Cooking Show for Heroes

So, the story starts with the InnKeeper or a Merchant informing our group of delinquents that that particular day is super special. Planetary alignment is matching with planar converging, all while mana-vortices are stirring and chakras are getting blitzed. The upside of all this mumbo jumbo is that Magic and Alchemy are about to get a huge boost, making the manufacturing of magical artifacts a high priority, because a normally risky and difficult business can now be done by any old schmuck. Those of an adventuring persuasion tend to pick up the most exotic forms of magic, so merchants are bringing their wares to the Saloon to sell them, hoping to make a return by claiming some of the crazy things we'll be cooking up.
We can have themed merchants, much like your Festival had.
~ Minerals and Ores
~ Herbs and Greenery
~ Distillations (Shadow Energy, Magic Energy, Fire Energy etc)
~ Fabrics
~ Body Parts (Tongue of Basilisk, Eye of Newt, etc)
And plenty more, hopefully. Mats would range in price from 2-3DJ all the way to 50. We can have grades of quality for this, instead of thinking up two dozen different items.

Time is going to play a part in all this. Each Turn will represent, say, an hour, with 24 hours to cover the quest. Events at Dawn(Turn 6) Noon(12) Dusk(18) and Midnight(Final) could be organized as either beneficent or detrimental.
Players with money can buy resources at any time. Items they make will belong to them, or can be sold to a merchant for a "fair" price (borderline profitable, and players should sometimes lose on profits for poorly/average made stuff)
Players with no money can 'rent' materials, but anything they make will be forfeited to the merchants. However, well-made items will earn them a gift of a few coins. (should be enough to buy some of the cheapest mats) Other players can then purchase these items if they so please.
When doing anything, a roll should be required. I was thinking 1d100 for each material used.
1 destroys all materials you're working with, and lowers your quality by 20 next turn OR everyone else's quality by -10 in the next turn. The player can choose.
5- destroys all materials you're working with that turn
10- would destroy the one material
11-25 would make a Poor material(-10 if used in future product)
26-75 would make Standard stuff
76-90 would make Good stuff(+10 if used in future product)
91-99 would make Excellent stuff (+15 if used in future product)
100+ would make Exemplary stuff (Material is not consumed. +20 if used in future product)

Obviously, only a limited number of materials can be used in each turn, and making a simple item should take 2-4 turns. Initially, only 2 materials can be used, but each time you use that type(herbs, ores, etc) of material, you would gain Proficiency.
Player 1 uses Mithril(Ore Vendor) and ShadowFlax(Herb Vendor) to refine metal. ROLL:85
Player 2 mixes Shadow Energy with Flame Energy(both from the Distillation Vendor) ROLL:43
Player 3 wrapped Tongue of Basilisk(Body Parts) in Nightsweave cloth(Fabrics). ROLL:12
Turn 1 Recap: Player 1: 1(Ores) 1(Herb) Created Good Refined Mithral
			  Player 2: 2(Distillations) Created Standard HellFire Essence
			  Player 3: 1(Body Parts) 1(Fabrics) Created Poor Glooey Extract

Proficiency stacks up to 5 times. Each level gives a bonus for every material used in the product they're working with. The bonuses are as follows for the levels 1 through 5. 1,3,6,10,15. At level 4(bonus=10), a player gets 1 free use of that material, and so would be able to use 3 materials in a turn. However, this EXTRA resource does NOT give Proficiency stacks.

Instead of using a Material, players can also use Class abilities, powers and feats to affect their resources. You cannot give up one of your material slots to use ANOTHER players power. The extra slots given by Proficiency Bonuses CAN be used to cast powers.

We have a choice now-
Material not directly from the Vendors (Anything refined/made by a player) does not get Proficiency Bonuses. Proficiency only helps in the initial stages, or when adding a new ingredient.
OR
Refined Materials trace their lineage, and apply either BOTH or THE HIGHER proficiency bonus. In the case of BOTH, Player 1 would get +2 next turn for using the Mithral, since it has both Ores and Herbs in it. They would also gain proficiency in both. Player 2 would get a +6 bonus, since both HellFire Essence materials are from the same vendor, and their Proficiency Bonus is at the second level already.(+3) They would only gain 1 level of Proficiency in Distillations, however.
HIGHER would have players choose the higher bonus from any of the mats, in this case Player 1 is stuck with only using a +1, while Player 2 can enjoy a +3. Whichever bonus they chose would also have that grade increase on Proficiency.

Finalized items would have their materials listed, and the final roll taken into account when the DM creates their stats and value. From there, the Player can further enhance it (all the while risking a low roll to destroy the item) sell it, or hold onto it.

Further thoughts to come.