Paperfish Curse

Quickstart

1. Craft the Waking Paperfish using the recipe below.
2. Right-click and hold to eat it fully — this "wakes" the curse.
3. Once cursed, you'll turn into a flat, glinting paper fish sprite, gain water-breathing perks, and become vulnerable on dry land.
4. Stay in water! Drying out on land will hurt you.
5. When you're ready to end the curse, drink milk — it's the only thing that quiets the Paperfish.

Crafting recipe:

Overview

The Waking Paperfish is a cursed food item that transforms you into a strange, fish-like being. Once eaten, it doesn't just apply a status — it changes how your character looks, sounds, and moves. You become bound to water, gaining useful aquatic effects at the cost of being unable to survive comfortably on land. The curse also radiates outward, pulling nearby creatures into its influence.

What It Adds

• Waking Paperfish — a cursed, edible fish item that triggers the transformation.
• A unique visual transformation that makes your player model appear as a flat paper fish image while cursed.
• Ambient music that plays only while the curse is active.
• A rare chance for the Paperfish to appear in dungeon chests and archaeology loot (trail ruins), in case you don't want to craft one.

How To Use

• Eating it: Hold right-click on the Paperfish to begin eating. It takes a moment to fully consume — you can't just tap it.
• While cursed, you'll notice:
  • You become invisible as a normal player and instead appear as a paper fish sprite.
  • You gain water breathing, but also slowness and weakness.
  • Being out of water for more than a second will start damaging you every second until you get back in.
  • Nearby entities within a short radius are periodically pulled into a curse-like aura effect.
  • Special music plays for as long as the curse lasts.
• Ending the curse early: Drink milk. It instantly clears the effects and stops the transformation.
• Letting it run out: The curse fades naturally after roughly a minute and a half.
• Once the curse is active, eating another Paperfish (or the one you're holding) won't do anything — the game will remind you that only milk can quiet it now.

Crafting And Obtaining

Craft the Waking Paperfish using paper and a tropical fish:

You may also stumble upon a Waking Paperfish as rare loot in:

• Dungeon chests
• Trail ruins archaeology sites (both common and rare loot pools)

Abilities And Mechanics

While the Paperfish Curse is active, you experience a mix of benefits and drawbacks:

The curse lasts about 91 seconds per activation, refreshing continuously as long as you remain cursed and the item conditions are met. It ends automatically when its timer runs out, or immediately if you drink milk.

Progression And Strategy

• Treat the Paperfish as a temporary "aquatic form" item — best used right before or during underwater exploration, since it grants water breathing but heavily discourages time on land.
• Keep milk on hand if you want to cancel the curse for a fight or an emergency escape onto land.
• Because the transformation is visual and mechanical, other nearby players and mobs will be able to tell you're cursed — use it as a temporary, showy effect rather than a stealth tool despite the invisibility component.
• Since the item can also be found in dungeon and archaeology loot, exploring ruins and dungeons gives you a small chance to obtain one without crafting.