Stainless Skulls Helmet

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Item

Image
Description	The popularity of metal music has waxed and waned over the years. Over the last few decades, it vanished during the Orbital Wars in exchange for more cheerful pop, had a bit of a revival spreading out from Eurasia, and fell out of favor again as Zaibatsu solidified its control over entertainment. Now it seems to be having another upswing, at least in Midgard territories. Thanks to Midgard throwing some money behind that upswing, the Stainless Skulls are back touring again. The band's pretty old, but they all wear masks on stage, so it's hard to say exactly what sort of turnover they've had. This helmet is actually modeled after their masks. It's surprisingly solid, especially for a promotional item, probably to protect the integrated headphones and their uplink for "Daily Exclusive Stainless Skulls Tracks!" The exclusive tracks may not to be everyone's tastes, but the headphones are a thing of beauty.
Type	Hat
Hidden Flags	Skull Mask
Use	You queue up the Stainless Skulls sample track. It's… an acquired taste, but you can definitely see growing to like it, especially if you need extra motivation to scream or hit things. You've gained 20 duration of Stainless Skulls. Or, 2nd+ time per day: You already loaded their sample track for the day. Their songs all sound enough alike without listening to the same one twice. Or, if you have music playing: It's probably better to wait until you're done listening to your current music before you go loading the Stainless Skulls. It would definitely clash.
Equipped Effects	+2 Melee Defense +2 Will (Hidden: various hidden bonuses - see below)

Sources

Zack's House of Coins, originally available in season 23 for two unearthly coins

Full Explanation

Bonuses

When you have music playing, you get additional bonuses for having the helmet equipped:

any Metal music	+2 Melee Power
Dance Music	+2 Evasion Power
Midgard Player	+2 Morale
any Punk music	+2 damage when unopposed
any Emerald Gift music or Spooky Music	+2 Etheric Power
Classical Recital or Gaming Music	+2 Etheric Defense
Bitter Song or Ocean Voice	+2 Stealth Power
extreme bass player	(no bonus)

Post-Combat Messages

Level 1

Every time you win a battle with music playing, you get a message depending on the type of music:

Music	Message	Attribute
Metal	The metal thumps through your helmet's speakers, rattling your teeth in time with the beat.	Strength
Dance Music	Dance music thumps through your helmet's speakers. This is probably what resting your head against the speakers at a big party would be like.	Reflexes
Midgard Player	Generated tunes click into your skull from the helmet's speakers. They seem… strangely coherent, like a message you can't quite grasp.	Perception
Punk	Violent tunes stab into your ears from the helmet's speakers. It feels like your ear drums will rupture if you don't smash something soon.	Strength
Emerald Gift	Whispers slither into your skull from the helmet's speakers until you're not quite sure which thoughts are your own and which are slipping into your mind.	Will
Miscellaneous (Gaming Music, Spooky Music, Classical Recital, Bitter Song, Cavern Chimes, Ocean Voice)	The helmet's speakers have great sound quality, but minimal volume control. You're even able to hear your music in the middle of a fight, but you have to strain to piece together anything else.	Perception

The associated attribute does not have any significance for level 1, but is relevant for level 2 messages below.

Level 2

After you get the same message enough times, you get the following message in addition to the "Level 1" message above:

The music makes the fight seem entirely different. It's like watching a movie of the fight or like you're in two places at once… huh.

This can take anywhere from 3 to 8 combats.

Normally, this takes 5 to 8 combats. If you have a whisper microphone equipped, it instead takes 3 to 7 combats (very rarely 2? needs confirmation).

If you have the right technique in your deck while listening to the right type of music, you can learn a special technique unique to this item. You can only learn one instance of the technique at a time, and can only learn the Nth copy of this technique if you have at least N+1 copies of the required technique in your deck. For example, if you have three instances of Brutality in your deck and listen to metal, you can only learn three instances of Rhythmic Chopping.

Music	Technique in Deck	Technique Learned	Type	Attribute	Dam	Def
Metal	Brutality	Rhythmic Chopping	Melee	Strength	4	-
Dance Music	Life of the Party	Scripted Dance	Evasion (R)	Reflexes	-	4
Midgard Player	Brutality	Generated Gaze	Etheric	Will	12	-
Punk	Serpent Strike	Striking Dance	Stealth	Strength	2	-
Emerald Gift	Light of the Eye	Emerald Thoughts	Etheric (M,E,S)	Will	-	?
Miscellaneous	Any one of the techniques above (the highest single count)	Metallic Summons	Etheric	Strength	8	-
(any)	(none of the combinations above)	Instead of a technique, gain 4-5 additional XP in the attribute corresponding to the music (see Level 1).
(more than one type of music in last few combats)	(any)	Message replaced by: Something about the music thumping in your ears makes things clearer. It might just be because you're splitting your attention, but it feels a little like you're in two places at once. Gain 2 additional XP (in which attributes?)

All of the techniques are enhanced by having the appropriate music playing.

More detail:
This counter does not reset at rollover or when you run out of music. For instance, you might win 5 fights, run out of music, spend some energy, then play the same genre of music again. Your 6th fight could have one of the results below. Unequipping the helmet seems to work the same way, but there are some contradictory results here.

It does not matter how often you use the technique. You only need to have it in your deck. This is true for level 3 results as well.

Level 3

If you get the level 2 message 5-8 times† (or very rarely 4, 9, or 10 times), you unlock additional results. You must have one of the techniques learned in level 2 in your deck, and be listening to the appropriate type of music. For the item results, you also need at least 10 duration of an etheric effect.

†Which takes approximately 40 combats or 31 with microphone, but this can vary widely. Needs more data points without microphone.

Music	Technique in Deck	Message without enough etheric	Result with 10+ etheric
Metal	Rhythmic Chopping	The beat is so strong and the barely-understandable lyrics so intense, you can almost see yourself defending your pile of dismembered corpses with a wicked axe. (May grant 4 Strength XP, needs testing)	The beat is so strong and the barely-understandable lyrics so intense, you can see yourself defending your pile of dismembered corpses with a wicked axe. Your hallucination clears a moment later. You found: Stainless Skulls axe
Metal	Rhythmic Chopping	(If you have a Stainless Skulls axe equipped): The beat is so strong and the barely-understandable lyrics so intense, you can almost see the pile of dismembered corpses left by your axe. Gain 4 Strength XP
Dance Music	Scripted Dance	(Note: Possibly doesn't require etheric, or possibly non-etheric message just hasn't been recorded. Needs testing.) You can see the party in your mind's eye. It's only when you're coming down from the adrenaline rush that you realize you've been singing and dancing. You've gained 50 duration of Center Stage.
Midgard Player	Generated Gaze	- (no message) -	Something between your Player and your helmet goes completely haywire, shrieking and cackling like a badly-synthesized witch. After you restart everything, you notice several files you don't remember seeing before. You found: 4-5? of: command script, filtering script, networking functions, crash script, ?
Punk	Striking Dance	- (no message) -	The music in your helmet grows increasingly stranger, as though it's looping over itself, playing several copies of today's sample track slightly out of synch almost drowned out by a horrible mechanical shriek. It might have been some sort of editing mode… at least, there's a new file on your comm that seems to contain the new "music." You found: corrupted Stainless Skulls demo
Emerald Gift	Emerald Thoughts	You find yourself whispering along with the lyrics as though you were onstage, hissing into a microphone as the swirling emerald lightshow casts writhing shadows over the crowd. Eventually the hallucination passes, but you can't shake the sensation of a thousand eyes on you. Gain 4 Will XP	You find yourself whispering along with the lyrics as though you were onstage, hissing into a microphone as the swirling emerald lightshow casts writhing shadows over the crowd. Although the crowd and the lightshow pass, the microphone remains firmly in your hand. You found: whisper microphone
Emerald Gift	Emerald Thoughts	(If you have a whisper microphone equipped:) You find yourself whispering along with the lyrics, creating another set of voices… one of them your thoughts, one the music, and one your own voice picked up by the microphone… but you can't say which is which. Gain 4 Will XP
Miscellaneous	Metallic Summons	It's really incredible the level of audio detail you can get with this helmet. You're sure it's supposed to bring out the best of the Stainless Skulls somehow… you'll just have to pay more attention next time.