Bamboo Stick

The Bamboo Stick is an equip item that does absolutely nothing can only be purchased from a Dealer, and it has some... bizarre effects on towers. It can be bought for $4800, and will only be offered at the (UPCOMING!) Lost Forest track.

Dealer's Description
I found this weird stick lying around here. It radiates with arcane power... Well, for a price, it's yours!

Effects

 * Equipping it to a Monkey Apprentice converts it into a powerful warlock with control over pestilence and decay. Of course, the apprentice has to bind himself to the stick, then get himself killed somehow. The stick will die in his place, and he will be transformed into... a skeleton in a torn robe? WTF?!? Okay, it's kinda expected that something like that would happen, but it's okay! It's complete. You now have a Monkey Lich!

Monkey Lich
After this sorceror had a stick of bamboo die in his place, he obtained powers over death and disease. Of course, his skeletal visage is a bit creepy... It's just a mere flesh wound, okay? Geez... Cost: $4800 + (insert total cost of original apprentice here) Range: *same as Monkey Apprentice* (Summons tainted clouds to bloons in his range. The clouds infect bloons with a virus that pops one layer off of the target every third of a second. Virus clouds act like explosions and dissipate rapidly, however, they can infect as many as ten bloons! The clouds cover an area that I will add later. Oh, and blimps cannot be infected.)

Path I

 * Contagion: The virus now can be spread from bloon to bloon! However, it only infects five bloons per infected bloon. Cost: $680
 * Bone Rain: Huh. He didn't need those things, anyway. Cost: $510 (Adds a new attack in which the lich throws ten of his bones out, spread over a 90-degree angle going straight ahead. Each bone pops one bloon each, but can pop frozen and lead bloons.)
 * Pestilence Spread: Clouds last much longer and cover a massive area! Cost: $3400 (Clouds last up to ten seconds and have the radius of a The Big One explosion.)
 * Corrosive Plague: Instead of a virus, the pestilence is now a strain of bacteria that feasts on metal, allowing for it to affect blimps and lower AD! Cost: $5100 (The disease does not spread between blimps.)

Path II

 * Skeletal Minions: Arcane knowledge gives the lich the ability to summon the bones of ancient warriors, which slash at the bloons with razor-sharp swords! However, they take quite a lot of damage... Cost: $680 (The skeletons act like temporary 0-0 Sword Monkeys, lasting slightly shorter than the Monkey Engineer's sentry guns. Also, the skeletons have only 3 HP and there can only be five skeletons active per lich.)
 * Tougher Bones: Enchantments other than animation make the skeletons a lot tougher, giving them double the HP. Cost: $385
 * Bone Golems: Now has a 10% chance to summon a super-tough bone golem instead of a skeleton. The bone golem runs around the track, popping bloons with its spiny... well, bones. Cost: $1700 (The bone golem runs along a distance that I will specify later. It has infinite pierce and can withstand 18 hits. The bone golem runs at the speed of a yellow bloon.)
 * Bonemaster: Doubles the amount if skeletons the lich can summon, and adds a powerful ability... Summon Death Rider Ability: Summons a legendary warrior to assist the lich's skeletal minions, giving them increased armour, regenerating health, AND a health boost as long as he's active, WHILE acting like a 2-2 Sword Monkey! Whoa! It only lasts for 35 seconds, but who cares? It's awesome! Cooldown: 60 seconds. Cost: $7200 (The Death Rider basically just gives every skeleton an extra 4 AD, increases their maximum health to 15 (and bone golems go up to 25), and allows them to regenerate 1 HP every quarter of a second, in addition to slashing at the bloons with a sword equivalent to that of a 2-2 Sword Monkey.)

Trivia

 * Hoo, boy, here are a lot of references here...
 * The stick's function is a reference to how Seiga became immortal.
 * The bone golems, bone rain, and disease abilities are references to Bonehart the Dracolich from Kingdom Rush: Frontiers.
 * Speaking of which, the skeletons and the Death Rider are references to the Necromancers from Kingdom Rush and Kingdom Rush: Frontiers.
 * The Death Rider giving a bonus of 4 AD is... well, four is death, after all.