locket to Mr. Clemenza.

Kim
Okay. Go ahead and mark that Personal Quarters item. And this is gonna be just a normal 2d6 roll plus Presence.

Natalia
Delightful. [Rolls dice] Oh, that’s a 6. Okay. I’m gonna use a Mask, because I don’t wanna lose at this.

Kim
Okay. What Mask are you thinking?

Natalia
My first Mask of the Past.

Kim
Alright. Miss Douglas, what is your first prompt for your Mask of the Past?

Natalia
My first prompt is: Narrate a flashback to when you were a young child, playing with your fellow selkies and sea creatures.

[The ocean waves]

[Gentle, peaceful harp music]

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Before I came to London – before I even knew what London was – I would spend my days diving and darting through freezing dark waters, and warm back up in my mother’s embrace. I chased silverfish with my sister, and we’d have contests to see who could hold their breath for the longest. The whales were always so much better at it than we were.

I learned to scare the living daylights out of seagulls in order to steal their food for my auntie, and when the skies were clear and bright I’d spend hours on sunbaked rocks with my cousins, cracking shells or simply napping in the pleasure of the sun.

At night, exhausted and satiated, we’d climb back up the shores and peel our pelts away to gather around fires, tell stories, and sleep beneath the stars. And I remember one night in particular, around the time I was nine years old, when my mom pointed out a set of constellations in the sky to me. It was her and me, she said.

“Those four stars make up the body, and the three stars behind a flippered tail. Can you see it? It’s just like yours, little one. And I’ll always be by your side, just like that. Swimming right next to you.”

And that thought keeps me going even now, even when we are miles away. Knowing that at least she and I are together in the sky.

[The waves and harp fade away]

Kim
Miss Thanero, how would you like to spend the rest of your day?

Cassandra
I’m feeling drawn to this rumor that’s circulating about the fountain of youth. And I think I want to swing over to a patisserie under the guise of picking up some petit-fours for all of my lovely fellow hunters. And I’d like to see if maybe Dame Margaret Teasdale is holding court this afternoon.

[Light classical music, birdsong]

Kim
Miss Thanero, you find yourself at the patisserie that you know, through your various social circles, that Dame Margaret Teasdale loves to frequent. It is this beautiful, airy space. It is done up in pastel pinks and purples. Little delicate white furniture. You hear the sounds of ladies gossiping.

I have a Paint the Scene for you all, here. This patisserie prides itself on using only the rarest and most exotic ingredients. I’d love for you to describe one such exotic petit-fours that is on display here.

Natalia
There are thin boxes of macaroons in every color, covered in gold flakes.

Cassandra
I see like a little white cake with like a single chocolate-covered coffee bean on it. And then the thinnest strip of Madagascar vanilla on the top of it.

Robert
There are small, fairly traditional, fruit tartlets. But instead of being made of the apples and red berries that you might expect from a British tartlet, they have tropical fruits from all over the Pacific.

T.
And because this is Victorian London, there are also candied half moon eyes, which are whale eyes. But they are perfumed to match the rest of the floral scents of this shop with actual perfume made from ambergris.

Natalia
Ew.

T.
[Laughs]

Natalia
I’ll say it!

Cassandra
Girl, you live in the water!

[Laughter]

Kim
She likes her whale eyes raw.

Natalia
Yeah.

Robert
Those whale eyes belong to her friends!

Natalia
Candied? Disgusting.

Cassandra
That was my friend! [Laughs]

T.
Not holding their breath anymore, are they?

Cassandra
[Laughs] Oh, T! T!

T.
It was a devastating time.

Cassandra
Oh, no…

T.
Ecologically, the planet will never recover.

Kim
Miss Thanero, it’s not hard for you to find Dame Margaret Teasdale, for she is sitting at the place of honor in this little patisserie, on a little cushioned chair, with all manner of ladies arranged about her – all of them gossiping behind fans as they eat delicate little petit-fours. She is dressed in the most sumptuous finery and jewels, but most notably – her facial features appear quite stiff, and there is a waxiness to her unlined complexion.

Cassandra
Ena has absolutely seen all of this, but I think she’s going to play hard to get and let Margaret see her. So instead of, like, walking over and saying hello, Ena’s going to go up to the counter, to a familiar face, and is going to request her normal order from the patisserie attendant.

Kim
What is that order, out of curiosity?

Cassandra
I think a little bit of what everyone described. Just a nice arrangement of wonderful things for her fellow hunters. Everyone likes sweets.

Kim
As you do so, you hear a voice call out…

Dame Margaret Teasdale (Kim)
Excuse me, miss. That is the most charming outfit you’re wearing. I do wonder where you purchased it?

Cassandra
I think Ena is slightly pausing at “charming.” [Laughs] Like, I think that, for her, is not the word she prefers to be described by. So I think she, like, very gently turns over her shoulder, looks to the person in question…

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Why darling, I only get my finery from Vittorio Clemenza, of course. Where are you shopping these days? This outfit is… something.

Kim
Dame Margaret Teasdale, if it were capable for her to glower, she would.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I must say though, dear, you’re looking… well. What have you been up to, to get this sunny complexion?

Dame Margaret Teasdale (Kim)
Oh, isn’t it just? I say, I feel ten, twenty years younger than I did previously! And it’s so subtle too.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes. No one would ever know anything is happened. How on earth do you do it?

Dame Margaret Teasdale (Kim)
You see darling, I reject out of hand, and in the strongest possible terms, that we are all fated to shrivel up like prunes. Let others be stately, or grow old with dignity. But I, I seek the eternal. And you know what? I found it.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
My, my… Such a secret must have cost you dearly! I wonder if you’d be inclined to share? One can never start too early on their quest for eternal youth.

Dame Margaret Teasdale (Kim)
Oh, it’s true. I’m sure in just a few years you’ll be in need of such services that I acquired. And of course I would be happy to inform you of all of the careful consideration that I gave. I’m more than happy to share my sources to a close friend. We are close friends, are we not?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh my darling, how could you ever ask me such a thing? Of course we are! And you know I would be ever so grateful for your knowledge. You are so very wise.

Kim
Information Move with Presence.

Cassandra
You got it.

Um… I rolled… I rolled snake eyes. So it’s a four.

Kim
Back to Kilburn Abbey.

[Sinister church bells]

Kim
Mr. John, you wrench this crucifix out of the trembling hands of Brother Elijah. As you do so, you feel the crucifix sink into your cheek and drag across your face.

T.
[Winces]

Kim
Leaving quite a gash there. Take the Condition: Scarred Face.

When you look back to that corner, the girl is no longer there. Brother Elijah is on the floor, pale and trembling and gasping for breath.

[The sinister sounds fade away to church bells and Gregorian chanting]

Mr. John (T.)
You alright, boy? I said hello to our little friend. She seems to have taken off.

Brother Elijah (Kim)
S-so you saw her too, then?

Mr. John (T.)
Saw her? I don’t think I just did this for fun, to improve upon my pretty complexion.

Brother Elijah (Kim)
No, no. Yes. Of course. Thank you, sir. If you had not been here, I hesitate to think what it might have made me do.

Mr. John (T.)
Seen her before?

Brother Elijah (Kim)
I have, sir.

Mr. John (T.)
She make you do things often?

Brother Elijah (Kim)
Not me. Not until today. But others, yes sir. Do you know what manner of creature this is?

Mr. John (T.)
That’s a demon. No two ways about it. Fucked up little girl like that inhabiting a church, making god-fearing people act all pervert-like? That’s a demon.

Brother Elijah (Kim)
I seek to put a stop to it, sir.

Mr. John (T.)
You and I both, brother.

Brother Elijah (Kim)
I’m relieved. I don’t suppose you have experience in banishing such creatures?

Mr. John (T.)
[Laughs] Course I have! I hunt just about everything there is to hunt.

Brother Elijah (Kim)
Oh, you do!

Mr. John (T.)
That I do.

Brother Elijah (Kim)
Oh, thank goodness. Then tell me. What is it we should be doing?

Mr. John (T.)
No, no. Not here, Elijah. There’s all manner of sorts that might be listening, and I don’t know where that girl gone. But you wanna come, say, a couple nights from now. I’ll meet you with some of my colleagues, if you will. My brothers in arms. I’m gonna gather some information. See, each demon… Well, I shouldn’t say too much. But you can’t just treat them catch-all, like. You gotta prescribe to a particular flavor. I need to know everything I can about this little girl. So anything you can tell me, I’d appreciate it.

Kim
Go ahead and make the Information Move with Presence, please.

T.
I’d also like to find if this abbey has a basin of holy water, if I could just head toward that? [Rolls dice] That’s a 10!

[Airy, abandoned ambient sounds]

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, you enter through the back of this mortuary. As you do, you hear a faint dripping noise of some neglected pipe.

[A Chopin nocturne fades in]

Kim
You hear music further within this mortuary. Quite romantic, classical music.

Robert
Mr. Lloyd, like, pulls his cap down a little bit lower and sort of hunches his shoulders. Just sort of trying to look as though he is the sort of the person you might ignore.

Kim
As you step further into this mortuary, you begin to hear a man’s voice. He is speaking aloud poetry. When you step further in, you see the bright lights of the mortuary. You see a body covered in a sheet on a cold table. But next to it is a rather plush couch. And seated on that couch is a man in well-kept clothing with a very stately moustache. He is holding a glass of port in his hand as he reads from a small book of Byron.

Bartholomew Gastrell (Kim)
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Beautiful, boss. Sorry, didn’t mean to bother you. Uh… Didn’t realize there would be anyone here. Um… I’m just here to pick up some refuse that I was told needed clearing away?

Bartholomew Gastrell (Kim)
Yes. Yes, of course. I haven’t seen you around, I don’t believe?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
No, I’m, uh… I’m Henry’s cousin?

Bartholomew Gastrell (Kim)
Oh! Yes. Of course. Uh, then I assume Henry told you the way?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Yeah. Don’t mind me asking – is that a real body under there?

Bartholomew Gastrell (Kim)
Yes, of course it is, sir. How’s your stomach? Is it strong?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I reckon it’s strong enough. Don’t suppose I could have a, uh, a wee butcher’s at it?

Kim
Mr. Gastrell smiles at you.

Bartholomew Gastrell (Kim)
I like to read to them, sometimes. I believe it calms the spirit inside, if there is a bit of the soul that remains when we pass on. I must warn you though, sir. This is a curious sight.

Kim
And he peels back the sheet, and you see the body of the young girl from Kilburn Abbey. She looks to be about eleven years old.

As you’re pondering that, I have a Paint the Scene for you all here, about Gastrell’s mortuary. What here reminds you of the first time you were confronted with death?

T.
The sheet covering her. One Shot grew up Savannah, Georgia, which is a port town in the American South in the mid 1800s. And when he was a little boy, sitting on the dockside waiting for a shipment of silks to come in from his father’s textile mill, he saw a crew of men dumping the chattel slaves that had died on the Middle Passage overboard into the bay, like they were nothing.

Natalia
Maesie is not a stranger to finding the bodies of sea creatures washing up on shore. And all bodies carry the same glassy, unseeing eyes.

Robert
For Morgan, it’s actually the music that is playing that reminds him of his early experiences with death. The woman who raised him used to keep the dead from time to time, stay up with the ill as they breathed their last breath, and watch over them as their spirits left their bodies. And she would often sing little songs to herself. And when Morgan joined her on those rounds, he found comfort in those songs she would sing.

Cassandra
I think for Ena, it is the child herself. Because she has lived for eons, and has seen so many young children either die young or grow old and die of old age. So I think it’s just the youth itself that reminds her that everyone is young, and everyone dies.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, what are you doing?

Robert
Well, speaking of the woman who raised him and keeping the dead and all that, Morgan is one of the cunning folk, so he’s been trained to see the signs of witchcraft and other dark sorcery upon bodies. So that’s what he’s looking for.

Kim
This sounds like an Information Move with Sensitivity. Let me take a look at your Conditions… I think Some People Are Beyond Saving could be at play, here.

Robert
[Rolls dice] I rolled a 12, and the third die was a 1.

Natalia
[Gasps] No!

Cassandra
Dang it.

Robert
That still means it’s a 9 and a success, but not a Mastermind Clue.

Kim
Let’s go back to the modiste, please.

[Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier – slowed down]

Kim
Miss Douglas, you are going to be able to intimidate Mr. Clemenza into not pressing this matter further. What is it that you say to him?

Natalia
In offering this locket, Maesie clicks it open and shows the shark tooth that lies inside of it.

Miss Doulgas (Natalia)
What you may have heard may be true, may be not. But wouldn’t you rather be on my good side, if it were?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Right you are, madam. Who among us has not come to London for a fresh start. A new identity, a new look?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
And what a better place than a modiste for a new look?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
I think this is a fine price, madam. I thank you. And I assure you, you will have my discretion, the way I do all of my treasured clients.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Thank you very much.

Kim
How are you feeling in this moment?

Natalia
Maesie’s heart is beating out of her chest, and she is trying so hard to not lose it in front of this guy. Cause she’s not used to threatening anyone. But I do think she feels very proud of herself, for having managed to keep it together and not give away… Not necessarily not give away her secret, but at least come to an understanding where she knows that she is secure.

Kim
Miss Douglas, I would like you to remove the Condition: The Notice of Mr. Clemenza. And I would like you to replace it with Self-Satisfied.

Natalia
Delightful.

Kim
I think the rest of this appointment goes by in almost an uncomfortable silence. Mr. Clemenza asks you the questions that he professionally needs to ask you, but any sort of camaraderie or chit chat is gone. His assistants pin and sew quickly and quietly, and at the end of this appointment you are given a brand new tartan skirt and the strung necklace of pearls, and very quickly seen out of this shop.

Natalia
Maesie equally spends the appointment trying to not step on any toes. Just doing what she can to not be in the way, but get it done. And I think she takes her boxes and holds her head up high, and walks back to Hargrave House.

Kim
Back to Kilburn Abbey.

[Church bells and Gregorian chanting]

Kim
Mr. John, Brother Elijah starts walking alongside you as the two of you walk back towards the entrance of this abbey. And as he’s walking, he is telling you about his experiences with the demon.

Brother Elijah (Kim)
I hear it sometimes, sir. Whispering. Just whispering. Tempting words. Pretty words. It’s when you answer those words that it takes a hold of you, makes you do the most unspeakable things. I’ve never experienced quite what all just happened with that crucifix. I’ve never felt that way before, so out of control. Not responsible for what I was doing. The thought that I could have hurt myself, hurt someone else. I shudder to think of it.

Mr. John (T.)
Don’t take it to hard there, brother. Sometimes I pay extra to be hurt like that.

Kim
As you’re walking, he stops by a font of holy water that is near the entrance of this abbey. Very quickly dips his finger in and makes the sign of the cross in front of him and in front of you.

Brother Elijah (Kim)
Blessings be upon you, sir. I do hope that, with your help, we can put a stop to this.

Mr. John (T.)
Can you, uh... show me how to do it?

T.
I gesture to, like, dipping my fingers in.

Brother Elijah (Kim)
Yes. Yes, of course.

Kim
And he goes about showing you the motions –

T.
I would like to hold his head under the water, please. I think this motherfucker’s possessed.

[A beat]

Natalia
What?

Kim
Woo! Alright.

Cassandra
I thought you were joking. But now I see you’re not. [Laughs]

T.
No, I wanna get him close enough to show me how to do the water, and I want to put his head and dunk him under, and I wanna see if this girl flies out of him.

Kim
Okay. Fantastic.

Cassandra
Oh my god.

Natalia
Oh Lord…

T.
I won’t kill him!

Kim
We’ll see!

[Tense ambient music]

Kim
This sounds like a Night Move with Vitality.

T.
I’m scared that I’ll accidentally kill this boy and he is not possessed, and I’ll just murder a monk in an abbey.

Kim
Mr. John, it’s worse than that. Drowning Brother Elijah will unleash such a demonic presence, that all of the monks in Kilburn Abbey will begin killing each other, and then themselves.

T.
6 and 3, +2, is 11.

Kim
Let’s go to what seems to be an equally perilous situation, which is Miss Thanero and Dame Margaret Teasdale.

Cassandra
These two situations are one and the same.

Kim
Dame Margaret Teasdale motions for you to sit at her little table. Mainly, motions for two lesser ladies to move down and provide you with a seat, so that you can sit right next to her. And she takes your hand in her gloved hands.

Dame Margaret Teasdale (Kim)
Well of course it was all rather clandestine. I felt like a character in a romance novel, skulking through alleyways. I of course didn’t get officially introduced to the doctor prior to the procedure. It was all very mysterious. Very cutting edge – literally, I suppose. But it was the oddest little boy that was leading me to this fantastic doctor.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well you weren’t in any danger, were you?

Dame Margaret Teasdale (Kim)
No, of course not, my dear darling! I wouldn’t be recommending it if I were in any danger. Sometimes true artistes like a bit of dramatic flair. I imagine it was the case with my wonderful doctor. Yes, we were never formally introduced, but she took my money, and I am quite pleased with the work that was done.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
As well you should be.

Dame Margaret Teasdale (Kim)
I do like you.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh, I like you too, darling.

Dame Margaret Teasdale (Kim)
What a fun, chance interaction this was!

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
The most fun!

Dame Margaret Teasdale (Kim)
Oh my dear darling…  What was your name, dear?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Ena, darling.

Dame Margaret Teasdale (Kim)
Oh, dearest Ena. Pray, what are you doing for the rest of today? I don’t suppose you could just sit and gossip. It’s been so long since we’ve had any fresh blood in this group. And I’m sure you have the most salacious of stories.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh, that I do. But I am afraid I do have a meeting with some very dear friends of mine, and I just can’t slip away from that. But another time. How about next week, dear?

Dame Margaret Teasdale (Kim)
Why yes, of course, darling. But I will expect all of the juicy details with whoever you might find yourself with until then.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh, I shall spare you no detail at all. You will get every last crumb.

Kim
Miss Thanero, take the Condition: A Close Friend of Dame Margaret Teasdale.

Cassandra
[Laughs] No!

Kim
Back to Gastrell’s mortuary.

[Airy ambient sounds, and some light Chopin]

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, as you are examining the body of this girl, this perfectly preserved child… For just a moment, you see this shadowy moth land on her collarbone, settle there for a moment, and then fly away. If you were to gently peel the woolen shift away from the girl’s neck, you would find a series of arcane symbols painted onto this girl’s skin. And that is a Clue

Robert
Morgan makes a big show of being disgusted by, you know, seeing and smelling a dead body – for the first time, as far as this mortician knows.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Oy! That’s disgusting! Oh, the smell! The pong of it! Oh, how can you stand it?

Bartholomew Gastrell (Kim)
You, sir, are a horrible actor.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Whatever could you mean by that?

Bartholomew Gastrell (Kim)
Don’t get me wrong, sir. I love the theatrics. I’m a bit of a romantic at heart, even though my work is quite clinical. I am a good friend of Hargrave House. I don’t know you, but I have heard of you. Mr. Lloyd, is that correct?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Well, if you’ve heard of me then you know probably what it is I do for Hargrave.

Bartholomew Gastrell (Kim)
I do, yes.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
And you’re aware that this body has, um… Foul magics upon it?

Bartholomew Gastrell (Kim)
Yes.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
And have you had any of the cunning folk in to take care of that for you?

Bartholomew Gastrell (Kim)
No, sir. But I’ve been keeping her, so that you and the rest of the residents of Hargrave House may do your work, knowing that I’m keeping her protected.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Well we appreciate that, let me tell you. But, uh… maybe not right now, but when I’ve had a bit more time to prepare, I’ll call back on you and see what we can do to make sure she’s properly at rest.

Bartholomew Gastrell (Kim)
No hurry. She’s very safe here.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I’m sure she is.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, take the Condition: Conspicuous.

Robert
That’s the opposite of what I wanna be!

Kim
Let’s end our phase with Mr. John.

[Tense ambient music and sinister church bells]

Kim
On a result of a 10+, narrative control falls to you. So I’d love to hear from you what happens.

T.
I dip my fingers like I’m at a… like a tea party kind of thing with the bowl. Just being like, “I don’t know… finger sandwiches, what’s happening.” And, um, he comes over and, you know, tries to show me, like, “Put your hand like this.” And as he leans down, I take him by the head and push him down into the water. And the bubbles start spearing up in the cistern immediately, and he’s thrashing around like any human would. But then he begins to steam, and the steam that rises takes all the water with it, and coalesces into this girl – now clinging to one of the buttresses of this abbey like a gargoyle.

[Russel’s The Bells of St Anne de Beaupre]

T.
And she wretches and spews all of the water out at the two of us, before disappearing and scurrying off. And Elijah coughs and sputters, only to realize that there is no water in his lungs. He looks up at me.

Mr. John (T.)
I know. Told you I can’t tell you too much just yet. You never know who might be listening.

Kim
He falls to his knees in front of you, and prays. Not for his soul, but prays in gratitude for what you just did for him.

Mr. John, as you leave the abbey, you pass by the front garden that some monks are tending to. And you start hearing horrified whispers and muffled cries of disgust as two monks with trowels, digging into the earth, start pulling out not roots, not weeds, but bones. Small animal bones. Hundreds of them.

And that is a Clue for the Demon of Kilburn Abbey.

Mr. John (T.)
Good work you’re doing there, boys. Keep it up. Idle hands are the devil’s plaything.

T.
And I put on my Stetson, walk off into the night.

[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 Brett Wortzman, Aviana, Samuel Lewis, and Sara McAbee in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.