Metroplexity

I succeeded with 5 contacts (an ex-Fang in the sewers, a Dock security guard, a dockhand, a raver at the Happy Hour, and a college student). I didn't record it but I am 90% sure that I gave away crates to the ex-Fang, dock security, dockhand; and exchanged for reward the raver and the college student.

Perhaps if you exchange at least 3/5 people for free you succeed but if you sell to people you need more? I don't think I've ever tried making everyone pay.

(Picking up this puzzle again six years later - more data could also be collected as to when Dr T starts giving extras in her shipments as well)

Data: 20, 20, 20, 21, 22, 21, 21, 18, 21, 20

No "higher ground" for using Fae Leap with angelic wings:

You take flight for a moment.
The lake serpent leaps into you for 1 melee damage, but your unexpected flight slips all of the damage.

You flick an icy feather towards the lake serpent like a throwing knife for 2 stealth damage.

No change with various knifes or broken bottles equipped.
No change following Leaping Dodge.
No change with crumpled raven feather in offhand.
No change to the "You flick a cold knife" message with the blade of the snows equipped.
No change unopposed, opener, closer.

I note that GoldS got a special (previously unseen?) intro message: "A massive pile of gifts came in overnight in Metroplex U wrapping paper. You take several trips to haul them into your apartment." Well done!

I got:

It's finally time to open all these presents!

You received: carved present

A pile of gifts came in overnight in Metroplex U wrapping paper. You haul them into your apartment.

You received: 3 chisel ornaments

You received: 4 ice brick ornaments

You received: swan tree topper

You received: 3 red feather ornament

You received: 2 clear swan ornaments

You received: 3 blue Christmas lights

You received: snowy cookie tin

Heh, just noticed that the 'nostalgic' sweater from 2015 uses the same image as the first sweater (2008). Nice touch there and kudos to whoever put all the sweater images on the Christmas rewards page.

It's finally time to open all these presents!

You received: carved present

A massive pile of gifts came in overnight in Metroplex U wrapping paper. You take several trips to haul them into your apartment.

You received: 11 chisel ornaments

You received: 3 swan tree toppers

You received: 6 ice brick ornaments

You received: 24 red feather ornament

You received: clear swan ornament

You received: 4 blue Christmas lights

You received: snowy cookie tin

You've earned the following 2019 Title: "the Builder of Snow"
(Reigning Titles are available until someone new takes the title)

Hey, there's something from the OmniMall here too.

You found: scarfed llama

(Kept "the Terror of Snow" from last year)

My results:

It's finally time to open all these presents!

You received: carved present

A pile of gifts came in overnight in Metroplex U wrapping paper. You haul them into your apartment.

You received: 16 chisel ornaments

You received: 3 swan tree toppers

You received: 5 ice brick ornaments

You received: 5 red feather ornament

You received: 3 clear swan ornaments

You received: 7 blue Christmas lights

You received: snowy cookie tin

You've earned the following 2019 Titles: "the Killer of Snow", "the Carver of Ice"
(Reigning Titles are available until someone new takes the title)

Hey, there's something from the OmniMall here too.

You found: scarfed llama

My swag:

It's finally time to open all these presents!

You received: carved present

A pile of gifts came in overnight in Metroplex U wrapping paper. You haul them into your apartment.

You received: 8 chisel ornaments

You received: 3 swan tree toppers

You received: 4 ice brick ornaments

You received: 5 red feather ornament

You received: 2 clear swan ornaments

You received: 6 blue Christmas lights

You received: snowy cookie tin

Hey, there's something from the OmniMall here too.

You found: scarfed llama

taken about 2 seconds before rollover:

Most Built Most Destroyed Scariest
GoldS 37 Cryptodynamic 258 GoldS 577
Cryptodynamic 25 GoldS 122 Cryptodynamic 25
Argeth 20 borkman 88 Mag 25
Mag 17 Mag 79 xKiv 16
Al 17 xerf 68 xerf 12

Looks like the towering snowman is up at 151 built. There's also an odd gap in between the lines about snowman arranged around the giant, and the line about snowmen casting strange shadows.

Checked at 149 and then 150; no change in message. Will continue to build if while I can.

When I asked Kinak if we were close to the towering snowman:
"Very close, but not quite. Should be fine shortly."

At the time, the number of snowmen taken down was below 500. I got it up to 508 and it's still not available. Number of snowmen built is 133, so I'm guessing increasing that (as was previously suggested - maybe to 150?) is the key.

You punch the snowman, throwing the whole weight of your body behind it and dealing 10 melee damage.
The snowman closes its mouths around you, dealing 6 melee damage.

Your strike clashes with the snowman's attack. The jolt deals it 8 melee damage.
The snowman sinks its fangs into you dealing 9 melee damage.

You calmly toss a vial at the snowman, engulfing it in flames that deal 15 fire damage and continue burning.
The snowman bites at you from every angle for 5 melee damage.

You hurl a vial of NitroX at the snowman. It explodes into a ball of flame, dealing 20 fire damage. One of the snowman's heads sloughs off but doesn't fall to the ground, hovering above the snowdrifts and circling like a predator.

The mixture clinging to the snowman burns out before it can do any serious harm.

Doesn't seem to care if it's just melee. Any damage over threshold X has a chance Y to produce head?

You calmly toss a vial at the snowman, engulfing it in flames that deal 8 fire damage and continue burning.
The snowman inhales, then breathes a cloud of sparkling motes on you. You shiver, chilled to the core for 1 etheric damage.

You hurl a vial of NitroX at the snowman. It explodes into a ball of flame, dealing 10 fire damage.
The snowman digs its fingers into you, dealing 3 melee damage.

Your steel clad rocket slams into the snowman's armor and explodes for 8 fire damage.
The snowman howls wordlessly and brings its axe down on you for 8 melee damage.

You fire a microrocket. It homes in on the snowman and explodes in a brilliant display of light, dealing 8 fire damage.

The clinging mixture continues to burn the snowman for 24 damage.

Just HP data update stuff. 24+10+24 = 58 damage.

You fire a microrocket. It homes in on the snowman and explodes in a brilliant display of light, dealing 8 fire damage.
The snowman inhales, then breathes a cloud of sparkling motes on you. You shiver, chilled to the core for 2 etheric damage.

Your steel clad rocket slams into the snowman's armor and explodes for 8 fire damage.
The snowman digs its fingers into you, dealing 4 melee damage.

+ 16 = 74

Your steel clad rocket slams into the snowman's armor and explodes for 8 fire damage.
The snowman chops at you for 8 melee damage.

You found: fire axe

You found: gnarled branch

Hp range 74-82

I'd guess 80, could be 75.

Seems like it should be possible to get the towering snowman, even without hitting the 'legion' level of snowmen. From some text we've got recorded on the Snow Goons (2009) page, it would seem to be possible. So maybe there's still something else going on.

Hit 100 snowmen and got the "mass" message. Towering snowman has yet to show.

At over 500 max scariness (with a lot of heads involved), and 97 snowmen built, we're sitting at:

Dozens of snowmen mark the Quad, glaring down at you balefully. At the center of the horde, you see a small group of snowmen watching the proceedings. Some have horns and a single coal eye, while others have too many heads or stare out with a pair of bulbous eyes like Christmas ornaments.

I'm wondering if maybe hitting 100 snowmen built is a required threshold for moving to a 'mass' and maybe getting the towering snowman to show up.

No change in message vs. Rat King (which is where you get Downward Stab). Not sure what else constitutes higher ground. (Unless this is a precursor to flying techniques!). The Swan uses the higher ground version.

From chat discussion: the text implies that you need 4 blocks of ice to carve a swan. But Mag and I both reported cases where we dropped 4 blocks of ice but didn't get the swan result.

In one case I gave 4 blocks of ice and didn't get a swan, and then tried again (without adding any more ice) and did get a swan. So some element of randomness maybe or a global ice counter? The text seems to imply it's a per-player counter. Odd.

No change in making a swan while etheric.

A note that we probably need to fix this up, to note that some of the messages change by both number and scariness of snowmen. A couple number messages:

A handful of snowmen stand quietly on the Quad, although you get a strange feeling… a taste of barely contained malice. Maybe it's the Eclipse talking… but maybe the Eclipse is right. None of the mob seem particularly more or less dangerous than the others.

Dozens of snowmen mark the Quad, glaring down at you balefully. A few snowmen with vicious icicle fangs work their way through the crowd. The others seem like lost puppies in comparison.

Think we've usually blown past these markers by the time people go etheric.