Death

Death is a common inconvenience in Shartak, but it is not the end; players may return to life by contacting a shaman or may continue playing as a spirit. Items are not lost upon death, but spirits cannot use them.

Upon reaching zero HP your character become a dead body.

Your consciousness is trapped in a lifeless body. The way to free yourself is to assume spirit form so you can float away from it.

Clicking on the button marked "Assume Spirit Form" transforms your character into a spirit (for 0 AP).

You assume spirit form and leave your corpse behind.

Players in spirit form see a message:

Unfortunately you have died and are now floating around as a spirit. It seems you don't need to worry about how thick the jungle is any more as you simply pass straight through it, however you can no longer carry anything. You should probably contact a Shaman to assist you in returning to life.

Actions in spirit form

Spirits are capable of floating over any terrain (except impassable mountain and deep ocean) for 1 AP. Spirits do not benefit from the skills exploration and trekking. Cartography and map information do not update while in spirit form. Spirits also cannot use or drop any items that they were carrying at the time of their death. They appear to be bound to the language and character recognition limitations that they maintained when they were among the living.

Spirits cannot attack targets directly. However, under the ghostly whisper skill tree, spirits learn the ability to shriek and wail with a chance to cause damage to all mortals in an area of effect.

Returning to life

A spirit can contact their home shaman for 25 AP or a roaming shaman for 50 AP. The player will then be resting and regenerating AP at the feet of the shaman who resurrected them.

As your spirit is whisked across the island, everything goes dark. Your surroundings come back into view and you find that magically you have been brought back to life by [shaman name]. You lie still for a while as your strength returns.

Thanks to the shaman's magic, a resurrected player will be invulnerable and invisible until they spend 1-6 AP to stand up.

A shaman has returned your spirit to your body and you are currently recovering from the ordeal of being dead. Thanks to something the shaman has done, you appear as a lifeless body to anyone glancing your way. You may continue with life as soon as you feel strong enough to stand.

When a character stands up, they receive full HP and are once again granted access to their inventory and skills.

You cannot go into AP debt to contact a shaman. "Sorry, you don't have enough action points yet. You'll need to wait until you have at least [25/50] before you can contact the shaman."

Spirit skill tree

Screams, shrieks, and wails affect only playable characters and do not appear to affect animals, shamans, and traders. These skills do not work in the camp clearing because the home shaman's chanting neutralizes the effect. But spirits can still enter huts and attack players inside. As a mortal, outdoor camp areas are safe from spirits, while sleeping in a hut can be a dangerous gamble.

• Ghostly whisper - Allows spirits to communicate
  With ghostly whisper, spirits can speak to any player that has the sixth sense skill. Other spirits can hear ghostly whispers, even if they lack sixth sense.
  • Haunting scream - Attract other spirits and scare nearby living players
    Using haunting scream gives spirits a chance of dealing 1 HP of damage to living players in the area at the cost of 1 AP. All nearby players hear the scream, and some percentage of them take damage. It is believed that a spirit receives 1 XP per scream in a location containing at least one listener.
    • Shocking shriek - Scare nearby living players
      Shocking shriek is similar to haunting scream but allows spirits to deal more damage to players they frighten. Shocking shriek is superceded and replaced by the more powerful banshee wail.
      • Banshee wail - Frighten nearby living players
        Spirits with banshee wail can emit powerful wails for a cost of up to 6 AP per wail. All characters in the area of effect hear each banshee wail, and a small percentage of hearers take 4 HP of damage. Sixth sense does not seem to alter the impact of the banshee wail. It is possible for victims to die from wails. The experience point reward for wailing depends upon the amount of damage caused, and ranges from 0 XP to 15 XP per wail (with an average of about 8 XP in a crowded location).
        • Possession - Be able to possess the bodies of the living, Allowing you to force you to make them Write or Say something. Speaking costs 3AP, Writing costs 4AP (may be variable, untested)
          • Forceful possession - Sometimes a stronger presence is needed to be able to possess the living, Allows you to force the person to attack people near them. Costs 6AP (may be variable, untested)