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From: aeb@mcvax.UUCP (Andries Brouwer)
Newsgroups: net.games.hack
Subject: Re: dead lizards
Message-ID: <566@mcvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 3-Apr-85 06:29:38 EST
Article-I.D.: mcvax.566
Posted: Wed Apr  3 06:29:38 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 5-Apr-85 05:16:12 EST
References: <353@desint.UUCP> <399@wjvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: aeb@mcvax.UUCP (Andries Brouwer)
Organization: CWI, Amsterdam
Lines: 26

In article <399@wjvax.UUCP> ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) writes:
> ... You hear the cockatrice's hissing.--More--
> I've looked at the code, and I don't think there is *any* way to avoid
> turning to stone.  It seems to be a matter of luck only.

You can genocide cockatrices. You can wear an elven cloak.
You may cancel the cockatrice. At all costs avoid hand to hand combat;
instead attack the cockatrice from a distance with arrows or rocks.
With a careful policy you can reduce the chances of being turned to
stone to less than 1 in 500 per encounter.

> This is crap. ...  Even if you had *one* turn
> to do something after you hear the hissing, it would mean something
> (save against magic, rather than blind chance).

Can you tell me the difference between "save against magic" and a call
to rand() ? One does not necessarily die after hearing the hissing.

> By the way: in mythology, it was the *glance* of the cock that turns you to
> stone.  The breath of the cock (or the basilisk) was so foul it would melt
> stone and wither vegitation.

I can see that you are really disappointed that your good adventure ended
so abruptly. Hack is a mythological world on its own, and outside references
can never prove anything. In this case however, the quote given in the data
file is authentical and mentions hissing as sometimes fatal.