Today there’s a little shop tucked into a corner off Wander’s Alley and Blue Street; it’s on the 5th floor so take the stairs. There you’ll find Millicent Hook in her apothecary. Folk in Sootside have come to rely on her concoctions and medicines where they’re in desperate need. She’s their witch and they’re fairly protective of her. Not that Millicent needs the help though. The metal certificates on her walls attest that she’s qualified in a dozen specialties and certified by three schools of magic and a healer’s guild.
The Diamond Cabal doesn’t care about this. As Westford City’s self appointed magical leader, the Diamond Cabal claims authority over all magic in the city, saying that it is needed to keep the city and its citizens safe from those who would use magic for dark deeds. Dark deeds in their eyes appears to be not paying monthly membership dues, not having lengthy insurance coverage and not using their standardised fees schedule.
Millicent can’t be having with all that. The Diamond Cabal are showing more interest in her practice than others because she’s quite so powerful and qualified. Since she won’t join them, they see her as a threat to the careful balance of control and power. They’ve become quite determined to either run her out of the city or find grounds for the guard to arrest her. Millicent avoids this by not technically breaking any of the bylaws since she’s practising chemistry, pharmacy,and alchemy rather than casting spells. She also keeps her apothecary moving from place to place every few days, just to make it a little harder for the Diamond Cabal to keep track of her or bother her patients. She uses magical business cards to keep her regular patients informed on where’s she’s moved to.
The studio apothecary contains all Millicent needs for her work. The walls are lined with cupboards filled with all manners of ingredients both mundane and arcane. Every surface is covered with some kind of work in process with only a tiny clear space under the window for reading from the many books. There’s a pair of comfy armchairs next to a table and tea set where she sits to think and listen to the patients. A bed and personal wardrobe are in there somewhere, or maybe that’s a hammock?
Adventure Hooks:
- The Diamond Cabal goons have somehow found Millicent’s apothecary and they’ve camped outside. Millicent needs to make a series of deliveries and doesn’t want the goons and hence the Diamond Cabal to know who she’s visiting. Would you be so kind as to make the rounds?
- Old Mr Thuod is not well, not well at all. He’s beyond what Millicent can do without spells. Can you get him and her out of the city quietly to a nearby grove of power that’s beyond the Diamond Cabal jurisdiction?
- The Diamond Cabal have paid off a detective on the Guard to start an investigation in Millicent. She needs to stay hidden but also needs this list of reagents from Bluetip Forest.
- Millicent had enough of the Diamond Cabal . The final straw was their interference nearly causing the loss of a mother and baby. She’ll pay and owe favours if you can fix this for her, aggressively and permanently.
Image Credit – Apothecary Witch by IrenHorrors CC-BY-NC-ND-3.0