To the Brim

An apothecary's shift at a cast-iron cauldron. The Master's orders ask for a recipe: so much Vigor, so much Venom, so much Gleam, each within a tolerance that tightens as the tiers climb. Forage the Woods, the Swamp and later the Cinderfields, and bottle when the brew is right. The catch is in the ingredients. Each carries two numbers: what it adds to the brew, and how much of the pot it takes. Dusts are one essence for one space, precise and safe. Herbs are three or four essence in a single drop, but they carry pulp and fill the pot fast. That gap is the whole game. A drop that would carry the pot past the simmer line risks a boil-over, and the chance is printed on it before you commit. What counts is where the drop lands, not where the pot is now: a half-empty cauldron and a bulky herb is still a gamble. A boil-over costs a flask. Past the line is also where the money is. Brinkmanship multiplies a bottle by how full the pot was when you corked it, up to x2.4 at the rim, live on the Bottle button. Clean, Masterwork or Flawed. Inside tolerance is Clean; every essence dead centre is a Masterwork, worth half again. One essence out is Flawed: a quarter of the value, the combo gone, and the Master's patience drained. Flasks are the gambling budget and usually what a shift runs out of. Patience is the gentler second limit: foraging, tossing, declining and flawed brews each cost a little, clean work refills it, so it prices dithering rather than timing you. Coin buys nerve. Everything you score is coin for the Brewmaster's Shop: a bigger cauldron, Brewer's Nerve, sharper tools, more siphons, a bigger satchel, spare flasks, Purevial. This run only. Siphon pulls the last drop back out, Toss clears what the order cannot use, and a fresh order is a tap away for a price. Play a Shift on a fresh seed, or the Daily Cauldron: the same orders and ingredients for everyone, that day only, with its own best.