Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Moonlighter 2 Shopkeeping

The Moonlighter is not a loot dump. After every dungeon run you open the doors, tag each relic, and read faces while the day clock runs down. Gold from those tags is what the Endless Vault counts. This page is the shop half of the loop; the backpack puzzle is how stock arrives in sellable shape.

Version 1.0 lets the floor grow to shop rank 5, with extra Bloblet slots and another cosmetic placement. Early Access merchants will notice the same core: you still set prices by hand, customers still grimace, and a red stamp still means you found the perfect number.

How a shop day works

You open once per day. Time is the black clock at the bottom of the HUD. Night closes the doors whether the shelves are empty or not. Unsold relics stay on their showcases for the next morning, which is useful when you are one sale short of a perk but dangerous if a calendar day is about to make that relic cold.

Starter floor: four showcases, two furniture slots, and a bed. Vault II adds the first expansion (extra small carpet, two showcases, one furniture slot). Vault IV adds the second (large carpet, four showcases, two furniture slots). Ms Scratch and Doña Guita sell those floors after the cube allows it. The Countess, east in Tresna, sells the actual stands and decorations. Hold F on the town map to teleport instead of walking the square between them.

While a customer is browsing (speech-bubble dots), you cannot yank the relic or retag it. Wait. Cheap and Perfect fill the Perkmeter. Expensive pays more on that one item and does not fill the meter. Overpriced makes people walk. If you care about shop perks and vault speed, live in Perfect, especially the stamp.

New shop, backpack and mechanics

Perfect stamps and quality stars

Rarity is the floor of a price: common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary. Star quality on top multiplies the tag. A three-star uncommon can out-earn a zero-star rare if you placed it well in the backpack. Deluxe relics (diamond, from Tomo’s research after Vault I) sell above their ordinary cousins.

The stamp is the highest gold that still sits in Perfect. One more gold tips the relic into Expensive. Examples you will tag on day one:

• Silence Shell — 21
• Sand Fruit — 31
• Firewood — 42

The full ledger is on shop prices. Later UI hints show Cheap / Perfect / Expensive / Overpriced once you have discovered the neighboring brackets. Until then, faces are the tutorial: smile is underpriced, mild frown is the stamp zone, hard reject is overpriced.

Unique customers sometimes want a tag above or below stamp. Recurring regulars and the Codex six-day calendar also shift demand. If a relic is hot today, you can ride Expensive for raw gold; just know the Perkmeter will stall. If you are racing Vault I to 10,000, volume of Perfect sales usually beats two greedy tags.

Furniture, carpets, and shop as a build

Showcases are not cosmetics. Different stands change how a relic presents and can raise the money you actually pocket. Decorations grant session effects — treat the floor like a build, not a dollhouse. Large carpets hold more stands and more furniture than small ones. After Vault II you will juggle one large and one small; after Vault IV the second large carpet lands.

K33P3R, the chest in the shop, sells Merchant Progression: extra Perkmeter, better perk rarities, faster perk clocks. Those purchases are permanent. Furniture from the Countess can be swapped between days. Wallpaper and carpets that are purely visual do not change prices; spend on functional stands first.

Bloblets (companions unlocked later, extra slots at shop rank 5) sit on the floor during a sale and add tips or value until close. Equip them before you open, the same way you pick patches before a dungeon. NPC notes cover Zane Jane / the pet seller and the Countess.

Calendar, aromas, and perk picks

The Codex tracks a six-day calendar. Some relics spike on named days. Check it before you decide what leaves the chest. Cheap sales can feed an aroma machine that buffs a showcase until closing — useful when you are dumping commons to fill the meter while a legendary sits on a premium stand. 1.0’s Greed Alert flashes when a tag is egregiously high; treat it as a brake. Some days two customers haggle over the same relic — leave a Perfect stamp and let them fight. Gold routes sit on gold farming.

When the counter flashes, pick a shop perk. Early picks that raise tip value or Perfect window are worth more than novelty. Do not hoard perks unused; the day will end. Combat perks (Thunder, Hex, Bomb Path) are dungeon decks, not shop tags — those are covered in combat and version 1.0.

What the gold is actually for

Sales progress the vault. Spending gold does not undo a key. Buy upgrades freely once the current threshold is in the bag.

Priority sinks after you can tag stamps:

• Backpack slots so the next Kalina run carries more priced stock.
• Eris potions so you stop dying (death halves quality, which wrecks tomorrow’s tags).
• Andrei weapons after four Sun Eaters — see getting started and weapons.
• Tomo’s Grimoire research once Vault I is open.
• Shop floor from Doña Guita when Vault II and IV allow it, then Countess stands to fill the new carpets.
• Julien patches after the Weird Prisoner (500 gold, Vault II).

Nou, south town, undersells panic-farming once you have found a material once: Sun Eater 2500, Echo Link 2500, Oneiric Quartz 2500, Moon Flower 5000, Echo Bond 5000, Oneiric Stone 5000. Buy gaps; do not skip dungeon flowers entirely, because boss crafts still want unique drops.

Greed & Glory’s Colosseum and 1.0’s shop rank 5 are late floors. Get the tagging habit first. The walkthrough slots shop days between bosses. For a full list of guides, use the Guides Hub. Official store links live on the wiki page and links hub. The tools hub groups prices, vault keys, and controls.