Skill
| Image |  |
| Description | Your head is full of old Halloween stories, with tricks and treats and everything in between. |
| When Used | (see below) |
Sources
Using Trick or Treat.
Uses
The skill can be toggled to (de)activate it from your character sheet. Using the skill gives:
(If non-Etheric:)
It seems like Halloween has left a special mark on the dreams of those it touches. Maybe it's about becoming someone else… maybe it's just the candy.(If Etheric:)
You feel like you're walking through someone else's dreams, but it seems like Halloween leaves a special mark. Maybe there's something to the old superstitions after all.
And then:
(If skill is toggled off:)
You haven't been thinking about this much lately.
Start thinking(If skill is toggled on:)
You've been thinking about this a lot lately.
Stop it
Choosing to start thinking results in:
You think about Halloween and harvest, candy and killers, tricks and treats. There's some knot of contradiction that just won't let you go.
Stop it results in:
You resolve to stop thinking about Halloween for a few minutes. After all, it's just one day, you probably shouldn't let it take over your entire year.
Item Summary
Adventuring with this skill active while Etheric can result in non-combat encounters that provide items or effects.
Equipment
| Item | Type | Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Harvester blade | Weapon (Knife) | +4 Stealth Power +4 Power when your target doesn't have a Technique |
| Harvester mask | Hat (Mask) | +4 Etheric Power +2 Stealth Power -2 Stealth Defense |
| rubber mask | Hat (Mask) | +1 Stealth Power +1 Etheric Defense |
Food
| Item | Use Effect | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| bitter licorice | Bitter Treat | See below |
| candy knife | Violent Treat | See below |
| colorful gummy spider | Crawling Treat | See below |
| high class mint | Expensive Treat | See below |
| mask lollipop | Mental Treat | See below |
Effects
Techniques
| Chain | Technique | Type | Attribute | Dam | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Sudden Adaptation | Stealth | Strength | 4 | +2 with a mask, +4 in position 5 of a chain |
 |
Harvester Reaping | Melee | Strength | 5 | Stealth instead following a Stealth attack |
 |
Harvester Grin | Etheric | Will | 8 | +4 while Etheric with harvester mask equipped |
Encounters
These show up ever 12-30ish? turns, if you are Etheric (Slags Poisoning is not sufficient) and the skill is active. The very first time you use the skill in a run, you are guaranteed to get an dream encounter on the next turn you adventure with Etheric active.
The noncombat encounters are broadly categorized as either 'tricks' or 'treats', with the trick encounters resulting in an effect and possibly learning a technique, while the treat encounters result in receiving items. There is also a choice encounter in which you can choose whether to receive a trick or a treat.
These encounters do not cost Energy, but they do take one energy of Etheric.
It seems to be possible to influence which kind of encounter you get, though spading is still preliminary. Chance of encounters seems to be involved, as people have reported seeing a high incidence of the combat encounter with an elevated chance of etheric encounters, while others did not see the combat at all until boosting that chance rate.
Wandering in your daydreams, you find a door. Behind it, a woman in a grinning mask… until she isn't behind the door at all. She's out here, coming after you.
(Fight The Harvester)
Drops Harvester blade or Harvester mask.
All of the following use this image:
Followed by one of:
Treats
Wandering in your daydreams, you find a door. Behind it, a woman in a grinning mask offers you candy. It seems wise to accept her offer.
You found: 1 of: mask lollipop, (bitter licorice, colorful gummy spider, high class mint or candy knife too?)
(While wearing any mask? A rubber mask, achromatic mask, mummy mask works.)
Wandering in your daydreams, you find a door. Behind it, a woman grins back at your mask and offers you some candy. It seems wise to accept her offer.
You found: 2 of: mask lollipop, bitter licorice, colorful gummy spider, high class mint or candy knife
Wandering in your daydreams, you find a door. Behind it, a woman in a grinning mask offers you a less cheerful one of your own. It seems wise to accept her offer.
You found: rubber mask
(With a computer equipped, sometimes?)
Wandering in your daydreams, you find a door. Behind it, a woman in a grinning mask stands motionless until you get a transfer beep from your computer.
When you look back up, she and the door are both gone.
You found: Harvester library
Tricks
Wandering in your daydreams, you find a door. Behind it, a woman in a grinning mask stares at you enigmatically.
Followed by one of:
She offers you a plate of appetizers and a glass of wine, both of which are amazing but curiously unfilling. You could eat nothing but these for days and aren't really sure you ever want to eat anything else.
You've gained 20 duration of Expensive Treat.
She offers you a plate of appetizers and a glass of wine, both of which are amazing but curiously unfilling. As soon as she closes the door, the aftertaste turns to bitter ash in your mouth.
You've gained 20 duration of Bitter Treat.
You feel something crawling over you body and glance down, expecting a trick, but see nothing. Despite the evidence of your eyes the sensation only intensifies.
You've gained 20 duration of Crawling Treat.
She makes you wait until you're ready to say something, then closes the door. When you work up the courage and anger to knock, you find the door itself has disappeared entirely.
You've gained 20 duration of Violent Treat.
Is that it? Is that a trick? Did she do something you didn't realize?
You've gained 20 duration of Mental Treat.
With the proper equipment equipped, additional text can be appended to the end of tricks:
At least you learned something from the trick.
Or, if you already have at least 5 instances of the technique you're learning:
At least you're still learning something from all these tricks.
And, with a rubber mask:
You learned a new Technique: Sudden Adaptation
Or, with a Harvester blade:
You learned a new Technique: Harvester Reaping
Or, with a Harvester mask:
You learned a new Technique: Harvester Grin
It is currently unclear what happens when multiple items are equipped, whether it's random or certain items takes priority. The blade seems like it may take priority over the masks, but needs more results to be certain. In order to learn additional instances of a technique, it seems that you must have all the previously learned instances in your active deck, though it needs to be confirmed if there are any additional conditions.
If you already have a treat effect active, it seems you will get the result that extends that effect.
Trick or Treat
Wandering in your daydreams, you find a door. Behind it, a woman in a grinning mask stands as though expecting you to make a choice.
Summary of Choices
- Trick
- Treat
Choice Text and Results
Trick
Even after you've settled on your choice, the woman stares at you enigmatically.
Followed by one of the Trick results from above.
Treat
The woman offers you candy. It seems wise to accept her offer.
You found: 1 of mask lollipop, bitter licorice, colorful gummy spider, high class mint or candy knife
Or, with a mask equipped:
The woman grins back at your mask and offers you some candy. It seems wise to accept her offer.
You found: 2 of mask lollipop, bitter licorice, colorful gummy spider, high class mint or candy knife
Under some condition? Not already having a rubber mask in inventory?
The woman offers you a less cheerful mask of your own. It seems wise to accept her offer.
You found: rubber mask
Remaining Mysteries
From Podcast 44:
There is at least one item for sure similar to the library that is missed. If you understand how to get the library it should more or less pop out. But if you don’t get that it might seem more like an easter egg almost. If you understand the mechanics there are hopefully enough breadcrumbs.