The True Crown (2)

Type:	Accessory
Function:	Teleports bearer every 22 seconds, giving 22 bombs in return.
Source:	Meeting Beg a second time while cursed
Damage:	Instant kill (Bad Teleport)
Notes:	Teleport timer resets when entering a new level Also doubles Shopkeeper prices and angers Tun

The True Crown is an item that can be obtained by meeting Beg twice. It grants the bearer immense power at a cost.

Function

Receiving The True Crown from Beg in The City of Gold.

The True Crown teleports its bearer every 22 seconds. Every time the bearer teleports, they receive 22 bombs.

The teleport functions identically to as if the user activated a Teleporter or Telepack, meaning although the bearer cannot control when they teleport, they may influence the direction of their teleportation by orienting themselves in any direction. The teleport range is identical (4-8 blocks horizontally/up, 4-9 blocks down), and is affected by Four-Leaf Clovers, which guarantee teleporting the max possible range.

The teleport timer resets every time the player enters a new level. If the Spelunker is unable to teleport (eg; moving through a background door), the teleport is queued, activating as soon as it becomes possible for them to teleport.

Shopkeepers who see Spelunkers with The True Crown double the prices of their wares, mockingly calling them "Your majesty".

Tun instantly angers when a Spelunker enters one of her Shops through the front door while they or another Spelunker is wearing The True Crown, saying "Ah, one of my brother's foolish followers!". The only exception to this is her encounter at the top of Tiamat's Throne, just before the door to the Sunken City. If Tun has yet to anger, she will only anger if any Spelunker enters her Shop through specifically the front door and triggers a line of dialogue from her.

Completing a Cosmic Ocean run by reaching 7-99 with the True Crown will change the second word of the Constellation to Asinus.

Obtaining

To obtain The True Crown, the player must desecrate one of Kali's Altars and curse themselves.

1. Destroy a Kali Altar by using bombs or other means. This will anger her and reduce the player's favor by 16 points.
2. At the next altar the player finds, Beg will appear and give them a Bomb Bag a few seconds after meeting them.
3. Curse oneself through any means.
4. Enter a level that spawned with an altar while cursed, where the player will meet Beg one last time on the altar, who will give them The True Crown.

Notes

• The player only needs to destroy one altar for the True Crown quest.
  • Additional altars may be destroyed to help get the player cursed for the final step of the quest, although other methods of becoming cursed are acceptable, such as through a Cat Mummy or Witch Doctor.
  • The amount of Favor the player has with Kali does not matter for the True Crown quest; One can already have earned the Kapala and numerous instances of Royal Jelly from an Altar and Beg will spawn regardless if an altar was previously destroyed.
• For the final step of the quest, the player does not need to meet Beg cursed and may cure themselves prior to talking to him if on the same level, as he will spawn from the player entering the level while cursed.
• If the player misses either encounter with Beg, they will never get another opportunity to meet with him again, voiding the quest.
• If Beg is hit by anything during either of his appearances, he will teleport out of the level/die depending on which encounter it is, meaning that the player will fail the quest and they will no longer be able to obtain The True Crown.
• Beg will not spawn on the Altar in Madame Tusk's Palace of Pleasure under any circumstances.
• Beg is not Whip immune, and can be easily killed by the player during his second encounter due to his cursed status. The Telepack he drops tends to fly up in the air as he dies, which could hit the Spelunker and likely kill them if they were still at 1 HP.

Strategy

The True Crown clearly has a heavy focus on chaos, and gives the player more bombs than they might ever need. Because of this, it is an extremely valuable asset for high score runs, much like the Plasma Cannon.

Obtaining The True Crown can be difficult, as it requires the specific circumstance where the player encounters a minimum of 3 altars while also becoming cursed. The player can assuage the required RNG for The True Crown's quest by visiting Temple of Anubis, where Cat Mummies are a common sight, and The City of Gold, where a guaranteed altar will spawn.

Once obtained, The True Crown may be used to practically carpet bomb The City of Gold and make incredible amounts of money by uncovering treasure in the ground. Outside of high score, players can blow open an easy path to exit doors, annihilate adversaries, and use its teleportation abilities for their own needs.

Players should still be wary of accidentally destroying Altars, as if a third one is destroyed, the consequences could be run ending with the Ball and Chain and permanent Ghost burdened onto the player until the Ball and Chain is destroyed.

Trivia

• The Cap and Bells appearance of the True Crown is likely a reference to the role of the Joker playing card in most card games. Jokers typically serve as either a wildcard (functions as any card) or tie breakers, adding to the theme of chaos that the True Crown is based around.
• The True Crown awards 22 bombs after teleporting the player every 22 seconds. This may have multiple meanings:
  • Hundun (2) resides in 7-4, the 22nd level of the game. The True Crown is typically awarded to followers of Hundun.
  • A standard Tarot card deck contains a trump suit (category of cards which outrank all others) consisting of 22 cards known as the major arcana, with The Jester/The Fool being the first card or, depending on the deck, the 22nd card.
    • Adding to the tarot card theme, "I was a fool." is the text that reads in the Journal's run-recap for runs that were completed with the True Crown, and completing 7-99 with The True Crown awards the suffix "Asinus" to the player's Contellation, which translates from latin to "fool".

Time Stamps

Below is a list of the exact timestamps that a player will teleport with The True Crown, once they have entered a new level and the True Crown's teleport timer resets. Once the timer reaches an interval of 11 minutes, the list starts over from the beginning with 11 minutes added to each timestamp.

0:22

0:44

1:06

1:28

1:50

2:12

2:34

2:56

3:18

3:40

4:02

4:24

4:46

5:08

5:30

5:52

6:14

6:36

6:58

7:20

7:42

8:04

8:26

8:48

9:10

9:32

9:54

10:16

10:38

11:00