Difference between revisions of "Buying lives"

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(it's a pool really)
(Streamlined the Golden Chicken section (will put the removed anecdotes into the research page momentarily).)
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Two of the most common questions on the talker and the newbie channel are "I'm [[Death|dead]], what next?" and "How do I buy more lives?". This page seeks to address the second of these questions.
 
Two of the most common questions on the talker and the newbie channel are "I'm [[Death|dead]], what next?" and "How do I buy more lives?". This page seeks to address the second of these questions.
  
The normal means of purchasing an extra life is at Pishe's Temple in [[Ankh-Morpork]], other locations and methods are discussed at the end of the document.
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There are two means to buy new lives:  with money from Pishe at her temple in [[Ankh-Morpork]], and through the Golden Chicken in [[Bes Pelargic]].  The former is reliable & straightforward but expensive, while the latter is cheaper in money but takes much more time.
  
 
==Pishe's Temple (Ankh Morpork)==
 
==Pishe's Temple (Ankh Morpork)==
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==Golden chicken==
 
==Golden chicken==
In Bes Pelargic there is a Golden Chicken. If you can persuade it to eat enough chicken logs (purchased from a stall in the High Tide Road covered market) it may lay an egg. Rumour has it that if you manage to chase this egg around for long enough keeping it happy and feeling content, you may be rewarded. I don't know anyone who has done so recently enough to be able to say that it still works, but it may be cheaper than paying Pishe. In my own experience, it's a lot more aggravating.
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In Bes Pelargic there is a Golden Chicken that wanders randomly. If you feed it enough chicken logs (purchased from a stall in the High Tide Road covered market) it can then be squeezed to lay an egg. If you then follow the egg around hugging, kissing, loving, and cuddling it, it may eventually hatch and you gain a life. If the egg is not catered to promptly & consistently, it breaks and is lost.
  
Confirmed on 3 March 2010. It took about 5 to 10 special chicken logs, and at {{rhinu|8Rh 40s}} each, it does work out cheaper than paying Pishe (assuming the price and quantity remain constant); however, it can indeed be aggravating. There is no stat reduction when using this method.
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Typically it takes between 5 and 12 logs to get the chicken plump enough to lay an egg.  The logs cost {{rhinu|8Rh 40s}} each, so this is usually much cheaper than buying lives from Pishe (and there is no stat reduction when using this method).  However, it is much more time consuming and there is no guarantee it will be successful (e.g. the egg might roll into water and die, through no fault of and with no recourse for the player).
  
 
  Belias's egg wobbles.
 
  Belias's egg wobbles.
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  You feel curiously full of vitality and life.
 
  You feel curiously full of vitality and life.
  
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Typically it takes twenty to thirty minutes of chasing & pandering to the egg before it hatches.  The egg moves 3 to 5 rooms at a time, after each interaction.  It appears to pick the direction randomly from visible exits (though with a bias against going back the way it just came).  It will enter stores.
  
Confirmed on 12 Arpil 2010.  It took me 12 special chicken logs.  The part about keeping the egg content was hardThe egg moves fast and goes a few rooms before it wants some attentionHugs, Kisses, and Cuddles. I found that the 'progression' messages happened faster when i let the egg finish moving, wait (or womble) then perform the actions it wantedSometimes it tells you what it wants and other times it says it needs more love:
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The egg seems to prefer open spacesUsually when it rolls into a shop (or similar, small building) it will randomly roll out again quite quicklyHowever, in larger buildings (e.g. the Dojo) it may end up remaining indoors for an extended periodThis appears to be make it unhappy, and it may break consequently.
  
<pre>
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It is unclear if it can be pursued successfully with the [[pursue]] command - it seems to easily evade pursuit with low to moderate bonuses, at least.
Tangathor's egg tells you in a happy voice: HUG
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Tangathor's egg tells you in a scared voice: AM STUCK AM SCARED PLEASE HELP
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Tangathor's egg tells you in a joyful voice: YOU LOVE EGG LONG TIME EGG WILL BE VERY GRATEFUL
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Tangathor's egg tells you in a happy voice: LOTS OF LOVE EGG LIKE LOVE
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Tangathor's egg tells you in an excited voice: PLEASE MORE LOVE EGG NEED LOVE TO HATCH
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Tangathor's egg tells you in a happy voice: THANK YOU A LITTLE MORE PLEASE SOON VERY EXCITING
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Tangathor's egg tells you in a happy voice: VERY SOON VERY EXCITED
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Tangathor's egg wobbles.
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It can be prevented from using an exit with [[guard]], but this makes it unhappy and risks it breaking. This is still worth doing, however, for exits that will be fatal to the egg (e.g. entrances to waterways).
Tangathor's egg wobbles alarmingly.
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A small crack appears on the surface of Tangathor's egg, which grows and spreads.
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Tangathor's egg wobbles slightly.
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Suddenly, the shell explodes in a burst of flame and vanishes, a bird-like form flying upwards out of the blast. The fiery bird spreads its wings and silently dissipates.
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You feel curiously full of vitality and life.
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</pre>
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Worked on 2 Jun 2010. It took me 7 logs. Then I squeezed it, and it laid the egg. Took about 20 minutes before it hatched. When it enters a shop it's likely to immediately come back out.
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The egg does not show up through map door text, making it harder to track than normal NPCs.
[[User:LeaChim|LeaChim]] 10:33, 2 June 2010 (UTC)
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Have tried this 13 times working together with someone else. With 118 bonus in ad.mo.fo.pu the egg evades me easily so having another person help with possible directions the egg runs in is helpful. We failed 10 times and succeeded on 3 occassions. You know you are close to failure when the egg says it is stuck and scared please help
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The best places to work with the egg are large open spaces, such as Dragon Head Square or the Square of a Thousand Parades.  The movement of the egg in nearby rooms will be shown, making it easier to follow its rapid movement, and these locations have no natural hazards that can kill the egg (such as water). There is little you can do to control the location in general, but if the chicken or egg are already near these locations, use of [[guard]] (or similar) can herd them in the right direction.
 
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3 times we lost track of the egg and it just died from lack of attention
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1 time the egg ran into the water and couldn't swim back up - kept cuddle,hug,kiss doesn't help it
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2 times the egg went into the dojo where it gets very scared - indoor locations do this
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4 times the egg just got really scared in locations where there appeared to be many houses/shops
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Based on these 13 attempts, it seems that the egg gets an increased level of "scared-ness" when it finds itself in locations with doors. It will die very very quickly in these circumstances (e.g. when in dojo and on market st it died very quickly despite constant attentions) as opposed to losing it on the streets for a while it could survive up to a minute without any attentions at all.
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--[[User:Mayhem|Mayhem]] 11:49, 3 March 2011 (UTC)
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Worked on 29 Aug 2011.  At one previous life bought (from Pishe with 2 royals) and 18 days old. It took 6 logs and evaded 100% of attempts to pursue with 150 bonus in pursuit.
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If the chicken gives a message that "The golden chicken looks like it is about to lay an egg.  The golden chicken flops about helplessly. " and the chicken's description says "It looks rather plump and squeezeable." the egg is not ready yet.  It needs to be "totally stuffed" in the description; it will then immediatley crouch down after squeezing and lay an egg (In my one time experience).
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When hugging, cuddling, kissing the egg, it seems to give an idea of progression through messages and it'll take about 20 roundworld minutes to get the egg to hatch.  The messages in order I received were:
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<pre>
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Lorewax's egg tells you in a manic voice: EGG NEED LOTS MORE LOVE TO HATCH
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Lorewax's egg tells you in a happy voice: MORE KISSES AND CUDDLES AND LOVE FOR EGG PLEASE
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Lorewax's egg tells you in a manic voice: YOU LOVE EGG LONG TIME EGG WILL BE VERY GRATEFUL
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Lorewax's egg tells you in a joyful voice: LOTS OF LOVE EGG LIKE LOVE
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Lorewax's egg tells you in an excited voice: PLEASE MORE LOVE EGG NEED LOVE TO HATCH
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Lorewax's egg tells you in a happy voice: HUG
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Lorewax's egg tells you in a manic voice: THANK YOU A LITTLE MORE PLEASE SOON VERY EXCITING (This is one cuddling/hugging/kissing away from hatching)</pre>
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Egg seems to pick 3 random directions to roll in and will not usually roll back to a previously visited square during this sequence unless it enters a dead end, like a shop.  This means that if the egg heads south on a street where most squares have exits of south and north, it'll go south again.  If the egg encounters a fork between south and west on this street during its next movement, it will then pick randomly between the two.  A good sense of map awareness (looking for moving $'s) can help track down the egg (can somebody research if cost increases/ goes beyond 12 logs and at what pursuit bonus the egg can no longer elude at/ has a decent failure rate of eluding?)
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--[[User:Lorewax|Lorewax]] 04:40, 30 August 2011 (UTC)
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Tried chasing the egg twice today. Seems either the code for this has changed or it gets harder the more you've chased the egg. Today, both 'map door text' and the mini map no longer show the location of the egg. I literally had to be standing in the room where the egg was in order to see it there, making this a much harder task.
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--[[User:Mayhem|Mayhem]] 03:05, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
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I got the golden chicken to lay an egg after feeding it 6 logs; I had 13 deaths and 2 remaining lives. The egg evaded me with my pursuit bonus of 164. I was able to use [[guard]] to keep it trapped in a room, but this caused it to send the "AM STUCK AM SCARED PLEASE HELP" message repeatedly. I continued to use "hug", "cuddle", and "kiss" on it, but it continued to send that message. After it tried several more times to flee the room, the egg broke and it died (failed attempt). It would thus appear that the egg must be allowed to roam in order to hatch successfully.
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My second attempt immediately afterwards cost 8 logs and was successful.
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[[User:Fyda|Fyda]] 04:06, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
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==Sources==
 
==Sources==

Revision as of 18:19, 11 April 2021

Two of the most common questions on the talker and the newbie channel are "I'm dead, what next?" and "How do I buy more lives?". This page seeks to address the second of these questions.

There are two means to buy new lives: with money from Pishe at her temple in Ankh-Morpork, and through the Golden Chicken in Bes Pelargic. The former is reliable & straightforward but expensive, while the latter is cheaper in money but takes much more time.

Pishe's Temple (Ankh Morpork)

Where

At Pishe's Pool, which is located in the Temple of Pishe, in the Apothecary Gardens, in Ankh Morpork.

Directions from outside The Mended Drum:

4 west, 5 north (crossing Contract Bridge), west, north, northwest, 2 north, 4 northeast, northwest, north, northeast, 2 northwest, north, 2 northwest (crossing Lost Bridge), north, 2 northwest, southwest (into Apothecary Gardens), west, west (into temple), northwest (into life pool).

Note - entering the temple costs 1p per guild level except for adventurers, ghosts and Pishites.

The "Slide of restoration" is found from life pool: southeast, up

Help file

Part of help file in room with "Slide of restoration":

    Buying Lives 
Lives can now be purchased in the natural rock pool northwest of the main entrance to the Pishe Gardens. To see how to do this, use 'syntax toss' while in the room. Lives are slightly cheaper for priests of Pishe.
Note that you need to be at full strength to buy lives. There is a means, somewhere in the garden, to restore yourself to your full ability.

How

You buy lives by tossing royals into the pool. The syntax is:

toss <1 royal / n royals> into pool

Most people toss a single royal at a time, until they receive a life. This is indicated with a message such as:

Saving...
You feel like you have more life.
Pishe smiles on you and lifts the clouds from your heart, but the moment has been draining. Some rest will probably help.

The pool seems to have some memory and will remember for a time, no-one knows how long it seems, if you have to go away and get more royals part way through the process. However, most people prefer to make sure they bring plenty with them.

Cost

It varies. Random numbers, the phases of the moon, your guild level, how long since you last bought a life? Who knows (apart from the Cre's)? The following are based on my own perception:

  • It seems to get more expensive with each life.
  • It seems to be roughly Number of Lives Bought so far, divided by 5, in royals, with fluctuations of about 20% either side.
  • It might be cheaper if you allow a bit of time between buying lives.
  • The cheapest solution is to not die.
  • It's cheaper for Pishites.

Warning

Remember that message above? Where it said "But the moment has been draining. Some rest will probably help." .... it wasn't kidding. Your constitution stat has dropped several levels. It will come back up over time, or with a "restore" ritual from a Pishe priest. (You can also get a restore by sliding down the slide in the tree.) Your con stat is the largest part of your HP, so you have low HP after this. In addition, you may not have enough con to buy another life straight away. If you try, this happens:

You consider tossing one Ankh-Morpork royal into the pool, but decide to wait and get your strength back first.

Slide of restoration

pay respects to Pishe 
You place some coins in the rain cloud above the slide. The cloud darkens slightly, as though heavy with rain.
slide down slide
Heavy raindrops start to fall from the cloud and pour down the slide. You cautiously sit on the top of the slide before gathering the courage to let go. The water rushing around you quickly propels you downwards to the pool below. As the restorative water rushing down the slide engulfs you, you feel your health return to you. As your journey down the slide comes to a finish you fly off the end and splash into the water of the pool.

There is a adventuring.acrobatics.balancing skillcheck for this and you don't get the restore if you fail it.

Notes: My respects were expressed in 20 dollars. (GL 325) ;

Without paying respects, you get hurt sliding down (about 50 hp).

You run up and leap onto the slide, realising too late that there is no water on it!
You painfully make your way down, exposed skin being scraped cruely by the dry wood.
Finally you reach the end of your journey and fall into the pool with a splash.

Pishe's Pool (Lancre)

You can also buy lives at the pool of Pishe's Temple in Lancre Kingdom, a few miles north of Lancre Town.

Where

From Lancre Town, journey northeast, then journey north from the intersection, then journey west from the intersection, then go south four times. The room also contains a Pishe high altar, and there is a hut with a Pishite religious instructor just east of it.

How

The pool accepts donations of Lancre sovereigns (and larger denominations of Lancrastian currency) and as a basic calculation, two sovereigns are roughly equivalent to one royal. The pool responds to "syntax offer".

If you donate smaller denominations of Lancre currency, you may receive healing if you are in need of it, but it is not known if such donations are also credited towards a life or not.

There does not seem to be any link between the two locations, in that money offered at either for a life does not count towards the cost at the other one.

This pool also appears to remember partial donations, like the Ankh-Morpork one the duration of such memories is unknown.

The caveats about your constitution dropping apply here as well.

Golden chicken

In Bes Pelargic there is a Golden Chicken that wanders randomly. If you feed it enough chicken logs (purchased from a stall in the High Tide Road covered market) it can then be squeezed to lay an egg. If you then follow the egg around hugging, kissing, loving, and cuddling it, it may eventually hatch and you gain a life. If the egg is not catered to promptly & consistently, it breaks and is lost.

Typically it takes between 5 and 12 logs to get the chicken plump enough to lay an egg. The logs cost &&&&&&&&&&&+4000 8Rh 40s each, so this is usually much cheaper than buying lives from Pishe (and there is no stat reduction when using this method). However, it is much more time consuming and there is no guarantee it will be successful (e.g. the egg might roll into water and die, through no fault of and with no recourse for the player).

Belias's egg wobbles.
Belias's egg wobbles alarmingly.
Belias's egg wobbles slightly.
A small crack appears on the surface of Belias's egg, which grows and spreads.
Suddenly, the shell explodes in a burst of flame and vanishes, a bird-like
form flying upwards out of the blast. The fiery bird spreads its wings and
silently dissipates.
You feel curiously full of vitality and life.

Typically it takes twenty to thirty minutes of chasing & pandering to the egg before it hatches. The egg moves 3 to 5 rooms at a time, after each interaction. It appears to pick the direction randomly from visible exits (though with a bias against going back the way it just came). It will enter stores.

The egg seems to prefer open spaces. Usually when it rolls into a shop (or similar, small building) it will randomly roll out again quite quickly. However, in larger buildings (e.g. the Dojo) it may end up remaining indoors for an extended period. This appears to be make it unhappy, and it may break consequently.

It is unclear if it can be pursued successfully with the pursue command - it seems to easily evade pursuit with low to moderate bonuses, at least.

It can be prevented from using an exit with guard, but this makes it unhappy and risks it breaking. This is still worth doing, however, for exits that will be fatal to the egg (e.g. entrances to waterways).

The egg does not show up through map door text, making it harder to track than normal NPCs.

The best places to work with the egg are large open spaces, such as Dragon Head Square or the Square of a Thousand Parades. The movement of the egg in nearby rooms will be shown, making it easier to follow its rapid movement, and these locations have no natural hazards that can kill the egg (such as water). There is little you can do to control the location in general, but if the chicken or egg are already near these locations, use of guard (or similar) can herd them in the right direction.

Sources