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[RAM]

And healing is probably also a basic life magic spell...

[killerhellhound]

which we carnt do yet which might expose us

[Harbingerjm]

A few reasons:

• The list was somewhat extensive and completely crossed out, which means that he had it for some time and it makes sense for him to have captured it before the attacks given the timeframe and length of the list, not to mention he would have been too busy with the attacks and recent stuff to experiment on it
• It looked (and smelled) like it had been there awhile
• The villagers would have been very paranoid about undead around the time of the attacks so sneaking one in before an attack would have been a lot easier
• If we need to bullshit our way through: Our superior elven senses picked up something funky coming from downstairs

Still, press for information, he might know some interesting things. And make sure to get across that we have no intention of selling him out since it would be kinda heartless and cold of us to do so, when he does seem to be only trying to help others however he can against something he doesn't understand all that well.

Agreed.

I would rather not tell them that we can use life magic, they may want us to use more of it, it is not as though life magic couldn't help the village... These people likely know little about elves,and Omo is an experienced tracker, and corpses are not exactly polite, so finding noticing it by mundane means is likely to be a convincing lie.

Agreed.

Also, I think we should ask for more details on this sometime soon:

"What else can I do? My magics have failed me again. The records say that in the past we've called on healers from all faiths, even the Elves, but the Mages could do nothing for us. These bodies could easily persist into old age if we cared for them, but for what purpose? They are already dead, and the living still need my care."

Specifically, the bit about elves attempting to help them cure people who got drained in the forest. It seems odd that back in the village, Pevo told us

I was attacked by a great skeletal monstrosity. Everything we know about Necromancy says that the creature couldn't possibly date to the Golgothan War- undead simply do not last that long without being cared for.

if the elves have been involved in treating victims of another leftover of the Golgothan War.

[Grek]

And healing is probably also a basic life magic spell...

We can just tell him that we're not trained as a healer.

[RAM]

Well what would we be trained as? Magic tends to be visible. A florist would be able to help farmers, someone trained to augment others could likely aid builders or the like, anyone with any magical skill would likely be willing to sell their services to the locals for some extra travelling currency. We might be able to pass as someone trained to combat undead, but would they really send someone abroad who could only muster a single attack spell right when the necromancers are returning? I would expect the elves to horde all their undead-based magic and guarantee that it was put to good use. Besides, healing would likely be a fairly basic element to any life discipline, it is sort of what life magic does. The bolstering of life is why it is called life magic... The only vaguely believable scenario is that either we are only willing to use our magic for our own purposes, which include snooping around temples, or that we dropped out of school without learning anything valuable...

[Zako]

But what do we do when someone asks us to heal someone with life magic, and we suddenly can't do any?

[Parisbre56]

We could just tell him we were bluffing, and thank him for confirming our guess.

I think this is the best idea. Saying something along the lines of "Well, we only strongly suspected it based on <other stuff> but thanks for confirming it."

Maybe also try to clear our mind and prevent him from drinking from his flask, just in case he gets any ideas and tries to cast probe thoughts on us.

And about magic, we can say we left before we learnt more then a couple of basic spells, which isn't far from the truth.

[RAM]

The problem with not being far from the truth on the magic front, is that similar things don't really happen. To the best of our knowledge, elves almost never leave elven lands. The idea of a human abandoning their studies to travel might not be that odd,(Although this is the order nation...) but an elf doing so, and ending up here of all places, is probably going to raise some curiosity.

[Harbingerjm]

Especially given the general events.

[Parisbre56]

Omo was going to leave whether we went with him or not. So it does happen. We can say we left for the same reason as him or give the historian/wanderlust excuse.

[Harbingerjm]

He's a well-trained ranger, him leaving makes sense- he can defend himself, forage from the land, etc.
We'd be posing as a life mage who didn't even learn healing before leaving. No skills at foraging (or much else, for that matter), few ways to make money, etc.
According to Pevo, the last elf to leave was over 200 years ago. That's not exactly a high-frequency occurrence.
We might be able to sell it, with difficulty. We might not. Why risk trying when we don't need to?

[Grek]

BIG IMPORTANT THING PEOPLE KEEP FORGETTING:

Not all life mages are healers. There are other aspects of life magic than healing. Important examples include: Beast taming, wood shaping and, most relevant to our case: Undead destroying.

[RAM]

Beasts and undead cause injuries, even woodshaping could cause injuries of you were careless, one would expect basic healing to be taught to most everyone with the ability for it, but that isn't really relevant. The simple fact is that all of the listed disciplines would be useful in this setting, probably more so than healing, so whatever sort of magic we claim to do, if we can't do it, then we will be refusing to help people. Folk can reasonably be expected to pay for magical services, and we could probably get a premium for having unusual skills for the region. So it comes down to being completely unwilling to use magic for the benefit of the community, being largely inept, or having some impediment that somehow didn't prevent us from snooping with it.
 Bear in mind that we are faced with both a trained magic-user and a village of nonmagical folk. Folk probably have stories of life mages fighting in the old war, likely extremely inaccurate, but enough to cover the basics of battling undead and healing. Life magic being associated with healing would likely also be a fairly obvious assumption, someone is bound to want to have a chronic injury or disease removed. Magical opposition probably has cultural significance, so should be common knowledge. Anyone who thinks about it will likely realise that Life is opposed to Death so it is probably that rumours will emerge that Life magic directly opposes Death magic, with obvious implications for the current circumstances. Avoiding the villager inquisition would require preventing Eko from revealing our abilities. Eko on the other hand has enough training to know how Order works, and is unlikely to be swayed by "Oh, all elves have some magic, most of us just don't bother training much" or some similar line about Life being different, and it still doesn't explain why random elves, who are probably seen so rarely as to be nearly mythical, turning up and asking about the skeletons in his closet.
 The best excuse I have been able to come up with is that we were kicked out of magic school for some sort of transgression. Better to just go for mundane reasons. We had a tourist's interest in the foreign temple, were offered the run of the place, and set to exploring every nook and cranny...

[monk12]

A few reasons:

• The list was somewhat extensive and completely crossed out, which means that he had it for some time and it makes sense for him to have captured it before the attacks given the timeframe and length of the list, not to mention he would have been too busy with the attacks and recent stuff to experiment on it
• It looked (and smelled) like it had been there awhile
• The villagers would have been very paranoid about undead around the time of the attacks so sneaking one in before an attack would have been a lot easier
• If we need to bullshit our way through: Our superior elven senses picked up something funky coming from downstairs

Still, press for information, he might know some interesting things. And make sure to get across that we have no intention of selling him out since it would be kinda heartless and cold of us to do so, when he does seem to be only trying to help others however he can against something he doesn't understand all that well.

Agreed.

I would rather not tell them that we can use life magic, they may want us to use more of it, it is not as though life magic couldn't help the village... These people likely know little about elves,and Omo is an experienced tracker, and corpses are not exactly polite, so finding noticing it by mundane means is likely to be a convincing lie.

Agreed.

Also, I think we should ask for more details on this sometime soon:

"What else can I do? My magics have failed me again. The records say that in the past we've called on healers from all faiths, even the Elves, but the Mages could do nothing for us. These bodies could easily persist into old age if we cared for them, but for what purpose? They are already dead, and the living still need my care."

Specifically, the bit about elves attempting to help them cure people who got drained in the forest. It seems odd that back in the village, Pevo told us

I was attacked by a great skeletal monstrosity. Everything we know about Necromancy says that the creature couldn't possibly date to the Golgothan War- undead simply do not last that long without being cared for.

if the elves have been involved in treating victims of another leftover of the Golgothan War.

Eko eyes Omo suspiciously. "Wait... how did you know I found that zombie before the attacks?"
You glare at Omo past Eko's head, then smile as the priest turns to face you. "That list was rather long, and crossed out like you'd tried everything. You haven't had the opportunity to play with it since we've been here, and I doubt you did all that in the brief period between the zombie attacks and our arrival."
"This is hardly about how we knew, anyway!" Omo says angrily. "This is about you hiding a you-know-what from the villagers!"
"I don't believe you are evil, Eko. We won't tell anyone. We just don't understand why you wouldn't tell anyone else."
Eko's shoulders slump, defeated. "There are protocols for dealing with the undead in Thrimesdur. There is small leeway to learn what you can. You're expected to use your Divinations, then destroy the undead as soon as possible."
"Divinations?" You ask.
"Yes. They are Order spells to observe and analyze; they've never been my strong suit. When I tried them on the zombie, I didn't learn anything that about how it had gotten past the ward."
You glance up and down the street; still empty. "Where did you find this zombie, anyway?"
"On the first of Felsite, I was-" Eko begins, running a hand through his sparse hair.
"The first what?" Omo asks in confusion.
"You know, Felsite." You and Omo exchange blank looks. "The month? Last month of spring, third month of the year?" Eko rolls his eyes when you shrug. "Really, I know you elves don't know much about the outside world, but surely you must have a calendar! How do you know when holidays are, or when the seasons will change, or when to plant?"
"The Sages handle that sort of thing, and the Mages make sure there's always a good crop to harvest." You reply defensively. "And any fool can tell what the weather is, if they stick their head out the door."
"What does it matter? You're supposed to be telling us about the you-know-what."
"It matters." Eko replies curtly. "Maybe time isn't a concern to you elves, but if you're going to journey among humans then you should at least know what day it is."
"Fine, fine. What were you doing on the first of Felsite?"
"Checking the wards, the same as I do to start every month. This was five days ago. Besides the wards on the farms and the forest itself, there is a certain monument near the boundary of Aloclesno, perhaps half an hour's walk north of the forest itself. An hour or two beyond the Scarletdaub farm."
"A monument?" Omo asks with visible interest.
"Yes." Eko nods. "It marks the site of a battle from the Golgothan War; well, a skirmish, anyway. It's the furthest West the Golgothans advanced before being thrown back. Anyway, the important thing is that the monument is protected by a ward, but when I went to check, there was a zombie on the inside."
"And you didn't tell anyone?" Omo questions.
"Of course not!" Eko snaps. "The strength of the Empire is based on Order magic. If I told the villagers that that magic had failed, so close to Aloclesno... it would have caused a panic! That sort of thing would spread far beyond this little village. No, I needed to learn how the zombie had come to be there, so I could explain to the villagers and put their minds at ease. I checked that there were no other zombies nearby, and then captured it."
"How did you manage that?" You ask curiously.
Eko sighs. "Cikul Scarletdaub helped me. He... was a good friend of mine. A little strange, to make his home so far from the village, so close to the forest, but brave and intelligent. He used to talk with me about the history of Thrimesdur, or some point of dogma or philosophy he'd sunk his teeth into. More importantly, he was also... a free-thinker. Not as bound by tradition as most other villagers. When I explained what needed to be done, he helped me subdue the zombie and smuggle it into the village in his wagon." Eko's voice becomes heavy with bitterness. "Cikul trusted me, and now he's dead. He's dead, and his wife and sisters are dead, and his only surviving family are soulless orphans." He fumbles beneath his robes for his flask.
You cough into your hand delicately, breaking the awkward silence. "I still don't understand why you couldn't study the zombie openly. Why all the secrecy?"
Eko takes a pull on his flask, then begins striding toward the Temple. You hurry to keep up. "I told you, there's a system to follow. As far as the Empire is concerned, anything you can't learn by Divination isn't worth learning. We're supposed to put our trust in Order. Besides, if the villagers learned the Divinations hadn't helped it would be almost as bad as learning the wards had failed in the first place."
"You say you're supposed to put your trust in Order. But... you don't?"
Eko gives you a sidelong glance, lowering his voice as a villager passes by. "That's the kind of talk you should keep to yourself. Especially around our new visitors." He adds meaningfully, nodding toward the Temple.

You look ahead to the Temple. Evidently, in the short time you've been gone a troop of soldiers has arrived in Bedscaled. A couple dozen cavalrymen are pitching their tents on the village green. A line of horses is tethered parallel to a side street, a pair of banners flying at their head. The larger banner bears an image of the divided square symbol Eko wears, the quadrants a checkerboard of black and white. The smaller banner hanging below it bears three red keys on a field of black.

Several of the villagers passing by give the soldiers and the banners approving nods. The villagers who notice Eko coming give him a cool nod, if they acknowledge him at all. Eko scowls; after glancing at the soldiers on the green, he strides purposefully to the Temple door.

Before he reaches the steps, the door swings open, revealing a heavily armored officer with a plumed helmet tucked under one arm. His already impressive height is accentuated by standing at the top of the stairs. The wind tugs at his long brown hair, making it stream to one side. Sharp brown eyes gaze from behind an impressive beak of a nose as he examines the soldiers. His face twists into a sneer when he notices Eko standing below him.

"So, you are the priest who cannot cast a simple ward, yes? I am Bale Matchedstones the Murky Guises, Knight of Uzin the Umber Spine, Third Lieutenant tasked with the Second Cavalry of the Third Imperial Army. You will speak with me." Without another word, he spins and reenters the Temple.

Eko's face darkens angrily; you catch his sleeve as he climbs the stairs. "Who was that man, Eko?"
Eko visibly bites back his anger. "Uzin is our god of war-making and vengeance, among other things. Ever since the Golgothan War, one of the responsibilities borne by Knights of Uzin is the destruction of Necromancers. It seems the Empire does not trust me to handle the situation; he is a specialist, and he outranks me." Eko pulls away from you, then pauses, his voice quiet and gentle. "Tell him nothing about the basement. He would kill me for treason, and I couldn't say he was wrong to do so. But he may also harm you two, however inadvertent your involvement may have been, and that would be an injustice." Squaring his shoulders, Eko grimly enters the Temple.


You stand back, regarding the Temple door, thinking what to do now. This Bale Matchedstones person seems dangerous, but he has no reason to suspect you, and it could be useful to know what abilities the Necromancer Hunters of Thrimesdur have at their disposal. You chew over Eko's story; if you have further questions for him, you can probably ask after he finishes meeting with Bale. You also consider your tentative plan to investigate Aloclesno, combing over Eko's words for anything that might change your plans. Your plans had been to make any excursion tomorrow morning, but if you want to dodge Bale entirely you could leave now, though it would be sunset by the time you reach the forest.

Spoiler: You (click to show/hide)

Vitality- 10/11
Mana- 7/12
XP- 26/35
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 Swimmer
Status- Nervous
6th Felsite, Twenty one days since Manifestation

Spoiler: Spells (click to show/hide)

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.

Spoiler: Omo Thunderjaw (click to show/hide)

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 Staff
Abilities- Track, Survivalist
Skills- Novice Observer, Competent Ambusher, Competent Staff User, Poor Liar, Dabbling Swimmer
Status- Bandage, left arm

Spoiler: Notable Figures (click to show/hide)

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

Bale Matchedstones- The Knight tasked with investigating the crises in Bedscaled.

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.

Spoiler: Planned Experiments (click to show/hide)

-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.

Spoiler: Maps (click to show/hide)

World Map


Northwest Thrimesdur

Spoiler: Author's Note (click to show/hide)

Hooray, the game date is now measured the same way it is in my timeline! Convenient!

[Grek]

Let's go into the forest right now. It's do or die, literally.