Fruits of the Zee Festival (historical)

This is how the Fruits of the Zee Festival has developed over the years. It lasts for two weeks at the end of August. If you have anything to fill in, please do =)

Fruits of the Zee Festival 2014 (1892)

This was the year in which this festival was first held. The festival is one of only 3 seasonal events which let one choose a Destiny (along with Hallowmas and Christmas)

The festival takes place on Mutton Island. You can zail there normally using your own ship, but a cheap and fast ferry service is available from / to London to ease travel during the festival.

Activities during the festival included lots of random encounters with partying individuals and groups. The most significant mechanic involved setting out on a fishing boat to try and hunt for a . This involved various Quirk challenges to raise , and spending map items. Eventually you can end up with a based on your level.

Once you have a , you can either:

• Trade it for map items and menace reductions (can help in your next fishing attempt)
• Trade it for a Destiny (for FATE, if you already have one).
• Trade it for all sort of items, depending on your exact level of your (which was determined randomly based on your level). Unique items were:
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Fruits of the Zee Festival 2015 (1893)

No changes to the festival this year.

Fruits of the Zee Festival 2016 (1894)

Following the Mayoral Election held shortly before the festival, you could meet Sinning Jenny (the new Mayor) during the festival. You could learn more about her plans and dilemmas and either help or impede her activities (without much mechanical impact either way). You could also find (and keep as a souvenir) , and learn a bit more about her past.

New items to be found when trading in a were:

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Items from previous years could be purchased with FATE.

Fruits of the Zee Festival 2017 (1895)

No major mechanics changes and no new items this year. The option to reroll your Picking in the Wreckers' Cove for FATE has been retired.

Options relating to Sinning Jenny as the Mayor (from last year) were removed. Following this year's Election, it was possible to briefly meet the Dauntless Temperance Campaigner, the Implacable Detective, or listen to gossip about Feducci.

Fruits of the Zee Festival 2018 (1896)

Again, no mechanics changes and no new items this year.

The option relating the mayoral candidates from the previous year have been replaced by two new options: one concerning the Contrarian visiting the Festival in his capacity as mayor of London and one about Feducci's empty chair from last year.

Fruits of the Zee Festival 2019 (1897)

The newly elected Lord Mayor Virginia visited during the festival. You could help her find a mask that previously belonged to her election opponent Mrs Plenty. If you opted to give her the mask, you were able to find it again. She also asked for comments on Sinning Jenny's term as mayor, and left the island after an encounter with the Mary Lloyd.

New items to be found when trading in a were:

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The items added in 2016 remained available for free.

The mechanics of changed slightly, to avoid the previous bias against certain items due to how Rounding functions in FL. Instead of getting a "Picking" level randomly between half your Strange Catch level and your full Strange Catch level, the new formula provides a much wider range. Now your Picking level is a random even number between (2 x Catch level + 2) and (4 x Catch level). All items' requirements (including old items) have been changed to reflect the new range, so the possible results are the same but without the bias.

Fruits of the Zee Festival 2020 (1898)

The Viscountess of the Viric Jungle, newly elected Lord Mayor, needed help to cross to Mutton Island and get into the festive spirit. She is, after all, a cat. Mutton Island is an island. This implies water. If you helped her, this led to a short story of following her to Parabola to find out what happened to her long lost husband. The story awarded one of the following items on completion:

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Players also could swap the collars for each other in the Wreckers' Cove, in case they wish to have a different collar from what they received.

In addition, new items to be found when trading in a were:

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Fruits of the Zee Festival 2021 (1899)

Following the events of Mr Chimes' Grand Clearing-Out, Mr Wines sent its personal butler Jervaise to collect love stories from Mutton Island – particularly stories of tempests and tragedy. To facilitate that, an outpost of the Parlour of Virtue was set up for the duration of the festival.

The following personages could be persuaded to participate in a Mutton Island Courtship:

• Jervaise (The Parlour of Virtue, On Holiday)
• The Dashing Drownie (The Fruits of the Zee Festival!, Sights 0-33)
• The Roaming Replete (The Fruits of the Zee Festival!, Sights 34-66)
• The Melancholy Curate (The Fruits of the Zee Festival!, Sights 67-100)
• The Custodial Chef (The Fruits of the Zee Festival!, Sights 67-100)
• The Hooded Lady (The Wreckers' Cove)

All relationships could become more cordial or more acrimonious. Three love stories could be turned in to Mr Wines in London, individually rewarded according to their qualities:

• Catastrophic: (62.50 ), (12.50 )
• Indifferent/Fine: (62.50 )
• Star-Spun: (62.50 ), (12.50 )

No new items were introduced, but the following mayoral items were re-added to the Wreckers' Cove:

• ( Picking 10-12)
• (15 FATE)
• (10 FATE)
• (10 FATE)

Notably, this made it possible to legitimately own both and , as previously only one of the two could be owned at a time.

Fruits of the Zee Festival 2022 (1899)

Three new rewards were added to the Wrecker's Cove when trading in a :

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Following the events of F.F. Gebrandt's Prelapsarian Exhibition, F.F. Gebrandt set up an outpost of her museum on Mutton Island to investigate the process by which the well-water makes the island's rubbery lumps both edible and delicious. The player followed the Custodial Chef out to the well, and watched as he invoked the Drowned Man whilst ritualistically cutting open a . Afterwards, the player could bring Gebrandt a and either deliberately perform the ritual incorrectly, perform the ritual correctly or adapt the rite to avoid reference to the Drowned Man. Then Gebrandt analysed the resulting water (alternatively, Seekers who performed the rite correctly could consume the water) and the player received their reward - 6250 , worth 62.50 .

Fruits of the Zee Festival 2023 (1899)

The festival began on the 9th of September, and ran until the 21st. This year saw a significant overhaul of the festival, with the previous RNG-based fishing replaced by a diving activity in the first week, and trading in the second.

The Fathomking was angry that for so many years the islanders had taken the bounty of the zee without giving in return, and demanded that they perform supplication unto him before he would return it to them. The Peligin-Eyed Lobsterman (formerly the Twinkle-Eyed Lobsterman) also revealed that His Complexity was doing this for the benefit of a mysterious "her".

Once they had engaged in enough of the islanders' rituals, players were granted leave to dive for zee-treasures, with a violant candle to temporarily suspend the need for breath. Under the zee, players could choose treasures from one of three cards drawn and return to the surface, or dive deeper to clear their hand - although diving deeper carried the risk of being abruptly and painfully returned to the surface. It was revealed that the purpose of the diving treasures was mostly to be traded for festival rewards in the second week of the festival.

Diving treasures included:

• Three kinds of coral, each of which could be traded for one of three cosmetic variations of a new item
  • ( Gloves)
  • ( Boots)
  • (- Hat)
• Various rewards from past Fruits of the Zee, some only available at certain depths
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• Various other items, which (along with any duplicate old rewards) could be traded in the latter half of the festival for , used to buy the rest of the festival rewards, which included other old rewards and four new ships (teased by Bruno in a censored screenshot of the purchasing storylet).
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It was swiftly realised, based on the values given by Consider the treasures of the deep, that it would be possible to trade in Skulls in Coral for 125 favour, making a much better source of Favour for end-game players than actually engaging with the festival.

Diving all the way to the bottom (5 ) would allow players to encounter the enigmatic "her", Her Fivefold Symmetry the Pentamerous Bride, wife of the Fathomking. This gave a vanity quality, , and a hidden quality that meant this could only be done 5 times.

In the second week of the festival, players could watch the final offering to the Fathomking; the drowning of the effigy of the King-in-Coral. Then the fruits of the zee returned, the zees choked with fish. The drownies came ashore to enjoy the festivities, and those who looked closely could observe the reshaping of beached fish into more palatable forms by implanted fluke-spines.

After this, the festival began in earnest. Players could gain audience with the Fathomking himself, come ashore in disguise as the King-in-Coral, and (depending on them having enough knowledge on the subject) speak to him on various matters: the Pentamerous Bride, and his attempts to restore her ability to love; the Destiny of the Youthful Naturalist; and his appropriation of the imagery of the Drowned Man. Those who saw Her Fivefold Symmetry received a gift from him, a , and those with coral could trade it in return for one of the corresponding equipments at random:

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Players could also attend the Fruit Market, trading the various coral equipments for each other, trading diving treasures for , or trade Favour for older Fruits items and one of the four new ships:

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Also attending the festival were the Starved Lithologer, along with Sinning Jenny and the Overworked Commodore.