Best story is best. I haven't come across a game that's provoked the same amount of sheer thought from me before, and I doubt I will again. Whenever you're ready, Monk, we'll be waiting. At least, I will be.
I wish we could revive a bit of that old arguing/debating we used to do, though. That was the most fun I can remember having since I stopped having theological debates with a classmate of mine two of three years back. Maybe if we continue to keep this thread alive with such critical thinking and arguments, it'll help Monk with ideas and keep the interest going until he's able to come back.
For example, I took a few moments to reread parts of the thread, and I noticed a few things I hadn't beforehand. I don't know if anyone mentioned this before- I can't remember that far back, and I haven't reread the entire thread yet, but here goes:
One, it's mentioned that "an unlikely band of heroes [rose] up to slay [Balkoth] in battle and [ended] his reign of tyranny,or somesuch." Such a tale would likely be well-documented, if exaggerated- why don't we look for it? Knowing how those heroes defeated Balkoth might help in our own endeavors, both offensive (against the other necromancers) and defensive (against those who might use those same techniques against us). Besides, I'm honestly curious about it.
Two, I noticed something about the rope doll- at first, when we used
Animate Object, it's specifically mentioned that the purple fire that was our necromantic magic seemed undirected. Then, when we used
Alter Golem to create eyes by imagining we could see through them, the purple fire became predominantly consolidated in the golem's head, with two brighter points of light for eyes. And, when we cut the golem apart, the entire body and the head contained the same amount of vitality- one. Perhaps Vitality is what is needed in order to simulate senses and movement. Thus, in order to create muscles and the like, could we merely gather more vitality, insert it into the golem, and do the same thing, except imagine moving and the like? Could we even give the golem a necromantic mouth, allowing us to speak through it?