Fresh sits on the ground, just outside of their front door, staring at the glowing dungeon-gate, which illuminates the plaza with a pale, cold glow. It seems to amplify the chill of the night, tangible all over her body, but especially on her sore, bare shoulders. She shudders and rubs her arms for a moment, wishing that she had a coat, before reaching down and pulling the box of potions closer to herself. It's dark outside. Well after nightfall and the girl yawns loudly, as if to prove that to herself.

“Midnight, maybe?” she wonders aloud, gazing at the dark sky looming above herself. It's hard to say what hour it is, exactly. After the man from the merchants’ guild had left, she and Jubilee sat there for a while, talking about how to proceed. She had asked again what the man meant by ‘risks’. Fresh looks back towards the dungeon-gate, feeling rather wary about it now. The unlimited potential it had offered on her initial sighting of itself is still there, but now she knows why nobody seems to want to live here, directly around it.

Because it isn’t just that adventurers go into the dungeon -

Sometimes… Sometimes on very dark nights, when the moon is particularly close and the stars are particularly bright, shining like a thousand watchful eyes from the heavens above; sometimes things come out of the dungeon too. Dark things, that would creep in through loose windows, shadows that would crawl through tiny gaps in the walls and under doors, sneaking towards the beds of the unsuspecting. This area is where the poor live, the expendable. The dungeon-gate is too valuable to not build the city around, it’s a source of unlimited prosperity, after all, in a sense. But that’s why the merchants are further away. To protect themselves. To protect their wares.

Fresh sighs and pulls out a single potion from the box. She really doesn’t know anything about this world. It should have chewed her up and spit her out more than once by now. She got lucky is all. But she can't count on that forever.

She looks at the flask in her hand. These will still need some more work. Nobody will buy these. They look awful. She’ll have to refine it some more. The same with the potion, the mixture, itself. It’s rough. But there's something there to both of these things. They both just need a little more work. Fresh smiles, as she connects this thought to herself and to her new friend.

- They both just need a little more work.

She holds the flask up, the moonlight of the half-moon shining in lazily through the rough glass, bounding off and refracting in all manner of directions. ’Moonwater’, huh? Fresh closes her eyes and focuses, wondering how she’s supposed to use this ability? The menu had said that it was a passive trait, but it sounded like something that she had to actually make, so…

She’s lost. Fresh wishes the black-fountain had given her an instructional booklet.

Oh.

She blinks, rubbing her tired eyes. Wait. Looking down into her box, she grabs the giant book, that the fountain had literally given to her, her hands ruffling through the pages, which somehow still feel just a little damp, as if they could never dry. With an excited gaze, she stares at the first page that her finger lands on.

[Witch] - [Moonwater]

Moonwater is a spiritually charged liquid, usually water, that has absorbed the energetic properties of the moon. The strength of the moonwater depends on the current phase of the moon. The fuller the moon, the stronger the effect.

Required:

x 1 Liquid Medium

Water serves as the best base, as it is pure. But other liquids can be used as well

x 1 Container

(Translucent)

x 1 Moon

x 1 You

x 1 Spiritually important item

Ideally something translucent, such as a crystal or gemstone, though any spiritually important item will suffice.*1

Instructions:

Place liquid in container. Place an item with strong emotional meaning inside of the water. Place the container in moonlight. Channel the moonlight’s energy through yourself and into the water

*1 Please read 'Moonwater section two' before proceeding

Warning: Never make moonwater during an eclipse

“Huh…” says Fresh, staring at the page that she had found immediately, as if she had already known where it was. That seems easy enough. It seems like something that even she can do! Although… Fresh looks down at the box, her ingredients aren’t ideal. Jubilee had said there was a fountain on the other side of the dungeon-gate, if she got thirsty in the night. Fresh nods to herself, getting up and taking the box with her and walking out over the plaza. It's the middle of the night and nobody is here. It would be fine if she just gets some water real quick.

Fresh walks towards the gigantic gate, the entrance to the dungeon and then walks past it, around to the backside, which she just now realizes she has never actually seen before.

The sound of trickling water catches her ears and she looks towards her side, at the back of the construction. The backside of the dungeon-gate is an entirely smooth stone surface, all the way up from bottom to top. Sitting near the bottom, spanning the width of the gate, is a gigantic fountain. It is simple, but large. Several vaguely ornate figures adorn the centerpiece, water leaking out of their mouths and trickling down into the basin. The water looks clean and clear. Jubilee had said it was good to drink, so it should be fine for this too, right?

Setting the box down, she grabs the empty pot and dunks it in, filling it with water and then sets it down to her side. Bending downward, she takes one of the potions and, grimacing, pours it out. Jubilee had told her not to drink any more of these until she found a way to reduce the chance of any side-effects. It was lucky that the first one hadn’t killed her. Fresh sighs sadly, watching the orange droplets spill to the ground and seep away into the cracks between the stones.

Washing the glass vial out, she fills it up with clean water too and sits down on the far edge of the fountain, the pot at her feet, the flask in her lap. The moon shines brightly against herself and she looks around, making sure that nobody is watching.

A spiritually important item, huh? Fresh thinks. She doesn’t have anything except her dress and… some Obols?

- Her first Obol. Her lucky Obol! The one she had left after meeting Jubilee. Of course!

Her hand digs into her pocket and she fumbles around, but then stops, as something else comes into her grasp. Fresh pulls out the iron-key, to the door to the adventurers’ guild and stares at it. It didn’t seem very hygienic but… somehow she feels like this is actually a stronger item for herself. It wasn't just luck that let her get this. She had worked for it. She had proven herself to Jubilee. Sort of. Smiling, Fresh takes the key and sticks it into the glass with some effort. Not all of it fits into the vial, but she feels like it’s enough to ‘count’.

With a curious expression, Fresh holds the bottle out to let the moonlight envelop them both. Closing her eyes, she focuses. Channel the moonlight’s energy? That sounds a little kooky, even for her. But… well, it's a new world, right?

She shakes her head, getting any thoughts of embarrassment out of it. There isn’t time for her to be afraid of making a fool out of herself, she has work to do.

With her eyes closed, she sits there and waits, her hands holding the glass in place. What does moonlight even feel like, she wonders? How do you ’channel’ it? Sunlight feels warm, right? She had felt it so many times now in this new life. Fresh keeps smiling, but her body shudders in contrast. It's icy cold out here at night, especially in this outfit of hers. But that's fine for now. Just a little longer. Just a minute or two and she could go back inside.

- She focuses.

Something splashes behind her, interrupting her concentration. Fresh opens her eyes to look at the sound that had broken her focus. But Fresh sees nothing there, except for the vaguely moonlit water of the fountain-basin. As she stares at it, a new thought comes to her mind, interrupting her work entirely.

- Should she be doing this here? Outside? On the plaza? What if someone is watching her from a dark window?

Her eyes shoot open to scan the darkness of the square. Thankfully, she finds nobody watching her. But the girl gulps. She almost messed up very badly. Quickly, gathering everything back together into the box, she picks it up and hustles back towards the house, vanishing into the door, which she pulls tightly shut behind herself. The swearing words, flying through her brain, pray that Jubilee isn’t going to find out about her latest blunder.

With a heavy sigh, Fresh leans against the door, as she comes back inside and then goes towards the right, setting the box down on the wooden floor and opening the downstairs window. Rubbing her head in frustration at herself, she sits down on the floorboards, down where nobody can see her. Moonlight shines in through the open window and she tries again, rebuilding her focus on the glass vial with the key in it.

Then she feels it. The moonlight.

It… it doesn’t feel much different than the sunlight does, when it comes to touch her skin. It’s just not as intense or as warm. But, in a weird way, that subtle feeling is still there, that sensation of light finding her body. Like a foggy presence, it feels… distant, cool. It stems from the same place as the daylight, but it’s different. Softer. More elegant. The water of the fountain trickles on in the distance, as she focuses, as she focuses on taking that feeling, coursing over her body and pushing it all into one place through her fingers. Fresh focuses on pushing that sensation into the water.

Something chimes and she opens her eyes and stares at the glass flask in her hand. It seems to glow ever so slightly. The crystal-water giving off a strange, cold, blueish white shine, as if it were radiating moonlight itself.

[Moonwater](Unique)

Moonwater has highly spiritually restorative and purifying properties and can be used in a variety of ways. From item-crafting to armor-smithing to cooking, moonwater can be added to any recipe that needs water and will imbue its mystical properties onto said item.

Processing Moonwater: Moonwater can be used for any crafting recipes that require water. Additionally, moonwater can be used to anoint weapons and armor. The effects will vary depending on the criteria listed in "Moonwater section 3."

Moonwater is safe to consume IF it has been processed into something else. If processed, moonwater will imbue moonlight-energy into the item, equivalent to the strength of the moonwater.

Moon Phase: First Quarter

Medium: Water

Strength: 50%

If drunk:

+5% SOUL Regeneration - 12 Hours

+10% SOUL - 12 Hours

+ Purges dark spirits

Warning!

Moonwater carries a tinge of the witch inside of it and, unless processed or purified, should never be drank by anyone not of their title! Please read "Moonwater Section 2" for clarification on purification.

Weight: 180 mL PURE Value: ???

Fresh beams. It seems a little vague, but this could be really useful! Giddy, she grabs a potion to repeat the process. But this time with an already finished potion instead of just pure water.

[Minor-antidote](Low)

A small antidote potion, contained inside of a rough glass container. Used to clear minor status effects from low-level monsters and areas. This potion is glowing with magical energies.

+ Cures all minor ailments.

+ Removes all minor poisons.

+2% SOUL Regeneration - 8 Hours

+5% SOUL - 8 Hours

+ Purges dark spirits (50%)

??? Quality Effect: Side Effects Chance: + 25% Weight: 180 mL Value: ???

Fresh looks at the bottle, held in her shaking hands, in excitement. The potion is glowing, giving off a light in the dark room. More importantly, it's just plain better than before, just with this! It lost an entire possible side-effect and the chance of getting any negative effects shrunk by a little too. Plus it still gives some of the moonwater’s properties! Not as much as with the pure-water, but still.

Fresh swirls the concoction around. This is significant for something which is 'free', right? This had to bump the value of their potions up by something! Besides, this was an already finished potion, that she had blessed with moonlight. What if she makes one from scratch, using pure-moonwater? It would be stronger, right?

If she can learn to make good potions, using pure-moonwater during the crafting process, then she can make them even better than this for sure!

Maybe she can use the moonwater to imbue some items with magic? Some trinkets or something? Maybe even a weapon? Would the moonwater have some kind of effect, if she gave some to a smith, to make a sword or an axe with? Can she craft anything like that herself? Fresh racks her brain, thinking about her craftsman recipes and the items that they have left in their stockpile of materials, to see if there was anything that adds up.

There's so much to do and the night is still young, realizes Fresh, sitting there on the floor during the witching-hour. She beams as brightly as the moon and then sets to work, deciding to first finish processing the rest of the potions, so that she can show Jubilee all of the things that she's made, when they wake up in the morning.

Fresh has a special idea too, not sure where exactly it came from. Somehow the trickling sound of the fountain, outside on the plaza, has inspired her. She realizes that they still have the blue mushroom-powder and she just so happens to have a recipe for that.

One that might just work out nicely, together with the moonwater.