Feast of the Rose (Guide)

Early MYN Content and Onwards

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

Introduction

This is a guide that collates all the notes on playing Feast of the Exceptional Rose.

Key Dates for 1899 (2024):

• 1st February – Festival Opens
• 8th February – Masquing can be exchanged for companions and The Lady in Lilac
• 15th February – Gift-giving and feast activities close
• 22nd February – Exchanging gifts for Masquing, the Clathermont story and meeting companions close.
• Source: https://www.failbettergames.com/news/the-feast-of-the-exceptional-rose-2024-is-here

Activity	1st week	2nd week	3rd week	Info
The Feast of the Rose!	✔	✔	✘	Card for gaining Masquing and other qualities
An Arranger of Nuptial Phantasies	✔	✔	✔	Storylet for purchasing romantic dreams
Celebrate the Feast of the Exceptional Rose!	✔	✔	✘	Storylet to send Rose gifts to other players
An Encounter at the Feast	✘	Card	Storylet	Spend Masquing on rare items
The Lady in Lilac	✘	Card	Storylet	Raise Masquing above 20 using Rose gifts, and other qualities
Millicent's Parlour	✘	✔	✔	Storylet to get a tattoo; requires Entwined in the Intrigues of the Clathermont Family 30
On the Scent of the Exceptional Rose	0-3	0-9	0-1, 3-9	Narrative content uncovering the mysteries of the festival's namesake flower

External Resource links:

• https://community.failbettergames.com/t/the-incomplete-guide-to-the-feast-of-the-rose/14997

Gaining Masquing

Masquing is primarily gotten through The Feast of the Rose! card, but the exact options available depend on The Airs of London. (See the Airs page for ways to change unfavourable Airs if necessary.) The following table shows the number of Masquing gained with any conditions. None of the options will increase Masquing if it's at least 20 already, though options granting 2 or more Masquing can increase it from levels below 20 to levels above 20.

Abbreviations used:

• Menaces: Suspicion, Nightmares, Scandal, Wounds, Unaccountably Peckish
• Quirks: Hedonist, Austere, Melancholy, Subtle
• Other: Fascinating..., Making Waves

The Airs of London 0-25

Most reliable way to obtain 2 x Masquing: A lovers' tryst --> Arrange to meet by the silver fountain (with sufficient Persuasive)

The Airs of London 26-50

Most reliable way to obtain 2 x Masquing: Buy a kiss from Sinning Jenny --> Negotiate a little first (with sufficient Persuasive)

Option	Challenge	Success	Rare	Failure
Help Mrs Gebrandt answer her correspondence: Be sympathetic	50	( /2) x Jade Fragment 1 x F.F. Gebrandt's Tincture of Vigour 1 x Masquing		+2 CP
Help Mrs Gebrandt answer her correspondence: Be cruel to be kind	75	10 x F.F. Gebrandt's Tincture of Vigour 1 x Masquing		+2 CP
Help Mrs Gebrandt answer her correspondence: Take cold-blooded advantage	80	1 x Whisper-Satin Scrap 1 x Thirsty Bombazine Scrap 30 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey		+2 CP
Enjoy a theatrical entertainment: Suggest a children's puppet show	40%	1 x Inkling of Identity 2 x Intriguing Snippet 2 x Masquing 1 x Tale of Terror!!	1 x Tale of Terror!! 2 x Appalling Secret 1 x Inkling of Identity 1 x Maniac's Prayer 4 x Masquing	1 x Masquing +2 CP
Enjoy a theatrical entertainment: Suggest a magic lantern show	60%	-2 CP  10 x Romantic Notion 1 x Masquing	1 x Touching Love Story 1 x Masquing	+2 CP  -2 CP
A long-lost love: Help to console the gentleman	30	15 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey +3 CP  (< 10) 4 x Romantic Notion 1 x Masquing 2 x Cryptic Clue	2 x Mystery of the Elder Continent +3 CP  (< 10) 1 x Memory of Distant Shores 3 x Appalling Secret 1 x Masquing 2 x Cryptic Clue	+3 CP  (< 10) +2 CP
A long-lost love: Offer to help find the lady	30	+3 CP  (< 10) 10 x Nodule of Deep Amber 7 x Romantic Notion 1 x Masquing 2 x Cryptic Clue	1 x Touching Love Story 1 x Masquing 2 x Cryptic Clue	+3 CP  (< 10)
Buy a kiss from Sinning Jenny: Pay the asking price 100 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey	60%	1 x Masquing -100 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey 5 x Romantic Notion 1 x Stolen Kiss	4 x Masquing -100 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey 10 x Romantic Notion 1 x Stolen Kiss	+1 CP  (bonus) +2 CP  -100 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey
Buy a kiss from Sinning Jenny: Negotiate a little first 50 x Nodule of Deep Amber	60	-50 x Nodule of Deep Amber 2 x Romantic Notion 2 x Masquing 1 x Stolen Kiss	+2 CP  +2 CP  -50 x Nodule of Deep Amber 1 x Masquing	+2 CP

The Airs of London 51-75

The Duchess' Banquet allows you to gain Acquaintance: the Captivating Princess in exchange for 15 Masquing. This is currently the only option to make her acquaintance, which has a few uses. Additionally, this provides a Dreadful Surmise which may take time to acquire by other means. A mysterious envelope usually gives at least 1 Masquing (except on a rare success) and gives 2 Masquing 50% of the time.

Options on The Perfumed Pleasure Garden, unlike other selections, are repeatable, though they cost 1-2 Carnival Tickets each. The Exceptional Rose option grants x 10 on success, so it can be used to sustain a prolonged visit. In this way, an early character might use Enjoy the decadence to reliably increase Hedonist to a cap of 10, or use The Wheel of Affection to grind Romantic Notions to afford a Key to a Handsome Townhouse.

The Airs of London 76-100

Most reliable way to obtain 2 x Masquing: A face from the past --> Don't remind yourself (with A Finder of Heiresses)

Option	Challenge	Success	Rare	Failure
Scandal and intrigue!: Send a romantic note Fascinating... 1	Ask a friend	+10 CP  1 x Masquing Both receive: 3 x Romantic Notion +2 CP (< 20)		+10 CP  1 x Masquing
Scandal and intrigue!: Take the opportunity	50	3 x Appalling Secret 1 x Masquing 5 x Intriguing Snippet 2 x Inkling of Identity		+1 CP
Secure a table at Dante's Grill: Try your luck	50%	+3 CP (< 10), -3 CP  +8 CP (if > 0) -2 x , -3 CP  3 x Romantic Notion 2 x Masquing	+3 CP (< 10), -3 CP  +2 CP  (if > 0) -2 x , -3 CP  1 x Scrap of Incendiary Gossip 3 x Romantic Notion 1 x Touching Love Story 2 x Masquing	-10 CP  +3 x
Secure a table at Dante's Grill: Bribe the maître d'	2 FATE	+5 CP (< 15) +10 CP (if > 0) -5 x , -3 CP  5 x Romantic Notion 1 x Touching Love Story 5 x Masquing
A face from the past: Don't remind yourself A Finder of Heiresses 1	Auto	+1 CP (< 5) 1 x Hard-Earned Lesson(< 6) 6-15 x Romantic Notion 2 x Masquing
A face from the past: An intriguing resemblance A Finder of Heiresses 1	Auto	+1 CP (< 5), +3 CP (< 10) 1 x Masquing 1 x Touching Love Story
Sweets to the sweet: Eat one	50%	-2 CP 5 x Drop of Prisoner's Honey 2 x Masquing	-3 CP 3 x Romantic Notion 1 x Magnificent Diamond 2 x Masquing	+2 CP 1 x Masquing

Gifts

Cost for free gifts equate to 10 per Masquing with the exceptions of A Custom-Engraved Skull which cost 20 per Masquing, and Pink-Painted Cat which costs 15 per Masquing.

Spending Masquing

Gaining Companions

It is generally advisable for newer players to focus on a pair of 10- or 20- Masquing companions to flesh out their outfit portfolio, as comparable companions are often expensive or otherwise challenging to obtain. Once you have acquired suffiently high-level companions, prioritise collecting companions with an entry in the Opportunities Unlocked column below. Opening up as many opportunities for yourself later on is generally good practice, even if they don't appear useful on first glance.

An Arranger of Nuptial Phantasies

During the Feast of the Rose An Arranger of Nuptial Phantasies will set up shop in Veilgarden, offering dreams of a future with one of 5 spouses, at the cost of 20 Masquing. All of these will earn a Magnificent Diamond in the end.

Your progress (i.e. how many dreams you have left) is stored in Dreaming in Viric, while Subject of a Trance-Dream remembers your modifications. All dream conclusions increase your Shared a Phantasie of the Bazaar by 1.

Entwined in the Intrigues of the Clathermont Family

This short storyline starts once you have A Name in Seven Secret Alphabets 4 in Ladybones Road and can be progressed until level 8 there. Then you must Search Out a Missing Woman in Wilmot's End to reach level 9. Levels 10 and beyond are only available during weeks 2 and 3 of the event. Level 10 is unlocked with News at Clathermont's in Ladybones Road. Then you need to draw The Lady in Lilac and Ask her something different. You can either betray her to Mr. Clathermont or go straight to the meeting. After a short conversation, you will be able to get a tattoo in The Forgotten Quarter.

Tattoos

Once you have reached Entwined in the Intrigues of the Clathermont Family 30, Characters may gain a tattoo, providing a permanent point of Bizarre or Dreaded at Millicent's Parlour in the second and third weeks of the festival, with a maximum of one tattoo per year and two tattoos total. Alternatively you can gain a single point of respectable for choosing not to get a tattoo. This locks you out of future tattoos and as such results in lower BDR. Here are the available tattoos and the unlock requirements for each:

Bizarre Tattoos

Tattoo	Requirement
Your Own Name tattoo	Route: The Cave of the Nadir 3
A View from the Chambers of the Heart tattoo	One Who Has Indulged in Unknown Pleasures
An Invisible City tattoo	Ambition: Enigma 2
Devilbone Dice tattoo
A Blemmigan tattoo
The Pen tattoo	Persuasive 25
Parabola tattoo	Nightmares 7
The Cards tattoo	Ambition: Heart's Desire!
A Face for the Evening tattoo	The Face Trade 26-29
The Jewel tattoo	Ambition: Light Fingers!
The Sun tattoo
Flute Street tattoo	Visiting Flute Street 12

Dreaded Tattoos

Tattoo	Requirement
Penstock's Wicket tattoo	Putting the Pieces Together: the Taste of Lacre 3
London from above tattoo	Free of Surface Ties -
The Scar in the Sky tattoo	A Scholar of the Correspondence 10
Someone you once loved tattoo	Ambition: Nemesis
A Chess-Piece tattoo	The Boatman's Opponent 10
The Face in the Snow tattoo	1 x Noman
The Fist tattoo	Dangerous 25
The Cheesemonger tattoo	The Great Game: A Fine Piece in the Game -
The Stag's Head tattoo	1 x The Young Stags' Club
Just a Knife tattoo	Jack's Gone - : You did it!
The Indefatigable tattoo	Inconvenienced by Your Aunt
The Eye tattoo	Watchful 25
The Overgoat tattoo	1 x Overgoat
Sunless tattoo	You Disposed of a Whisper-Locked Sea-Chest 100
The House of Chimes tattoo	Admitted to the House of Chimes - is one of: An innocent An extraordinary beauty A player of games An audacious zub-mariner A cold-hearted killer A noted trainer of weasels DISOBEDIENT A true patriot A dabbler in sulfurous liaisons A traitor A committed cat-wrangler not to be crossed Possibly a lunatic Enigmatic Illegitimately Royal? A Font of Devil's Tears An Enemy of Brass Privately Talented The Rooftop Dancer An Unparalleled Grotesque A Visionary A Prisoner of Despair A Speaker of Truth to Power A Possessor of Impossible Table Habits An Oenologonaut Orphaned in a Grisly Accident A Liar among Liars A Scarlet Saint A Legendary Calumnist An Artist in Ivory It's not what you know... A Wanderer of Parabola A Meteorological Moment The Inescapable Arm of the Law A Blood-Cousin to Predators
The Shadow tattoo	Shadowy 25
The Bazaar tattoo
The Fallen Rat tattoo	Vermin-free
Übergoat tattoo	1 x Übergoat
The Gift tattoo	The Gift 110
Hellfire tattoo
A Zee-Monster tattoo	An Explorer of the Unterzee -
The Heiress tattoo	A Finder of Heiresses
The Hunt tattoo	Ambition: Bag a Legend!
A Velocipede tattoo	On the Velocipede Squad
New Newgate Prison tattoo	Suspicion
A Knife which Burns tattoo	A Participant in the Underground Leagues of Knife-and-Candle

On the Scent of the Exceptional Rose

This short storyline is available in some form throughout the event. In order to progress from 2 to 3, The Perfumed Pleasure Garden must be open (Week 1 and 2). Advancing further requires access to both The Lady in Lilac and Millicent's Parlour, and as such is only available during week 2 and 3. Finishing the storyline provides either A Cutting from the True (False) Exceptional Rose or A Cutting from the Gardener. Neither seems to have any specific uses yet.