Hottest Spices living quarters

The living quarters of Hottest Spices extends on the left side of the shop with an adjoining stone structure that continues on the back, partially dug in the rock of the mountain.

The living area

Did you stay up again to bake pastries, Tarvan?

— Danyia

by Annie Spratt

The door on the southern corner of the shop leads to a small vestibule and then to a dark corridor carved in the rock. From here two doors on the left side open into an ample living room with wooden floors and warmed by a big fireplace, built inside a natural recess in the mountain's side.
Two large windows, that mirror those on the shopfront, dominate the opposite wall. Next to one of those, a large dining table surrounded by an array of wooden chairs and soft armchairs can comfortably seat up to twelve people.
Between the two doors, an inviting sitting space has been arranged in front of the hearth with soft furnishing, couches, and a deep wool rug. At the feet of the couch, a wicker basket has been prepared to accommodate a small family of Bisik, though their intended occupants are more likely to be found on one of the couches or curled in front of the hearth.
A door on the side leads to a well kitted kitchen and pantry, that boasts a baking oven over a cooking fireplace. All three fireplaces in the building are linked to an underground heating system that utilizes the hot waters of a subterranean river, heated by the lava in the nearby caldera. They can thus provide heating without the need of a fire, but have space for it if it's needed for illumination or cooking.

Yarik's private quarters and baths

How do you feel about a hot bath, little dove?

— Sonqui

The same hot springs feed the baths that extend opposite the day quarters, on the other side of the hallway. The rooms on this side don't have external windows and are illuminated only by artificial lights and ventilated by vertical vents on the bottom and top of the walls.
The baths have a central squared pool that can fit easily a dozen people, directly connected with the spring, whose water is constantly at a pleasant 45 degrees of temperature. Along the walls of the room, a line of stone benches provides sitting space and a place to leave clothes and other objects, and are also often used for massage sessions by the therapists.
At the back of the room, a curtain screens off a vestibule to undress for the more shy occupants. As everywhere in the house, several niches are carved in the wall to hold lines of bottles of oils and perfumes.
Close to the baths, a richly furnished bedroom is the retreat of the master of the household. The space here is dominated by a large poster bed with dark crimson panels and beddings of the same colour. The stone pavement is here almost completely covered by thick bisik wool carpets and the room is illuminated by several candles held by brass fixtures on the walls.
Most of the decorations in this room have a naval theme and several nautical maps cover the walls wherever the floor to ceiling bookshelves live space. These, as everywhere else, are filled with books and curiosities collection, but in this room in particular Yarik keeps the most precious of his treasures, those that are not meant to be shared if not with the most trusted of friends.
A portion of the wall on the left of the bed is occupied by two rows of decorated brass cleats to which are hung several rope coils of different materials and sizes, while at its side a double armoire holds the makarid's collection of embroidered doublets and several sets of working clothes.

The therapists' rooms

I will just go in my room and take care of it myself.

— Danyia

Further down the corridor, two more rooms accommodate the personal space of Sonqui and Daniya. Both of these are similarly furnished with comfortable double beds and soft carpets, have a writing desk, and plenty of chests and shelves to store personal belongings.
Other than for these basic bones, the two rooms are very different and reflect the tastes and interests of their occupants.
Instead of the usual shelves, Sonqui's room walls are lined with chests filled with tools and odd bits. The walls are a mishmash of charts, a few naval mementos, and a multitude of sketches, most of which of erotic nature. Similarly to Yarik, he keeps his own smaller collection of ropes hung at cleats on the side of the bed, but these are accompanied by a few sets of leather harnesses and restraints and even a flogger or two.
Daniya's room, instead, has the walls lined with well stocked bookshelves. On a corner of the room, a complete human skeleton is wired up on a bronze pedestal and close to it, a cabinet holds sets of surgical instruments and other medical accessories. Danyia is the only one, with Yarik, to have a full wardrobe in her room. Inside she keeps several flowy dresses and a couple of working clothes sets. At one extremity of the clothes rack, she keeps her collection of scarves, and the bottom is lined with corsetry and other constrictive garments.
On the other side of the corridor, a former pantry beside the kitchens has been recently converted to Tarvan's bedroom. Its furniture and decoration are still very simple compared to the others and only has a single bed with a desk and a little bookcase. This didn't prevent the apprentice from giving it personality with pots of fragrant herbs scattered on every surface and a small cabinet filled with tiny vials of essences and spice mixes. On the bed, an unfinished stuffed toy in the form of a bisik sits on its only three legs.

Hottest Spices

On the slopes of a volcano, a strange individual took possession of an old apothecary shop and transformed it in a centre where the Sensory Stupor is studied and where a lot of affected people head to, hoping for some help.

Yarik

A former mines slave turned to piracy, little is known of the previous past of this man except that he was onboard The Ferret as quartermaster for a long period, before taking land when he had the chance to acquire the Hottest Spices after a broad pardon of the Ferret crew.

Danyia

An enigmatic woman with a secret identity, linked to the Hottest Spices shop. She is the second most experienced therapist, and seems to have a dependent relationship with yarik, though the details of it are unclear to most people.

Sonqui

Another former pirate with a penchant for amorous liasons, Sonqui caught the eye of Yarik for his looks and his adventurous mind. He is at the moment the busiest of the therapists, seeing both the simple ailment cases and the curious looking only for some entertainment.

Tarvan

A young pirate whose life has been overturned by a disabling accident at sea. They owe their sanity to the attentive cures of Yarik and Danyia and sworn to repay them by helping in the shop as best as they can.