Miss Melinda's Alchemy and Branding

A Pisky shop is along the main road in town with the name: Miss Melinda Naknirore

Purpose / Function

Located in Purgatory Gulch to provide for the magical needs of the community. While residents get a discount - out-of-towners can expect to pay a premium price.

Design

Exterior:

Miss Melinda's Alchemy and Branding by Jarissa Venters

Miss Melinda's Alchemy and Branding is what the sign would say on this adobe building. But there is no sign. There is a space where a sign should go. Maybe it was damaged in the Vebel 578 storm?

There is a big round clock in the top center of the building exterior. It may be measuring something other than local temporal reality. It is round like a typical clock, it has a long hand and a short hand like a typical clock. It does not have numbers, it has moon phases at the horizontal and bottom quarters and an image of the sun at the top where a "12" ought to be. Perhaps the arms point to the current phases of the two moons, with the larger arm pointing at the phase for Gothor and the smaller pointing at the phase for Nasila? On Grolm 7th, 578, the correct phases should be waning crescent for Gothor, third quarter for Nasila.

But then, why is there a sun to point at?

The building is a story and a half in size -- the upper floor is pisky-sized for Miss Melinda Naknirore's convenience. The windows are glossy green-tinted glass.

The sidewalk, made of pale cactus wood and treated to a glossy and slick finish, is polished clean at least once a week. A tumbleweed is stuck in place on the sidewalk.

Grass grows to one side of the building.

A dead, spooky tree looms behind east corner of the shop. A young saguaro cactus grows between this building and the gray stone building next to it. In the distant background are scrub-covered hills.

Interior:

Miss Melinda's Apothecary Shop from inside the southeast corner by Jarissa Venters

The ceiling and floor are both the same ruddy orange color as the adobe exterior walls of Miss Melinda's shop, but glossier in here. The floor is covered in pieced together large squares of marble or granite, stained to match the clay bricks. The walls are lined in folds of opaque silky fabric, forming a vertically striped curtain with a dark and somehow sinister air. The valance concealing the curtain rod has a horizontal pattern of sea green vines on the top and heather purple vines on the bottom. Something dark green forms a background for the wavy vine patterns, but the fabric itself was obviously a pale pinkish white before the pattern was painted onto it.

The curtain does not look nice at all with the rest of the shop decor, although perhaps that is different to eyes that see in a different light spectrum.

Entries

The main shop entrance is a dark-stained wooden door with a small viewing window in the center of the upper portion. Daylight comes in from a pair of large windows, one on each side of the front door. The windows do not open, and are reinforced with metal mesh in their construction.

No obvious route is visible for a shopkeeper to travel past the shelves and the curtain to the rear of the building, or to travel up into the small attic. A person traveling around the exterior of this building will not spot an obvious rear door or window.

Sensory & Appearance

The furniture in this store is all wood. Mesquite wood, stained a dark matte brown, makes up most of the shelves plus the shop counter near the center of the room. The two shelves set into the northern corners are constructed from pale gray cactus wood, bleached almost skeleton white.

The dark shelves, which have three levels with a large amount of vertical space for storage, hold boxes of dry ingredients. The boxes come in four sizes, mixed among the shelves, spread out so no single shelf has more than three boxes and none of the boxes touch one another. Some of the boxes are covered in a mottled heather purple abstract pattern, others are off-white with a decorative gray oval design on each flat surface. Miss Melinda seems to think each one is clearly labeled, but most visitors to her shop do not know what is in which box until it is opened.

The light shelves have labeled, opaque bottles on each of the four shelves plus more arranged on top of the shelving unit. On each set of light shelves, the bottle in the top left corner is in use as an incense burner, allowing wispy white smoke to trail out of it toward the ceiling.

The far shelf also has a humanoid skull resting on it, facing toward the southeast corner.

On the shop counter are a gray metal shop scale, a dull brass or copper cash register, and a short supplementary two-shelf display carrying palm-sized jars and tins of alchemical products.

Contents & Furnishings

In the back of the shop, there are two shelves full of potion bottles. In front of each dusty bottle is a small sign that lists the name of the potion and its cost. There is also a selection of newer potions on the northwestern shelving unit, judging by the labels being hastily made and the dust on the shelves also not being on these bottles.

Reduce Ant Haul

700 gp

Carrion Pity

750 gp

River Wind Whip

950 gp

Aqueous Burrow

450 gp

Seek Animal Thoughts

650 gp

Water Climb

1400 gp

On the dark mesquite shelves along the east wall of the shop are Miss Melinda's collection of "pretty little things" for the discerning visitor to town. The goods for sale include ceramic pots with "bouquets" of out-of-season fruit, including strawberries and something yellow, plus white ceramic trays carved with the label "Potions" that each hold a trio of translucent glass bottles. One bottle is colorless clear, one is aqua blue, one is heather purple. Visible behind the products are the folds of the curtain that covers the walls on all but the front of the shop.

closeup of shelves on eastern wall of Miss Melinda's Alchemy and Branding by Jarissa Venters

That's not "bait" at all. Right?

Valuables

Potion Key:

• Reduce Ant Haul: Reduce the size of any 1 animal and allow it to carry 3 times its current strength
  Components: Reduce Animal and Ant Haul
• Carrion Pity: NEW: Leads you to the undead's owner/controller and creates a feeling of pity for the creature so no one will attack it
  Components: Carrion Compass and Miserable Pity
• River Wind Whip: Creates a whip of water within a small wind eddy to irrigate crops
  Components: With the Wind and River Whip
• Aqueous Burrow: Digs a trench and fills it with water
  Components: Aqueous Orb and Burrow
• Seek Animal Thoughts: Can assume the beneficial aspect of an animal and read its thoughts for one day
  Components: Seek Thoughts and Animal Aspect
• Water Climb: Can walk upstream or up a waterfall
  Components: Water Walk and Spider Climb

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Mysteries unsolved:

1. Everyone knows that Miss Melinda's personal chambers are in the attic. How does she get into and out of the attic? Flight and size are probably involved. And yet. An opening for a being more than a foot tall is not visible even if someone manages to peek past the northern curtains into the back room.
2. When Miss Melinda has an appointment to brand an animal for a ranch, she is willing to load everything onto a cart and transport it to the ranch house, but she charges significantly higher for on-site service. She much prefers to string up a brightly colored tent between her building and the tree out back, and have the animal(s) in question brought to her.
   Where does Miss Melinda keep her branding supplies when not in use?
   It is not in the customer area of the shop.
   It is not in the back area, according to those who have had occasion to see while the curtain is parted.
   This equipment absolutely will not fit into the attic.
   It is never seen in transportation between the shop and Miss Melinda's private workshop.
3. What does Miss Melinda use for light sources on rainy days? The shop is well-lit when in use.
4. What is the story with the fruit bouquets?

Shop Hours are by appointment only!

Type

Shop, Magic

Parent Location

Purgatory Gulch

Owner

Melinda Naknirore

Related Plots

• Chapter 3: A Stranger in Town

Available for a special fee:

• Cattle brands
• Sheep brands
• Pig brands
• Chicken brands

The brand can be in color or black and white, but the design must be registered (for a nominal fee) before an appointment can be scheduled.

NOTE: Owner must be present and show proof of ownership.