The Trickster/Reaching the Trickster

## Reaching the Trickster

The Trickster is perhaps the most complicated Elder God to reach. In stark contrast to the fairly linear route to the Necromancer, getting to the Trickster is a very lengthy and cryptic endeavor consisting of a number of oblique requirements to complete.

### Step One: Capturing a Pursuer

The Pursuer plays a vital role in unlocking the route to the Trickster, as the player must capture one and send it back to the Facility, which can only be done in "Ruins - I" with a specific item. To do this, the player must purchase the Capture Device that appears in the shop in "Ruins - I" for the price of 1500 gold. After buying it, the player will automatically equip the device in one of their weapon slots.

Ideally, the player should then head to a wide-open space with no living enemies present and either wait for the Pursuer to spawn naturally, or summon one using the Pursuer Heart located in every shop. The player has to then set the device down and lure the Pursuer into the device's light, which will trap and teleport the Pursuer to the Facility. From here, the player can either finish their run, or abandon it and return to the Facility instantly. The Pursuer will be locked up in a caged room near the Facility's entrance.

### Step Two: The Jerk

Any player who explores the Facility likely has encountered "The Jerk", who is a strange looking UHDF employee roaming around the Facility aimlessly in a twitching, zombie-like daze. The worker will also push the player back by an unusual distance if they happen to stand in his way. Sometimes, after being shoved, the player can catch a glimpse of a red glow in his eyes.

To deal with him, the player must head to where the captured Pursuer is locked up. While imprisoned, the Pursuer has been continuously dripping blood on the floor. A large artery has grown out from the Pursuer's blood and has tried to squeeze its way out of the cage. A second Pursuer Heart has formed on the tip of the artery and hangs directly outside the cage. The player must grab the heart and find the Jerk again. With the heart equipped, bumping into the worker or throwing the heart at him will cause the heart to stick to the Jerk's body. Once this is done, the player must wait for the Jerk to wander back near the Facility's elevator. Once the Jerk reaches the elevator, a system voice message will play, mentioning that it has detected anomalous material in the embarkation room. The Jerk will then be blasted apart by a ceiling turret.

### Step Three: The Bloody Mass

Upon starting a new run, the player will discover a bulbous, flesh-like growth near the elevator. Similarly to how the Pursuer Heart created a new heart from its own blood, the Bloody Mass appears to have formed from the Jerk's blood, which has been dripping down from the Facility above.

The Bloody Mass turns out to be more than just a lump of flesh, however: it appears to be an egg-like growth producing the Trickster himself. As such, the Bloody Mass will grow bigger each time the player starts a new run and will take four runs in total for the Bloody Mass to "hatch". Thus, the player can either play through four runs as normal or repeatedly abandon and restart their run until it hatches. However, to advance the progression of the bloody mass, the player must first wait for the message indicating the mass has grown to appear, as abandoning the run immediately upon entering does not count. Upon starting the fourth run, an in-game message will appear, stating that something has been born from the bloody mass, and indeed, it has burst open, and a trail of bloody footsteps reveals the Trickster has trekked through the depths.

**Note**: After completing these three steps, they do not have to be repeated in order to reach the Trickster again.

### Step Four: The Staff

Once the previous steps have been completed, the player must make their way straight to the Ruins. If the shortcut to the Ruins has been unlocked, then the player can use it, if they feel sufficiently prepared to take on the Trickster. The Trickster dwells within a virtual reality dimension known as "The Construct" and the entrance to the Construct will be randomly placed in either "Ruins - I" or "Ruins - II". If one of the two levels is completely covered in red tendrils (or if there are bloody footprints at the beginning of the level), then the entrance to the Construct will be in that level.

Upon reaching the tendril-covered Ruins level, the player will need to search for a massive room where an immobile Giant Mage has been ensnared by a mass of red tendrils that have engulfed a tall pillar made out of grey, petrified bodies. The same pillar may be present in other rooms without the trapped Giant Mage, which is a sign to just keep searching. The ensnared Giant Mage is impossible to kill conventionally, so the player must wait for the Pursuer to spawn or summon one, then lure the Pursuer into the Mage. Upon being touched by the Pursuer, the Giant Mage will turn into a skeleton and drop its Magic Staff, which the player has to pick up. If the player is wielding a Shield, it must be abandoned, as any Shield in Beneath cannot be used while wielding the Staff. It is ***not*** recommended to waste the Staff's ammunition, due to its use in the following step.

### Step Five: The Portal

Unlike other levels, the Pursuer Portal will not disappear, as it is actually the entrance to the Construct. The player has to then locate the Pursuer Portal in the same level they found the Staff, while simultaneously being chased by the Pursuer. To locate the portal, the player needs to use the Staff as a navigator: the tip of the Staff will glow red whenever it is pointed in the direction of where the Portal is. Even with the Staff equipped, finding the Portal can still be difficult, and it may take the player a while to find it if they have not found it already. If there are still a large number of enemies present in the level, be aware that the Pursuer will kill any enemy it touches (except for Shard Lords), so you may want to lure the Pursuer into large hordes of enemies if need be.

Once the player finds the Portal, firing a bolt of magic at the Portal with the Staff will activate it. Entering the Portal will teleport the Player to a bridge leading to the Construct's entrance. In reality, the entrance is a pair of virtual reality pods: one for the Trickster and one for the player.

### Step Six: The Construct

The Construct is the last section of the quest to complete before fighting the Trickster and is also the simplest. The player has to play through warped versions of the Scenarios from the main game, before finally being able to confront the Trickster, who will be fought in a distorted version of the Arena Mode's coliseum.