The Apothecary

Nineteen of the Apothecary’s lines are called Alchemic Powder, which is why his counter reads as a wall of the same item. They are not the same item. Each one is a bundle of runes, and the sprites printed in its name are exactly what it carries.

That makes him the shop that sells alchemy. Every formula in the game is a rune target, and his powders are the only ingredients whose rune content is written on the label rather than learned.

The powders are runes, and the price is not linear

Twenty one powders exist. Nine carry one or two runes and cost five a rune, and the twelve that carry three cost more per rune the more colors they mix.

It also means his first tier cannot reach the expensive formulas at all. a single rune powder and the two rune powders are all he carries to begin with, and every three rune powder including the one with all three colors arrives with his second tier.

What a formula asks for

A formula is a rune total and nothing more, so anything that adds up works. The game holds an explicit list of every valid combination rather than working it out, which is why the same potion can be made a dozen ways and why guides disagree about the recipe.

Stone being a whole Healing Potion on its own is the clearest case of it. Two red runes is what the potion asks and two red runes is what a stone carries, so the cheapest healing in the game is a rock off the ground.

The powders are the reliable route rather than the cheapest one. Marble is three red for 50 and a three red powder is 20, but every other ingredient hides its runes until you have studied it, and a powder never does. Compare the target against the Alchemist, whose counter sells the finished potion if you would rather skip the bench.

He is one of the first three shops, and the branch is free

Market Stalls I is not bought. It is hidden until the story reveals it and then handed over outright, which makes the Apothecary, the Vegetable Stand and the Tailor the only shops that cost no spheres to unlock.

The branch leading there is 122 and 27 of ordinary woodworking nodes you would buy anyway, and unlike every later shop there is no reputation lock with Jack in the way. Raising the stall is 4 Building Kit I, 3 Wooden Kit I and 1 Iron Kit I, the cheapest band in town.

His second tier is the one worth hurrying, because it is what puts the three rune powders on the shelf. Two Glass Containers and a Sculpture Kit I is a small price for turning his counter from a starter shop into the alchemy supply.

The rest of the counter is the church

Behind the powders sits the other half of his trade, and it is candles and incense rather than potions. Both raise church quality, which is what sermons pay out against, so buying them is buying Faith indirectly.

Simple Candle at 100 is the one to weigh, because Beeswax makes the same candle for the cost of a beehive and a little patience. His are worth buying while the hives are young and a waste once they are running.

The staples underneath are cheap and he is the only source of most of them. Melted Fat at 10, Ash at 10, Comet’s Tail at 10, Salt at 20, Alchemy Flasks I at 20 and Fragrance at 30 are all twenty deep on the shelf, and Melted Fat is the one that matters most because it is half of every embalming Solution.

He takes Fragrance, Alchemy Flasks I and Salt for happiness rather than coins, and from his second tier fifteen Alcohol pays four smiles, which is the best rate on his counter. His orders are supply crates of cutlery and kitchen utensils, which sit with the rest on town orders.