Death

It is a matter of dispute whether player death occurs in Dead Maze, but the player can succumb to **two degrees** of incapacitation. The benign degree you incur if you don't have the  *One foot in the grave* symptom when your health drops to zero. You will then get knocked out - when in that state you cannot move nor perform actions, but are also nearly invulnerable (a locked-on avenger or some environmental effects can decrease your nourishment or hydration levels), and there is a 5-minute timer, triggering the **flare release** when it runs out of time. **The timer pauses when you are logged off.**

When knocked out you will gain the  *Pain* and  *Knocked out* symptoms. As long as your nourishment and hydration are both above 40 units each, you'll then have the three options (be careful not to accidentally pick the worst one by pressing 1 on the keyboard):

1. Fleeing (results in the flare release)
2. Second Chance (self-revival)
3. Waiting for help

If the character is **hungry or thirsty** (either below 40 units), **it won't be able to self-revive**, and will have to wait for someone else - or settle for the flare release. The option to self-revive doesn't get disabled only by a specified portion of that time passing, but if someone within your field of view flares while you remain knocked out, this may make your revival/flee buttons disappear. If that happens, relog and the buttons will reappear. Be also aware that while incapacitated you can still lose nourishment (like from an irate avenger or elemental effects in the environment, blasts etc), and if it brings you below 40 units, you'll lose the ability to self-revive.

If a knocked-out character is waiting **in a passage that locks**, the character is ferried to just outside to continue waiting, and will not lose the option of self-revival just because of that.

A character that already has the  *One foot in the grave* symptom active will automatically suffer a **flare release** if their health runs out.

* the exception is that if the character has tamed Pouch the dog and it didn't have to rescue the character during the last 4 hours, it will automatically show up to restore the character's health one time and fight along for up to 15 minutes, as long as the dog's own health lasts.

**Flare release** is the serious degree of incapacitation - you incur it when you lose all your health while simultaneously without the protection of Pouch the dog - and carrying the  *One foot in the grave* symptom. Flaring means you drop the contents of your backpack, **lose your survivor gear** and launch a flare to be ferried home. Because you leave the zone, you're also emptying all the containers you inspected there. The items and resources from the backpack can be recovered if you come back to pick them up (the backpack, even if it's unavailable at times because of being in a lockable passage will still be there - as long as you don't incur another flare release, overwriting the backpack with a new one). But because you irrevocably lose your survivor gear, it's a fate better avoided. So to get the "one foot in the grave" symptom removed, rest at a bonfire with more than 50 fire (spawn campfires always have at least 85, and an advanced firestarter produces 75, the regular firestarter - 50). Travelling to another zone (except the encampment) also clears the  *One foot in the grave* symptom if your threat level isn't above 4.

Note: from a rational point of view, the flare release isn't necessarily tantamount to death, even if were to mean another foot in the grave. Graves are often as much as six feet deep.

Tip: Obtain the Fire Starter and Advanced Fire starter recipes by salvaging those firestarters to the home stock - and from then on, even if you don't have the crafting table, you can craft them out of your resource pocket - the 50 one requires 3 wood resources and 1 paper resource, whereas the 75 advanced one - 4 wood and 1 fuel, and again you don't need the fuel barrel to be able to carry fuel with you. When you get revived, the first thing you should do is intelligently look for space where you can light a bonfire (it has to be clear of the infected, even behind walls) to remove the  *One foot in the grave* symptom. Always assume you can get caught in a lag.

A character reviving in any way pushes the infected +3 meters outward (positive projection).

## Waiting for Help

As long as the five-minute timer hasn't run out, any player can revive you. It consists of the player performing the action for 7 seconds, during which they can't get hit by infected, or they'll be forced to abort. When revived you will gain the symptom of  *One foot in the grave* and will suffer a penalty of 20 thirst and hunger each (which is half of that if you revived yourself). A revived character pushes the infected +3m outward.

* Write a message in the zone (city) main chat or the frequented channel like dm-trade (or the special but unpredictable chat `**/chat rescue**`) asking for help (with a good description of where you are), and a friendly player *may* go out of their way to come rescue you. If you type in the zone main chat, be aware that all the people who can read you are already in that zone too, so just give the more relevant and detailed information than "I'm in Santa Rosa". On the other hand, for someone to see which zone you are in, you both have to have added each other to your contacts lists, so remember to brief them if you're calling a rescuer from elsewhere.
* You can offer your rescuer the group (exit yours to be sure they can invite you), but remember that the groupmate azimuth indicator doesnt work if you're on different floors, so always mention the floor you are on. That indicator, even when it does work, shows your position and not the route, so you'll speed up most operations by supplying some information (people usually know where mission characters and passages are, so you can describe it relative to that, at the least describe what you see on the screen). In a time when the zone is crowded out (often happens to especially Sacramento, Bodega Bay, Santa Rosa), it's possible for the rescuer to wind up on a different instance of the zone (city) than the casualty if they're not grouped together before the rescuer enters the zone, but if they relog simultaneously, they may eventually end up on the same instance.
* **If you log off, the agony timer pauses**, so after you brief them about where you exactly are, you can give the rescuing party (make sure they respond) some time to reach the site and clean it (state in how many minutes - at least 4 - you will log back on, and keep that time the sharpest you can). If nobody responds, you could use some communication means like even the Atelier mail to arrange for a rescue operation. If you play other Atelier games, you - while staying logged off Dead Maze - can access the Dead Maze chatrooms to direct people to where you are.
* You can develop a second character and rescue one with the other.
* When reviving someone remember that if something hits you, your reviving attempt will be interrupted, so best - kill off at least the nearest infected squads (whole, because a squad killed whole respawns 3 times slower).
* When reviving someone who's logging on, don't start right away, because you will finish before they regain control over the character, making them vulnerable.
* Sometimes the position of the casualty is different than it appears to other players, so you may find you are actually "too far" from the character when attempting it - move around clicking on the casualty to establish where they are - or have the player direct you.
* If the player you're trying to revive is obscured by a container or a stair well, make them log off so that you have time to find a nearby unstable infected and lead it to the area - and when the player logs back on, trigger the explosion of that unstable so that the blast pushes the player out to the accessible space. The "Provoke" skill may help in the leading of the infected to the appropriate spot.
* If you get knocked out on adventure with nobody around to rescue you, you can **log off for at least 30 minutes.** If you log on after that time (regardless of the outcome of the adventure) your participation in the adventure will become void, and your knocked-out character will be ferried back to Lakeview Lane, where someone should give it a hand.

## Second Chance

By choosing Second Chance, you become conscious again, with the +3m projection pushing any nearby infected away. The character incurs the symptom of  *One foot in the grave*, along with the  Pain debuff - and a penalty of 40 thirst and hunger each (which is double of that when you get rescued by someone else).

If a character gets knocked out while hungry or thirsty (i.e. with less than 40 food or water points), the second chance button will **not** be available to you and you either have to flee or wait for rescue.

**Note**: another way of incurring the  "One foot in the grave" symptom is achieving a threat level of 5 or more. Threat level is a measure of how long the character kills (or aids in the killing) the infected without resting at a bed or a bonfire - and how much unconverted experience they have accumulated in the field. The higher the threat level, the more the character suffers damage, thirst and hunger, but the better drops it can expect (threat level doesn't improve finds from containers, except those openable with actions like with a crowbar, fishing rod etc). An eclipse animation informs you you have gained a threat level, so pay attention, because the onset of the  skull symbol indication is delayed. If you have the  pain and the  skull symbols, you've most probably got knocked out and revived a while ago - and if you have the  skull symbol without the pain - it means you're on the 5th threat level or above.
## Flare release

If:

* deprived of health when already with the  *One foot in the grave* (with no dog on duty to rescue you)
* when remaining knocked out and running out of the 5 minutes of time
* choosing to flee when knocked out
* using the red pistol to the left of the attire selection rows (with no dog on duty)

you'll release a flare beacon and will be sent back into camp. If this happens, you irrevocably lose your survivor gear - and your other Items are put in a backpack dropped at the position of your flare release and can be collected again without stamina costs if you come back and find the backpack (sometimes because of lags you may be a little wrong about which place you actually released the flare in, so look and click around). You don't have to collect the backpack's contents all at once, you can leave the zone or wait any amount of time between attempts and the backpack will be preserved forever until you deplete it or overwrite it by dropping another one during a flare release (or an item-preserving Player vs Player session, see below). Even if it's in a locking passage or on an adventure map, the backpack will still keep its position. Nobody can see or draw from a backpack except the owner. It used to be that, when drawn from, the backpack would already disappear when the last item was taken from it even if the backpack still had resources, there are claims that it has improved recently, but as a precaution, take your resources out before you pick the last of the items.

* **Only the deceased player can see pick up his own Items**.
* Picking up Items doesn't cost Stamina nor Rest.
* The zone you've fled from is marked on the map by a skull, but that the only help, so remember or jot down the exact location, especially if you're discouraged to play.
* The backpack vanishes after certain conditions:
	1. Another flare release
	2. Is or gets emptied

The packpack can get harmed by the combo from the gaming console. When used without clicking, the console is safe, but its combo attack can damage the backpack just like it destroys loot bags (and not only those of the player using it). If the backpack is damaged or destroyed in this way, it will regenerate on subsequent visits to the zone (so relogging will restore it too).

A second flare release will result in the second bag ( whether you obtained anything yet or not) replacing the first one.

Note that if you get onto a Player versus Players session not by signing up for it, but by grouping up with someone already there and traveling to Mazon, the backpack you will deposit when slain will later be accessible in regular Mazon (which is a way of carrying items out of pvp) and though you don't lose survivor gear, that backpack overwrites any previous one.

Flare release isn't to be confused with using the "sos signal" from the flare pistol item. If you have a flare pistol to use, its signal will bring you home safely - without any losses - and instantly (but the preparation to launch takes 5 seconds).

## Dog

*Main article: Dog*

After completing 60 daily taming missions and building him a doghouse, you will have Pouch the dog save you from a -*one-foot-in-the-grave* flare release once every 4 hours (the dog will be present at your encampment if it's protecting you). The four-hour timer counts down even when offline, so if you're worried about not having the dog's protection you can close the game until it would be active again. The dog appears when the  *One foot in the grave* is active, prevents the flare release, restores the player's health once and stays to help him fight for up to 15 minutes (or till he gets killed, which is without consequences other than that he's not at the scene anymore to fight along). The dog appears without warning, and independent of the player's choice, and in some cases the event can be missed by the player because the dog's and the player's health get depleted instantly again - especially if there are lags involved.

Dog saving you **doesn't inflict pain** so sometimes you might not be able to tell you've used it up - If not sure what happened, go home and see if the dog is around. The pain only comes from getting knocked out - and it isn't cancelled if you suffer the flare release (unlike the "one foot in the grave"). Meanwhile, the dog will also react to the painless  *One foot in the grave* from threat levels of 5 or higher.

The dog will save you **only** when you already have the  *One foot in the grave.* It will - even if you are hungry or thirsty. But **without** the  *One foot in the grave* you can still get immobilized by getting knocked out while **hungry or thirsty** (fewer than 40 units of either), **and unable to revive yourself** - and the dog **won't help** with that, and if you run out of time, you'll suffer a flare release.

* there sometimes are reports of the dog failing to appear when it would be expected to, but see the above precautions.