Probably Stolen Chemist: Dream Dust, Cartel and Week One

Sources checked 2026-11-03 · Independent fan guide · Single-sourced claims are marked inline

The Chemist is Probably Stolen's production-focused start: you open the shop already working for the Sector 13 Cartel, and the opening week is a chemistry pipeline that builds toward the first Dream Dust handover. IGN's tips page puts it plainly — the Chemist begins "having to work for the Cartel" — and Into Indie Games' advanced Chemist guide (published November 3, 2026) walks through the opening days. One caveat before the perks: Into Indie Games also reports that your first run cannot use active perks, so this start assumes a second-or-later run, not your first playthrough.

Perks that keep the Cartel paid

Into Indie Games' Chemist build names two:

• Well Connected — +15 starting reputation with every faction, the Cartel included. The Cartel pays a stipend — reputation 25 already earns a bigger one, Into Indie Games reports — so the head start is worth having before the first handover (not yet verified — stipend amounts).
• Savings — the first rent payment is only a fraction of the full bill, buying a quiet week while the lab is still producing nothing. The rent guide covers what the later bills look like.

IGN also names two more picks that suit a chemistry business: Model Citizen (extra Security reputation) and Intimidating (your crimes produce less evidence). From run two you can hold four active perks at once (Into Indie Games), and this build fills all four.

The quota calendar

The Cartel is a second landlord, and the two accounts describe one schedule: Into Indie Games' run opens with the handler arriving on day one to set terms, the first collection — 10 vials — due by day eight, while Wikily has the handler visit every Monday — day one of a Chemist run is a Monday, day eight the next one (not yet verified). Wikily carries the numbers: a first quota of 10 units of Dream Dust at 40 purity (purity is a points score), then five more units and five more purity each week with purity capped at 70, and 4 Cartel reputation lost for every missing unit. Into Indie Games' "10 vials" is that same first handoff.

Wikily also lists the failure conditions: miss a handover, hand over no Dream Dust, or average below a quarter of the required purity, and the Retired ending fires — the same forced exit mapped in the factions and endings guides. Wikily ties that quota machinery to Chemist runs, which squares with India Times listing the same ending at -100 Cartel reputation for any run: the weekly quota is the Chemist's route in, the -100 floor everyone else's.

What reporting costs, Into Indie Games measured directly: turning the Cartel in to Security on day two cost its writer 20 reputation. IGN's broader warning explains the mechanics — wanted criminals belong to factions, so reporting one costs standing with the group — and the Cartel is the worst one on your books to report: it is your client here, not your supplier.

Six steps at the bench

Every recipe runs the same six moves, per Into Indie Games: Combine, Extract, Purify, Filter, Evaporate, Finish. The hardware side is community-documented: probablystolenwiki.com read the layouts off official screenshots — the Chem Finisher runs from a selected recipe through Chem Module, Container, Output and Control Panel slots, the Evaporator takes Battery, Module, Container and Distillate slots, and the Heating Plate is a simple Off/Low/High control — and the full set is collected in the crafting and items guide. The Steam chemistry guide by lpinch covers the full recipe list, including how to reach Lab Pure quality.

Two habits Into Indie Games insists on: keep the scanner on the mixture as you work instead of guessing — the handheld composition reader reports the mix's protein and fat figures, the readouts the recipes below key off — and never pour liquid into the Chem Finisher: it takes the Evaporator's dried output, not a wet intermediate (not yet verified — single-sourced process advice).

Dream Dust, step by step

The settings below are Into Indie Games' (not yet verified):

What the guide leaves open: the purity a finished batch actually lands at against the 40-purity first quota, and how the day-two Water Filter feeds the run.

Caffeine pills: the side product

Same bench, different numbers, per Into Indie Games: coffee beans instead of caps, alcohol at roughly 0.75:1 to the beans, heat near 75°C, acid at roughly 1:1 with the protein, plus a lipo bond — the step that binds the mixture's fat — at roughly 1:8 with the fat. Filter, evaporate no more than about 300 ml at a time, then run the Chem Finisher's Caffeine Pill recipe, at roughly 5 mg of caffeine per pill (not yet verified). While Dream Caps are scarce, pills keep the bench busy and give the street dealer something to come back for.

The first eight days

Into Indie Games' day-by-day (from a single run; expect some variance):

One rule carries the whole week: the handler takes everything on the counter, not just the quota — Into Indie Games is emphatic that surplus lives in storage, and only what you mean to hand over touches the counter on day eight.

After the handover

• Farm Grade. Into Indie Games' next milestone, fitted after the day-eight handover, is a Farm Grade module in the Chem Finisher's Chem Module slot — a grade aimed at street sales (not yet verified). Tpose Gaming's power caution applies to the whole Finisher setup, not just the module: a machine you cannot afford to power is expensive furniture.
• The weekly loop. Quota first, surplus into storage, street sales at Farm Grade prices — the smuggling guide covers moving contraband past Security — and Cartel resources bought at the 50+ reputation discount to feed the next batch (not yet verified).

The long game: grow your own

The Chemist's exit from supplier risk, per Into Indie Games, is hydroponics — grow your own Dream Caps, the Hydroponic Farmer's territory — with water trading as a second line: the same Water Filters and Water Purifiers that feed the bench produce sellable water, bottled with the Bottle Printer. Machine choices are in the crafting guide and the margin math in the money guide. The store page's warning gets the last word: chemicals bring addiction.