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Test of Beacons

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This page contains information directly lifted from Tale 3, and has not yet been confirmed as accurate for Tale 4.
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Test of Beacons

Overview

  • Requires level 17 to begin.
  • Begin Test at UWorship
  • Perform mundane activities for a chance to summon an altar
  • Anchor summoned altars with two other people
  • Perform a Beacon Ritual at the now-anchored altar
  • Do this seven times to pass the Test


Principles

To pass principles, perform the following:

  • Perform the Anchoring Meditation
  • Complete a single Beacon Ritual

If the beacon ritual must be performed by the three priests that perform the anchoring ritual/meditation, then you must simply complete a single beacon ritual successfully.


The Beacon Ritual

The ritual is comprised of three parts:

  1. Attract an altar
  2. Perform the anchoring ritual
  3. Perform the beacon ritual itself

Either by fortune or by deduction, an altar may be attracted to a priest, appearing by them. Once an altar is attracted, three priests must come and perform the anchoring ritual. Once anchored to this world, they will receive partial visions on how to perform the beacon ritual. Upon correctly determining the beacon ritual's steps and performing it, all three priests will receive credit for that beacon.

Complete seven beacon rituals successfully to pass the test.


Attracting an altar

If all of the following conditions are met, there is a chance that an altar will be attracted:

  • Perform the favored activity.
  • Have between 1 to 3 other Egyptians nearby.
  • Not be at home.
    • I've got conflicing data on this. I have successfully attracted at home twice. I have also recieved the 'You are at home message' multiple times at the same location (within 10 co-ords) Kasiya 06:52, 10 November 2009 (EST)
  • Not have attracted a beacon successfully in the past teppy week.
  • Not having successfully completed a ritual in the past teppy day

Note that satisfying these conditions is no guarantee that you will attract a beacon. The "not be at home" condition is based on a percentage threshold of non-public chests and buildings you have access to in the surrounding area.

If a beacon has been successfully attracted by fulfilling these conditions, the message "You have done everything you need to attract a beacon altar. If you are lucky, one will appear." will display in Main. This means the beacon has appeared somewhere in the vicinity of all the Egyptians, and requires the anchoring ritual to be performed before it disappears. Regardless of success in anchoring, this will count as successfully attracting a beacon in the teppy-week.

Favored activity

One of the more difficult aspects of the entire test is determining the favored activity, which changes once a teppy-week. Monitor E! for beacon activity announcements, and please post if you have done few activities and attract (or almost) an altar. The activities could be anything, for example:

  • Drinking from an aqueduct tower
  • Foraging a herb
  • Expedition Travel
  • Slaughtering a camel
  • Fishing
  • Gathering clay
  • Gathering wood
  • Growing flax

A message in main will appear when you attract an altar, or when you "almost" attract a beacon by performing the favored activity but fail to satisfy the other conditions on the list above. Note that it can take up to a REAL hour between performing the activity and attracting (or almost-) an altar.


Possible messages: please correct/update!

  • A beacon altar was almost attracted to you, because you did the favored activity in the last hour. However, there are not enough people nearby.
  • You have done everything needed to attract a beacon altar. If you are lucky, one will appear.
  • A beacon altar was almost attracted to you, because you did the favored activity in the last hour. However, you own too many of the buildings in this area. You are at home.
  • A beacon altar was almost attracted to you, because you did the favoured activity in the last hour. However, there are too many people nearby.

Anchoring Ritual

Once visible, the beacon altar will last only 3 teppy-minutes unless it is anchored. Any three people can anchor an altar, even if they have passed the test, even if they have not performed the favored activity, even if they have completed a ritual in the past week, and in fact even if they aren't even signed up for the test.

The ritual is as follows:

  • Priest One mediates.
  • Priest Two mediates.
  • Priest Three mediates.

Upon successfully performing the ritual, the altar will be anchored and will now last 30 minutes before disappearing. Additionally, each priest receives a vision on how to successfully complete the ritual.


Beacon Ritual

An anchored beacon altar will stay for 30 minutes. The three priests that performed the anchoring ritual will obtain a vision on how to perform the beacon ritual. Only these three priests may perform the ritual at the given beacon altar. As a note, the priest order performed for an anchoring ritual has no effect on the order of the priests that perform a beacon ritual. Simply re-choose who will perform each part.

The beacon ritual itself will vary for each beacon. Additionally, the actual ritual will be hidden among the three vision received, as they are intentionally unclear.

The ritual will need two sets of gems from the following list:

  • 2 Medium Diamonds
  • 2 Medium Rubies
  • 2 Medium Emeralds
  • 2 Medium Sapphires

The first priest's vision will state which gems are needed (not necessarily in the correct order), the second and third priests visions will each state 4 instructions for placing gems on the altar. Because the vision does not state whether the 2nd or 3rd priest's instructions must be performed first and because the 2nd and 3rd visions refer only to the first gem and second gem, there are 4 possible rituals.

Note that the instructions in the vision refer to left/right pillar or focus. The pillars are the plates set away from the statue, and the foci are the plates held in the statue's hands. Left means the statue's left, or the left side when facing the back of the statue.

If the ritual is performed successfully, a pop-up message will congratulate you. If you perform all actions correctly, it will take 4 attempts at most. All three participants will receive credit for the successful ritual; complete 7 to pass the test.

An example of the Beacon Ritual

(Added during Tale 4)

Players Alpha, Beta and Gamma anchor an altar.

Alpha's vision indicates that Diamonds and Emeralds are the gem for this ritual, and that Priest Three must meditate at the end of the ritual.

Beta's vision says:

  • Priest two puts the first item on the right focus
  • Priest one puts the second item on the left focus
  • Priest three takes the second item from the left focus
  • Priest three takes the first item from the right focus


Gamma's vision says:

  • Priest three puts the first item on the left focus
  • Priest three puts the second item on the right focus
  • Priest two takes the first item from the left focus
  • Priest one takes the second item from the right focus


Based on this information, there are four rituals which could be correct. After a few attempts, they succeed in the ritual by doing the following:

Alpha, Beta and Gamma decide that they will be priest One, Two and Three respectively. They could as easily have chosen any other order; the visions do not indicate which participant is which priest.

  • Priest three puts the diamond on the left focus (plate in statue's left hand, as looking from behind)
  • Priest three puts the emerald on the right focus
  • Priest two takes the diamond from the left focus
  • Priest one takes the emerald from the right focus


  • Priest two puts the diamond on the right focus
  • Priest one puts the emerald on the left focus
  • Priest three takes the emerald from the left focus
  • Priest three takes the diamond from the right focus
  • Priest three meditates

At the conclusion of the last action a pop-up informs the three players that they have successfully completed the ritual.

The order of visions could have been inverted; item one could easily have been the emerald and item two the diamond. Through trial and error, the players discovered the correct method.


Beacon Ritual Generator

A new Beacon generator has been developed. Any problems of feedback please /chat Kartal in game or on the #atitd-wiki channel on the irc.sorcery.net network.

There was this Beacon generator, but the script behind the page seems to be missing.

Excel

Please if you use this, can you let me or the wiki know that it is working and provides correct information (or not)? I created this at around 3-5am in which isn't a good time to create such things, but there we go Seba 20:31, 31 August 2009 (EST).

| Excel 2007 Beacon Generator - Instructions included in the form of comments in cells near the input area. THIS HAS NOT BEEN TESTED, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

| Excel 1997 - 2003 Beacon Generator - Instructions included in the form of comments, may contain errors as the formats for 2007 has changed since previous editions of Excel. THIS HAS NOT BEEN TESTED, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Usage for the Excel 1997-2003 spreadsheet (Excel 2007 should work the same):

The Input tab must look like this or you will not get the proper results:
BeaconSheetInput.png

  • Player Names - In cells B3 to B5, put the players names
  • Priest Number - In cells B11 to B19, you must spell out "Priest #"
  • Items Used - In cells C2 to C4 you must put a 1 in the first gem used and a 2 in the second gem used
  • Items Placed/Taken - In cells D11 to D19 there should be only a 1 or 2

    You should see an Output tab like this if all information is properly input:
    BeaconSheetOutput.png

    Guilds

    The Flavored Bacon Conspiracy is dedicated to determining the weekly favored beacon activity. Membership is open to people who are eligible for the Test (citizens level 17 and higher). Guild Hall is in Shabbat Ab, atop the hill by the Chariot.