Spectral Halloween Special

This article is for content released in the update. For the patch itself, see October 26, 2012 Patch.

“

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 is a major update released on October 26, 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". 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 begins the following day, October 26th, 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) with Merasmus (with the Bombinomicon) as the boss. It added two new achievements and introduced Magic 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 will be different; during the last two years, gifts spawned publicly and could be claimed by whoever arrived there first, while this year, players will 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).

Weapons

Main article: Weapons

Cosmetic items

Main article: Cosmetic items

Tools

Main article: Halloween Spells

Halloween Spells are single use tool items that are used to give various Halloween themed effects to weapons or hats depending on what spell it is. It should be noted that not only do the Spell Items expire on November 9th, but the spell effects upon other items expire on November 9th as well.

Maps

Main article: List of maps

Name	Picture	Game mode	File name
Ghost Fort		King of the Hill	koth_lakeside_event
Ghost Town		Mann vs. Machine	mvm_ghost_town

Trivia

• Several encoded messages appear on the update's pages, and they use Agathodaimon symbols.
  • 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 says "Small Head".
  • On the Spectral Halloween Special update page, the first header says "Explo Capitus" while the second says "Barpo Kabalto".

Gallery

• 

  Spectral Halloween Special Update page.

• 

  The Spy as seen on the blog.

• 

  The hidden "Teufort Reader" page.