OOC: The following intro takes place from an NPC witness's point of view but may switch as needed.
Players: @Heretic King Location: Deep in the thickly wooded forests at the base of the Terrin Mountains, at the westernmost border of Alta Verde in Serendipity. The Spider Witch's shop is rumored to be about 45 miles uphill at the end of a game trail from Gladenheim, a small and quiet mountainside farming town with an exclusively human population of about 1000. They specialize in exporting giant tomatoes and luxury carriages. Gladenheim and the surrounding rural towns have a few merchants who claim, in the taverns and at the stables, that the Spider Witch has reappeared but only for a short time...
Adelaid Martine stood wringing her hands just outside a smial of dark creation. The place itself wasn't evil, she knew. These woods were somewhat familiar to her, though far from her home. Her needs outweighed her fears in any case.
At four feet, Adelaid was a tiny thing in a big forest armed with nothing but a small dagger and a rather heavy purse filled with coin. The purse was something her aunt told her could make her a target in itself. Still, the creature inside was what worried her more than anything she'd heard or glimpsed on the way into these remote parts. And yet, despite the utterly creepy atmosphere and the even creepier monster (person?) inside, she couldn't afford to leave. He had something she needed. She'd sent away for this appointment by letter through some very shady people and there was no turning back for all that trouble. And on top of that, he'd given her free advice. She supposed she should be thankful...
It was that advice she'd had to step out a moment to ponder. The air wasn't thick with the aroma of exotic ingredients out here among whispering pines in the waning light of evening.
A flower. Just a single flower could change everything, but even the Witch inside had never ventured to find it in all the years he'd walked the world's lands. And according to him, he'd walked many many years-worth of land. There was no way to get the flower without a lot of work, coin, and walking herself. She certainly didn't think she was up to the task. Even so, if the potion she was waiting fix things then what else could she do? No, she needed this potion, and if it didn't do the trick then she'd have to prepare for a much more dangerous solution than a Witch's brew.
Her mind still doubtful but her goals reaffirmed she reentered the Witch's shop.
It was honestly unlike any shop she'd seen in her hometown's market. From the outside, it looked like any other smallish cave set into the side of a hill and covered with the overgrowth of the deep wood. But walk inside, down a short tunnel, and into the cave within and it transformed into a warm, dimly lit chamber filled to the brim with strange artifacts.
The place was narrow but very tall with a hole cut in the ceiling through which the first emerging stars of twilight could be seen against a backdrop of blue and pink sky. The walls had what looked like natural shelving in the way the rocks were formed and upon each were clusters of neatly organized items. Some glowed, some moved, and some looked alive. Upon the ground, was what appeared to be a carpet of various rough leathers and there were plain wooden chairs pushed up along the wall near the entrance. To the right and left were a series of small carved fireplaces and ovens with metal doors, some of which were baking unknown concoctions. And at the center of it all was a stone fire pit, over which a large iron cauldron sat with many other iron cauldrons displayed around the base. There were bowls and cauldrons everywhere really – hanging from the shelves by cobwebs, stacked in the corners, set neatly in rows on more shelves in the tunnel at the back of the cave. Some were boiling, some were cold, and many held dry powders and what looked like different kinds of rice. If it all wasn't glued together by spider webs and the tall, intimidating figure stirring the cauldron wasn't completely unnerving to look at, Adelaid might have enjoyed poking around and asking questions.
She instead chose to perch on the chair closest to the exit, fold her hands together, and wait quietly.
"You won't have to wait much longer."
The sudden voice caused Adelaid to jerk back in her seat with a screech, and the Witch laughed. It was a throaty, visceral cackle that sent shivers up her spine.
"Such anxiety! What have I done to cause this?" he asked.
Well, golly, I wonder, Adelaid thought, bitter at her behavior. When she had stepped inside not an hour ago and found not a man, but a man-like
thing three times her height and sporting four –
four! – gleaming orange eyes, the courageous determination she'd felt on her way here evaporated into 'anxiety' pretty quick. Maybe that wouldn't have scared the wits out of her so badly (because she knew, from stories, that there were so very many types of people out there that were just lovely despite their differences in shape), but this one had four arms, animal-like legs with feet like thorny pikes, and two featherless, pointy appendages sticking out of his back and lending his lithe frame a devilish silhouette. His skin (skin?) was black and an alarming, inhuman shade of light blue. Not to mention his creepy voice, his creepy tendency to loom, and the creepy way he occasionally muttered to himself.
Witch, they'd said. Don't be alarmed, they'd said. He's a bit spidery looking, but he knows what he's doing, they'd said. She'd thought they meant spidery like how her Uncle Cornelius looked a bit squirrely. Spidery indeed. Only thing worse would be an actual spider.
And he wasn't wearing
clothes! Who ran about without clothes? It just wasn't decent.
She gave a hollow laugh in response and waved a hand, "Oh nothing, really. It isn't you, I assure you. Heh. I suppose I'm just nervous. I've been all over the place looking for help, you know!" She tittered, a high pitched warbling that sounded a bit like a dying swan. "I guess I've not much hope it'll work!"
The dark figure stared a moment, Adelaid feeling half her height under the scrutiny, then slowly shook his head.
"My dear, I assure you your trepidation is unfounded. All of my potions
work. You will have results." His tall shadow of a form shifted, gliding towards a small oven to his left. He opened the tiny bronze door and used metal pincers to pull a crucible-like container from the coals. He set it on a low shelf among a host of empty containers. Eerie yellow light shone from inside. "But you're still operating under the assumption that what I will give you will be your solution. I'm afraid, as I've told you, I can only sell you time in a bottle."
The liquid dripped from the crucible like tree sap into a small glass vial. Adelaid watched his blue three-fingered hands cap the substance, seal it with wax, then set it inside a geode lined with white crystals.
"To activate the gutteroot," he muttered by way of vague explanation at her questioning look, a flutter of four hands gesturing to the vial. He moved back to the main cauldron that continued to bubble pink and orange and filled the cave-shop with the scent of autumn blooms.
She let out a silent sigh, the smell turning her mind back to that flower for a moment. The Divinideum. The Star Daisy.
"Do you have any more customers today?" she ventured to ask. She desperately hoped so.
"Hmm," He peered at a shelf, but she couldn't see what he was looking at. "Not for a few hours at best. It won't be a busy night."
