Buying lives

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Revision as of 07:12, 3 March 2011 by Mayhem (Talk | contribs) (Golden chicken)

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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.

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.

Pishe's Temple (Ankh Morpork)


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, 3 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.


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:

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.


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 supposedly cheaper for Pishites.


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 after making an offering; however, there is a adventuring.acrobatics.balancing skillcheck for this and you don't get the restore if you fail it.) 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.

Pishe's Temple (Lancre)

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


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.


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. 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.

Confirmed on 3 March 2010. It took about 5 to 10 special chicken logs, and at &&&&&&&&&&&+4000 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.

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.

Confirmed on 12 Arpil 2010. It took me 12 special chicken logs. The part about keeping the egg content was hard. The egg moves fast and goes a few rooms before it wants some attention. Hugs, 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 wanted. Sometimes it tells you what it wants and other times it says it needs more love:

Tangathor's egg tells you in a happy voice: HUG
Tangathor's egg tells you in a scared voice: AM STUCK AM SCARED PLEASE HELP
Tangathor's egg tells you in a joyful voice: YOU LOVE EGG LONG TIME EGG WILL BE VERY GRATEFUL
Tangathor's egg tells you in a happy voice: LOTS OF LOVE EGG LIKE LOVE
Tangathor's egg tells you in an excited voice: PLEASE MORE LOVE EGG NEED LOVE TO HATCH
Tangathor's egg tells you in a happy voice: THANK YOU A LITTLE MORE PLEASE SOON VERY EXCITING
Tangathor's egg tells you in a happy voice: VERY SOON VERY EXCITED

Tangathor's egg wobbles.
Tangathor's egg wobbles alarmingly.
A small crack appears on the surface of Tangathor's egg, which grows and spreads.
Tangathor's egg wobbles slightly.
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.

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. LeaChim 10:33, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Have tried this 10 times working together with someone else. With 118 bonus in the egg evades me easily. We failed 7 times and succeeded on 3 occassions. The egg appears to become scared whenever it goes indoors so be sure to only make the chicken lay its egg in an area without too many shops/houses. I have not been able to figure out how to save the egg from dying when this happens - perhaps the earthquake spell might help nudge it in the right direction? A couple of times the egg went into the water and couldn't swim out - this also causes death to the egg despite constant attention. The dojo and market st are also bad places for the egg to end up. --Mayhem 11:12, 3 March 2011 (UTC)