Most of the gear you get in comes from Hub vendors, but you can make the items they sell far cheaper. By giving these NPC vendors gifts, you can unlock more features in their shops and reduce the prices of their wares.
By making different gear cheaper, you can easily craft a stronger build before you go back into the Overgrowth. Some vendors appear in the Overgrowth itself as you explore.
While these characters tend to sell strong items in exchange for Bright Blood in , you can never predict where vendors in the Overgrowth will show up.
Much like the world itself, the placement of vendors will change between runs, making it impossible for you to increase affinity with them. Vendor Affinity is the rate of friendship between you and a vendor in.
These vendor characters are unlocked over time as you get the right resources to open their shops in the Hub world preceding the Overgrowth.