Invocation ritual

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For the invocation of an artifact, see invoke.
File:Invocation.png
Player successfully completing the invocation. The tiger will drown the next turn.

The invocation ritual is one of the few mandatory events on the path to ascension. The typical invocation sequence is:

1. Stand on the vibrating square. "You feel a strange vibration under your feet." 2. Light the non-cursed Candelabrum of Invocation, which must have 7 candles. "The candelabrum's candles burn brightly! The candelabrum glows with a strange light!" 3. Ring the non-cursed, charged Bell of Opening. "You ring the Bell of Opening. The Bell of Opening issues an unsettling shrill sound..." 4. Finally, read the non-cursed Book of the Dead. "You begin to recite the runes. You turn the pages of the Book of the Dead... The floor shakes violently under you! The walls around you begin to bend and crumble! You are standing at the top of a stairwell leading down!" Lighting the Candelabrum and ringing the Bell can be performed in either order, but the Book must come last. However, the Candelabrum will remain lit for much longer than the effect of ringing the Bell, so it is slightly safer to ring the Bell second.

If you plan on taking the Candelabrum with you—typically for jumping on the Astral Plane—remember to extinguish it after the ritual.

Of all the objects required to perform the ritual, the candles are the only ones that are not guaranteed to appear at any place in the game (although they are likely to show up in Izchak's shop in Mine Town, which is guaranteed), and the only items that can be wished for. See the entry for candle for more information.

Effect

Performing the ritual will create the staircase down into Moloch's Sanctum over the vibrating square. It will also create a ring of fire traps around you, and a moat around the fire traps. It will also allow you to levelport into the Sanctum, which can bypass the graveyard and sometimes even put you right into the temple.

If you perform the ritual incorrectly, you might receive a message, or even raise the dead.

Remembering the ritual

The most important points to remember are that all three items must be non-cursed, and that the Book must be used last.

Sascha Wostmann's guide to remembering the steps is:

  1. Make some light to read by.
  2. Ring the bell to get the attention of the audience.
  3. Read the book to them.

Another way to remember the order of steps is to apply each item according to its depth in the dungeon: Bell (quest), then Candelabrum (Vlad's Tower), and finally Book (Rodney's tower).

This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.

It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.

Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-343}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.