Here’s a work-in-progress of another environment illustration – Kalusian Docks, the first thing you see on arrival and also a starting point of our sandbox campaign! Viktoria should finish it next week 😊

The Black Cat Apothecary
A well-known alchemy shop on the waterfront. It's a tall, narrow building with an illusion of a bubbling cauldron on its sign.

Owner:
Alchemist Phan Linh, 50 years old. Phan is her family name, Linh the personal one. Always stained from her experiments, she’s friendly, a bit obsequious, and a little eccentric. She loves her job, but also earning good money. She is loyal to the Protectorate’s leadership and is annoyed by how the Regals are spreading their dominance in the harbor.

Inside of the shop:
The shop is full of colorful bottles, scented stones, and esoteric decorations. Magical anti-theft mirrors are hanging all over the store.

In a glass flask in the middle of the alchemical apparatus on display rests Milu: a black short-haired cat, so flexible that she can squeeze through the glass tubes and flask, which she loves to show off.

Prices here are 50% higher than in the rest of the Protectorate due to a tourist surcharge, but Linh is willing to offer better prices to regular customers and people who win her over.

A magical creature which Linh calls Long stands guard here: a 5 ft tall dragon made of smoky dark glass, who can see images from all the mirrors in the store at once. It can bite and claw; and when desperate, it can shoot sharp shards fo glass, but needs to be repaired afterward. It doesn’t attack cats.
Linh says of it: “I received it as a gift, and unfortunately, I don’t know how to make one. But I can offer you a little bottle from which you can release a smoky silhouette of a dragon—just as fearsome as my pet. For only 19 ducats! I'll settle for 18 if you take three at once!”

A Problem with the Neighbors:
The harbor residents are now accusing the shop of being responsible for the unstable magic in the harbor waters. Linh diligently treats her wastewater, and an expert invited by Protector Corlani has confirmed that her treatment plant is functioning properly – but the neighbors don’t believe it: “What kind of expert is that, especially one from the Corlanis? No way!”

It’s easier for people to point the finger at Linh than to say out loud that the Whitfields are to blame.

 
Kalusa is, of course, famous for its magical and alchemical shops and there are dozens of them, all competing for their customers with animated shop signs, illuminated displays and magic mouths shouting out adverts, as well as secret formulas, experimental research and a moderate amount of swindle. What would be your favorite health potion flavor? Let us know in a poll!