Might be good to confront the priest later about the whole zombie thing, but yeah, he's nearly certain just experimenting on it to learn how to deal better with them.
For now, let's explore the rest of the house.
If he got the zombie down there without any incident... Maybe it wasn't a zombie when he tied it down...
Now that could just mean that someone got infected and volunteered, but that's not the ONLY thing that could have happened.
No, I think we should try and search it's thoughts, such as they are. Search for what Eko has been doing, who it was before Zombification, how it became a zombie.
1. Search the rest of the temple for info about souls and how they work, Death magic (it will probably concern defenses or detection methods, but those may give us clues on what abilities necromancers have or how to counteract those defense or detection methods), Order magic (specifically the wards and how they work, so that perhaps we may be able to combine it with our knowledge about necromancy to hopefully deduce how the zombies were able to bypass them) and clues about Eko's experimentation (maybe a diary or notebook, if he has one).
2. Try to remember that feeling we had of the cold inner flame all life had. Try to feel this in the people around us. If successful see how the children differ from everyone else. Else just try thinking about what the soul is. The thing that drives people, that gives them purpose. The center of reason and emotion. The thing that differentiates golems and zombies from living things. Try to imagine that and try to feel that thing in us or around us.
"Well, what do we do now?" Omo asks.
You purse your lips thoughtfully.
"Let me take one more look at that zombie- I've just had a thought."Omo gives you a wry look, but quickly sets to moving the heavy barrel over the zombie's prison out of the way once more. He steps back in distaste as you fold back the tarp and open the trapdoor, pinching your nose against the stench. A cursory glance shows no difference between the Necromantic Energy forming this zombie and the zombies you encountered outside the forest of Aloclesno. You still don't know whether you can distinguish the creator of individual zombies by sight, but considering the soldier's uniform and the similar stages of decay it seems quite likely that this zombie is of a kind with the others.
Taking a deep breath, you
Command Undead, merging your consciousness with the restrained undead soldier. You gain intimate knowledge of the zombie's physical state, but it's nothing you were unaware of just from looking at it. The zombie's last (indeed, current) orders are an imperative along the lines of "Move toward this star, kill the living, return with the corpses." It's certainly a more complex order than you've attempted to give before, and is in fact more complex than the orders you found in the mind of the zombie outside Aloclesno- that zombie only had an order to kill, not to move or gather bodies afterward. In particular, the movement order is fairly intricate- instead of a series of directions on how to find the target star, you find a mental picture.
To the right, empty plains seem to glow beneath a bright moon high in the sky, running up to a dark, shadowed forest on the left, one bright star low on the distant horizon clearly associated with the order to walk. Two more zombies can be seen standing to the right of your field of view, though in truth the edges of the image are fuzzy and indistinct- only the area around the star is truly focused and clear. One of the other zombies you can see wields a long spear, and from the corner of your eye you can see a spear that must be held by the viewer himself- or rather, itself, as you get the distinct impression that the picture is something seen by the zombie in the past.
You frown pensively. You can't tell when exactly this order was given, but you can make a guess based on the mental image held by the zombie. Based on maps you've seen, the only forest for miles around is Aloclesno, unless this zombie has been walking west for a great deal longer than you think it has. That possibility is exceptionally unlikely, considering the moon the zombie remembers is not quite full- the moon was last night was close enough to full as to make no difference. Living beneath the branches of Yicelafo your entire life has kept you from being intimate with the phases of the moon, but you more than suspect this zombie was given its orders
before the most recent attack- perhaps a few days before.
You keep digging- the ability to remember an image of such detail certainly suggests that the undead are capable of some degree of memory, more than you had expected. Unfortunately, no matter how you fumble around in the zombie's mind, you cannot seem to find anything else. No thoughts other than its last order, no memories of anything since that order, or any memories of life before zombification. You briefly entertain the idea of Commanding the zombie to remember, or just clearing it's memory to see if anything else turns up, but decide against it. It doesn't seem likely to work, and it may betray your meddling.
"What are you doing, anyway?" Omo asks, not quite looking at the zombie.
You sigh, closing the trapdoor.
"I was trying to search its thoughts.""Zombies have thoughts?""Not really, no. However, it seems they do remember orders. This one remembers more detail than I thought any zombie could. Omo, I'm pretty sure this zombie was sent this way before the last attack. That's when it got its last orders, anyway."Omo scowls, pacing back and forth in the narrow confines of the basement.
"Blood and... that would mean Eko knew the zombies were coming before the attack, wouldn't it?"You run a hand through your hair thoughtfully.
"I suppose so. Something doesn't add up, though. It's not like the villagers don't know about Curo Nightroar- his army has already depopulated most of the villages north of here. He must have had some reason to keep a captive zombie secret.""It had better be a good reason- if the villagers had known that zombies were nearby, they might have fared better in the attack. The soldiers we spoke to didn't seem to think there were many undead this far south of the highway."You shrug.
"I think we've explored everything we can down here. Let's head upstairs."Once more straightening out the basement, you return to the main floor of the temple. You've already seen what there is to see in the washroom and kitchen, so you decide to check out Eko's office for yourself. The room is small, cramped with a desk and chair against the far wall and a cabinet and chest by the door. Wooden shutters hang open on a narrow window, letting the midday sunlight inside.
The desk is cluttered with papers. You shuffle through them, glancing over reports of the village's food supplies, a list of farms requesting a ward against necromancy, early plans for some upcoming festival, a note to check the health of some elderly villager... nothing you wouldn't expect from a village priest. The chest is held shut by a stout lock- Omo offers to try and smash it open, but that would hardly be a noble way to repay Eko's hospitality, even if you could manage it without rousing Ado and half the village with him. Instead, you open the cabinet- hanging inside are a set of clearly ceremonial robes and a short, ornately carved wooden staff. A brightly polished disk of metal serves as a mirror, casting your curious reflection back at you.
Though you search everything twice, you fail to find any sort of secret compartment or hidden nook that might hold a diary, or journal, or any similarly incriminating evidence. Of course, it could very well be in the locked chest, but that's a problem for another time- right now, you're remembering that Omo mentioned a shelf of books in Eko's bedroom.
The bedroom turns out to be a rather spartan affair. A chest of clothing stands open at the foot of a rumpled narrow bed tucked against one wall. A small table beside the bed holds an unlit candle, and what appears to be a flask similar to the one you saw Eko take with him when he left this morning. Your eyes are quickly drawn to a bookshelf on the wall near the door, half a dozen tomes of varying sizes filling the space.
Moving closer, you inspect the titles of the books. Three fat books proclaim themselves to be different volumes of the
Chronicle of Thrimesdur: The Cremated Empire, and a fourth book is titled simply
The Golgothan War. One battered book is a copy of Joddo Meadtrust's
Prestidigitation for the Beginning Practitioner, a book you yourself possess. You are surprised to see Meadtrust's name grace another, thinner book, titled
Line in the Sand: Discrete Forces and Interactions.
A Study of Aloclesno rests beside a thick, leather-bound book whose spine is worked with that square symbol Eko wears on a pendant- the cover of that book bears the same image, as well as the title
Atal: Shield of Atkilpeme.
Omo groans as your hand hovers over the books.
"What, again with the reading?"You arch an eyebrow at him.
"And what's wrong with reading?"Omo waves at the shelf dismissively.
"If I wanted to spend all my time reading, I'd have stayed in Yicelafo and become a Sage.""I'm not asking you to read these books." Reaching out, you snatch Joddo Meadtrust's second book as a likely starting point.
"If you don't want to hang around inside, then why don't you take a stroll around town? I'm sure you can find something fun to do.""Yeah, fun." Omo snorts.
"I don't think this town even has a tavern. Well, I suppose I've never walked around a human village before. I'll go stretch my legs."As Omo sets off in search of more interesting sights, you settle into the fireside armchair in the kitchen, opening
Line in the Sand: Discrete Forces and Interactions. Reading through the introduction and table of contents reveals that this is a book about Order Wards. Apparently, a Ward is any sort of "bounded transitional interference field," which apparently means a protective barrier once you cut through the jargon describing what exactly they can do. There are wards that block sight and sound, wards that block movement, wards that can be used as traps... you make mental note of a ward that is supposed to shield your dreams, but ignore it for now in favor of the long list of wards against specific forms of Magic.
As it turns out, a narrow ribbon already serves to bookmark the chapter about Necromancy wards. You flip past wards that raise an alarm when triggered by Necromancy (which apparently are not very Mana-intensive,) wards that can physically block the passage of the undead (which are much more costly,) and wards that can be used to destroy any undead that passes (which are extremely expensive, and complicated to cast judging by the walls of text and arcane diagrams accompanying them.) You find a description of a ward that sounds similar to what Eko said he used- it seems that it shields the presence of the living from undead by blocking Necromancy-based senses, and replacing them with a sense that the area is filled with inanimate objects, such that the undead creature in question would be unable to pass through.
Unfortunately, you don't have a clue
how it does all this- the technical explanation bears no relation to anything you are familiar with, and you can only assume that it makes sense to a practitioner of Order. It does seem to confirm what Eko said earlier, however- an unthinking creature would slightly alter their path to avoid an area protected by the ward in much the same way they would to avoid a particularly large boulder. It wouldn't work over too large an area, if a zombie was determined to move in a specific direction, but certainly it would be enough to prevent a zombie from trying to break in a window. A farmhouse would be just another large obstacle to go around, not a likely hiding place for victims. You don't even know if zombies can remember orders as complicated as recognizing a house to break and enter, though after your recent discovery you're not as sure.
You snap the book shut when the dense text threatens to give you a headache. Between what you've gleaned from this book, and the orders you found in the zombie's mind, it seems Eko is right- they shouldn't have crossed the ward on their own. Clearly they did just that, but you can't figure out how.
You stretch, sinking back into the chair. That inquisition may have been fruitless, but you've got plenty of daylight yet- maybe it's time for an experiment. The more you think about it, the more it seems that Necromancy must have some interaction with souls- otherwise, Balkoth would not have been able to make his soul-stealing forest monster. And it hardly seems possible to manipulate a soul if you can't
sense it.
Cautiously, you stick your head into the main room of the Temple. The children lie in exactly the position you saw them last- Ado Drunkenstumbles appears to be napping fitfully. Gliding over to your cot, you quietly sit on it, crossing your legs and leaning slightly toward where the children rest. Closing your eyes, you regulate your breathing, trying to center your thoughts. You try thinking about what the soul might be, the Spirit you vaguely remember the Sages mentioning as a child. You think about what it was like in the beginning, feeling that odd awareness of Vitality, feelings you now recognize to be early signs of your Necromancy manifesting itself. You bring your will to bear, trying to force those feelings to-
See VitalityYour eyes open wide as you feel the spell resolve. To your eyes, Ado and the children suddenly resemble pulsing mounds of Vitality. You can see it flowing through them in rivers, branching streams spreading throughout their flesh, infusing every inch of them. In many ways, it looks like a zombie you're observing with your improved Necromantic Sight, except that the flow and interplay of Vitality is vastly more complicated. Squinting, you try to focus on the confusing jumble before you- you almost feel like you can detect internal organs, a powerful swirl that must be the heart, a rippling pulse...
You frown. There is definitely a difference between Ado and the children- more than one. A frenzied, seething mass of Vitality around Ado's wound must be his body healing itself, possibly spurred on by whatever spell Eko cast. With this new, incredibly detailed spell, you can actually feel his Vitality growing in infinitesimal increments as he heals, increased by each pulse of his inner Vitality. The children, however, are definitely
not healing. Oh, their Vitality pulses as well, but it seems more akin to water washing around a tub, while Ado feels like the ripples of water being poured
into the tub.
You silently rise to your feet, walking closer to Ado, fascinated by the pulsing of his Vitality. To your view, each surge seems to originate in the brain, flowing down toward the heart before surging to the rest of the body, swirling and lapping about. The brain itself seems to be a roiling mass of concentrated Vitality, expanding and contracting in time with the pulses. That mass of Vitality is convoluted beyond belief- only a subconscious suspicion makes you think it is organized and stable, rather than just a chaotic maelstrom.
By comparison, the children's brains are much less interesting. There is no real concentration of Vitality, although the head does hold proportionally more than the rest of the body, much as it seems to in Ado. Further, the pulses of Vitality leaving the brain are weak, and seem to die out before reaching the body's extremities. A splash and a ripple compared to Ado's surging waves. You could almost call their Vitality sluggish, compared to Ado, though it still moves in patterns more intricate than any zombie you've seen.
Could that concentration of Vitality be the soul? It does seem to be the only major difference between Ado and the children, the only one you can't attribute to differences in age or general health, but...
Abruptly, you come to a startling realization about what you are seeing. In your youth, back when your remarkable potential seemed sure to lead to a prestigious career as a Mage in Yicelafo, you were given lessons in rudimentary Life magic. Lessons you failed miserably, as you never displayed any aptitude for the art, only mastering the general spells available to all living creatures. One of the most basic spells you tried to learn, one of the first spells you
failed to learn, was a more advanced version of Sense Vitality. The effects of that spell were supposed to be very like what you are seeing right now.
The afternoon is wearing on, and you're a little surprised that Eko hasn't returned yet. You're much less surprised that Omo hasn't either. What now?
Vitality- 10/11
Mana- 7/12
XP- 24/35
Inventory- Belt Pouch (
80 Silver Pieces),
Elven Traveler Garb,
Elven Cloak, Headband, Belt Knife,
Hatchet, Leather Backpack(Bedroll, Flint&Steel,
Weak Mana Potion, Scroll Case(4 blank Parchment,
Charcoal),
Trail Rations Fishing Equipment,
Spare Traveling Clothes x2,
Prestidigitation for the Beginning Practitioner by Joddo Meadtrust, Crystal(5oz))
Abilities-
Sense Necromancy(Passive),
Improved Necromantic Sight(Passive)Skills-
Competent Fisher,
Dabbling SwimmerStatus- Super grossed out
Twenty one days since Manifestation
General
Detect Magic- 1 MP - Detects spells and magical items near you
Calm Animal- 1 MP - Causes wild animals to become peaceful
Sense Vitality- 1 MP - You can detect the Vitality of living things, with a bit of effort
Brew Mana Potion- A Mana Potion takes twice the potions potency in Mana cost, and requires 1/2 hour per point in brewing time
Waterproof- 1MP/Hour duration - Makes an object non-absorbent. Does not prevent corrosion (such as from acid or rusting) or magical effects related to water/liquid
Necromancy
Raise Zombie- ? MP - You can take the formerly living body and turn it into a zombie, but you lack understanding or even much knowledge of the particulars. It seems the mana cost is related to the overall quality of the corpse, and maybe the size?
Command Undead- 2 MP - You can merge your awareness with an undead creature, gauging its general condition and issuing explicit orders it will obey to the best of its ability. You can also give orders that will persist beyond the end of the spell.
Steal Vitality- X MP - Range: Line of Sight. You can suck the Vitality out of living things. This spell removes up to 2X Vitality from the target and gives 1/3 of it to you.
Animate Object- 4 MP - You can force Vitality into inanimate objects, things that were never alive to begin with. It seems to be more complicated than Zombification though- your Rock doesn't do anything, which is hardly useful. You'll need to experiment with this more.
Alter Golem- 2 MP- You can make basic alterations to an existing construct or animated object.
Impair Undead- 2MP- Range: 30ft (close enough to see in detail.) You blinded a zombie with this spell.
See Vitality- 1MP- Allows you to see the machinations of Vitality in living things as well as you see the workings of zombies with your Necromantic Sight.
Vitality- 12/13
Mana- 1/3
XP- 29/35
Inventory-
Elven Tunic,
Elven Cloak, Headband, Belt Knife, Torch(lit), Leather Backpack(50' Rope,
Camping Supplies, Waterskin(mostly full), Torch),
Masterwork Elven StaffAbilities-
Track,
SurvivalistSkills-
Novice Observer,
Competent Ambusher,
Competent Staff User,
Poor Liar,
Dabbling SwimmerStatus- Bandage, left arm
Omo Thunderjaw- Your best friend, brave and true. He is currently an aspiring Ranger, and is eager to leave the Vale.
Eko Cleanvise- The priest of the village of Bedscaled, his wards against the undead have failed him
Curo Nightroar- The Necromancer of Thrimesdur, said to be insane, he controls a massive army of the Undead and threatens the Cremated Empire.
Pirate King- The Necromancer operating along the Jeweled Coast, he commands a mixed force of human and lizardfolk pirates along with his undead minions.
Fale Packunion- A mysterious figure who appeared to you in a dream, attempting to recruit you to the cause of his Death God. May or may not be the Pirate King or some other known figure.
Morka- The aforementioned Death God. You know basically nothing about him/her/it, except his link to the other Necromancers.
-This one's a bit morbid, but bear with me. Take two crayfish. Shell one, leaving the meat inside as intact as possible. Remove the flesh from the second while leaving the shell as intact as possible. Attempt to revive both and compare the results. Is vitality in flesh or in bone? In both? Neither? Regardless of what we find, it should prove instructive.
-Try to find out if zombies have a memory, if they can be made to recognize specific objects. I recomend starting with a ball or something, and instructing a zombie to follow that specific ball wherever it goes. After testing it to make sure it works how we expect, substitute in another ball that has a different colour or a different size, and see if the zombie knows it isn't the right ball to follow. We can move to more abstract things from there, like having if understand things like "any ball" "any non-red ball" "the biggest ball" and stuff like that, or even to sort a pile of pebbles into stacks by colour.
-Attempt to raise a pile of ashes from a cremated corpse.
-Raise an earthworm and then, once it is raised, cut it in half at the border between two segments. Which ends, if any, are still animate? Continue cutting into halves at segment lines until all parts are dead or it has been divided into a prostomium, peristomium, pygidium and a pile of ordinary segments.
-See how much damage a dead body can sustain before it is unraisable
-Also, it seemed interesting that the loop was recognized as the center of life. We should test raising different rope Golems, some who are linear, some who are looped or knotted in different ways. How does the golem react to music, and what if we made one out of clay, with more distinguished features?
- For Animate Object, see if you can make an object levitate, or move to your will. Maybe this could develop into telekinesis..
- we should try pricking our finger, and stealing the vitality of an insect or something, and see if it will heal the cut.
- Another thing we need to play with is fire. Fire golem? HELL YES.
-Play with blood. Maybe that's what the golem needs. Blood. Mix some of your own blood into the clay.
-Like we tried to be the ropeman when we raised our first golem, we can try to be the earth when we make a clay or earthen golem, etc.
- Try to infuse vitality into the crystal to see what it does.
- See what happens if you infuse Mana and Vitality into the same crystal.
1. Imbue a small, uncrushed mana crystal with mana. Cast Detect Magic on it, comparing it to a mana potion.
2. If successful, turn the imbued mana crystal into a golem using 2 vitality. It is important to later experiments that we use exactly 2 vitality. Continue observing with Detect Magic.
3. If successful, attempt to Alter Golem in order to imbue the mana cystal with the ability to cast a cheap spell using the mana stored within it when commanded to. I recommend Detect Magic, since that should be easy to test.
4. If successful, continue to have the crystal cast Detect Magic even after it has run out of mana, in order to see if it can cast the spell using vitality like a mage can. Assuming this works, we will be able to discern the conversion ratio between vitality and mana.
5. If successful and the conversion ratio is > 3 mana per 2 vitality, have a mana crystal that is able to hold at least 3 mana wrapped in thick leather with a single small hole. Firmly attach this leather-covered crystal to a stick that is suitable as a handle
6. Imbue 3 mana into the crystal before turning it into a 1 vitality golem that will cast Steal Vitality as quickly and often as it can on anything that comes within 4 feet of it, draining the vitality into itself.
7. Note to ourselves that, because Steal Vitality works on line of sight, only things that come within line of sight of the single hole in the leather will be drained of vitality.
8. Enjoy our new lightsaber.
- Trying to develop a destroy vitality spell, using the same principles of the steal vitality, except without keeping it usable. It might be possible to do it for cheaper or causing more damage for the same mana.
- Trying to use the principles of the destroy vitality or the steal vitality spell for a disinfectant spell. It will require a lot of fine control, but it should theoretically be possible.
- We could also try to overbuff a zombie. Is there a max to the amount of vitality a zombie can have? And what happens if a zombie gets a lot of vitality?
* Remove someone's soul. Try to store it for a time in a living thing like a tree, or confine it in a mana crystal, then put it back later. See if they're functional.
* Attempt to swap souls between two different bodies.
* Carefully attempt to displace our own soul from our own body. See if we can move around apart from our bodies, like astral projection. See if we can cast while in this state, enter other occupied bodies like a possession, then return to our body later.
World Map
Northwest Thrimesdur
Author
Topic: You are a Necromancer! Chapter 2-36 Decisions, Decisions (Read 685600 times)