My trinket is attacking something outside my farm...

[Padocs]

Hello, everyone!

I'm brand new to this forum and I have come here to ask something because I have not found information anywhere else, so... Here I go:

I was on the top left corner of my farm collecting battery packs as I have lightning rods there. I stood still for a moment and noticed that my ice rod started shooting towards something on top of a tree located outside the farm. This made me really curious, as the ice rod has never attacked anything on my farm before other than slimes (that are placed inside the slime hutch) and the ocasional truffle crab (my pigs are on the opposite side and also it's Winter so they are inside the barn - I've gathered everything in that area, so there are no truffles on the ground).

I have done some more research by trying out other "aggresive" trinkets. Magic Quiver and the Frog Egg do not react at it at all; it's just the Ice Rod. Upon inspecting a bit more what exactly is being targeted, you can clearly see the animation of the Ice Rod shoot impacting something and the ice shards appearing and disappearing between shoots. What is being shot on top of the tree seems to be some kind of snake (?!), but I was not able to find any information about this.

My farm is the standard one. I'm on Winter, Year 12. Monsters are not enabled on any capacity and I do not use any mods. I will attach some pictures of this, to better illustrate what I am talking about. Look at the top left corner:

Here's the "snake" before being impacted by the ice orb:

And here it is after being impacted (with the freeze animation):

Here are zoomed-in versions side-by-side:

This is kind of exciting but also creepy? Finding things I don't know about the game even after putting more than 900 hours into it makes me really happy.
If any of you can solve this mystery, have any ideas of what it may be or maybe testing it in your own farms, I would greatly appreciate you telling me.

---

Update to add a screenshot of the whole layout of my farm, so you can see the ice rod can't possibly be targeting anything inside the farm.
This situation is happening on the top left corner of the farm, right next to Grandpa's shrine. The ice rod is shooting at a tree outside.
It has seen better days, I have lots of decoration to do, so please don't judge lol.

 

[SoftViceMaster]

Ooh. interesting. Never had that happen before, wonder if some monster got spawned there by accident and that's why the rod hits it??

 

[Padocs]

Ooh. interesting. Never had that happen before, wonder if some monster got spawned there by accident and that's why the rod hits it??

It is really weird indeed... I filmed a video but I am not sure I can post it here. When playing you cannot see far from the corner of the farm, so this snake creature can't be seen that way. But when you take a screenshot from the game options, it zooms out a bit and that way I am able to see what is on top of the tree. It also is weird that it only activates the ice rod, but not the magic quiver. It truly is a mystery.

 

[PerfectionWhaleFarm]

Might it be a Truffle Crab? I'm not familiar with the peculiarity of Ice Rod or Magic Quiver, but the fact this "creature" looks so foreign to me piqued my interest since yesterday...
I dug a bit deeper into all the Monsters as of 1.6, and Truffle Crab resembles the most here - similar coloration and maybe similar shapes. A Truffle Crab would even make sense to exist on a farm even.

From a quick look at the wiki on Ice Rod and Magic Quiver - there is a slight distinction between the two.
Ice Rod shoots an ice orb that freezes "all monsters in its path". I interpret that to mean indiscriminately, and it could have caught mimicry creatures as well before their disguise came off.
Magic Quiver shoots a magic arrow that damages the "first monster in its path". This is a targeted attack and the victim of such attack may need to be made known beforehand.

This distinction may be significant enough because mimicry creatures may not be considered "Monsters" until they are interacted upon, and thus may not have been caught by Magic Quiver. We can probably test this with its cousins from the Mines and see how both weapons react to them pre- and post-interaction.

I have been too attached to my parrot at the moment to switch, but I'd love to explore the mechanics of all the other trinkets because they are all so fascinating!

 

[MogBeoulve]

I wonder if a truffle could spawn in an area where you couldn't reach it - and then, since you couldn't pick it up, it would have eventually turned into a truffle crab. And then maybe it could have scuttled around to the other side of your farm, and gotten stuck in a tree.

 

[REtroGeekery]

Probably a type of bat or flying serpent, depending on your combat level. They usually spawn offscreen and then fly over to the farmer.

Tbh, I dislike the ice rods for this reason. They kept killing enemies before I could get to them. Fortunately, the trinkets are fairly easy to load up on once unlocked, and there are plenty of other options. ^_^

 

[MogBeoulve]

... but no monsters on farm?

 

[Padocs]

Might it be a Truffle Crab? I'm not familiar with the peculiarity of Ice Rod or Magic Quiver, but the fact this "creature" looks so foreign to me piqued my interest since yesterday...
I dug a bit deeper into all the Monsters as of 1.6, and Truffle Crab resembles the most here - similar coloration and maybe similar shapes. A Truffle Crab would even make sense to exist on a farm even.

From a quick look at the wiki on Ice Rod and Magic Quiver - there is a slight distinction between the two.
Ice Rod shoots an ice orb that freezes "all monsters in its path". I interpret that to mean indiscriminately, and it could have caught mimicry creatures as well before their disguise came off.
Magic Quiver shoots a magic arrow that damages the "first monster in its path". This is a targeted attack and the victim of such attack may need to be made known beforehand.

This distinction may be significant enough because mimicry creatures may not be considered "Monsters" until they are interacted upon, and thus may not have been caught by Magic Quiver. We can probably test this with its cousins from the Mines and see how both weapons react to them pre- and post-interaction.

I have been too attached to my parrot at the moment to switch, but I'd love to explore the mechanics of all the other trinkets because they are all so fascinating!

I wonder if a truffle could spawn in an area where you couldn't reach it - and then, since you couldn't pick it up, it would have eventually turned into a truffle crab. And then maybe it could have scuttled around to the other side of your farm, and gotten stuck in a tree.

I do get truffle crabs from time to time, but: it is Winter right now, so pigs are not out and I have picked up every truffle left. Also the barns are right on the opposite side of the farm and the ice rod is shooting outside the farm.

Edit: I have now added a screenshot of the layout of the farm to my post, so the situation is easier to understand.

Probably a type of bat or flying serpent, depending on your combat level. They usually spawn offscreen and then fly over to the farmer.

Tbh, I dislike the ice rods for this reason. They kept killing enemies before I could get to them. Fortunately, the trinkets are fairly easy to load up on once unlocked, and there are plenty of other options. ^_^

Ice rods don't do damage though, they just stun enemies for a bit. Maybe you are getting it confused with the magic quiver, that does damage.

... but no monsters on farm?

Not at all. Standard farm, no monsters enabled in any capacity, no mods. The only monsters are the slimes that are inside the slime hutch and the ocasional truffle crab, that both would be located on the opposite side of the farm, not the direction the ice rod is shooting.

 

[REtroGeekery]

Ice rods don't do damage though, they just stun enemies for a bit. Maybe you are getting it confused with the magic quiver, that does damage.

Yes, I'm thinking of the quivers. Thank you. Although, I also dislike the ice rods because the last time I tried it, it kept freezing enemies where I couldn't reach them! To be fair, this was on my Riverland farm where there are a lot of unreachable areas. Maybe I should give it another shot on another farm.

Not at all. Standard farm, no monsters enabled in any capacity, no mods.

That is weird. I select monsters on so often I completely forgot some people don't have them on their farms! Maybe the game thinks another area is just offscreen there, kind of like how the quarry mine entrance appears on a screenshot of the standard mine's entrance?

 

[PerfectionWhaleFarm]

I do get truffle crabs from time to time, but: it is Winter right now, so pigs are not out and I have picked up every truffle left. Also the barns are right on the opposite side of the farm and the ice rod is shooting outside the farm.

Edit: I have now added a screenshot of the layout of the farm to my post, so the situation is easier to understand.

Could you tell at the time if it is animate? From a coding perspective I would find it incredulous if something showed up that wasn't even in the code's assets lol, so I'm still curious what it would have been if not for Truffle Crab. Even if Truffle Crab doesn't normally show up in Winter, I think this scenario is exceptional that it would be likelier for it to be a creature in unconventional situations rather than new thing altogether (or maybe this is something new even the Wiki did not pick up yet, or some default "Monster" asset?).

Off-topic, I am currently liking that Basilisk Paw item very much (I opted out previously because I wanted a cute animal following me), but I hate being slimed lol so this post is introducing me to new things!

 

[Padocs]

That is weird. I select monsters on so often I completely forgot some people don't have them on their farms! Maybe the game thinks another area is just offscreen there, kind of like how the quarry mine entrance appears on a screenshot of the standard mine's entrance?

Could you tell at the time if it is animate? From a coding perspective I would find it incredulous if something showed up that wasn't even in the code's assets lol, so I'm still curious what it would have been if not for Truffle Crab. Even if Truffle Crab doesn't normally show up in Winter, I think this scenario is exceptional that it would be likelier for it to be a creature in unconventional situations rather than new thing altogether (or maybe this is something new even the Wiki did not pick up yet, or some default "Monster" asset?).

Off-topic, I am currently liking that Basilisk Paw item very much (I opted out previously because I wanted a cute animal following me), but I hate being slimed lol so this post is introducing me to new things!

This is the thing: during normal gameplay, you can't really see the whole tree and the creature, it cuts a little bit before (and I play with the furthest configuration, all zoomed out). But when you take a screenshot, it zooms out a bit more, and that is how I can see the whole tree and this creature on top, so you can distinguish the animation of the ice rod impacting it everytime, the ice shards appearing and disappearing.

About other trinkets, I have only got the parrot egg, ice rod, frog, basilisk hand, magic quiver and the golden spur. I like the ice rod because it gives me a bit of time between killing enemies, so I'm not absolutely swarmed by them (especially on the Volcano). I'd love to try the fairy, but haven't been lucky yet.