Hicko Dorestan Druggist

Hicko Dorestan Druggist, formerly Hicko Dorestan Apothecary and Barber, is the town's pharmacy and one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in Munson. It was started in the 1830s by Elias Hicko and Patty Dorestan, a Welshman and his Irish cousin, though some say they were a husband and wife, and others yet say a brother and sister. While the exact nature of their relationship was never public knowledge, all folks needed to know was that if you had an ailment, Hicko Dorestan could cure it. They made a great show of bringing Old World knowledge, with Dorestan in particularly leaning hard on the wisdom of her druid ancestors. (A bit too hard for some, myself included.) Still, they seemed to restore the health of anyone, regardless of their health problems.
The duo maintain an owners share in the pharmacy but have moved further west to Milwaukee. They sold the last third to Theodore Drebbin of Syracuse, who stops in seasonally to check on the store and its profits. He entrusts the very capable Mamie Briggs to run the day to day operations, but has been growing increasingly worried about some of the chatter he's heard about town. While he would loathe to dismiss Briggs without evidence, he also has a business to look after and the rumors are making it suffer.

Uncanny Occurrence

The potent mixtures from Hicko Dorestan have a reputation for curing whatever ails you, but more recently it seems like the cure might be worse than the affliction. While Mamie Briggs has shown her concoction recipes and has even ground ingredients before her customers' eyes, every so often their disease seems to accelerate or be exacerbated in the worst possible ways. Bleeding out the eyes, ears, and nose. Violent nausea and diarrhea that rack the body. Eyeballs and tongues growing to three times their size. One woman crushed her own skull bashing it repeatedly against her brick chimney.
Some, like Briggs, claim that there's some virulent strain of an as-of-yet unknown disease that cause these baffling and horrifying symptoms. After all, post-mortem examinations have not turned up foul play. Still, Hicko Dorestan's name is on the line, as is that of the druggist Mamie Briggs.