12 Days of Mr Sacks (Guide)

Early MYN Content and Onwards

This content is only available during Christmas! For the history of this holiday see Christmas (historical)

The 12 Days of Mr. Sacks is a yearly recurring event that happens during late December and early January. It begins on 25 December and as long as you begin the storyline before the 6th of January, you can always finish it. It used to occur through cards, but since 1899 (2021) they have changed to pinned storylets.

Mr Sacks' visits may be a source of the otherwise rare or expensive Connected: The Masters of the Bazaar, as well as the useful seasonal quality Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre (ToL). Since players may navigate each day only once, it is not possible to get every reward in a single year.

• Uncapped ToL may be obtained from Day 2, Day 5 (For those associated with The Celestials), Day 8, Day 11 (only for Notaries and Doctors), and Day 12, for a total of +5.
• Connected: The Masters may be obtained from Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7 (1-2 CP for Bazaarines), Day 11*, and Day 12 (3 CP), for a total of +10-11.

^{*This option is not available to Tier 3 Professionals, such as Correspondents or Monster-Hunters.}

Note that Days 5, 11, and 12 require choosing between ToL and Connected: The Masters. Those wishing to maximise their Taste of Lacre are recommended to align with the Celestials and sign on to become Notaries; all other costs and requirements are generally not as difficult to arrange. See further for detailed lists of actions that increase Taste of Lacre and their requirements.

Investigating the Twelve Days of Mr Sacks

Fate options exist to investigate Mr Sacks with a chosen Faction. These may be selected on Day 4. Note that playing these options in later days prevents players from receiving the other possible rewards from the visit, although they are generally otherwise profitable:

TABLE: Factions, their final rewards and the days for their unique actions

Faction	Fate cost	Final Reward	Days
Benthic	8	Dreadful Surmise	5, 9, 12
Bohemians	8	Perennial Scholar	7, 12
Revolutionaries	8	Ray-Drenched Cinder	6, 11
Urchins	8	Starstone Demark	7, 10
Criminals	12	A Bedraggled, Forlorn Fox	6, 11
Docks	12	Dreadful Surmise	9, A Sundered Sea
Duchess	12	Vial of Cantigaster Venom	6, A Sundered Sea
Hell	12	The Rose Giveth Its Verses to Devils and Also to You	6, 10, 12
Rubbery Men	12	Your Perpetually Festive Rubbery Friend	8, 12
Tomb-Colonists	12	The Undying Respect of the Order of the Blackened Hoof	7, 11
Widow	12	Elemental Secret	7, A Sundered Sea

Opportunities for hard-to-increase qualities

On certain days out of the 12 there are options which can be used to increase some usually hard to raise qualities. The highlighted options are often (but not always) mutually exclusive - i.e. you normally can't pick an option which increases all of these on a single Day. Also note that each choice also has its own costs and unlock requirements, specified later in this guide.

This table only shows non-FATE options. Some FATE options can also give these qualities.

A chance to increase...	Connected: The Masters of the Bazaar	Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre	Unusual Pail of So-Called Snow
1	✓	✓
2	✓	✓
3	✓
4
5	✓	✓
6	✓
7	✓
8		✓
9			✓
10
11	✓	✓
12	✓	✓	✓
Total possible without FATE	10 CP	5 CP	2 pails

Requirements and actions to take for maximising Taste of Lacre

Those seeking to maximise their Taste of Lacre gained from Mr. Sacks are advised to prepare some required items and qualities in order to be able to take all the necessary options. So here's a quick checklist of what to prepare and what to do each day.

You will need:

• One of the following three combinations
  • 1 x Bottle of Greyfields 1868 First Sporing
  • 1x Consonant Violin and 2 levels of Connected: The Masters of the Bazaar
  • 1 Connected: The Masters of the Bazaar
    10 Renown: The Great Game
    10 Renown: Bohemians
    10 Renown: Society
    1 Notability
• Identified with a School: The Celestials
• Have Notary or Doctor as your Profession

And that's it. It's not much, but it pays to be prepared. Especially the Bottle of Greyfields 1868 First Sporing is very annoying to grind within a limited timeframe if you don't already have one, unless you're a Licentiate or Midnighter. But then of course you're not also a Notary or Doctor and will need to be able to switch professions between obtaining the wine and playing Day 11 (when you need the Profession).

With these requirements obtained, the relevant actions are the following:

• On Day 1, there is no uncapped point of Taste of Lacre to be obtained. However, if you have spare Pails, exactly 5 points of Taste of Lacre, and can't Examine your spare Pail through a Semiotic Monocle or Feed it to a Wild Boar, you can give one to Mr. Sacks here for a sixth point. Otherwise, you are probably better off using the Pail to increase Taste of Lacre instead, letting you take any of the other options on this day.
• On Day 2, spend either your prepared First Sporing, Consonant Violin or your good name. Note, however, that the first 2 of these options additionally give you +1 CP Connected: The Masters of the Bazaar, whereas the third one does not.
• On Day 4, there is no Taste of Lacre to be obtained. However, if you are the type to spend FATE, you want to be aware that some options here will give you additional opportunities to collect Taste of Lacre, and others will give you options that don't raise it and conflict with the FATE-less options listed below.
• On Day 5, offer it a dream of skies untainted with your Identified with a School: set to The Celestials.
• On Day 8, either invite him in if it is your first Christmas, or recognise Silas if it is not.
• Day 9 is worth mentioning despite the lack of Taste of Lacre options, since you can gain a free pail by ignoring him as best as you can.
• On Day 11, Doctors and Notaries can gain a free point of Taste of Lacre.
• Lastly, on Day 12, taking advantage of him will give you both a point of Taste of Lacre and an additional Pail.

Detailed overview of all the days

Day 1: A Peevish Visit from Mr Sacks?

This first day allows you to gain one CP of Connected: The Masters in exchange for either one bottle of Greyfields '68 or 100 Drops of Prisoner's Honey. The option to trade a Pail for a level of Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre is not worth it given its low cap.

Day 2: A Genial Visit from Mr Sacks?

Another bottle of Greyfields '68 will give both a CP of Connected: The Masters and a level of ToL, both uncapped. If you do not have a bottle, you can play your Consonant Violin (bought from the Numismatix) for the same rewards, though this requires already having Connected: The Masters 2. If you have neither, but do meet the Renown requirements, you may give your good name and obtain only the level of ToL.

Day 3: Mr Sacks, in taciturn mood

Giving Mr Sacks a Magnificent Diamond grants a point of Connected: The Masters.

Day 4: What's the angle?

The fourth day sets Investigating the Twelve Days of Mr Sacks, with most options costing Fate. Based on your Investigating quality, you may select other options in later days, which eventually will lead to a reward. See the table at the top of the guide for more info.

Day 5: Mr Sacks, purringly

Those identified with the Celestials may obtain a level of ToL in exchange for 10 Persuasive CP. You may alternately trade your dreams of mirrors for a point of Connected: The Masters, or give away your Irrigo to return to the Nadir earlier than normal. If you are investigating on behalf of Benthic, you have an option today.

Day 6: A concrudescent Mr Sacks

If you wrote a Patriotic Adventure in Court, you may exchange it for a CP of Connected: The Masters, or alternately just turn in 10 Touching Love Stories for the same reward. (Patriotic Adventures are not otherwise consumable or saleable.) If you are investigating on behalf of Hell, Criminals, Revolutionaries or the Duchess, you have an option today.

Day 7: Mr Sacks, in embered red

You may obtain one point of Connected: The Masters for free if you profess London to be peaceable; if you are willing to lose a Revolutionary and Docks favour, it is possible to also obtain a Favour in High Places at the same time. Bazaarines have a more forceful version of this latter option, losing 3 Revolutionaries favours and 1 Docks favour in exchange for 10E, a Favour in High Places, and 1 CP of Connected: The Masters. Note that having the favours is not a prerequisite for selecting the option, so they are not costs per se. If you are investigating on behalf of Bohemians, Tomb-Colonists or Urchins, you have an option today.

Day 8: Mr Shacksh

Inviting Mr Sacks in grants a level of ToL, and if you are already acquainted with Silas the Showman from a previous year you receive a Direful Reflection and a Bohemian Favour in addition. If you are investigating on behalf of Rubbery Men, you have an option today.

Day 9: At your window

Accepting Mr Sacks' heart and lights gives a free Pail of So-Called Snow. If you are investigating on behalf of Benthic or the Docks, you have an option today.

Day 10: Down the chimney!

Most of these options trade a Wild Words item for a Rag Trade item of the next price bracket. The best deal is to trade a Storm-Threnody for Parabola-Linen. If you are investigating on behalf of Hell, you have an option today while Urchins claim their final reward.

Day 11: Mr Sacks, mutely

Doctors and Notaries receive an additional level of ToL, while low-tier professions may receive a CP of Connected: The Masters instead. If you are investigating on behalf of Criminals, Tomb-Colonists, or Revolutionaries, you claim your final reward today.

Day 12: Mr Sacks, at its limits

Taking advantage of Mr Sacks gives both a Pail of So-Called Snow and a level of ToL, at the cost of one CP of Connected: The Masters. Assisting it gives 3 CP Connected: The Masters and a Favour in High Places. If you are investigating on behalf of Bohemians, Hell, Rubbery Men, or Benthic, you claim your final reward today.