Spectral Halloween Special

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This article is for content released in the update. For the patch itself, see October 26, 2012 Patch.
Fourth Annual Scream Fortress.jpg
In much the same way that most of the characters in the 1983 haunted elevator movie “The Lift” were warned – repeatedly - to take the stairs, we warned you that the frankly terrifying Scream Fortress Halloween event was coming. And now it’s here, and you’re scared, and you don’t have anyone to blame but yourself. This year, you’ll experience the tear-squirting terror of being trapped in a living nightmare with a vindictive ghost, just like everyone in M. Night Shyamalan’s epic of elevator haunting, “Devil”.
TF2 Official Blog

The Fourth Annual Spectral Halloween Special was the 2012 Halloween event, which included the new maps Ghost Town (a haunting of MVM Coal Town) and Ghost Fort (a haunted adaption of Lakeside that introduced Merasmus as a boss), new items, and two new Necromannchievements. The event also introduced Voodoo-Cursed Souls. Players that logged on during the event also received a Halloween Goodie Cauldron.

After three days of on-line teases, the event began with the October 26, 2012 Patch and concluded on November 8, 2012.

Timeline

On October 23, 2012, the head of the Spy portrait on the TF2 Official Blog was changed to resemble a skull. Clicking on the skull led to a hidden page, with a newspaper page titled "The Teufort Reader" reporting the theft of Voodoo-Cursed Items (later release into the game). The bottom of the newspaper is ripped, showing two cards with odd symbols.

The following day, October 24, a comic titled Doom-Mates was released. The comic details Merasmus' return home from his weekend at WizardCon, and his growing resentment towards the Soldier.

The next day, October 25, a page was posted that announced the event would begin the following day, October 26, and gave a link to the update page with all the info. It announced a new Mann vs. Machine mission called "Wave 666", where instead of fighting robots, the players fight zombies, and a new Halloween King of the Hill match (on koth_lakeside_event[1]) with Merasmus (with the Bombinomicon) as the boss. It added two new achievements and introduced Halloween Spells, which players can cast on other items in their backpack to give their items new effects, from shifting paint colors to flaming footsteps. Additionally, the Gift Drop system was changed; during the last two years, gifts spawned publicly and could be claimed by whoever arrived there first, while that year, players would receive private gift spawns that they can grab at their leisure.

Additions

Merasmus

Main article: Merasmus

Merasmus is a non-playable character wizard boss, who attacks both RED and BLU teams until he is slain. He has several attacks, including using the Bombinomicon to rain bombs around the Control Point. His health range varies from 50000 to around 100000, depending on the number of players in the server. Merasmus does not appear until ten or more players are present (not including spectators or bots).

Maps

Main article: List of maps
Name Picture Game mode File name
Ghost Fort Ghost Fort.png King of the Hill
Controlpoint.png
koth_lakeside_event
Ghost Town Mvm coaltown event.jpg Mann vs. Machine
Mvm navicon.png
mvm_ghost_town

Weapon

Main article: Weapons
Bat Outta Hell Bat Outta Hell
Notes Not available for the Engineer and the Spy.

Costume set

Main article: Halloween Costumes
The Grand Duchess
Grand Duchess Tiara Grand Duchess Tiara
Grand Duchess Fairy Wings Grand Duchess Fairy Wings
Grand Duchess Tutu Grand Duchess Tutu

Cosmetic items

Main article: Cosmetic items
Spooky Shoes Spooky Shoes
Voodoo-Cursed Scout Soul Voodoo-Cursed Scout Soul
Voodoo-Cursed Soldier Soul Voodoo-Cursed Soldier Soul
Zipperface Zipperface
Coffin Kit Coffin Kit
Plutonidome Plutonidome
Voodoo-Cursed Pyro Soul Voodoo-Cursed Pyro Soul
Wraith Wrap Wraith Wrap
Voodoo JuJu (Slight Return) Voodoo JuJu (Slight Return)
Voodoo-Cursed Demoman Soul Voodoo-Cursed Demoman Soul
Voodoo-Cursed Heavy Soul Voodoo-Cursed Heavy Soul
Master Mind Master Mind
Voodoo-Cursed Engineer Soul Voodoo-Cursed Engineer Soul
Voodoo-Cursed Medic Soul Voodoo-Cursed Medic Soul
Sir Hootsalot Sir Hootsalot
Voodoo-Cursed Sniper Soul Voodoo-Cursed Sniper Soul
Scarecrow Scarecrow
Voodoo-Cursed Spy Soul Voodoo-Cursed Spy Soul
Spooky Sleeves Spooky Sleeves
Bonedolier Bonedolier
Exorcizor Exorcizor
Boo Balloon Boo Balloon
Crone's Dome Crone's Dome
Dead Little Buddy Dead Little Buddy
Executioner Executioner
Ghostly Gibus Ghostly Gibus
Rump-o'-Lantern Rump-o'-Lantern
Skull Island Topper Skull Island Topper
Unknown Monkeynaut Unknown Monkeynaut

Tools

Main article: Tools
Eerie Crate Eerie Crate
Eerie Key Eerie Key
Halloween Spells Halloween Spells

Unusual effects

Main article: Unusual effects
Spectral Halloween Special Unusual effects
Cosmetic effects
Unusual Knifestorm.png
Unusual Misty Skull.png
Unusual Harvest Moon.png
Unusual It's A Secret To Everybody.png
Unusual Stormy 13th Hour.png
Knifestorm Misty Skull Harvest Moon It's A Secret To Everybody Stormy 13th Hour


Achievements

Backpack Skull Island Topper.png Necromannchievements

A Lovely Vacation Spot
A Lovely Vacation Spot
Get to Skull Island and claim your reward!

Reward: Skull Island Topper

Wizards Never Prosper
Wizards Never Prosper
Kill MERASMUS!

Trivia

  • Several encoded messages appear on the update's pages, and they use a cipher of Agathodaimon symbols, a dingbats-inspired, esoteric font designed by Andrew D. Taylor.
    • The first one, found on the Scout's card on the hidden page, translates to "Super Spped".(sic) The encoded message on the Heavy's card on the Spectral Halloween Special update page reads "Small Head".
    • On the Spectral Halloween Special update page, the first header says "Explo Capitus", while the second says "Barpo Kabalto"; both captions are in mock-Latin and are meaningless. "Barpo Kabalto", however, would later be used as a spell-casting phrase in Scream Fortress 2013.

Gallery

External links

References