Winter was starting to edge ever-so-slowly into spring, and Mum was starting to really feel her age.

"Och, another grey hair. Mayhaps it is time tae talk tae that lass who owns her own discreet hair salon that does touch-ups. What was her name again? Miss Clamdoll? Nae? Clairivoyant? Ah! Right, Miss Clairol. I'm nae ready tae show that much grey yet."

Mumbling to herself, she trudged through North Qeynos, just in time to hear "... the Pinot Guarantee: Sixty percent of the time ... they work every time."

"Is it that time already? Dalron's trotting out his old pick-up lines again?!" Mentally, she tallied up the days, and realized that, yes, it was just about time for Erollisi Day. A time for young fools, erm, lovers, to go to allll sorts of lengths to attract a mate of one type or another.

She simply shook her head and kept on walking as she passed the so-called Ladies Man, not even slowing when she heard that there was a "new, extended version" of his little black book.

She'd worked hard for this grumpy mood, and by golly, she was going to wallow in it!

Back at her home with her purchases, she stomped around the house, clattering dishes, rattling pots and pans, grumbling and growling until even the bravest of the housepets scattered and hid.

It had been a grueling several months - the re-opening of the Moors of Ykesha and all the work that the folks in Mara had suddenly needed assistance with, the Nights of the Dead brouhaha, Frostfell, general holiday ... stuff. Small wonder that she'd taken a needed month to collapse in a heap to recover a bit. A blessed month without a major holiday or event.

And because of it, some odd rumors began. Rumors that she was retired, or dead or something. Pish. Where on Norrath did folks get these silly ideas?

A part of her still grumbled about the rumors, while another part of her was quietly amused by folks who had gotten so used to Mum being in the thick of crafting events that they went into a fret because there had been a badly-needed lull in the controlled chaos.

Her eye was caught by the carnivorous plant attempting to slink through the room, leaves all-a-quiver as if it feared she was about to fling more pots and pans around. One of these days she was really going to have to do something about all the pets always underfoot, and she wished, not for the first time, for some reliable way to keep them out of certain areas.

She'd heard word of a new gilded cage that the young romantics had been all agog about, but, sadly, it had been merely ornamental. It definitely was something her very active pets would break out of in moments flat.

Mum's mind wandered, as it was wont to do lately, as she reminisced about other popular Erollis Day gifts, past and present.

There was the metal ring that had been a gift from a gnomish tinker. Far too big to fit on a hand, it was large, gaudy, and now-rusty. Leave it to a gnome to make it out of "practical" metals, without thinking about rustproofing, and to go overboard on sizing. Perhaps some day she'd find a gnome that didn't have a hangup on size, but she wasn't holding her breath.

Then there were the grassy knolls, complete with butterflies and fireflies. A body could exhaust themselves just keeping the grass watered, trimmed and the like, not to mention the butterflies and fireflies getting into everything!

As for the harem-girl outfits, well, what they did to a full-bodied halfling figure like her own was simply scandalous!

Her eye fell on one gift from days bygone, and the remains of her bad mood evaporated, as her train of thought firmly and solidly derailed once again.

The wrapped package had definitely seen better days, and it had an oddly crunched and crumpled look to it. Were one to pick it up, they'd hear discordant clinks and rattles coming from inside.

She'd never opened the package, knowing that, whatever it had been, it was only broken bits now, but it was one of her favorite gifts of all, nonetheless.

It had been one of the first gifts that she had ever received from the House Ogre, when he'd still believed that the Erollisi Day abbreviation of "S.W.A.K." on some gifts had meant "Sealed With A Kick".

On top of various quests and the like, this year's celebration will once again include some special crafting. Unlike the grumpy Niami above, I'm pretty excited about the lovely new items that we'll be able to craft, so we'll just stuff the grumpy redhead back in her home and let her mumble a bit more, k?

At this time, it is believed that the Erollisi Day events will be activated on February 10 and turned off on the morning of February 17th, but that can still be subject to change. As with last year's events, you can continue to craft these recipes after the event has ended, if you have managed to stockpile the love letters and hard candies (which will stop dropping when the events are turned off).

How It Works

Two vendors are found in Qeynos Harbor and East Freeport, named Steven and Douglas. They sell a lot of lovely romantic items at special prices (see below). In addition, Steven sells the level 2 artisan recipe book from last year's event "Romantic Gifts to Craft", which contains 14 recipes for any artisan to craft and 2 tinkered recipes. In addition to this book, however, there is a brand new book "More Romantic Gifts to Craft", featuring another 15 new items (including one tinkered one).

Like the Nights of the Dead crafting at Halloween time, these will require special dropped primary items as well as common resources.

Yep, once again, you get to run up to intelligent creatures that are cooing happily over love notes and candies ... and kill them so you can have them all for yourself!

Love Notes and Hard Candies

These little testaments of love have two uses, and this means you may be at war with yourself over whether you're going on a buying or a crafting spree. First, you can hand them in to Liannya Heartswell (the Romantic), for special coins that are used to buy many lovely romantic items sold by Steven and Douglas. The second use is, yep, you guessed it, as the primary ingredient for these special recipes.

Romantic Gifts to Craft

Basic Info

The Items

Click on the images below to see recipe and a size comparison for the item.

Erollisi Marrsipan Stove & Keg	Frosted Erollisi Cookies Stove & Keg	Essence of Amour Chemistry Table
Distilled Devotion Number 9 Chemistry Table	Plush Chaise Lounge Loom	Luxurious Chaise Lounge Loom
Purple Heart-Shaped Pillow Loom	Red Heart-Shaped Pillow Loom	White Heart-Shaped Pillow Loom
Yellow Heart-Shaped Pillow Loom	Pink Roses Blooming with Love Woodworking Bench	Purple Roses Blooming with Love Woodworking Bench
Red Roses Blooming with Love Woodworking Bench	Yellow Roses Blooming with Love Woodworking Bench	Gold Mechanosynthetic Rose Work Bench Tinkering
Silver Mechanosynthetic Rose Work Bench Tinkering

Other Little Details

• The two tinkered items can be crafted by nontinkers, but since you will not have access to the tinkering reaction arts, and the difficulty is rated as "very hard", you will have difficulties crafting one of these if you are not a tinker.
• The "blooming With Love" roses have a right-click option to make them "bloom", each with a unique particle effect.
• Unlike the Frostfell food, you cannot "take a serving" of the cookies or Marrispan.
• The cookies and Marrsipan require vanilla bean, a vendor-sold item.

More Romantic Gifts to Craft!

Golden Rug of the Beloved	Golden Tapestry of the Beloved	Loving Cup
Grassy Knoll of Butterflies	Grassy Knoll of Fireflies	Gift of the Libertine
Plush Wood Framed Bed	Luxurious Wood Framed Bed	Metalized Ring of Devotion Tinkered
Love Letters	Love Poems	Love's Gilded Cage
Vial of Passion

No, I didn't miscount, that is only 13 items. The other two items are dress clothing items.

Added Notes

• The Love Letters and Love Notes have a particle effect that can be turned on and off. Click on the icons above to see images of them with and without the effect activated
• The Vial of Passion has a particle effect on it (it cannot be turned on/off)
• The dressing room preview of the ring does not show the rust. As you can see if you click through for a larger view of the item, however, it is very rusty when placed. Durn gnomes. Also note that if you are not a tinker, you will not have any available reaction arts when you craft this item, so don't be surprised if you can't pristine it without being a tinker.
• The rug has a visible bottom, and geometry. This means it will show a graphic from underneath, if it is raised above floor level, and that it can/will support players, furniture, etc., even when raised off the floor
• The particle effect on the knolls doesn't display in the dressing room preview mode, but Kaisha tweaked the icons according to the actual look.
• The tapestry is anchored so that it sticks out perpendicular to the wall instead of lying flat, like most of our tapestries
• The Gift of the Libertine has a pink heart particle effect swirling around it when placed

As always, heartfelt thanks go out to Kaisha Triol of Permafrost for her graphical skills ... you really do NOT want to see what this page would have looked like if we had to resort to my limited graphical skills! :)