Chapter 30: 31: Moonwater

Fresh sits on the floor outside of their front door, staring at the glowing dungeon gate which illuminates the plaza with a pale, cold glow that 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 her. It's hard to say what hour it is exactly. After the man 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 ominous about it now. The unlimited potential it had offered on her initial sighting of it is still there, but now she knows why nobody seemed 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 would 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 lived, the expendable. The gate is too valuable to not build the city around, it was a source of unlimited prosperity after all, in a sense. But that’s why the merchants were 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 would need some more work. Nobody would buy these. They looked awful. She would have to refine it some more. The same with the potion. It’s rough. But there's something there to both of these things. They both just needed a little more work. Fresh smiles as she connects this thought to herself and 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 glass, bounding off and refracting in all manner of direction. 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 instruction 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 never dried. 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:

*1 Please read 'Moonwater section two' before proceeding

Warning: Never make moonwater during an eclipse

“Huh…” says Fresh, staring at the page that she found immediately, as if she knew where it was. That seems easy enough. It seems like something that even she can do! Though… she looks down at the box, her ingredients aren’t ideal. Jubilee had said there was a fountain on the other side of the 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.

The girl walks towards the gigantic gate, and then walks past it, around to the backside that she just now realizes she has never actually seen before.

The sound of trickling water catches her ear and she looks to her side, at the back of the construction. The backside of the dugeon-gate is an entirely smooth stone surface all the way up from bottom to top. Though sitting near the bottom, spanning the width of the gate is a gigantic fountain. Simple. But big. 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 sets it down to her side. Bending down, she takes one of the potions and, grimacing, pours it out. Jubilee had told her not to drink any more 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 stones.

Washing the glass vial out, she fills it up with 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 her and she looks around, making sure 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 adventurer’s 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. The girl opens her eyes to look at the sound, breaking her focus. But Fresh see's 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. 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. Pushing it 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

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+ 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.

180 mL

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

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%)

???

Poor Quality

Side Effects Chance: + 25%

180 mL

Value: ??

Fresh looks at the bottle in her hand 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. Plus it still gave some of the moonwater’s properties! Not as much as with the pure-water, but still. She swirls the concoction around. This is significant for something that 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 gave some to a smith, making a sword or an axe? Can she craft anything herself? Fresh racks her brain, thinking about her craftsman recipes and the items that they have left in their stockpile, 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 moonlight and 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 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.

Razmatazz

Trivia - Moonwater

Moonwater has a very foggy history, given it's easy creation. Some say that it was 'invented' during the 1800's by witches brewing love potions. Though others argue that given its incredible ease of creation that shamans and other ancient mystics have been making the substance for a long time before even that. Moonwater is actually a thing that people still make these days as well. Whether it's 'effects' are real or not is a can of worms I won't open up here. Think of the water as a ‘spiritual battery’ though. If you're interested in 'crystal woo-woo' nonsense like I am and want to make your own, then just do as follows!

1) Fill clean water into a sterile glass container

2) Place a spiritually important item inside. Ideally a crystal or a gemstone or something translucent that the moonlight can shine through. But any 'important' item will suffice. What matters most is how strong your feelings connected to that thing are.*

3) Seal the container tightly.

4) Wait for a night with a strong moon. The fuller and closer the moon, the stronger the effects are said to be. Don't do it during an eclipse though, unless making cursed water is your goal. Which it might be, I don't judge.

5) Set the jar out in front of yourself so that it can absorb as much moonlight as possible and focus on 'channeling' the energy of the moonlight through yourself and pushing it all into a nice little condensed sphere inside of the container.

6) Retrieve your item back out and reseal the container.

Wa-la. Moonwater. Now what do you do with it? Well that's up to you. Some ideas -

-Do you have a shrine or practice rituals? Use it for offerings or ingredients when concocting spells and potions

-Add a spritz of it to your cleaning sprays to get that good moonlight energy in your home

-Add some to your bathwater for some good vibes

-Water your plants with it if they look particularly sad

-Drink it. But only if the 'water' is clean enough to drink anyways. Don't drink week old, grimey moonwater, k? Bacteria and fungi don't care about moonwater and any so-called 'mystical properties'. They'll mess you up good and I won't be held responsible because you drank some old jar water, haha

Like a battery, moonwater will lose its 'charge' over time and so also lose its potency. Sunlight will destroy moonwater's charge as well, given the subdued 'softer' nature of the moon. So maybe keep it refrigerated.

*Adding an item to the moonwater is actually a step some people argue about. If this is too weird for you, then don't place an item inside. But rather hold your hands to the water and state with strong intentions what you hope to achieve with it

Thank you kindly for reading!

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