Greaves and Sons

Location Overview

Greaves & Sons is a modest pawnshop on Poland Street, just west of Soho proper. Run by the former cathedral chorister Tobias Greaves and his niece Edna, it serves as a repository for pawned goods, used instruments, antiquarian music manuscripts, and forgotten treasures. Greaves has developed a reputation for handling unusual sheet music and rare musical manuscripts.

Clara Fen’s burned music notebook is held here in the pawn inventory, discoverable through investigation or Clara’s own testimony.

Exterior Description

Low-windowed shop set back beneath a narrow archway. Dusty panes show faded lettering. Three golden balls hang above the lintel—the traditional pawnbroker’s sign. Two mangy cats patrol the steps like toll-keepers, eyeing passersby.

Interior Description

Main Shop Floor:

• Dim, yellow-lit interior
• Shelves packed tight with tarnished watches, cracked spectacles, opera glasses
• Glass display case holds sheet music, medals, snuff boxes, and various curiosities
• Counter worn smooth by decades of transactions
• Air heavy with mildew, paper glue, and powdered tobacco

Back Wall:

• Stacked with pawn ledgers and unclaimed parcels
• Music manuscripts lumped together in an old bureau
• Storage for items awaiting sale or redemption

Atmosphere:

• Quiet, introspective, slightly melancholic
• Every object tells a story of loss or desperation
• The space feels like a museum of ordinary tragedies

NPCs

• Tobias Greaves (proprietor): 63, former cathedral chorister, dry-spoken, knowledgeable about music
• Edna Greaves (clerk, niece): 27, suspicious, protects family interests fiercely

Key Items

Clara’s Music Notebook (Primary Handout):

• Burned/charred around edges
• Pages contain harmonic exercises and notations
• Includes fragmented testimony of her trauma (“voice mapping” section)
• One musical phrase, if hummed aloud, triggers POW roll and minor SAN loss
• Ledger entry shows it was pawned under Clara’s real name (not “Anna”)—a slip that reveals her true identity

Additional Materials:

• Collection of rare sheet music (Greaves may discuss musical oddities with knowledgeable investigators)
• Various musical instruments in disrepair
• Old hymnals and sacred music texts

Investigation Opportunities

Acquiring the Notebook:

• Charm/Persuade: Greaves can be convinced the notebook is important evidence
• Payment: Investigators can pay the outstanding pawn debt
• Fast Talk: May convince Greaves there’s danger involved
• Bribery: Money usually works with desperate shopkeepers

Information from Greaves:

• Claims the notebook is “unnatural”; says it “rang” when he dropped it
• Recalls Clara as deeply disturbed, fearful, traumatized
• May recognize harmonic notations as occult rather than standard musical training
• Can testify to her deteriorated mental state

Information from Edna:

• Harder to crack; suspicious of investigators’ motives
• May verify Clara’s identity and distressed appearance
• Protective of the shop’s reputation; resists gossip

Music Theory Discussion:

• If an investigator has Art (Music) or Music History knowledge, Greaves becomes more open
• Can discuss the unnatural elements of the notebook’s notations
• May offer insights into harmonic theory and esoteric musical practices

Campaign History

• Chapter 1 (June 1814): The investigators retrieved Clara Fen’s songbook/notebook from Greaves & Sons. The notebook contained fragments of the Canticle and notes about her vocal conditioning at the Orphean Society — crucial evidence connecting the Society’s student programme to the cult’s ritual activities.

Appearances