The headless horseman

Enlivened by the spooky atmosphere, the corpse of an unfortunate soldier that fell during the heroic charge against the Polemarch’s army has stirred to life… the headless horseman of the Resistance!

For the next two days, until October is over, this elite NPC will spawn randomly around the world. There will be a global message announcing its presence when it spawns, and it has a lowered spawn time (average 2 hours). Killing this elite has both a chance of dropping essence for the haunted house shop, and dropping chocolates. Do note these chocolates have a shorter decay time than usual – use them or lose them!

However, this is no ordinary elite foe. This special spectre is introducing four new elite powers:

Juggernaut
This denizen will occasionally set its sights on a direction, readying a powerful charge. Adventurers in its path, both in its current room and those along its charge route, will be dragged along, and suffer significant damage and stun with each room traversed. Ensure you’re not in its way when it decides to bolt!

Infernal
This denizen occasionally marks adventurers with a fiery brand that counts down to detonation. Upon reaching zero, the brand erupts, harming the branded and nearby allies. Individual explosions are manageable, but clustered detonations amplify the damage greatly. The branded should spread out to individual rooms as the timer nears its end to mitigate the threat.

Necromancer
This denizen is a crafty foe and should anything die in its presence – adventurer or otherwise – it will raise a skeleton from the corpse to fight alongside it.

Soulbinder
This denizen possesses the power to intertwine souls. It will tether two adventurers together, inflicting continuous damage until they distance themselves sufficiently to break the effect. Simultaneously, it might bind its own soul to a chosen adventurer, diverting any healing they receive to itself until they’re adequately separated. Ensure you maintain distance when bound until the tether breaks.

The horseman has a higher chance of spawning with these powers than other elite powers. Once the horseman’s time has passed, you might find the regular selection elites showing up with these powers too.

Additionally, I’ve also made a couple of tweaks to elites in general:
* A lot of lines pertaining to their abilities are now coloured and will also trigger the GMCP alerts channel.
* The arsonist ability can now place down firewalls.

Penned by my hand on Gosday, the 3rd of Arios, in the year 513 MA.