Christmas (Guide)

Early MYN Content and Onwards

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

The winds are wild, the lacre deep. The snarling stones arise from sleep. The Fifth's tales may exalt the suns, but never hope to halt what comes.

Each December, false-snow covers the city, a mysterious hooded figure stalks the streets demanding gifts, and a passageway opens to a sundered sea in the heart of the Bazaar.

For an overview of the items available at Christmas, see Christmas (Guide)/Item Comparison.

Merry Christmas.

Advent

Beginning from the 1st of December, rewards become available in a dedicated storylet, one a day at around noon UTC. Each reward is available until 1st January, but the reward is better on the day it becomes available. The rewards each day can range from useful equipment to rare items, but consistently include among their number a level of Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre and an Unusual Pail of So-Called Snow - these will come in useful later.

From early December (usually noon UTC on the second Monday or Tuesday of the month) through to the 6th of January, each Time, the Healer will bring a snow-drift to cover your door if you have lodgings, preventing you from accessing them. You can Clear the path yourself, Pay urchins to clear the path or Clear the paths of others, then your own; each will give you an Unusual Pail of So-Called Snow. Alternatively, you may pay FATE to have a Master of the Bazaar clear out your path, which will get you a quite different reward.

Cards

During this time period, Time, the Healer will also increase the number of Potential Christmas Cards you have up to 7; each card may be sent to an acquaintance to reduce one of their menaces and grant them some Second Chances. You will receive your first 7 cards on the 1st from the Advent Calendar.

Buying and Selling

During the Advent period, and up until late January, you can buy more Unusual Pails of So-Called Snow from The Roof-Tops: Urchins for 7 x Storm-Threnody and 1 x Night-Whisper. You must have Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre in order to purchase the pail.

In what is definitely just a coincidence, owners of lodgings at the Brass Embassy can use its card to sell their soul for 7 x Storm-Threnody and 1 x Night-Whisper.

Mr Sacks

A more detailed guide to Mr. Sacks is located at 12 Days of Mr Sacks (Guide)

Over the twelve days from the 25th to the 5th, a series of pinned storylets will appear. Each storylet (bar the fourth) is a visit from Mr Sacks, a mysterious hooded figure who demands gifts.

On the fourth day, you can spend FATE to investigate Mr Sacks with one of 9 factions. Each investigation continues over the rest of the visits, with some concluding during the visits and some ending in Penstock's Wicket; each gives some lore and a reward at the end.

If you are investigating on behalf of The Widow, The Duchess or Docks you will require an additional 5 ToL to claim your final reward during Penstock's Wicket.

Faction	Days	Final Reward	Stats
Bohemians	7, 12	Perennial Scholar	Persuasive +9 Respectable +3
Devils	6, 10, 12	The Rose Giveth Its Verses to Devils and Also to You	Watchful +2 Dangerous +5 Bizarre +1
Criminals	6, 11	A Bedraggled, Forlorn Fox	Watchful +9
Rubbery Men	8, 12	Your Perpetually Festive Rubbery Friend	Bizarre +3 Persuasive +9
Tomb-Colonies	7, 11	The Undying Respect of the Order of the Blackened Hoof	Dreaded +4 Artisan of the Red Science +1 Reduces Suspicion build up.?
Duchess	6, A Sundered Sea	Vial of Cantigaster Venom	Dangerous +12 Kataleptic Toxicology +1
Widow	7, A Sundered Sea	Elemental Secret	N/A
Docks	9, A Sundered Sea	Dreadful Surmise
Benthic	5, 9, 12	Dreadful Surmise
Revolutionaries	6, 11	Ray-Drenched Cinder
Urchins	7, 10	Starstone Demark

Incarnadine Fur Robes

If you spend FATE to have the Masters clear your snow for you, you will receive an Incarnadine Fur Robe instead of a pail of "snow". A robe can then be traded in for one of the following special items, some of which are best (or worst) in slot. Highlighted items have one of the non-highlighted items as a prerequisite; see Incarnadine Fur Robe for specifics.

The Wicket and The Sea

On the 5th of January, Penstock's Wicket opens to those who have experienced all of Mr Sacks' visits. If your Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre is at least 3, you may descend from the Wicket to A Sundered Sea in the Bazaar's heart. Here, Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre can be traded for various rewards:

• With at least 3 levels, 1 level can be traded for a variety of random rewards by taking the air or searching the shore
• 3 levels can be traded for a remote address (the Temple, the Pit and the Shell), 3-card lodgings where City Vices cards will not be drawn
• If you have at least 6 levels, then 5 levels can be traded for a Soothe & Cooper Long-Box, which can be sold to the Bazaar for 62.5 or to zailors for 50 , 3 Favours: The Docks and a special quality
• If you have a 4-cards lodging, at least 3 Notability and meet some other conditions, between 7 and 9 levels can be traded (along with the Notability) to upgrade the 4-card lodging to a 5-card lodging
• You can also create a Noman, a short-lived being formed of lacre and a little of yourself. The cost of creating a Noman rises rapidly over time, starting out at 3 levels and ending up at 15. A Noman can be taught about the world - or have its life extended at great cost - via an opportunity card. If it learns enough, it can reveal an Elemental Secret before it dies. If it lives long enough you may receive a tattoo to commemorate it; if you want to attempt this (very difficult) task, consult Noman Tattoo (Guide).

PtPT:tToL can also be spent on extending a Noman's life on its card, or in The Cave of the Nadir via The Catafalquerie on Vial of Tears of the Bazaar.

The Wicket closes on the fourth Friday of January at about 9 am UTC.

But How Do I Get Enough Taste of Lacre to Buy What I Want?

Although you can get up to 6 levels of Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre for free, this isn't enough to get the most expensive things available. This is where the Unusual Pails of So-Called Snow come in useful; they have a variety of options that allow you to gain more Taste of Lacre, the best of which are:

• Scent your pillow with it, which has a 60% chance of granting 1 level up to a maximum of Taste of Lacre 4. This requires Zeefaring
• Dip a soul in it, which will grant 1 level up to a maximum of Taste of Lacre 5
• Mix it with an old wine, which has a 40% chance of granting 1 level up to a maximum of Taste of Lacre 6
• Examine it through your Semiotic Monocle, a Narrow A Scholar of the Correspondence 6 check. On success, it grants 3 levels provided you have at most 5 levels beforehand
• Feed it to a Wild Boar, a Dangerous 200 check which requires a Dreadful Surmise (not consumed). On success, it grants 1 level up to 16. This is an excellent time to use Hard-Earned Lessons, as they let you preserve the pail on a failure.

On both success and failure, each of these options (and all the other options to use a pail) will consume the pail.

Provided you already have some Taste of Lacre and a Vial of Tears of the Bazaar, you may Warm your Tears of the Bazaar to gain Taste of Lacre up to 11, at risk of losing the Vial altogether.

The usual best path depends on how expensive your next goal is, and usually requires Examine it through your Semiotic Monocle assuming that you have high enough Scholar of the Correspondence and Dangerous. If you want several things, it may be best to make several trips starting with your most expensive option to get the most out of your Pails (spending your Taste of Lacre lets you use the +3 Monocle option again). If you need to make several trips, remember to buy your Pails first, since that action requires still having at least 1 Taste of Lacre. Follow these steps until you reach your most expensive goal, and repeat once you need more Taste of Lacre for your next goal:

1. If you have between 0-2 Taste of Lacre, Examine it through your Semiotic Monocle (+3)
2. If you have between 3-4 Taste of Lacre, Dip a soul in it (+1) or use Days of Sacksmas.
3. If you have exactly 5 Taste of Lacre, Examine it through your Semiotic Monocle (+3)
4. If your target is 9 or higher, either warm your Tears of the Bazaar (stops working at 11), Feed it to a Wild Boar (stops working at 16), or use uncapped Taste of Lacre from the Days of Sacksmas. Fortunately nothing requires more than 15 Taste of Lacre (so far), so you can reach any target if you're prepared to buy enough Pails.

If you don't mind using (and possibly losing) Tears, it's better to Examine the Monocle twice (0 to 6) and then Warm your Tears up to 11 Taste of Lacre. This strategy is especially useful for increasing the durability of your Noman to get the most out of your Pails.

As none of the (optimal) Sacks or Advent sources of Taste of Lacre have a cap, it is advisable to try and use Pails before these sources, though obviously this isn't always possible. Deciding in advance exactly what you want from the Wicket and planning out your Taste of Lacre gains accordingly is highly advisable. Some more advice on how to do this can be found here.

Other Uses for Pails

If you are a Correspondent, then Write a monograph on it...in it can be a good but expensive source of A Scholar of the Correspondence (up to level 15).

If you don't yet have a Destiny, then The Oracle of the Lintel will allow you to gain one at the cost of a pail; see Destinies (Guide) for more information.