It’s that time of the year again! The Ferryman is waiting in Prontera to take you to Melodia Town. The air is getting cool, leaves are falling, pumpkins are being carved, broomsticks are being prepared to be loaned to outsiders, and a festival is beginning! In addition to the annual new quest, there are a plethora of new and returning features this year!

While this post is quite concise, you will find a lot of additional details in the Year 2025, Year 2024 and Year 2023 posts as well, so be sure to check that out!

This year, the festival will run for 2.5 weeks until November 17th, evening server time.

Limited Edition Costume

For a duration of one week, you can now purchase these [Visual] Nightmare Chain (Garment), [Visual] Eternal Aureole, [Visual] Radiant Aureole and [Visual] Lucent Aureole Costumes (Shadow Accessories) at the Talon Shop for respectively 6000, 6000, 5000 and 4000 Talon Cash!

Disclaimer: even though it’s sold for a limited time, it may or may not return in the future to cater towards players from

Enrolling into a House

Four houses compete for glory during the festival:

• House Windsor, led by Remy
• House Guile, led by Faa
• House Sorin, led by Sola
• House Emure, led by Sydo

The Halloween festival at Melodia has been and will always be a competition among the houses of Melodia Academy. As such, participating in the competition requires you to be assigned into one of the four noble houses.  The competitive activities offered by Melodia pits all four houses against each other through a huge variety of mini games, designed to test your skills, proficiency and perhaps luck as well. Be certain to try out all of them to experience everything Melodia has to offer you, and also earn points for your house and tickets for yourself.

House Windsor	House Guile	House Sorin	House Emure
Led by Remy	Led by Faa	Led by Sola	Led by Sydo

To join one…

1. Speak to the Ferryman in Prontera to travel to Melodia.
2. Initially, he drops you off in the left wing of Melodia Academy. Speak to Monny (The Talking Monemus) there, and Monny will sort you into the house that suits you best. Monny can also turn jumpscares on or off for you.
3. Monny will also provide a Melodia Broomstick, which is your tool to quickly warp around the various locations in Melodia.
4. Your house applies to every character on your master account, so it’s best to stick to one character for the event.
5. After the initial trip, the Ferryman can take you back to the town at the Southern Dock when inside Melodia. Otherwise, when coming into Melodia from Prontera again, he will drop you off at Melodia’s Southern Dock going forward.

Joining a house earns you an achievement and a house title. To equip it…

1. Click the small down arrow below the Status Window to open the Extended Menu.
2. Click the Achievement Trophy Icon at the bottom left.
3. Open the Adventure Tab, select your House Achievement, and click “Collect” at the bottom right.
4. Press ALT + Q to open the Equipment Window and go to the right-most Title tab.
5. Double-click your House Title to equip it.

House Competition

Every game you play, every monster you hunt in Racas Forest Preserve, and every quest you finish earns House Points for your house. The registrar keeps the scores hidden until the very end of the festival, when the winning houses are revealed.

Members of the winning houses can pick a house prize, as long as they bought something with Halloween Tickets during the event. The Top Scorers of each house also get their own special achievement and title.

The Two Houses that place first together (see below!) will win one of these at its member’s own choice:

• Blessing of Angels Costume
• Big Magic Book Costume
• Adventurer Pope Egg
• Big Lollipop Costume
• Bloody Murderer Knife Costume
• Atroce Egg
• Time Holder Egg
• Giant Mad Bunny Costume
• Giant Nightmare Mad Bunny Costume (NEW)
• Pumpkin Backpack Costume (any color) (NEW)

Player Competitions

On top of the house competition, there are Honorary Degrees for the festival’s standout players…

• The top-three (3)overall players.
  • This includes but is not limited to town games, minigames, Racas Forest kills and many more activities! Let the best players win~
• The top Minigame players, by points earned in the minigames. Blackjack doesn’t count.
• The top Racas Forest hunters, by kills in the Racas Forest Preserve and the Forbidden Section during Happy Hour.
• The fastest Labyrinth party.

These go by master account, not by character!

Furthermore, you can only win ONE category, not multiple (Labyrinth not included)! Overall wins beats the single categories, meaning anyone who wins in the overall competition cannot win the other categories.

In recognition of outstanding efforts, each of this year’s thirteen Degree recipients will receive:

• A unique, account-bound Feeos Egg.
• Your choice of MVP Card!
  • Cards eligible for this prize are those currently available from the Talon Shop.
  • Maya Purple is furthermore excluded from this list.

What’s New in 2026

2 v 2 Teams: Azviar vs Bryjar

If anyone is familiar with the 2017 Halloween Event (1 year prior to Melodia’s official debut!) will recognize the names Azviar and Bryjar. Azviar being the representation of Founder Algo, and Bryjar being the representation of Founder Muse. This year, we are evolving the idea with a new twist! Rather than the original Team vs Team, it will be 2 Houses vs 2 Houses!

When you enroll, be sure to pay attention to what Monny tells you, and look at the Status Board in case you forgot. The House you’re paired with, you’re in it for the ultimate reward together! Furthermore, there are now house and team channels, which you are automatically opted into (#azviar and #bryjar are the new ones).

This also means that the House Competition winners are now the two houses that -together- gathered most points.

Main Quest: Once Upon a Classroom

As with every year, every class at Melodia Academy is fully booked.   Every class?   No, not all of them. There is one little subject that students consistently avoid. Some say it’s too bland, while others say that’s on the professor. Whatever the reason, times are dark, and the subject is about to get axed…

But we say that’s not an option. This class is fundamental, and it needs your help.

Do you have what it takes to become the hero of a slowly forgotten art? Put on your reading glasses. It’s time to study, it’s time to shine, and it’s time to get Lost in a Good Book.

(This quest is characterbound.)

The Trick System

Tired of believing some house(s) have a runaway victory that you can do nothing about? What if we told you there was a way to get your revenge this year? After the first 15 Minutes of a rotation, The Trick Master may contact your house in order to perform a “trick” on your rival house(s)! When that time comes, he will tell you to meet him in your House Lounge’s Sleeping Quarters (the 2nd floor). Who is he? Where did he come from? Why is he here now? That’s for you to discover on your own!

There’s a catch, however! The system is not only a lot more favorable toward houses that are falling behind, but there is also a chance the trick may backfire and hurt your own house instead!! Use this system wisely and strategically, and you may be able to reduce your rival’s House Points by a significant portion each time… Needless to say, it’s advised to talk it over with your house and team first! Be quick, though! The Trick Master will forfeit his offer after the first 15 minutes of the notice!

Returning Minigames

Zombie Run

4 to 32 players, survive the apocalypse for 20 Minutes on a brand-new map! It’s simple. Do everything in your power to not get killed. If your survival instincts are great, you’ll be right at home here! For every Zombie you kill during the minigame, you will earn house points! As long as you actively participate in Zombie Run’s various happenings and make it all the way until the end, you will also earn Halloween Tickets!

Those who aren’t already familiar with Zombie Run, this will be your first experience. Just be familiar with the rules below before you get started. Those who are previously familiar with the game, however, we will make it immediately transparent out of the gate that the game has a brand new set of rules with a new flavor of gameplay!

For Starters, the set of rules are as follows…

• Every player has their MaxHP fixed at 5,000.
• Every player has their ASPD fixed at 190.
• Every player has their Movement Speed fixed at +25% (same as Sleipnir).
• DEF, MDEF, Flee, and Perfect Dodge are all fixed at 0.
• Players and Monsters both have Perfect Hit Rate.
• Equipment is removed and may not be re-equipped during the game.
• Falcons, Mounts, Mercenaries, and Homunculi are sent away.
• No Auto Attacking.
• No Skill Use (except through provided items).
• No Item Use (except through provided items).
• Monsters take 1 damage from all damage, and inflict fixed amounts of damage toward players.
• Natural and Skill HP Recovery is disabled.
• Status Resistance is disabled regardless of stats and gear for both Players and Monsters.

General Updates compared to old Zombie Run

• All Mobs have been renamed, given new sprites, and have skill pool reworks.
• The Wraith Mob (now called Chomp A’Lotta) is now removed from the map after casting [Expulsion] on players.
• Coffin drops now have three RNG pools to pick and on average drop more tickets than before when good pools are picked.
• Medic NPCs now heal players slightly faster than before but are removed from the map slightly sooner.
• You no longer gain House Points just from surviving every minute. Instead, you “must” kill Zombies to gain this house point reward per minute (cap is 50 per minute!).
• There is now a comprehensive 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place reward by 20 Minutes for remaining survivors which offers Halloween Tickets accordingly. You no longer get House Points for surviving the full 20 Minutes. The reward categories are as follows;
  • Most Zombies killed.
  • Most Supply Boxes opened.
  • Most Medic NPCs activated.
  • Most Coffins opened.
• Note: If remaining survivors is less than 3, 1st place gets the 2nd place rewards. If there is just 1 player, 1st place gets the 3rd place rewards!!

So with all those restrictions in place, you’re wondering… How do we do anything during the game? Simple! There is now a Supply Crate mechanic. Some of them are in fixed locations, and some of them dynamically drop throughout the map. These items are Item Skills and are to be used like Yggdrasil Leaf or Anodyne. Therefore, be sure to dedicate some hotkey space for them! They are as follows…

Offensive Items

• ZR Revolver; your standard gun. Hits the target 1 time after selecting with [Magical Bullet].
• ZR Shotgun, a shotgun that lets you use level 9 [Spread Attack] with a slight twist! It will hit enemies 2 or 3 times rather than the usual 1!
• ZR Destroyer, a Grenade Launcher that lets you use [Full Buster]. When it hits, the “1 damage” mode is bypassed, allowing you to instantly kill any zombie you select. Be warned, it does not work on Nightriff!

Supportive Items

• ZR Ankle Snare; lets you cast level 5 [Ankle Snare].
• ZR Cloak of Invisibility; lets you cast level 2 [Cloaking]. Be warned, it only lasts 10 seconds, and you can’t interact with NPCs while invisible!
• ZR Adrenaline Pill; Doubles your Movement Speed for the next 10 Seconds.
• ZR Endurance Pill; casts [Endure] and [Assumptio] on yourself for the next 10 Seconds.
• ZR Stun Grenade; casts level 2 [Wide Stun] around you.

Healing Item

• ZR HP Reserve; Instantly recovers your HP back to max.

And, of course, there are the usual NPCs that will randomly spawn throughout the map like before!

Medic

Every now and then, Nightriff may announce that she has spawned somewhere on the map, indicated by a viewpoint on your minimap (you are also told the exact X/Y). When someone walks into her for the first time, she will heal everybody in a 7×7 AoE, every 0.75 Seconds, for the next 22 Seconds, before disappearing. This is your only way to heal outside of the ZR HP Reserve, so make it count!!

Coffin

Every now and then, Nightriff may announce that it has spawned somewhere on the map, indicated by a viewpoint on your minimap (you are also told the exact X/Y). If you dare to look, they will drop Halloween Tickets on the ground when opened. The amount can vary from very little… To quite a lot!

Devil’s Claw Machine

Returning from old Halloween Events, and officially being retired from Comodo Carnival. 4 to 30 players, one fiery claw, and a couple of decoys. Be the last norman standing! The more players join, the bigger the prize. Unlike before, even if you don’t win, you still earn a little for everyone you outlast!

New Activities

The Slot Machines

They finally work as Carlisle prophesied for so many years! There are two variants you need to be aware of.

Casino Games Variant (Lord Royston’s Casino Room)

While Casino Games are rotated (aka Blackjack and Guess the Number). See Ermes in the casino to register while the casino games are in rotation. You will be provided 50 Tokens at the start which can be used to play the slots. When you feel that you’ve won enough tokens, talk to Severo at the southern desk in order to redeem them for various prizes! Your Tokens are reset at the beginning of each rotation after registering with Ermes, please redeem prizes prior to signing up consecutive times!

Melodia Bar Variant

These ones are open 24/7 and are on free play (meaning they cost no tokens). See Carlisle and register in order to use them. Rather than giving you Tokens when you win, instead, you get points. The points then go toward a leaderboard (which you can see in the Bar if you look around!). At first, these scores will be filled by NPCs. Eventually, however, they will be filled by your scores! Who will be the first one to make it to first place? Maybe it will be you!

Mysterious Man Quest

In the middle of Melodia Town, you may discover a “mysterious man” hanging around. Citizens have reported that he may be a bit… Unhinged. Rumor has it that going along with his madness can reward you though, and it may be worth your time! …And sanity.

Escobar’s Wears

Escobar has set up a not-so-legal rental stand in town (or so they want you to believe). Trade Halloween Tickets for a Rental Event Kaho and an Event GEC Sandals that only works in Racas Forest Preserve. Remember, if anyone asks, you didn’t get it from him.

Note: Unfortunately, we did not have time to add weapons to his shop this year. Next year, however, something will be planned out for this! We hope rental Kaho/GEC at least helps make Normal Racas more accessible for the time being.

Old Granny’s Costume Judging

Dress up! Once a day, show your outfit to Old Granny and she’ll judge how spooky it is. Witches, ghosts, pumpkins, vampires, demons… she’s seen it all. Some costumes impress her more than others, and she’ll drop a hint or two about which ones she’s in the mood for today~

Changes to Existing Activities and Systems

General

• In the main room of Melodia Academy’s Left Wing, the emblem on the floor representing your house now glows the moment you see it.
• Some (not all) existing “kid students” have grown up and have been expanded upon.
• Talking Statue NPCs are now consistent regardless of whether they talk or not.
  • Note: Always a chance now, rather than always talking if they talk.
• There are now numerous produce/animal product NPCs available in the center tent of Melodia’s Town Square.
• You can now rest at Melodia’s Inn to heal and gain the Blessing/Increase Agility buffs just like all the other Inns now.
• A Restaurant has opened at the very north end of Melodia’s Town Square (right above Melodia Inn).
  • Note: This was last minute, so we apologize if “things to do” seem half-baked in there this year. It will be expanded next year!
• Error now has TWO SECRETS available rather than just one! The 1st Secret is the one you’ve all come to know and love. The 2nd, however, is a secret exclusively for those participating in the Melodia Gauntlet Instance (go to the instance section for more information).
• Numerous new NPCs have been introduced throughout all the Event Maps.
• Numerous NPCs and Content that are years out of date have been fixed, nixed, or updated.
• Numerous new Achievements, Secrets (and generally fun things to discover), and Side Quests/Activities added throughout the entire event.
  • Note: Some of these things may require being in a certain house, being a certain class, and/or “could” have multiple outcomes!
• Waiting rooms now check master accounts and hardware instead of IP addresses. People sharing an internet connection can now play together in these circumstances!
• Event Announcements can now be opted into even outside of Event Maps as long as you are in at least one of the event #channels.
• Ever wanted to check the Status Board anywhere? Now you can! Introducing !halevent, use it and you can see what’s running right now.
• The Melodia Broomstick no longer starts its cooldown upon using the item initially. It will now only activate the cooldown “if” a warp was successful after using it.
• Using the Melodia Broomstick in Racas Forest Preserve now puts you back in front of Conductor Chu like it’s supposed to.
• The Coloring Machine has learned a large variety of new colours.
• Added a Kafra near the Melodia Train Station, and also made every Kafra in Melodia Town visually distinct.

Rotation System

• Devil’s Claw Machine joins the rotation next to Racas Forest Happy Hour.
• Zombie Run joins the rotation next to the Town Games.

Walk of Life

• Getting caught on Red Light no longer kills you on the spot. Ganbu drags you back to where you stood when the light turned, so every step you stole is gone.
• Keep walking long after the light turns and you get a strike. Three strikes and you’re out!
• Rounds no longer end while an execution is still going.

Shadow Tag

• Each Doom Troop is now visually distinct, making it a lot easier to see which one is which without having to highlight to read its name.
  • Note: These changes also extend to the overworld and the Melodia Tournament Instance!
• Rewards now go by placement. 10/4/2/1 Halloween Tickets and 300/100/50/0 House Points. Non-winners are ranked by lowest Doom Troop HP.
• Houses behind the leader now get catch-up Doom Points. +1 per 250k HP behind, max +30 per tick. Houses with a win handicap don’t get them.
• Breaking a 2+ win streak gives bonus tickets and house points, and active streaks are announced at round start.
• New haunt, Crucio Joints. 10 Seconds of [Slow Grace] on the target house.
• Standing within 2 cells of another house’s Doom Troop now gets you sent back to your corner.
• [Loki’s Veil] and [Moonlit Water Mill] are now disabled in the gym.

Town Games

All

• Houses tied for second place now both get rewarded.

Poring Seek

• Only registered players can see and hit the Porionettes now, unlike before.
• There are now twice as many Porinettes, making it twice as likely you’ll encounter one.

Simon Says / Sequence

• The game now moves on after a while when only a few players finish, instead of waiting forever.

The Amazing Ragna Race

• Trap chests now drop their Ankle Snares behind you, like they’re supposed to, instead of in a corner of the map.
• New chest result, Catch-up Dash, for anyone not in 1st place. It gives +30% speed for 6 seconds, plus 10% per checkpoint behind, up to 60%.

Blackjack / Guess the Number

• Now tells you have many rounds you’ve won when entering.

Deviruchiling Quest

• The reward list was refreshed, and now includes recoloured versions of some of the costumes.

Racas Forest Preserve

• MvP Portal Logic now works as intended.
• Regular Monster drop pools have been adjusted.
• Pumahans have been slightly adjusted to lean more into their Holy/Shadow gimmick as well as gaining one new trick.
• All Five MvPs (Knight of Tempest, Alpha Creature, Alpha Werewolf, Watdafrikami, and Terrantula) can now show up in either Normal or Restricted Section.
• All Five MvPs have had their Stats and Skills adjusted and modernized.
• Restricted Section variants of MvPs are now harder than before, going beyond just HP and ATK stats. They will gain some new tricks too in the Restricted Section!
• Somehow, Borg has returned. This time, as a Super MvP level threat! He can only appear in the Restricted Section and only once all five of the other MvPs have had their turn, at a 50% chance. He’s worth a lot of House Points… but watch out for his comets’ field effect! Getting hit means instant death!!
• Keep your eyes open in Racas Forest… “Something” has been spotted lurking around (Jumpscares can still be turned off!).

The Halloween Labyrinth

The Labyrinth is now a party instance, so no more fighting other parties for the rooms! The routes have been reshuffled for 2026, and there’s a new Whispering Runes room to puzzle through that replaces the math room.

New Achievements, Costumes & Pets

A fresh batch of Halloween rewards have arrived. More than a hundred of new Achievements, hundreds of new costumes (including recolors), pets, etc. have been spread around every corner of the event. Be sure to check out all reward possibilities to grab ’em all~

Instance Related

Re-Introduction of Practice Rounds

Don’t want to waste resources and zeny before entering the real instance? No problem! Based on the previous concept of “practice rounds” from years prior with a new, very useful feature! Any items used during the practice rounds will not be consumed like normal. When you defeat your opponent in the practice round, you will also get a detailed report that explains exactly how much of which supplies/materials you consumed. This should make it a lot easier to prepare for the real instance going forward!

Instance Ruleset Changes

• [Lex Aeterna] now has a 10 Second Cooldown.
• [Tarot Card of Fate] has been disabled.
• Sniper and Kiel Script Healing is now disabled.
• Eversong’s Recoil Reduction bonus is now disabled.
• CRIT Shield is now calculated for every point of LUK (10 LUK = 10% CRIT Shield).
• [Fling] no longer has any changes and works like it normally does.
• Equipment breaking is no longer disabled.

The Melodia Gauntlet

• Should now be open on day one.
• Error now has a new Secret Boss fight hiding in plain sight during the instance! Every now and then, a “mysterious entity” may appear between rounds 2 and 4. “It” will drop a cryptic line of dialogue (between a possible pool of 10 lines). Some of the dialogue is bogus, but most of it means something important. What exactly does it all mean? What are you supposed to do? That’s for you to figure out!
• The Treasure Chest between rounds now partially refunds used supplies that were used during that run!
• Angry crowd mechanic now works as intended (it should only trigger if the target’s source of damage exceeds 14 Cells from the target’s current location). Furthermore, there is now a 1 Second delay between each rude attack attempt now, unlike before.
• When triggering the angry crowd (aka when Cyrus says something ominous is about to happen), it is no longer an instant kill right away. Instead, it inflicts 10% MaxHP damage. For every instance it happens again after that, it’s exponential. 10% -> 20% -> 40% -> 80% -> 100%.
  • Note: In other words, by the 5th time it’s triggered, it becomes an instant kill from that point onward.

• [High Jump] now works properly.
• The Difficulty System has been adjusted.
  • The Cap is now Level 10 instead of Level 25.
  • Each level now adds +10% MaxHP and +10% ATK/MATK instead of +25% MaxHP and +15% ATK/MATK.
• Resistance Over Time mechanics have been removed from all 4 champions and Grandmaster Zarevok.
• Arthur the Berserker’s Stance Change has been adjusted slightly to accommodate for RoT change.
  • Champion’s Stance now makes Arthur immune to Long and Short Range Physical Attacks.
  • Spellblade’s Stance now makes Arthur immune to MISC and Magic Attacks.
• There is now a Repairman NPC that fixes equipment and restores your cart between rounds.
• Professor RK-9 now always calls Gear Shift after his RK-9 Laser has completed.
• Special items can be purchased during the instance by talking to TTPP Agent that can significantly help you during the instance. See below for more information!

Throwback Instances

A little birdie told us that some people wished the old halloween instances would come back due to the 2025 quest’s plot device. Ask, and you shall receive! After beating the Melodia Gauntlet Tournament Instance for the first time, you can now go back in time and replay the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Halloween Instances! (Courtesy of our TTPP Agent friend!). These instances require a party of at least 2 players or more!

• 2018: The Night King
• 2019: Lucia
• 2020: Lucia’s Return
• 2021: The Cuisinia Tournament (and Mummy Spaghetti…)

The old boss drops are back too! Each one can be cleared once a day, and clears earn Temporal Pumpkin Coins to spend at the Temporal Shop to get special, one-time items that bend the rules! Increase your revive limit, Pick the next champion, weaken the boss, buff your party, or get a second chance after a wipe. Using one (except the Professor’s Notes) keeps your run off the leaderboard, though!

Furthermore, you can also check out the TTPP Agent’s shop for unique rewards, both new and old~

Misc Updates

• Geomancer quest: adds Royal Mantle Purple, Red and Orange, plus Stole of Seraphim.
• Ticket exchange: a new Collection D has been added!
• …we probably forgot to mention a million things. Go explore. Shoo.

Non-Melodia Updates

• Monsters using Reject Sword: now works the same as when players use it against monsters.
• Regicide Warlord speed cap: the Warlord can’t walk faster than 112 ms per cell, which is normal walking with Increase AGI, however many speed buffs stack. Slower speeds are left alone. Dispel can’t remove it, and it clears on death.
• Ninja Stones: the BG supply caps went from 20 to 50 for Burning Stone, Ice Stone, Wind Stone and Shadow Orb.
• MVP warp: MVPs now warp at lhz_dun03 leading to lhz_dun04.

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We hope you all enjoy the festival~! See you in Melodia. 🎃