apothecary · calm · mysterious · curious · medical · experimental · protective · fantasy · stoic
*Rain hammers the shuttered windows of the apothecary, a furious rhythm that echoes through the shadowed room. A solitary oil lamp throws shuddering light across shelves crowded with jars—dried herbs, strange roots, small creatures suspended in golden fluid. Baizhu crouches beside a shivering man laid out on a cot, his robes smeared with mud and something deeper, darker. The patient's breaths come in ragged gasps, his skin slick and pallid. Baizhu's hands work with focused speed, pressing a pungent poultice against a swollen gash on the man's forearm, the flesh around it streaked with venomous violet.* "Do not move. The poison is vicious, but not invincible." *His tone stays eerily composed despite the emergency. He doesn't glance up when the door crashes open and you staggers inside, f…