Purple icon?

[King]

So I came across an event on stage 1. skull with 3 circles, purplish. I killed enough mobs to activate it and I gained a purple icon next to my xp bar. What is that?

[Manashield]

If you collect another one, the end boss of stage 1 gets a fat HP hit. So get both (the blood stains lead you to them)

[King]

Originally posted by Wasdhorda:

If you collect another one, the end boss of stage 1 gets a fat HP hit. So get both (the blood stains lead you to them)

I accidentaly got 2nd one and the boss took 50%. lol very nice! Can you tell me more about blood stains? I didnt see them at all. And also does every stage have these?

[Sui Generic]

There is a trail of blood which leads you to both altars. Once you know that it's there it's hard to miss. They're exclusive to the first stage.

[The Real Raytrace]

They happen only in Stage 1, Haunted Caverns. There's three parts to the mechanic, with one part (the tome in the middle, aka, "The Bloodstained Book") being nothing more than an item that (sort of) explains what's going on. It's on an altar in the middle of a cross-roads where two stone paths intersect. When you get near it, there's a big, yellow halo and shaft of light around it.

You do not need to find or interact with The Bloodstained Book to do the mechanic, but it does act as a way-point and navigational aid, and it explains that there's a thing called The Token of Pain and it does some bad-ass crap. If you happen upon the altar with the book on it, you can interact with it and it'll give you some flavor text, but nothing more. What you will note, however, is that there's some obvious trails of blood splatter and pools of blood on the floor that lead off in two different directions from the altar that holds The Bloodstained Book. At the end of each of those is one of the two "morbid shrines" mentioned in the book, and it's at those shrines that the mechanic actually happens.

Note that the blood splatter trails are NOT consistently spaced, and get spotty in places. So, if you're following one, you need to pay attention because it's very easy to get lost or distracted while proceeding towards a morbid shrine. Sometimes, the trail will seem to just end, but you need to circle around from there and pick-up the trail from where it continues.

When you get to one of the morbid shrines at the end of the blood trail, it's time for some blood sacrifices to be made in order to get The Token of Pain out of this. The two shrines are different only in that one of them has three purple circles on the floor around it, and the other has one purple circle on the floor. It doesn't matter which you do first, and the mechanic is exactly the same: You must kill the required number of enemies within the purple circle(s) in order to get one of the two pieces of The Token of Pain. The enemies must die within the confines of a purple circle to "count" against the total blood sacrifices you need in order to work the mechanic. You can be standing anywhere - you don't need to be in the circle(s), but the enemies need to be when they die. The total number you need to sacrifice is displayed in a purple counter directly above the shrine. It will count down the number remaining as you nuke baddies in the circle(s).

Once you have one of the two parts of The Token of Pain (which apparently you got in your run), you'll have a purple buff icon that appears on your bar (as you noted). The next step should be obvious: You need to follow the trail back to The Bloodstained Book, and then follow the OTHER blood trail from it (the one that goes in the opposite direction) in order to reach the OTHER sacrificial altar. Or, you can just wander around aimlessly and hope you stumble upon it, but good luck with that approach.

Once at the other sacrificial altar, you again need to kill the required number of enemies within the purple circle(s). When you do, you'll get the other part of the token, and you'll now posses The (dreaded) Token of Pain. Time to kick some boss-butt.

If you survive all 30 minutes in the Haunted Caverns, The Lord of Pain will spawn. It's the final boss of the stage. If you possess The Token of Pain when you engage The Lord of Pain (seeing a theme here?), the token will instantly destroy about 60% of the boss's HP bar. This makes the fight MUCH easier because the boss is damn fast, and it launches AOEs nearly constantly, so this mechanic acts as a major debuff against the boss for this level.

There is no requirement to create or use The Token of Pain. You can still beat the boss without it. It's entirely optional, and seems to exist as a bit of a "newbie bonus" since killing your first Lord in the game can be a bit of a challenge. Note that there is (at this time) no such mechanic in the other stages. It exists only in stage 1, and helps propel you forward in your achievements and over-all progress. Good luck!