The Feast of the Exceptional Rose is upon us! Visit the Shopkeeper in Viric for a trancelike taste of forbidden romance! Show your affection or scorn through unexpected and creative gifts! What will the season have in store for you?

Rewards from the Feast can be won by increasing Masquing. Raise your Masquing through participating in the revels and the exchange of gifts. Later in the festival, use Masquing to unlock unique companions.

Discover all the festival has to offer on Celebrate the Feast of the Exceptional Rose, available throughout London.

Visit the Shopkeeper in Viric

“All our Phantasies are made to measure.”

Longing for a taste of what might have been? Yearning for someone you could never possess?

Recently licensed for the public, the Shopkeeper in Viric peddles trance-dreams which offer a vision – less than sleep, more than a daydream – of a false-wedding to a major London figure.

Begin in Veilgarden, where you’ll find the Shopkeeper. For 20 Masquing, you’ll receive a dream of a love impossible, presented across three opportunity cards.

There are some additional options within the dreams for those of you with the following professions: Midnighter, Licentiate, Crooked-Cross or Monster-Hunter.

There is no limit on how many dreams you can purchase. You may be tempted to dream away the whole Feast…

New Companions

Companions in Fallen London – be they romantic, platonic, animal or mineral – offer boosts to your stats, and little stories. The Feast of the Exceptional Rose is an ideal opportunity to meet new ones.

This year there are a handful of new companions to choose from, available in exchange for Masquing:

Develop a more personal rapport with Dr Schlomo

Discuss improbable anatomy with A Debonair Paleontologist

And for higher levels of Masquing, which require you to receive a gift that was bought with Fate:

Help a Countess of Thorns acclimatise to the rude environs of London

Listen to the war songs of A Crimson Captain

Go drink for drink with Captain Amelia Whitlock

Tokens of love! Tokens of scorn!

Exchange gifts with other players to show them the truth of your heart! Or something more enigmatic. A glass of teeth by any other name would rattle as sweetly.

Your accrued gifts can be kept for sentimental reasons, or exchanged for different amounts of Masquing.

Make friends for the exchange of gifts on the Failbetter forum and our Discord.

The Lady in Lilac

“You are desired,” she says. “Give me the proof of it, and I’ll make arrangements.”

The enigmatic Lady in Lilac visits London during the Feast of the Exceptional Rose.

From the 13th of February, you will be able to draw the Lady in Lilac from your opportunity deck, allowing you to trade in your feast-gifts for Masquing. You’ll also be able to turn in your Masquing for special companions on the Encounters at the Feast card.

The Lady in Lilac and Encounters at the Feast will remain available until the 24th of February, after which your remaining Masquing will be converted to Making Waves when Time, the Healer visits.

You will still be able to visit Clathermont’s, exchange gifts for Masquing and collect companions until the end of the Feast, on the 24th of February.

Skin-bound memories!

How better to prove your devotion than through permanent ink? High time for a visit to Clathermont’s Tattoo Parlour!

A unique story involving the Neath’s famed tattooists is available for the duration of the Feast.

Find the Clathermonts in Ladybones Road when you have A Name in Seven Secret Alphabets at 4 or higher.

Continue this story from the same area by playing News at Clathermont’s from 13th February.

Premium Story: The Brass Grail

Scandal in London as the Bishop of Southwark is summoned to court. Old sins weigh heavily upon the mitred head. Can one ever truly escape the shadow of Hell?

This winter’s premium story by Nigel Evans is now available on the Fate page, for 35 Fate.

Your key dates for the festival are:

6th February – Festival Opens

13th February – Masquing can be exchanged for companions

20th February – Gift-giving and feast activities close

24th February – Exchanging gifts for Masquing, the Clathermont story and meeting companions close