Moroi

Ability: the curse

The Moroi can curse a player in three ways:

• When the Spirit Box gives a response: it curses whoever caused it, either by asking a question or through the failsafe response.
• When someone hears a paranormal sound on the Parabolic Microphone.
• When someone tries to record a sound with the Sound Recorder, whether they succeed or not.

What the curse does:

• Passive sanity drain is doubled, and being in a lit area no longer slows it (you count as always being in the dark).
• Leaving the investigation area still pauses the drain, and fire (Firelights) still reduces it.
• Sanity Medication removes the curse.
• You can be cursed again later. Several players can be cursed at once, but curses don’t stack on the same person.

Hunt

Its base speed depends on average sanity and changes mid-hunt if sanity changes. It goes up about 0.083 m/s for every 5% below its threshold (50%):

Average sanity	Base speed
45% or more	1.5 m/s
40 to 45%	1.583 m/s
35 to 40%	1.66 m/s
30 to 35%	1.749 m/s
25 to 30%	1.832 m/s
20 to 25%	1.915 m/s
15 to 20%	1.998 m/s
10 to 15%	2.081 m/s
5 to 10%	2.164 m/s
0 to 5%	2.25 m/s

If you smudge it during a hunt, it can’t see or kill for 7 s instead of 5.

Evidence

In contracts with only 1 or 2 evidence types, the Moroi always keeps Spirit Box.

Strategy

• After the first Spirit Box response, it’s best not to use it again. If you have to, only the person who already asked should use it. Same with the Parabolic Microphone: use it sparingly and, if an objective calls for it, have that same person use it.
• The Sound Recorder curses you for trying to record, not for hearing. If you want to protect your sanity, don’t use it.
• Since it gets faster the lower sanity drops, protecting it matters more than ever: take Sanity Medication as soon as you know it cursed you, leave the lights on wherever you can and, in dark rooms or when you can’t turn the lights on (a limited fuse box, lights broken by a ghost event), use Firelights wisely to slow the drain.

How to identify it

By its speed (the easiest way):

• Listen to its speed across several hunts and within a single hunt. If it speeds up from one hunt to the next as sanity drops, or little by little while it roams with everyone hidden, it could be a Moroi. Keep line-of-sight speed-up in mind.
• The Hantu also speeds up if the fuse box is off and the map gets colder, but it doesn’t speed up with line of sight. Leave the fuse box on, or check that it doesn’t have the Hantu’s freezing breath.
• Changing sanity mid-hunt. Its speed adjusts in real time, so a big change in sanity (Sanity Medication, or a cursed possession that drops it fast) makes it speed up or slow down abruptly, and can give it away in a single hunt. Everyone should be hidden (ideally from the start) so you don’t confuse it with line-of-sight speed-up or with the Revenant losing track of someone. Wait a few seconds to hear its speed before using the medication or the cursed possession.
  • In a team you need to coordinate: one player’s sanity barely moves the average. Take the Sanity Medication at the same time, or take turns asking the Ouija Board questions.
  • Other ghosts change speed without detecting anyone: the Raiju near electronics, the Hantu between rooms of different temperatures, the Obambo when it changes phase, the Dayan depending on the players and the Gallu when it steps on Salt. Make sure the ghost isn’t changing speed on its own before the test.
• Early hunt. If you trigger a hunt with a cursed possession early on (especially one that doesn’t drain sanity), sanity will almost certainly be above 45% and the Moroi will move at its minimum of 1.5 m/s, quite a bit slower than most. Careful: the Twins also move at 1.5 m/s when they hunt from where they are.

By Incense. It’s blinded for 7 s instead of 5; noticing a longer blind can point to a Moroi. It’s easier to notice with Tier II or III Incense, which changes its speed and therefore the pace of its footsteps while it’s blinded.

By the curse. With a Sanity Monitor: if your sanity dropped much more than normal after a Spirit Box response, a sound on the Parabolic Microphone or a recording, especially if you were in lit rooms or holding a Firelight, a Moroi probably cursed you. Subtract whatever ghost events or cursed possessions took off.

Trivia

• In Romanian folklore, the moroi are a type of vampire that drained the life from others while still alive (unlike the strigoi, who become vampires after death). Today, moroi simply means “ghost” in Romanian.
• Unlike other ghosts with speed bonuses, the Moroi does speed up with line of sight. Below 5% sanity it can reach 3.71 m/s: the fastest ghost in the game.
• In the extreme case it reaches 6.4 m/s: Ghost speed at 150%, Blood Moon weather, average sanity between 0 and 5% and at least 13 s of unbroken line of sight on you.

Change history

Version	Change
0.6.2.0	Added the Moroi.
0.8.0.6	Its speed now changes mid-hunt when average sanity moves into a different bracket.
0.9.0	Incense lasts 50% longer against it.