Adjacent to the Lunar Festival season comes an outbreak of romance and admiration in the capital cities. This is marked by the exchanging of tokens of affection and small gifts. This provides the opportunity for a popularity contest to show which city leader is most revered by the citizens of Azeroth. There is also an investigation to find the source of all this romance.

Changes for 2008: New “Love Rocket” firework and a “Romantic Picnic Basket” added as possible gift items.

In each capital, the innkeepers will sell Cologne and Perfume Bottles for 1s each, as well as packs of 10 Love Tokens for 10c. Using either bottle gives you a 60 minute effect that allows you to see NPCs who can receive Love Tokens. Male NPCs will only accept tokens from characters wearing perfume, regardless of gender. Female NPCs will only accept tokens from characters wearing cologne. You can only wear one scent at a time. Each bottle has 10 uses. For greatest efficiency, pick the scent which matches the most number of NPCs - in Ironforge, for instance, more of the guards are male, while in Darnassus, more are female. To attempt to give a token, just right-click on the NPC to talk to them - if they’re receptive, you will have any option to give them a token.

The first NPC you successfully speak to will give you a Pledge/Gift of Adoration, including a quest gift and other favors, and you will become Adored. The Adored effect lasts for an hour of clock time (will continue to tick while you’re logged out). While you are Adored, any other NPCs you give Tokens to will only give you a Pledge/Gift of Friendship, which will contain only a quest gift. Quest gifts vary by city, but there are generally a townsfolk-specific one and two guard-specific ones. As an example, in Stormwind, guards will give Stormwind Guard Cards or Pledges of Loyalty: Stormwind and townsfolk will give Homemade Bread. Also, note that the gift given is determined by the faction of the giver, not by the location - John Turner in Ironforge gives Stormwind quest gifts, for instance.

You will need to collect 5 of each type to make a City Gift Collection for that city. Right-click a stack of each type to combine 5 of them into a group, right-click one of the groups to combine 3 groups into a collection. Doing this earns a specific city Gift of Friendship, a 60 minute +30 stat buff (Stormwind/Undercity - Intellect, Ironforge/Thunder Bluff - Stamina, Darnassus/Orgrimmar - Agility); you may only have one city Gift of Friendship buff at a time. When you have a City Gift Collection for each of the cities in your team, you can combine them to make an Alliance (or Horde) Gift Collection. This should be turned in to Kwee Q. Peddlefeet, the goblin attempt at Cupid (”Q. Ped”), one of which is located next to the “boss” of each capital city (this is not the same as the Peddlefeet non-combat pet). This turn-in casts your vote for that boss in the popularity contest. The prize in the popularity contest is bragging rights and having Peddlefeet stay around for an extra week. This is useful because blowing a /kiss to Peddlefeet grants the “Smitten” buff (+200 health for an hour). Your gift for voting is a choice of 5 Handfuls of Rose Petals or 5 Silver Shafted Arrows and a Box of Chocolates (no rep or xp). You may vote multiple times.

There is a cooldown after an NPC accepts a Love Token from a player (~2 min), so just because an NPC could accept your Token doesn’t mean they will at that moment. Just try to talk to one and see if you’re offered the chance to give them a Token. If not, move on. If your Token is rejected (random chance), you will become Heartbroken for an hour and cannot give out more Tokens. The Heartbroken effect can be cured if another player uses an Unbestowed Friendship Bracelet on you (one of the possible items in a Pledge/Gift of Adoration - BoP item, usually given in stacks of 2-4). The Heartbroken effect lasts for an hour of played time, so finding a friendly player is much more efficient than waiting it out. Also, note that you can give Tokens to the same NPC multiple times, which is doubtless why there’s a cooldown. For instance, you could get all your Homemade Bread for Stormwind from Renato Gallina (on the corner at the center of the Trade District) if you’re willing to wait for the cooldown. Note that the quest gifts and the collections are not soulbound and may be freely traded (however, since they are conjured items, they cannot be AHed).

Adorable Items

Pledge/Gifts of Adoration will usually contain three items: a quest item, a stack of 2-4 Unbestowed Friendship Bracelets, and an extra favor (some players have reported getting two quest items and bracelets or a quest item and two extras without bracelets). As an interesting note, the Pledges/Gifts are not themselves soulbound, so you can trade even the BoP items as long as you don’t take them out of the package:

• Handful of Rose Petals - (10 day item life) shower a nearby target with a cascade of rose petals (usually given in stacks of 3-5)
• Love Fool - (10 day item life) a 3 minute target dummy that non-engineers can use (usually given in stacks of 3-5)
• Love Rocket - (10 day item life) shoots a lovely firework into the air (usually given in stacks of 3-5)
• Box of Chocolates - (10 day item life) an assortment of buff-giving delicacies, including:
  • Buttermilk Delight - increase defense by 13
  • Dark Desire - improve your chance to hit by 2%
  • Sweet Surprise - increases healing done by magical spells by up to 44
  • Very Berry Cream - increase damage done from spells by up to 23
  • Empty Wrapper - (not BoP) can be used like wrapping paper to enclose a single non-stackable item

  Both the box itself and the chocolates are BoP. You may have multiple chocolate buffs at a time, and the effects do stack with food/water buffs.

• Bag of Candies - (BoP) contains 10 pieces of heart-shaped candy with your name attached to give as gifts
• Silver Shafted Arrow - (10 day item life, BoP) send a Peddlefeet pet to another player (only works on players without a current non-combat pet, usually given in stacks of 3-5)
• Romantic Picnic Basket - (BoP) Sets up a romantic picnic that anyone can join (similar to the TCG Loot Picnic Basket)
• Truesilver Shafted Arrow - (BoP) Peddlefeet non-combat pet
• Lovely Black Dress - (not binding!) black dress of the same design as the quest rewards

Also, there is a Bouquet of Red Roses that randomly drops off high-level instance bosses during this season. This is a permanent item that has the same effect as the Handful of Rose Petals.

Investigating the Love Bug

Not content to chalk it up to spring, there are those who insist on looking into the outbreak of affection. Aristan Mottar, Stormwind, and Fenstad Argyle, the Undercity, have separately come to conclusion that this much love just isn’t natural. After the initial letter delivery quest (and boy do those women get around!), the quest line sends you in search of the person behind the suspicious scents. Horde and Alliance have parallel questlines. Overall, the quest rewards are light compared to other recent seasonal content but it’s a quick diversion. The quests are obtainable at any level.

Quest	Given By	Description	Reward
Alliance
[60] Dearest Colara,	Tormek Stoneriver, in front of the bank in Ironforge; Lieutenant Jocryn Heldric, Trade District, Stormwind; Aldris Fourclouds, in front of the bank in Darnassus	Deliver the Creased Letter/Carefully Penned Note/Immaculate Letter to Colara Dean outside the bank in Stormwind.
[60] Dangerous Love	Aristan Mottar	Get a Stormwind Guard’s Card and return it to Aristan Mottar in Stormwind.
[60] Aristan’s Hunch	Aristan Mottar	Bring 1 Cologne Bottle and 1 Perfume Bottle to Morgan Pestle in the Trade District of Stormwind.
[60] Morgan’s Discovery	Morgan Pestle	Return to Aristan Mottar outside the bank in Stormwind’s Trade District.	Box of Chocolates, Handful of Rose Petals, Love Rocket
[60] Tracing the Source	Aristan Mottar	Speak with Innkeeper Allison at The Gilded Rose in Stormwind’s Trade District.
[60] Tracing the Source	Innkeeper Allison	Speak with Evert Sorisam at The Finest Thread along Stormwind’s Canals.	Continues to The Source Revealed
	The Finest Thread is located in the Canal District outside Cathedral Square on the Park side
Horde
[60] Dearest Elenia,	Orok Deathbane, Valley of Strength, Orgrimmar; Temma of the Wells, near the Thunder Bluff inn; Deathguard Tor, near the Zeppelin Tower in Tirisfal Glades	Deliver the Slightly Creased Note/Carefully Written Letter/Lovingly Composed Letter to Elenia Haydon near the bank in the Undercity.
[60] Dangerous Love	Fenstad Argyle	Get a Guardian’s Moldy Card and bring it to Fendstad Argyle in the Undercity.
[60] Fenstad’s Hunch	Fenstad Argyle	Bring 1 Cologne Bottle and 1 Perfume Bottle to Apothecary Zinge in the Undercity’s Apothecarium.
[60] Zinge’s Assessment	Apothecary Zinge	Return to Fenstad Argyle outside the bank in the Undercity.	Box of Chocolates, Handful of Rose Petals, Love Rocket
[60] Tracing the Source	Fenstad Argyle	Speak with Innkeeper Norman in the Undercity.
[60] Tracing the Source	Innkeeper Norman	Speak with Mara Rennick at the tailor’s shop in the Undercity’s Mage Quarter.	Continues to The Source Revealed
The Source Revealed
[60] The Source Revealed	Evert Sorisam, Stormwind Mara Rennick, Undercity	Find Apothecary Staffron Lerent in the Hillsbrad Foothills behind Ravenholdt Manor.	1650 xp
	Ravenholdt Manor is located behind Durnholde Keep at the northeastern edge of Hillsbrad. The path up to the manor begins behind a small gravesite behind the keep to the northeast (near 77.7, 28.9). Follow the path up, staying to the right as it winds up into the mountains. After a series of switchbacks, you will find a cave. Go through the cave without bothering the chest and you will come to the manor. A path leads into the mountains to the right of the manor. Go left along the mountains when the path ends and you will find the clearing where Lerent is brewing his surprise (near 87.0, 14.0). After you find him, wait for him to have a change of heart to chain to “A Bubbling Cauldron.” (You can actually right-click on the cauldron at any time if you don’t want to wait for the tender moment)
[60] A Bubbling Cauldron	Fragrant Cauldron		“Amorous Clothing”
	Choose one of: Blue Dinner Suit, Purple Dinner Suit, Red Dinner Suit, Lovely Blue Dress, Lovely Purple Dress, Lovely Red Dress; suits use the tuxedo model, dresses are a spaghetti-strap, backless model with a heart-shaped midriff cutout

Thanks to authors and contributors to this guide: guildmembers Delving and Rokkverlyn, Sanorz on Stormreaver, Sheara of Grim Determination on Earthen Ring, Tullola of Order of the Ebon Shield on Cenarion Circle, Xentropy on Whisperwind.

Who is the more Forsaken?
But of course I love you, Staffron. And it pains me to see you suffer so. I pledge my love to you forever. Death cannot erase that, even as I am sure that you still remember your love for me. And if you do not, then I am truly lost.
- Annalise Lerent