Spirit Hobo

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Familiar number: 52
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Spirit Hobo
Scruffy vagabond Booze-fueled, non-corporeal Smiles and makes magic.

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Ability: Acts like a volleyball, and when given booze, also acts like a starfish.

Throne/Bjorn: Unknown

Hatchling: homeless hobo spirit

Familiar-Specific Equipment: weegee sqouija

	Ultimate Cage Match	Scavenger Hunt	Obstacle Course	Hide and Seek

Mumming Trunk Abilities:

*Hover for details

Cannot breathe underwater

Combat Messages

• Sobriety indicator messages.
  • <name> sits on the ground and twitches, grinning uneasily and grinding his back molars, muttering something about millenium hands and shrimp. (This indicates that he's out of booze, meaning you won't get any MP from him.)
  • <name> looks at you with bloodshot eyes, and mumbles, "Oh, Helvetica, damn good girl she was... I miss her so much," before laying down for a nap. (This indicates that he has just used up his booze supply.)
• Messages indicating the hobo is currently stocked on booze.
  • <name> carves an indecipherable squiggle on a nearby fencepost.
  • <name> finds a cigar butt on the ground, and asks you for a light.
  • <name> grins at you and asks if you've ever been stung by a dead bee.
  • <name> hawks noisily and spits a wad of grey ectoplasm into one of his pockets. "That's for later," he says, nodding sagely.
  • <name> is distracted by a pie cooling in a nearby window.
  • <name> mutters angrily about the purity of his precious bodily essences.
  • <name> mutters, "I been... I been all around this world... Don't tell me no potatoes."
  • <name> mutters something about low rates and percent signs.
  • <name> pulls out a harmonica, and plays three wavering notes before lapsing into a coughing fit.
  • <name> shouts, "Gol-durn pink elephant, always followin' me around... GO 'WAY!"
  • <name> sings a few verses of "Big Rock Candy Mountain". He's forgotten most of the words, but he doesn't let that stop him.
  • <name> suddenly starts screaming and cursing at a nearby tree.
  • <name> tries to bum some meat from your opponent for bus fare.
  • <name> squints at your opponent and says, "I do b'lieve that fella's tryin'a pick a fight with ya, son."
  • <name> hovers halfway through the the ground, moaning "I swear I will never do this again as long as I live. And this time, I mean it!"
  • <name> hovers low to the ground, complaining about how the room won't stop spinning. For something without feet, it's decidedly unsteady on its feet.
  • <name> floats around your head, singing very slurred versions of old drinking songs.
  • <name> floats through the air with a bit of a stagger. You've never seen a ghost stagger before, but <name>'s sure doing it.

• Attack:
  • <name> holds up an empty bottle of booze and gazes at it sadly. Starlight filters through the bottle, through the spirit hobo, and through the booze inside the spirit hobo, then pierces your opponent for X damage, and then shines into you. What the hell?

You gain X Mana Points.

(Only occurs when you have recently given booze to him.)

(MP and damage amount seems to be be in the range (floor((weight+3)/2) to (weight+3).)

• Alcohol Consumption Messages

• bloody beer, green beer, ice-cold fotie, ice-cold Sir Schlitz, ice-cold Willer, Mt. Noob Pale Ale, Imp Ale:

You give <name> your <drink>. <name> puts it in a paper bag and downs it in one gulp. "Here's to Foul Ole' Ron," he says, belching.

• bottle of gin, bottle of rum, bottle of tequila, bottle of vodka, bottle of whiskey, boxed wine, Grimacite Bock, Mad Train wine, fine wine, Ram's Face Lager, shot of flower schnapps, shot of grapefruit schnapps, shot of orange schnapps, shot of tomato schnapps:

You give <name> your <drink>. He puts it in a paper bag and sips it slowly. "Here's mud in the smoke in your eyes," he says.

• banana daiquiri, bloody mary, bottle of Domesticated Turkey, boxed champagne, flaming mushroom wine, icy mushroom wine, lumbering jack, margarita, martini, mimosette, monkey wrench, papaya sling, rum and cola, salty dog, screwdriver, spiced rum, strawberry daiquiri, strawberry wine, stinky mushroom wine, tequila sunrise, vodka and cranberry, vodka martini, whiskey and cola, whiskey and soda, whiskey sour, white Canadian, white lightning, wine spritzer:

You give <name> your <drink>. He seems unsure how to drink it, since he can't put it in a paper bag, but eventually tosses it back. "Y'know, I used to be the Queen of America," he says.

• a little sump'm sump'm, around the world, bottle of Pinot Renoir, bottle of realpagne, bungle in the jungle, calle de miel, ducha de oro, flute of flat champagne, fuzzbump, Gordon Bennett, horizontal tango, ocean motion, perpendicular hula, pink pony, rockin' wagon, roll in the hay, slap and tickle, slip 'n' slide, snifter of thoroughly aged brandy, white Xanadian, steel margarita:

You give <name> your <drink>. He tries to pour it into a paper bag to drink it, then has to lick the bag. "Let me tell ya ... let me tell ya... let me tell ya somethin', kiddo," he says. But then doesn't say anything else.

• bodyslam, cherry bomb, dirty martini, grogtini, sangria del diablo, vesper:

You give <name> your <drink>. He pounds it down, then looks vaguely troubled. He hiccups several times and coughs up the tiny plastic sword. "Looks like there's a war goin' on with the plastic people in my belly," he says.

You acquire an item: tiny plastic sword

• Other Messages

• When you work out on the Hobo-Flex when the hobo is your active familiar:

You work out on the Hobo-Flex. Your hobo isn't very flexible.

• At the end of combat:

<name> hiccups and grins a toothless, spectral grin at you. "Wash yer windows?" he asks.

• Special Familiar Equipment Messages

• With lucky Tam O'Shanter equipped:

<name> sings a traditional hobo sea shanty from beneath the tam o'shanter. Because, y'know, hoboes love the sea.

• With miniature gravy-covered maypole equipped:

<name> staggers around the maypole, whistling "How Dry I Am."

• With wax lips equipped:

<name> sneaks a sip of booze underneath his wax lips. They look silly perched on his spectral stubble. Not that anyone doesn't look silly in wax lips.

Arena Messages

• When entered in an Hide and Seek Match:

<name> glows with an eldritch light (and smells with an eldritch odor). It's hard for him to hide.

Notes

• Item of the month from Mr. Store for May 2006.
• When it is your active familiar, all of your booze items have a [give to hobo] option after [drink] in the inventory.
• Each booze gives you as many starfish-like attacks as the booze normally gives adventures.
• The Ode to Booze formula applies to things the Spirit Hobo drinks.
• Drinks made with the magical ice cube with a fly in it do not have the [give to hobo] option after [drink] in the inventory.
• The booze effects remain in place even if you adventure with another familiar.
• The booze effects also remain in place through rollover, and do not get reset like drunkenness levels.
• The booze effects do not carry over between ascensions.

References

• The "indecipherable squiggle" is a reference to "hobo signs", symbols drawn on fenceposts by hobos to tell what type of person the owner of the house was. This was to show other hobos whether the person was nice and offered food, offered lodgings, or was just plain mean to the homeless, etc.
• The message about the grey ecoplasm being spit into a pocket is a reference to Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, where Beetlejuice abruptly halts midconversation and then proceeds to spit a glob of phlegm into the inside pocket of his jacket, proclaiming "I'll save that for later".
• The offer to "Wash yer windows?" refers to the panhandling tactic of wiping the windshields of stopped cars in traffic in exchange for tips or handouts.
• The message about a pie cooling in a nearby window refers to the common depression-era fear of theft of food. This was depicted in Charlie Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy films, as well as animated shorts from that era, and this occurrence is possibly a reference to an episode of Futurama, where some hungry, hungry hobos are captivated by a pie with "hobo-lifting aroma" and float toward it.
• The reference to "precious bodily essences" is an alteration of a quote from the film Dr. Strangelove, in which U.S. Army General Jack T. Ripper starts World War III to prevent the fluoridation of water supplies by the Soviet Union (and protect his "essences"). At one point, General Ripper says "I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."
• "I been all around this world" and "Don't tell me no lies" are lines from the songs "Been All Around This World" and "Big Railroad Blues", respectively, both of which have been covered by The Grateful Dead. The "lie"->"lime"->"potato" confusion refers to the "potato beats lime" interaction in the The Sorceress' Tower.
• The message about "low rates and percent signs" comes from Senor Cardgage, a hobo who resembles a "crazy old homeless man" version of Strong Bad, from Homestar Runner. In the "Senor Mortgage" short, he owns his own mortgage company, and talks about "low rates" and "percent signs" in a commercial for the company.
• Seeing pink elephants is a popular stereotypical drunken hallucination, most famously visualised in the Walt Disney film Dumbo.
• Big Rock Candy Mountain is a traditional American song with origins in the 1890s and first recorded in 1928 by Harry McClintock and popularized by hobos during the Great Depression.
• The "millenium hand and shrimp" line, as well as the "Here's to Foul Ole' Ron" line, are both references to Foul Ole Ron, a beggar who is a recurring minor character from the Discworld series.
• The line about a girl named Helvetica may be a reference to the Strong Bad Email garage sale, where Senor Cardgage, who has a habit of refering to people by feminine names, calls Strong Sad "Helvetica". "Confederatio Helvitica" is also the Latin name for Swiss Confederation, and Helvetica is the name of a sans-serif typeface designed by Swiss graphic designer Max Miedinger.
• "I swear I will never do this again as long as I live. And this time, I mean it!" is the final line of comedian Larry Miller's "The Five Stages of Drinking" stand-up routine.
• "Here's mud in your eye" is a jovial toast popularized during WWI. "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" is a Broadway show tune famously covered by The Platters.
• The "Queen of America" line is a reference to Disney's The Three Musketeers, in which Porthos says to D'Artagnan, "That sash was a gift to me, from the Queen of America."
• "Let me tell ya ... let me tell ya... let me tell ya somethin'," could be a reference to the drunken man in Lefty's Bar in the Sierra game Leisure Suit Larry. After you give him a glass of whisky, part of the response includes, "Shhoooo. I'm gonna give ya my only posshhess.... hhic! ...my only posshhess.... hhic! ...my only posshhess.... hhic! ...my only posshhess.... hhic! ...All I got in the world."
• "Have you ever been stung by a dead bee?" is the repeated question of Eddie (played by Walter Brennan) in the 1944 movie, "To Have and Have Not". Eddie tends to be drunk, looking for a drink, or borrowing money to get drunk throughout the movie.