Sacrifice

Verified against the spelunky.ai port v0.1.10 on 28 October 2026.

This page describes a secret.

A sacrifice is the only way to raise Kali's favour, and so to earn her gifts, the Kapala among them. The body has to be one the game leaves lying in the level: most monsters vanish when they die, so only a few kinds, and the Damsel, can be offered. The altar is a stone table in a side room, which a level has at most one of (Kali's Altar).

A monster's sacrifice is part of the code most monsters share (oEnemy's step); the Damsel's is in her own step. On each step, a body is checked in this order ^{[1] [2]}:

1. Stunned or dead. A monster must be stunned or dead; a Damsel must have been thrown by the player, or be dead.
2. Lying still. Not in the player's hands, and not moving at all, across or down.
3. On the altar. The point just under the middle of its feet must be on either half of an altar.
4. Long enough. While all three hold, a count of 20 steps runs down, one a step. It starts again whenever the body is picked up or moves, so one picked up or knocked off has to lie there for the whole count again; one lying still off the altar keeps what's left of it ^{[3] [4]}.
5. The sacrifice. Once the count is out, the body bursts into flame with a burst of blood and is gone, the screen shakes, and the message is "KALI ACCEPTS THE SACRIFICE!" ("YOUR SACRIFICE" for a Damsel). Its worth is added to the favour, and Kali's message on how she feels follows, with her gift if it's earned (Kali's favour) ^[5].

At a favour of -8 or less the body is taken all the same, but the message is "KALI DEVOURS THE SACRIFICE!" and nothing is added ^[6].

A monster's step only runs while it's near the view, within 20 pixels of its left and top edges and 4 of its right and bottom, so a monster left on an altar the player has walked away from waits there until he comes back ^[7].

Only a body the game leaves lying in the level counts. Most monsters, such as the Snake or the Bat, are removed as soon as their hit points are gone, and some are never stunned. Those that lie stunned, and those that leave a dead body, are:

A dead monster is worth half a stunned one ^[15]. A Damsel is worth the same either way: her code has a branch that would make her worth half as much again, but it tests for a state she's never in ^[16]. The player's own body is never a sacrifice, as nothing in his code looks for the altar.

A stunned monster can be picked up and carried, and set down or thrown onto the altar (Throwing). A stomp stuns a Caveman, a Yeti, a Hawkman, a Vampire, an angry Shopkeeper, and a Mantrap while it's eating or the player wears Spike Shoes; a stunned body thrown fast into any of them but the Shopkeeper stuns it too ^[17]. A stunned monster wakes after a while: a Yeti after 200 steps, counted down while it's held or on the ground, when it slips out of the player's hands, so the altar has to be near ^[18]. A Damsel is picked up and thrown as an item is, and lies stunned where she lands.

• A Yeti. In the Ice Caves, the player stomps a Yeti beside the altar, which stuns it, picks it up and drops it on the altar's left half. It comes to rest, lies there for 20 steps, and burns: the favour goes from 8 to 12, and Kali "SEEMS HAPPY" ^[22].
• A Damsel. Earlier on the same level, the player carries a Damsel onto the altar and throws her down on it: worth 8, she brings the favour from 0 to 8, Kali's first gift ^[23].

• The Kapala comes only from Kali, so sacrifices are the only way to it, and the rare items' row of docs/quirks.md §1 spells out the cheapest routes: two Damsels on two levels' altars, or a Damsel and stunned monsters on one ^{[18] [24]}.