The Second Mask

## Description

> *"God's one cruel son of a bitch, isn't he?"*
>
> The following content is exclusive to **Sacrificial Mode**, which is only unlocked after beating the game. **Expect a lot of spoilers!**
>
>

## The Second Mask

A pixelated sprite of masquerade-style plague doctor mask with a black string attached to it. It's vibrant red and gold in color, and has been upscaled for clarity.

### Effects

+20% base Magic damage, +60 maximum Magic Power, -15% Magic Power consumption, -20% maximum Health, Critical Strikes inflict Blood, Magic Power Exhaustion lasts longer, riposting deals damage, Oblations are non-lethal

### Cost to sell

N/A

The Second Mask is a Sacrificial Mode trinket dropped by Scarron, the Dual Spirit. It provides various stat increases for Mages at the cost of stealing 1/5 of the wearer's maximum Health and multiplying the duration of Magic Power Exhaustion by 1.33x. Holding this trinket is required to enter the Cult of Yarin, as Heretics will instantly kill the player otherwise. Additionally, shopkeepers will refuse to open their shops until the player removes the mask, and it cannot be sold. On the contrary, dialogue provided by Coatyl states that The Second Mask would be valued at 4580 Darqra, yet he still refuses to buy it.

Upon parrying an attack, the player will flash bright red, reflecting 66% of the absorbed damage and applying knockback to the attacker. A cartoonish plucking sound also plays when the attack is deflected, and this effect has a 20 second cooldown.

While the mask cools down, it will become visually corrupted with black ooze leaking from its eyeholes, the sheet music on its forehead as well as the shading on its beak will become inverted crosses, the eyeholes themselves will slightly deform, and the mask will appear bent or chipped.

During this time, any Oblations used will go towards lowering the mask's cooldown, at the cost of consuming 40% more health. Regardless of the mask's state, attempting to sacrifice a player character will play a fake death animation, after which the Revival Pact animation is played. This "revives" the player with 700 Health, regardless of if they signed a Revival Pact or even have one in their inventory. It also clears the mask's cooldown, replacing it with the Gluttony effect and deducting 75 Magic Power.

Fake revivals can only remove its cooldown once per life. Otherwise, the player will get up as if they recovered from Magic Power Exhaustion. No status effects will be applied, and their spent Health will be refunded.

## Lore

The Second Mask, as stated in Valhalla: The Story of the First Sage, is the skull of a Plaguebringer that's been chiseled and decorated into a mask, which explains its unusual hardness. It was found by Scarron after he was exiled from Archamine, where Raori would leech on him to ease her own suffering; often possessing his body due to hers being sealed inside the mask.

## Trivia

* In terms of its lore and functionality, The Second Mask shares many similarities to Majora's Mask, a reoccurring item in the *Legend of Zelda* series.
* This mask does exist online, and was probably bought on Ebay. **Higher quality results are bound to exist**.
* The Second Mask is a specifically Venetian-style plague doctor mask, as evident by its masquerade-style coloring and the sheet music on its forehead.
* Its sprite also has much larger eyeholes than the prop itself. This was a purely stylistic choice.
* It is the only item that allows the user to fake their death.