This finely wrought but slightly charred sign near the Sea Gate often hangs from a single hinge.  The shop has a small foyer and a sturdy (and equally charred) counter behind which the proprietor, Malabar, does his work; it is often laden with an incomprehensible maze of glassware, retorts, copper tubes, burners and alembics.  A heavy beaded curtain conceals the backroom where many of his chemicals and wares are stored (and most of the fires break out).  The floor is stained and warped wood, except for a mosaic of colored tiles by the door; this is in fact a defensive enchantment laid on by some of Malabar’s wizard friends to raise a loud alarm if a burglar comes in.

Malabar is a brilliantly skilled alchemist, but is very old, bizarrely eccentric and myopic.  He is always trying new experiments and bidding customers to hold beakers, light retorts and the like, often with unpredictable (and occasionally disastrous) results.  Despite frequent explosions, he stays open because he is the only alchemist in the Kingdom who can make aqua vitae, the Water of Life that can heal any wound, and can brew a wider array of medical and other alchemicals than any other man in the land.  If he’s not in which is often enough a hand-scrawled note tacked to the door will say "Gone fishing," "Off wrestling alligators," "Fomenting civil insurrection" or something even more bizarre.

The alchemist’s friends include the master temporalist wizard Mar-Tan-Tedroneng and Master Elaina the water mage.  Elaina in particular believes (with considerable justification) that Malabar would starve to death without her personal intervention, dropping in with pies whenever she is in town.  Other notables include just about every aristocrat and merchant prince with the gold to afford aqua vitae, up to and including emissaries of the King.

Malabar has an apartment above the shop filled with trinkets and surprising luxuries.  One curio is an enchanted lavender-tinged silver teapot, ostensibly enchanted to brew tea but apparently with a mind of its own; it will toot! merrily at visitors and edge them towards the sink full of dirty dishes.

GM’s notes:  This guy is a complete nutcase: imagine Mr. Magoo crossed with Dr. Emmett Brown and you’re pretty close.  Characters looking for a simple decoction may be met with Malabar cheerfully slipping on a pair of asbestos mitts, hauling out a lead box festooned with warding runes, Elder Signs and arcane seals, and asking for a knife to crack the sucker open.  Alternately, Malabar will offer to whip something up on the spot.  Sometimes he’ll reject the ensuing potion, tossing it carelessly back behind the curtain to shatter with an acrid hiss; he’s just as apt to sniff it and rub it on his armpits, declaring it to be a fine deodorant formula.  He’ll invariably pick on any first-time customer and ask him or her to hold a retort, which will inevitably bubble over and pour some brightly colored glop on an unprotected wrist or hand.  Somehow Malabar always survives explosions without a scratch.

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