Shadows in the Smoke S2E2 - "See You Soon, Dear"

Shadows in the Smoke S2E2 – “See you soon, dear…”

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]

[Ominous, echoing ambience]

Kim
Dr. Branford, Poppy tried to describe the creature that now stands before you, but her description comes up short. You tried to determine, in inspecting that body pulled from the Thames, what kind of creature could have done this and, indeed, you as well came up short. For who could possibly understand the horrifying chimerical creature that stands before you? But you have very little time to take in this horrible beast before it lashes out with one of its jellyfish-like tentacles towards both you and Poppy. This is a Night Move. What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

Madeleine
I am afraid, if I fail, I will be consumed by the beast, and my life’s work will sit, gathering dust for the rest of eternity, potentially to be discovered by someone who might try to complete it for me, and they won’t do a good job.

Kim
Dr. Branford, it’s worse than that. The creature was lured back here because it recognized your smell as a former Hunter of Hargrave House that Augustus Hutchinson once knew. It will then follow that smell, after eating you, back to Hargrave House, find your life’s work, and destroy it. What are you doing as this creature lashes out towards you?

Madeleine
Immediately clocking the lack of eyes, I know I have very few senses to work with. Well, fewer senses to work with. And Dr. Branford’s immediate plan is going to be to confuse the senses of this creature and split with Poppy to try to create as much confusion as possible, so she can arrange for an escape.

Kim
Alright, this very measured response sounds like a Night Move with Composure to me.

Madeleine
[rolls dice] That is a 5 plus 1 with my Composure.

Kim
Dr. Branford, your mind works remarkably quickly. But the beast is faster. And before you have time to articulate your plan to Poppy and distract it, you are set upon by this horrible creature, and we just hear these mangled, ripping, squelching sounds as you are disemboweled in the parlor of 14 Portman Square.

Madeleine
So I’ll be spending a Mask, please.

Kim
Dr. Branford, will you be spending a Mask of the Past or Future? I will also note, for all of my Hunters, the Mask of the Future: The Gilded Door, is back up for grabs.

Madeleine
I will be narrating a Mask of the Past, since I have quite a few to burn through. Gotta play catch-up.

Kim
Read the prompt.

[Soft melodic piano]

Madeleine
You lost someone very important to you. Who were they? Name them.

Dr. Branford (Madeleine)
Their name is Meg, my sister. The elder by some minutes. She was the better of us in every particular that could be measured, and I spent a considerable portion of my life measuring things, so I am confident in this assessment. She was immensely important to me.

Madeleine
And that’s all you get.

Natalia
Oh, no! Not enough, I want more.

Kim
No.

Cassandra
That’s diabolical and I love it.

[Eerie, echoing ambience]

Kim
Let us return to the sepia-toned halls of the Society Obscura. Miss Douglas, you have completed this ritual in the Olympus room, standing in front of this painted door that was only open in a photograph. You hear knocking on the other side.

Natalia
She opens the door.

Kim
This painted doorknob becomes solid under your touch and you step inside, not into the Fragrant Void, not in its entirety, but into a piece of the Void. You are in this strange, ephemeral space, walking through a coastline of black sand. The water here is silver and viscous, and a body washes up on shore. You recognize it from Burt Broadswell’s photograph to be Penelope Leevey.

[Softly crashing waves]

Natalia
Maesie walks through the sand. She doesn’t leave any footsteps behind her. And she kneels down next to this body and cradles it very delicately as she flips her over.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Penelope?

Kim
Penelope coughs up some of this silvery water. She herself is rendered in black and white, much like a photograph.

Penelope Leevey (Kim)
You shouldn’t be here.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Uh, no. I should. [breathy chuckle]

Penelope Leevey (Kim)
How long have I been here?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Um, I’m not very certain how time works in this place, but a couple of months at least.

Penelope Leevey (Kim)
We must be quick. We must be quiet. It is listening.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I know. Did you choose to come here?

Penelope Leevey (Kim)
No! No, I was— I was photographed. It was the camera. I didn’t know. I don’t know if they knew.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Who took the photograph?

Penelope Leevey (Kim)
Cyrus. Cyrus Abernathy. But quick, we don’t have much time. The script. You have to read the script.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Which script?

Penelope Leevey (Kim)
Ecstasies of the Pythia. Find it. Read it. Bring me back!

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I will. I promise.

Penelope Leevey (Kim)
Oh, no. It’s here!

[Rising tone]

Kim
And something in the water yanks her away into the silvery void, and Miss Douglas, you feel this alien presence invade your mind, and all you can hear, all you can feel is “OUT!” and it pushes you away, back through the painted door, and it slams shut. [muffled, echoing door slam] But that is a clue for the Whateley Camera: a script for a play you have never heard of, The Ecstasies of the Pythia.

Natalia
Maesie, as the door slams shut, just puts a hand against the wall, takes a deep breath:

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I promise, Penelope, I will. I will return.

Kim
Miss Thanero. Now, you pondered the Masterwork. On a 10+, the Masterwork reveals a Clue or a Mastermind Clue, your choice. I will tell you, there currently is not an active Mastermind. So, what Threat would you like a Clue for?

Cassandra
I would like a Clue for The Cursed.

Kim
Surprise, surprise. So, as you gaze upon this twisted, tortured Masterwork, the painting blurs and then comes back into focus as new figures have been added to the canvas. You see several people dressed in the gowns and rags that you know to belong to patients at Bethlem Royal Hospital. They are tearing each other apart like wild animals. That is a Clue for The Cursed.

Cassandra
Ena takes that in, cocks her head for a moment, and then just quietly mutters:

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Interesting.

Cassandra
And continues to think on it as she makes her way back out of the gallery, locks the door, and immerses herself in this crowd of people in the Elgin Marbles on her way out of the museum.

[Incessant, ominous hum]

Kim
Let us return to Dr. Branford. Now, you cannot defeat The Cursed, but you can save your life and possibly that of the young Poppy. What are you doing?

Madeleine
Branford is going to use everything she has in her magic Gladstone bag of medical tricks to attempt to disorient this large, hulking monstrosity. As soon as she sees the eyeless figure rising in front of her, without hesitation her hand grabs vinaigrette from her chatelaîn and shatters sal volatile on the floor in front of the beast. She kicks the table with her Gladstone on it, knocking it closer to her. Reaching in with one hand, grabbing Poppy with the other, she fingers, finds what she needs, throws a jar of carbolic towards the monster’s face— question mark? She grabs Poppy, says:

Dr. Branford (Madeleine)
Breathe through your mouth, dear.

Madeleine
Sprints out the front door, Poppy in tow. One final smack with her Gladstone bag against the beast, feet slamming on the wooden floor, hurtling down the steps, onto her bicycle, dragging Poppy onto the rear spokes, and speeds off as fast as possible down the cobblestones.

Kim
How are you feeling in this moment?

Madeleine
Invigorated, in a way that she hasn’t been in probably four or five years. And responsible. She knows that her return to the location where the beast had been before was probably what drew The Cursed back. And knowing this, under her breath, I think she’s going to mutter to herself:

Dr. Branford (Madeleine)
Well, I guess we meet again, John.

Madeleine
As she’s speeding away.

Kim
Please take the Condition: Marked by The Cursed. Let’s pick up with Miss Douglas. As the door slams in front of you, what are you doing now? Where are you going?

[Birds chirping, wind rustling leaves]

Natalia
I would like to go talk to Burt Broadswell and maybe ask him about this play.

Kim
Yeah, he is the one who enlisted the help of Hargrave House so very long ago. And you do know that, much like Penelope Leevey, he is an actor as well. It’s not hard to find the address of Burt Broadswell. It was on the envelope that had the photograph of Penelope Leevey. The man who answers the door is unspeakably handsome, but there is a weariness and a haggardness to him now, as if he has not gotten much sleep over the last several months. HIs eyes, normally this striking blue, seem a little faded, a little less sparkling. There are bags beneath his eyes, as if he has spent most of his time crying. But he has a very handsome, very prominent jawline, long lovely eyelashes, a trim physique.

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
I’m so sorry, I’m not up to signing autographs.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I’m not a fan.

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
Oh. Well, then. Good day.

Kim
And he goes to close the door.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Oh, sir.

Natalia
Maesie shoves her foot in the door so that he can’t close it.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I’m here about, uh, Penelope. I come from Hargrave?

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
[gasps] Hargrave House! Oh my goodness, it’s been quite some time since I enlisted your help.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Yes.

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
I had not heard from you. I thought that perhaps it had gotten lost in the post, or that the worst had happened and you simply weren’t telling me.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
We’ve had, um, troubles of our own, unfortunately, and I’m doing my best to keep track of this case. Mostly on my own.

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
Come in. I’m sorry, I’m not exactly fit to entertain.

Kim
And indeed, his bachelor apartment looks as though it has been occupied by a man in mourning for several months.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
That is perfectly fine; I did not come to be entertained.

[Outside sounds fade, ambient hum]

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
Tell me, have you heard anything? Have you— have you seen her? Have you put the screws to the monsters at the Society Obscura?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
In a way, I did some, um, investigation there, and I did come upon something I feel might be important. Have you heard of a play called The Ecstasies of the Pythia?

Kim
Make the Information Move with Presence.

Natalia
As Maesie follows Burt into the house, she pulls out from her pocket The Crimson Gentleman’s silk handkerchief and hands it to him and says:

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I know it may be difficult to speak of Penelope in this time. Please, takes this. I’m sure it’s hard to find your own in all this mess.

Natalia
And I am going to invoke the handkerchief.

Kim
Please take the Information Move with Presence with Advantage.

Natalia
[rolls dice] No, god. That’s just— It’s all 2’s. It’s just a 4.

Kim
Miss Thanero, leaving the British Museum, heading where?

Cassandra
Seeing that Ena is incredibly focused on resolving The Cursed for her own safety, she’s trying to exhaust every avenue she can to figure out how to resolve The Cursed. So, after having looked at the Masterwork, she’s a bit peckish. So she’s gonna head back to Hargrave House and make a trip to the Larder.

[Ominous echoing tones]

Kim
Oh, my. I like this very much. First, a question—not a true Paint the Scene, but I am curious—you have been in domains of Moc’h before, in holy sites of Moc’h, but how does it feel to step into the lair of another god?

Cassandra
Seeing that she’s sitting so firmly in her godhood again, and really reveling in that power, this feels very desecrating. She doesn’t care that he’s a god. She is, in her mind, a more prominent, more important god. So she can set foot wherever she wants and do as she pleases. So she’s coming for answers, and she expects to get them.

Kim
The Larder reads: whenever you succumb to the sudden urge to consume raw flesh in the Larder, you draw the attention of the pagan swine god, Moc’h. Roll with Sensitivity. If the flesh belonged to a humanoid creature, then roll with Advantage. So first I must ask, Miss Thanero, what is it that you are eating?

[Tones fade, hollow ambience]

Cassandra
In order to beat an enemy, you have to know your enemy. So, knowing Mr. Hutchinson’s proclivities towards eating human flesh, she’s gonna root around, remembering that there were some tinned kippers that had fingers in them. And she is going to eat one of those to put herself in the mindset of the monster that she wants to defeat.

Kim
Please roll with Sensitivity with Advantage.

Cassandra
I have a 3, a 1, and a 3 for a 6, plus my 1 of Sensitivity, which is a 7.

[Ambience fades away]

Kim
Dr. Branford, speeding away from 14 Portman Square with Poppy in tow, what does the rest of the day hold for you?

[Neutral underlying hum]

Madeleine
I would love to drop Poppy off with some of the gentlemen at Scotland Yard for an updated statement, and then I might just pop into the deadhouse attached to poke around.

Kim
Oh, lovely. Dr. Branford, you are a known quantity in Scotland Yard. It is kind of baked into the playbook for The Mother that they moonlight, sometimes literally, on behalf of the police. And so you would know the mortician who operates out of the deadhouse near Scotland Yard quite well: a Peter Jacobson. As you enter into the mortuary, I feel like you’re comforted by this very, very bright, very white light that greets you at the entrance. There is this smell of chemicals, would be quite overwhelming to most, but I think pleasant to you. Everything in this place of work is extremely neatly arranged, for Mr. Jacobson is perhaps just as fastidious as you are. Paint the Scene: Is there a certain beauty in death? If so, what do you see that confirms this?

Cassandra
If one were to look upon the faces of these people that have died in the custody of Scotland Yard, their faces are peaceful, something they likely did not experience in life.

Madeleine
There’s something oddly beautiful in the symmetry created by the bodies when they’ve been cut open, even bodies with uneven limb distribution, with organs side to side. The way that they’re cut and butterflied open creates a very balanced, a very organically symmetrical, while maintaining lack of symmetry that feels very floral and botanical.

Natalia
The sterility of this room, the lack of decoration, and the silence serves as a reminder that there is neither beauty nor ugliness in death. It is simply something that happens.

Kim
Dr. Branford, you see Peter Jacobson, a man who, despite the meticulous organization of the mortuary, it does not seem to extend to his person. He has a very dingy, white coat. This young man, he looks too young to be here. He is always sweaty. And you know that he is very, very serious about his work here. Also, very quick to bow to authority and, indeed, views you in a position of authority over him.

Dr. Branford (Madeleine)
Mr. Jacobson, how is your father?

Madeleine
As she produces a handkerchief from her pocket, hands it to him. He has a speck of something, presumably blood, on his coat that he needs to wipe.

Peter Jacobson (Kim)
Oh, uh, thank you, ma’am.

Kim
He takes the handkerchief and dabs at the blood stain. Also mops some of his sweaty forehead.

Peter Jacobson (Kim)
Father’s quite well. Very proud of how I’ve taken over the business. I did not know that you were back in town, ma’am. Last I heard, you were somewhere in Africa.

Dr. Branford (Madeleine)
Yes, I’m back. Ready to be of assistance again. In fact, I need your assistance in this moment, Mr. Jacobson. This is Poppy. Can you take her in to the others for a new statement? She’s been through a lot and has been immensely helpful, and needs to be treated with respect. Please see to it?

Kim
At the sight of this very young, very pretty woman, Peter Jacobson is trying to straighten his coat, is now, like, looking at what he’s wearing, like, aghast. Like, “Ah, god, did not expect I would meet anybody living here today.” And offers his arm to Poppy, and you hear just, like, snatches of his conversation with her as he’s leading her into Scotland Yard proper.

Peter Jacobson (Kim)
Very good to meet you. Actually, excellent timing. I was starting to feel a little lonely being the only one here with a pulse.

Kim
You hear Poppy doing, like, a hesitant, “I’ll laugh with you, I guess” kind of laugh as they are disappearing, leaving you alone in the mortuary. What could you possibly be up to?

Madeleine
Branford quickly shakes off her feelings of exhilaration and excitement from earlier. Stepping back into her Hunter boots feels very, very good. But she functions best at her peak form of logician, interpreter of the body. So she is going to approach one of the mangled corpses on the table, recognizing the wounds being from her most recent encounter; the creature she is beginning to expect may be the result of some sort of depraved experimentation, exploiting malformations of bodies, preying upon weak and unexpected people and creatures. And is going to get her little grubby paws inside some guts.

Kim
I love this. You find the eviscerated body of David Hawkins, the bricklayer who was found at a building site on Baker’s Street. Describe, if you may, how it feels for Dr. Branford to be arm-deep in a corpse.

[Trilling piano music]

Madeleine
Whenever Dr. Branford finds herself in a situation where her own hands are physically inside of another body, there’s this weird separation that happens between who she is in that moment, performing the necessary work, and what feels like the person watching her perform the work. There’s a beautiful, velvety black stillness. Everything starts flowing. There’s a sort of rhythmic humming, but without vocalization, that takes over her body as her hands seem to be doing things that her mind doesn’t know she’s capable of. Finding the warmth in bits of cold viscera and flesh, feeling for different textures, like different parts of a song. A bit of heart feels like a chorus. Scraping against a lung feels like a bridge. As she sort of comes back into herself, she finds herself hyper-aware of the abnormalities of the flesh and what doesn’t belong in this song before her on the table.

Kim
Please make the Information Move with Reason.

Madeleine
I would like to say, on the table next to me were my ceremonial scalpels.

Kim
You may mark them, which is good cause that will cancel out the Disadvantage I’m going to give you because you are Marked by The Cursed, and once again interacting with a previous victim.

Madeleine
Yeah.

Kim
Information Move with Reason flat, please.

Madeleine
[rolls dice] That is an 11.

[Piano fades away, underlying ambient hum]

Kim
Let us return to the parlor of Burt Broadswell.

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
Penelope and I met on the stage, you know. She was playing Rosalind. I was the foolish shepherd, William. She was radiant, I tell you. And I never got the lead in that production, but I did manage to become her Orlando in life. And now she’s gone, without a trace, as if she were never more than a sweet, waking dream. The Ecstasies of the Pythia, that was a play that she and members of the Society were writing. I do believe I have a draft. It is, well… my Penelope was a wonderful actress. I tried to give it a read, but I found it a bit incomprehensible. Perhaps it would have been better for her to have just stayed on her side of the stage, but I’m happy to let you peruse it if you think it might be of some help.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
If you wouldn’t mind. There might be some sort of clue, or something more in it that we haven’t found yet.

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
Of course.

Kim
He stands to go look for the play, and as he stands, you notice that his body does not cast a shadow.

Natalia
[high-pitched groan] That’s not good. That’s not good. [inhales] Oh, god. Oh, shit. Oh, no. [nervous laugh]

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Um, uh, Burt? Are you– are you feeling alright? You haven’t left the house since it happened?

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
It’s been several months. Of course I left the house.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Where– where have– where– where have you gone?

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
I’ll be honest, I did not have a lot of faith in Hargrave House, no offense. So I– I did do a bit of poking around myself at the Society Obscura.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Uh… Um. Um. Um! Would you come with me?

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
Don’t you want the play?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Um, yes! But, um, it’s, we can–

Burt Broadswell (Kim)
Here. I have it right here.

Kim
And he presses it into your hands.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Thank you. Now can we go?

[Scraping echo]

Kim
And as you take this play, this piece of the Void into your hands, you feel your hands go numb. You see your flesh start to turn sepia itself. Indeed, everything you’re wearing turning sepia as this piece of the Void is trying to pull you deeper into whatever malaise is affecting the Society Obscura. This is a Night Move.

Natalia
Good lord, help me.

Kim
What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

Natalia
I am afraid I will be taken to the Void before I am able to say goodbye to anyone.

Kim
Miss Douglas, it’s worse than that. You will be pulled into the Fragrant Void, and you will not be able to escape until the rest of the Hunters answer the Question for the Whateley Camera and go into the Void to rescue both you and Penelope Leevey. This is going to be a Night Move with Sensitivity.

Natalia
[sighs] Ho, boy. [rolls dice] Alright, that’s a 6 and a 1, which is a 7, plus 3 is a 10.

[Echoing animalistic rumbles]

Kim
Miss Thanero, as you sink your teeth into this pickled finger, you hear a chortling in the back of your mind.

Moc’h (Kim)
[low chuckle] Little goddessssss.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Little pig.

Moc’h (Kim)
You dare step into my temple. You have no power here.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well, I do live here. And I was hungry.

Moc’h (Kim)
Indeed. Hungry you shall be.

Kim
And as you polish off that finger, you are doubled over in this hunger pain. You know that nothing you eat could ever make you feel sated. Please take the Condition: Ravenous.

Moc’h (Kim)
Wouldst thou like another?

Cassandra
Ena thinks about this and knows that nothing is going to quench this right now. She knows how she can solve it later. But this god has nothing for her that will cure this at the moment.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
No, I think I’m full.

Moc’h (Kim)
I sense you seek my wayward worshipper.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
That I do. Care to enlighten me as to where I might find him or how I might aid hiim in rejoining your cult?

Moc’h (Kim)
Why should I help you? Would you not just take him back into your worship?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I am done with him in that way. He’s all yours. I just want him off my back.

Moc’h (Kim)
He will return, little goddess. Return like a butterfly returning to its chrysalis.

Kim
And this horrifying meaty pig thing shifts into this fleshy meat chrysalis before shriveling and fading away. That is a Clue for The Cursed. This isn’t for a Condition but I’m just curious how you feel after this interaction, Miss Thanero.

Cassandra
I feel agitated because it’s just so like gods to play games and make things complicated and difficult for no reason. So all she’s wanting to do is deal with the creature and this pig, god, whatever he may be, pile of meat, is not helping.

[Rumbling fades, ambient background hum]

Kim
Dr. Branford, doing your own makeshift autopsy upon the body of David Hawkins, feeling around for what is out of place or unusual, and you pull from the guts and viscera of David Hawkins a long sharp quill. That is a Clue for The Cursed.

Madeleine
As Dr. Branford places the quill into a long vial that she has and stoppers the top, returning it to her case, for a moment she considers removing her work gloves, rolling up her apron, and then she notices the corpse’s eyes are open. And the eyes are beautiful in a way she did not originally notice, one of them slightly more yellow-green than the other. There’s something incredibly familiar about these eyes. And without a second thought, she removes them from their sockets. Holding them in her hands, she reflects. A warm breeze seems to flow across her face. The bright lights seem to dim.

[Melancholy piano tune]

Dr. Branford (Madeleine)
At night, “Lights out,” she’d say. “Close your eyes and tell me everything you saw today.” And I would. The whole day, back to her, in order. Every detail. She said I saw enough for two. She said that’s why she never bothered looking closely at anything. She had me.

Madeleine
And Branford takes the eyes, puts them into a wide, open-mouth jar. Quickly fills it with some salt and water, gives it a swirl, and says:

Dr. Branford (Madeleine)
I’ll see you soon, dear.

Madeleine
Pops it in her bag, puts her calfskin gloves back on, and clicks towards Hargrave House.

Kim
Madeleine, could you please a bit of The Child for me?

Madeleine
The Child: you have a secret laboratory in Hargrave House where you are building a person form body parts you acquire in the city. When the time is right, you will use principles of chemistry and alchemy to give your creation life. When you acquire a body part for The Child, check it off from the list below and narrate a brief, pleasant memory of the person you lost that is triggered by holding the part in your hands.

Kim
Please, check off eyes. Miss Douglas, one foot in the Void. How do you extricate yourself from this entity that is trying to sink its claws into you and pull you into its domain?

[Scraping echo]

Natalia
As Maesie feels this familiar being come into contact with her, she holds this play, she takes a breath, and looks up at Burt and goes:

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I do apologize, but you will be seeing Penelope.

Natalia
And she shoves the play into his chest and pushes him over the back of the couch so that he falls onto his back. And she runs out of this house, leaving the Void to take him instead.

[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 favorite colony of feral cats, our incredible Kitten Marlowe patrons in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.