The most prominent and successful business in the village of Vallaya belonged to the apothecary, Andrei. The stone-walled store which he owned was prominently situated on the main street of Vallaya, across from the church, and next to the town hall and a few other storefronts. Behind the church, acres of forest had been cleared to create rolling planes of pasture that stretched into the distance. As for the rest of the forest that hadn’t been cleared, it spread around the city in all other directions, jutting up against the back of Andrei’s apothecary shop along with the other shops next to him. The only other breaks from the forest were a number of avenues branching off of the main street, leading out to the farms and to the various other houses, great and small of the citizens of Vallaya, and the main roads, which led to neighboring towns.
The main area of Andrei’s apothecary shop was a large windowless room split by a counter spread across the middle of the shop, separating Andrei and his wares from the customers. On the side of the customers, was a stone floor with a long rug covering it and a few comfortable seats where customers could wait while they were being served. On Andrei’s sides were his wares: organized in shelves upon shelves of small containers, such as ceramic bowls, wooden boxes and cloth bags. On the left side were shelves of traditional medicines, ointments and oils that he had shipped in mostly from distant sellers and that served the demands of the local population. But the real success of his business, was on the right side, on a series of shelves that were labeled atop with a carved wooden sign, which read “Vampire Wares.” As opposed to the other products, which were widely available, Andrei’s vampire wares were unique to him and to Vallaya. He had customers coming from all parts of the Romanian principalities, even into foreign kingdoms, such as the Habsburg and Ottoman empires, including great dignitaries and nobles he shipped to at substantial markup. Andrei’s “Apothecary and Vampire Wares” shop was renowned and by people living at distances of many weeks journey.
The bowls, bags and boxes of vampire wares were filled with powders, gels and dried foodstuffs, each of which served a specific purpose. For example, one set of boxes, filled with a dry white powder, were purported to promote strong bones and were quite popular with the aged and deformed who could appreciably feel the new strength and improved posture that the powder conferred. Their only wish: that they could have more.
On this point, Andrei was entirely in agreement, and would create more if he could, but for the difficulty of acquiring the raw materials.
Go to
Part 2 -->
You can see what's been written so far collected
here.
The most prominent and successful business in the village of Vallaya belonged to the apothecary, Andrei. The stone-walled store which he owned was prominently situated on the main street of Vallaya, across from the church, and next to the town hall and a few other storefronts. Behind the church, acres of forest had been cleared to create rolling planes of pasture that stretched into the distance. As for the rest of the forest that hadn’t been cleared, it spread around the city in all other directions, jutting up against the back of Andrei’s apothecary shop along with the other shops next to him. The only other breaks from the forest were a number of avenues branching off of the main street, leading out to the farms and to the various other houses, great and small of the citizens of Vallaya, and the main roads, which led to neighboring towns.
The main area of Andrei’s apothecary shop was a large windowless room split by a counter spread across the middle of the shop, separating Andrei and his wares from the customers. On the side of the customers, was a stone floor with a long rug covering it and a few comfortable seats where customers could wait while they were being served. On Andrei’s sides were his wares: organized in shelves upon shelves of small containers, such as ceramic bowls, wooden boxes and cloth bags. On the left side were shelves of traditional medicines, ointments and oils that he had shipped in mostly from distant sellers and that served the demands of the local population. But the real success of his business, was on the right side, on a series of shelves that were labeled atop with a carved wooden sign, which read “Vampire Wares.” As opposed to the other products, which were widely available, Andrei’s vampire wares were unique to him and to Vallaya. He had customers coming from all parts of the Romanian principalities, even into foreign kingdoms, such as the Habsburg and Ottoman empires, including great dignitaries and nobles he shipped to at substantial markup. Andrei’s “Apothecary and Vampire Wares” shop was renowned and by people living at distances of many weeks journey.
The bowls, bags and boxes of vampire wares were filled with powders, gels and dried foodstuffs, each of which served a specific purpose. For example, one set of boxes, filled with a dry white powder, were purported to promote strong bones and were quite popular with the aged and deformed who could appreciably feel the new strength and improved posture that the powder conferred. Their only wish: that they could have more.
On this point, Andrei was entirely in agreement, and would create more if he could, but for the difficulty of acquiring the raw materials.
Go to
Part 2 -->
You can see what's been written so far collected
here.
Vampire Wares pt 1
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