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[escaped lurker]

With all our vitality experiments so far we've been implanting things with vitality from other things, right? Never our own? If it's true, then implanting a rock, for example, with our own vitality than with the vitality of a tree might get us different results. It is our vitality, after all, and we're controlling the thing that has our vitality.

I remember us becoming wounded. I think it was us overtaxing ourself, or a haywire spell, but taking vitality from our creations was able to heal us - albeit not fully.
Thus, forcing vitality out of us, which is a reasonable possiblity, would definitely cause us damage.

To avoid taking damage, but still having enough "energy" to create vast hordes of undead, is why that big desert exists - the necromancers of the past sucked all life out of it. Or maybe still do, else that somesuch abomination in it would not have endured the ages.

[Parisbre56]

So far, drain vitality has shown us no difference between our own vitality and someone else's. When we healed the children, for example, using our vitality didn't give us any control over them. So it appears that pure vitality does not get "tainted" by its source, there's no difference for where it comes from. We'd have to use a different spell, something that retains the properties of vitality.

[Deep Waters]

Have we asked Eko if he's heard of, or even think it's possible, for a necromancer to be, you know, good? Ranging from helping with his/her magic the way we want to, or just living their life on a farm, maybe with some golems to do the hard work, but otherwise not going all crazy world-dictatory-genocide? I seem to remember *someone* having an answer to that, and his answer to the "Possible?" one would be enlightening, depending on how rabid/incredulous he seems when he says no. There's a difference between the "No"'s of "I... don't really see how it is..." and "That's insanity, how could a necromancer be good?!"

And if he actually DOES say "Yeah, but I've never heard of one," or something positive, that's fucking spectacular.

It'd be relatively easy to ask, since we're supposed to be students of magic, and we can go "I've read about all these different magic schools, and they all have their good apples and bad apples, but necromancy seems the odd one out, and I don't really get why. Obviously the whole 'dead people' thing is a mark against it, but from what I read, necromancy isn't only about dead people. I've heard of constructs made of wood in the necromancers armies, and those... probably aren't made using dead people. No one really seems to know how it works. There's probably some other things they can do, maybe some form of divination from dead animals and entrails? So why do you think there's such a difference? Where are the necromantic 'good apples,' is that even possible?" or something like that.


THAT SAID: What about divination from dead animals/entrails? Have we tried that? It IS the main historical thing people used for divination, after all...

I had some quotes in one of my last posts. This one is the closest thing I've found to Eko stating the belief that Necromancers don't have to be evil:

   "By killing every Necromancer you can find?" You ask. "I don't know... it seems to me that the Necromancers go on their killing sprees because they are so heavily persecuted. If they weren't killed for being who they are, wouldn't they just keep living peacefully in their villages?"
   Eko barks a short laugh. "You know, it's funny... I had a similar conversation with Cikul not too long ago. It's hard to argue against the weight of the prophecies, and the High Priests say that the influence of the Death Gods would lead to war and destruction in any case. If the policy seems harsh, remember that it was implemented in the wake of the Golgothan War. The Necromancers of the world had just proven incapable of peaceful coexistence with the Empire, and then a dire prophecy warns that they will attack again in the future? An attack that will destroy the Empire, and maybe the world? I can't fault the decision that the Emperor made."

And maybe this as well:

   Eko stares into the fire, nodding slowly. "Yes... it was so different from anything I had done before, anywhere I had been before. It was hard to adapt, at first, and I'm afraid I didn't make the best first impression. Still, it's been almost ten years now; I've gotten used to life out here." He looks up, smiling. "At the end of the day, people are people, whether they're village goodwives or wizarding acolytes or merciless merchants."

It's more an implication than anything else, which means telling him the truth isn't entirely without risk. I think there's a strong chance that we can convince him, though, if we play our cards right. In any case, convincing Eko to join us isn't our main concern right now. We need to focus on ways to find this Necromantic creature and end its curse.

As for the other things you mentioned, I vaguely remember someone from Yicelafo mentioning that Necromantic golems were known, although dwarves could also craft golems. I think it was Pevo, a sage, so it's hard to tell if that'd be common knowledge. I don't know about the divination.

[RAM]

Based on the source materials, there is a small chance that Order actually has a practice of brining dead spirits back amongst the living. But only rarely and only former heroes of their own faith who are presumably volunteers. They may also have the ability to cause someone to burn up the life force of the whole rest of their life in a brief burst of activity. In one of the source materials, Order was probably the most necromantic of the faiths other than Death.

As far as transferring vitality around though, an elf would use Life magic, which is the opposite of Death magic, but deals with many of the same themes. Damaging undead directly and putting vitality into things should be easy to pass off as natural, but taking vitality out of things(with the exception of undead, as that can be passed off as Life inhibiting Death, probably, I would assume that Order can inhibit Chaos directly...) or cursing them doesn't really seem like a Life thing. Life seems more about creating and correcting vitality, Death seems more about moving and altering vitality. So there should be a range of things that we can do and pass it off as life magic.

It is interesting to note that we have an unusually large mana pool, this may be inherent to necromancy compared to Life. Maybe it represents a difference in methodologies of magical use.

Ohhey, wasn't there some sort of Death entity loitering in our dreams? I wonder if it is like some sort of Death god, perhaps it can be unfluenced by our nature, maybe we could turn it good...

[Parisbre56]

I remember there being three schools of Life magic, one of which focused on using life magic to cause damage. So using life magic to hurt people isn't that strange. And if Eko uses his divinations and detects necromantic energy, we can blame it on the monster.

The problem would be how magic looks. We have our necromantic sight, which makes everything necromantic look purple. Including our spells. Would using a  necromantic spell look purple for others? Can they see the vitality we draw out of things? We should probably use Omo to check. Or ask him if he saw anything strange when we gave vitality to the kids.

And probably ask Eko if he has any passive abilities like our  necromantic sight, something that could reveal what kind of spell b we're using. But not directly. We should ask about if he's heard about passive abilities in general.

[Deep Waters]

Based on the source materials, there is a small chance that Order actually has a practice of brining dead spirits back amongst the living. But only rarely and only former heroes of their own faith who are presumably volunteers. They may also have the ability to cause someone to burn up the life force of the whole rest of their life in a brief burst of activity. In one of the source materials, Order was probably the most necromantic of the faiths other than Death.

As far as transferring vitality around though, an elf would use Life magic, which is the opposite of Death magic, but deals with many of the same themes. Damaging undead directly and putting vitality into things should be easy to pass off as natural, but taking vitality out of things(with the exception of undead, as that can be passed off as Life inhibiting Death, probably, I would assume that Order can inhibit Chaos directly...) or cursing them doesn't really seem like a Life thing. Life seems more about creating and correcting vitality, Death seems more about moving and altering vitality. So there should be a range of things that we can do and pass it off as life magic.

It is interesting to note that we have an unusually large mana pool, this may be inherent to necromancy compared to Life. Maybe it represents a difference in methodologies of magical use.

Ohhey, wasn't there some sort of Death entity loitering in our dreams? I wonder if it is like some sort of Death god, perhaps it can be unfluenced by our nature, maybe we could turn it good...

We have an unusually large mana pool because we're an elf. I don't know if we have large mana pools even for elves, though-- it was mentioned that we were once identified as having a lot of magical potential, until we demonstrated having absolutely no ability to learn even the most basic of Life magic. Also, source materials? What source materials? I don't recall any of that being mentioned in the thread itself.

As for the death entity, that would be Fale Packunions, a fellow Necromancer. They're supposedly the servant of Morka, the last and most powerful god of Death in Urak. They've at least got Curo Nightroar on their side, and probably the Pirate King as well (assuming Fale isn't the Pirate King him/herself). We refused their offer to teach us in exchange for joining them in their quest to make the world a safer place for Necromancers-- by conquering it, of course. Now that I remember that, we can also dreamwalk apparently. I wonder if that's a common ability amongst all mages or if it's a purely Necromantic ability. Maybe we should ask Eko later. Anyways, considering how they reacted to our refusal, they're expecting us to turn to their way of thinking, not the other way around. I think they got the impression that we were a lot more naive than we are.

I remember there being three schools of Life magic, one of which focused on using life magic to cause damage. So using life magic to hurt people isn't that strange. And if Eko uses his divinations and detects necromantic energy, we can blame it on the monster.

The problem would be how magic looks. We have our necromantic sight, which makes everything necromantic look purple. Including our spells. Would using a  necromantic spell look purple for others? Can they see the vitality we draw out of things? We should probably use Omo to check. Or ask him if he saw anything strange when we gave vitality to the kids.

And probably ask Eko if he has any passive abilities like our  necromantic sight, something that could reveal what kind of spell b we're using. But not directly. We should ask about if he's heard about passive abilities in general.

Hm, I didn't think of that particular problem. We were, in fact, able to identify some other types of magical energy-- at least, we were able to detect the change when our mother was identifying that artifact amulet. We couldn't tell what it was, exactly, but we can't depend on Eko being as inexperienced as we are. He does have a Detect Magic ability, but it's not passive. I really should reread the entire thread at some point instead of skimming through it to see if we're asking questions that have already been answered before...

[monk12]

Instead of Steal Vitality, maybe we can work on creating Transfer Vitality or Give Vitality? See if we can transfer the vitality of a living leaf to a dead leaf directly. See if we can give our vitality to a dead leaf and see how well we can control that leaf compared to simply raising one.

If no one else can think of anything to do (literally anything), I suggest that, as a last resort to keep from utterly wasting time while waiting, we read Eko's copy of A Study of Aloclesno-- or, if that's not possible, study more of our copy of Prestidigitation for the Beginning Practitioner.

   You awake just before dawn, judging by the wan light filtering through the trees. Eko seems to be sound asleep, but Omo is nowhere to be seen. Quietly leaving the tent, you step outside and find your friend sitting on a log by the campfire.

   "Good morning, Nym." Omo greets you softly. "Sleep well?"
   "Mm. Well enough." You lean back inside the tent long enough to grab your pack. "I'm going to go get changed. Freshen up."
   "Maybe wake up a little, huh?" Omo's teasing grin is quickly replaced by a solicitous look. "Do you want company? I considered looking for fresh water when I woke up, but I figured we shouldn't wander alone into the haunted forest."
   "That's very thoughtful of you, but I think I've got this. I don't need you hovering over my shoulder while I do... stuff." You stride off toward the treeline.
   "Don't go too far!" Omo calls after you.

   A short walk brings you back to the mossy log where you did a bit of experimentation yesterday; it's a good place, not too far from the clearing but with plenty of trees and low branches to give some privacy. You change into a clean set of clothes, using some of your water to cleanse your face and hands. Once your assorted personal hygiene tasks are completed you're ready to return to the clearing... except...

   You take another look around, ensuring nobody is coming from camp to check on you. You haven't had as much privacy as you're accustomed to this past week, which apart from being a bit wearing in its own right has also minimized your opportunities to experiment with your Necromancy. Yesterday's "experiment" wasn't so much practice Necromancy as it was failed hobby crafting, and you've thought of something you can try real quick that could be quite educational.

   The forest floor is virtually covered in dead leaves, many of them broken and dessicated from the abuses of winter. It's not too hard to find one in good condition, and you compare it to a nearby tree full of healthy leaves of the same kind. Your thought is that maybe you can drain the Vitality from one leaf and put it in the other without using Steal Vitality; something more efficient, something with less waste. When you try, however, you find you don't know another way to manipulate the Vitality short of pulling it out of the leaf and towards you- essentially beginning to cast Steal Vitality. It is rather like you had two buckets, one full of water and one empty; you can't work out a way to get water out of the full bucket without picking it up first.

   You have another plan, however, one that you're pretty confident will work; it's basically what you did with the Animate Golem spell, after all. First, you begin to Steal Vitality out of yourself the same way you did to heal Nelti when you left Aloclesno on that night; you need much less Vitality for this trick, however, so you only deal 1 damage to yourself and spend 1 Mana to get a pittance of Vitality which should be sufficient for this leaf-sized experiment. Ignoring the minor pain of the act, you force it into the dead leaf.

   Unlike the Animate Golem incident, you do not feel any great resistance to this act, nor do you feel the spell change at all; no further Mana is drawn from you into the process. Instead, the Vitality seems to settle comfortably into the leaf. With your Necromantic Sight (improved since the last time you did this) you can see the Vitality flowing through the three major veins of the leaf, fanning out into smaller veins as it flows to the edge of the leaf. You don't feel any sort of kinship or ownership over the leaf due to the fact that your own Vitality is animating it, but perhaps that is because you don't know what to do with a leaf; it's pretty useless on its own.

   You don't notice it right away, distracted by the more interesting patterns of Vitality in the veins of the leaf, but the tiny amount of Vitality you imbued the leaf with is dissipating- quickly. By looking closely, it seems that the Vitality flowing around inside the leaf ebbs around the base of the stem; before you can properly react (or think of a way you could react) the Vitality is gone, and the leaf is once again lifeless.

   You scratch your head, examining the leaf as you try to work out exactly what just happened. The leaf was dead, but you animated it without casting Raise Dead or Animate Golem; indeed, the only spell you cast was that pathetic Steal Vitality. Then, the Vitality in the leaf faded away rapidly; you don't know as it even lasted a full minute. It seems like there is some insight to be gained here to the relationship of those three spells, but you don't know what it is just yet.

   Resolving to think about it more later, you return to camp. Eko has also arisen, and is staring into the fire blearily. Omo sits opposite him, tucking into his breakfast. You take a seat beside Omo, eating your own meal.

   "Ahh." Omo sighs in satisfaction, wiping crumbs from his fingertips. "Alright then, what's our plan for this forest?"
   You're only halfway through your own breakfast, and answer around a mouthful of hard cheese. "Eko, you brought that book about that guy who went to Aloclesno before, right?"
   Eko yawns as he breaks into his own provisions. "Yes. A Study of Aloclesno has the account of Kiros Muleclenched, the last priest to enter Aloclesno and the only one to travel within scrying distance of the heart of the forest."
   "Right." You swallow your mouthful, washing it down with lukewarm water from Omo's waterskin. "Let's read that. Maybe we can see what prevented him from finding the source of the Curse."
   Eko shrugs, digging around in his pack until he withdraws the book. Opening to a page marked with a ribbon, Eko begins skimming the text. "Let's see... he cast a Sanctuary to use as his base camp, then quaffed a Mana potion to cast a Minor Ward on himself and followed up with Detect Undead. Five mile radius, not enough to cover the whole forest but enough to comfortably cover areas of the forest not reached by castings on the border. He spent the rest of that day exploring his local surroundings on foot, found some plants, found some antique weapons..." Eko thumbs forward a couple pages. "The next day he sent with more conventional divinations; Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, See Invisible, Detect Magic, Scrying..." Eko glances up at you. "Scry is quite a powerful divination, and beyond my own abilities. It essentially let him use Detect Magic and Detect Undead at ranges beyond himself, covering much of the forest. Anyway, after that night the Sanctuary ran out, so he cast another Minor Ward on himself, one last Detect Undead for good measure, and left."
   "So he was covered the whole time, and never drew the creature to himself?" You ask.
   Eko shrugs, returning to his breakfast. "He didn't know there was such a creature, but even so his Divinations should have found it."
   "The same way your Divinations should have warned you about the zombies that attacked the other night." Omo asks pointedly.
   Eko's face darkens. "That's different. Perhaps the rest of the zombies were just outside the range of my spell; I am not as gifted as Kiros was supposed to be. My spell worked fine on the zombie I had."

   You gaze idly into the fire, finishing your breakfast. Kiros never encountered any Necromantic creature in the forest, even though you know there is one roaming about now. Could it have been smart enough to know to hide from Kiros, or was there a flaw in the priest's method? What can you do to succeed where Kiros failed?

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

We have an unusually large mana pool because we're an elf. I don't know if we have large mana pools even for elves, though-- it was mentioned that we were once identified as having a lot of magical potential, until we demonstrated having absolutely no ability to learn even the most basic of Life magic. Also, source materials? What source materials? I don't recall any of that being mentioned in the thread itself.

I'll take a moment to address this one, since Nym would know this setting detail. Yes, you have an unusually large mana pool compared to most races by virtue of being an elf; this is why your MP is higher than Eko's despite his extra training and practical experience. However, it is also unusually large for elves as well; Omo's MP would be average for the Elven race, and you beat the pants off of that right from the start.

That said, your MP is not unusually large for elves with magical talent; you would be considered average for most novice Life Mages. We have not seen the stat sheet for Elana Foundwasps, but her MP is significantly higher than yours both because she is rather well endowed as far as Mages go but also because she has spent her entire life in training, improving both her raw strength (i.e MP) and her understanding of the power and limitations of her magic.

As far as the Elders are concerned, what is unusual is the fact that you have the MP of a spellcaster but never developed Life magic. It's not unheard of, but still pretty strange. Of course, the really strange bit is that not only did you develop talent in a school of magic never before seen in an elf (Pevo Zephyrtempest mentioned in passing that Air magic used to be another talent of the Elves that was wiped out in the Golgothan war) but that the talent you acquired is the diametric opposite of the principal talent of all other elf mages. They don't know that part though.


Also, the source material RAM alludes to were mentioned in the OP; part of what inspired me to pull the trigger on YaaN was the then-current development on Dwarf Fortress related to Necromancers, the then-current story arc of the webcomic Erfworld related to a Croakamancer main character, and my own revisiting of an old PC game called Lords of Magic (which had a scenario featuring a Necromancer, 3 skeletons, and no other resources trying to overrun a developed Life area.)

That said, "source material" is probably a strong term; "inspiration" is probably more accurate for the relationship between those materials and YaaN. In other words, while there are cosmetic similarities (most names are taken from DF world gen, for instance, while the 8 Magics and Balkoth and Urak are taken from Lords of Magic) they have more to do with my own laziness and lack of any kind of plot-related intentions prior to starting the game than any insight into the mechanics of magic or the plot I have since devised. Notably, my conceptualization and most of the mechanics of Necromancy predate the rest of the setting and plot.

Spoiler: You (click to show/hide)

Vitality- 10/11
Mana- 11/12
XP- 28/35
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- Curious
8th Felsite, Twenty three days since Manifestation

Spoiler: Your 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- 13/13
Mana- 3/3
XP- 29/35
Inventory- Elven Tunic, Elven Cloak, Headband, Belt Knife, Leather Backpack(50' Rope, Camping Supplies (pitched in Aloclesno,) Waterskin(mostly empty), Torch), Masterwork Elven Staff
Abilities- Track, Survivalist
Skills- Novice Observer, Competent Ambusher, Competent Staff User, Poor Liar, Dabbling Swimmer
Status- Cautious

Spoiler: Eko Cleanvise (click to show/hide)

Vitality- 12/12
Mana- 9/9
XP- 36/50
Inventory- Priestly Robe, Wool Cloak, Belt Knife, Flask(Sewer Brew), Leather Backpack(Line in the Sand: Discrete Forces and Interactions by Joddo Meadtrust, A Study of Aloclesno by Shezpa Yarnpoets, Waterskin(full), Torches x5, Colored chalks, Trail Rations), Tasseled Shortspear
Abilities- Clarity, Union with Order
Skills- Novice Spearman, Competent Researcher
Status- 2 hours of Minor Ward left

Spoiler: Eko's Spells (click to show/hide)

General
Detect Magic- 1 MP - Detects spells and magical items near you
Sense Vitality- 1 MP - You can detect the Vitality of living things, with a bit of effort
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


Order Wards
Ward against Disease- 1 MP - Casting time: 10 minutes. Protects an afflicted area from disease; it cannot cure, but it does prevent new infections.

Alarm- 1 MP - Casting time: 10 minutes. Creates a field that waits on a specific trigger, often the presence of a particular magical energy or the movement or destruction of a physical item. When activated, the field can either create a noise of some kind, or trigger another spell entirely. Has a duration of about one week, though each additional point of mana spent increases the duration of the ward by three or four weeks each.

Minor Ward- 1 MP - Casting time: 15 minutes, possibly longer if covering a larger or unusually shaped area (easily covers ~500 square feet.) Create a field against a specific Magical Faith in a specific place. Lasts for about a week, though each additional point of mana spent increases the duration of the ward by three or four weeks each. Can be centered on a person or object instead for 3 MP total; duration increases are scaled to hours in this case, and the area is reduced to ~60 square feet.

Major Ward- 3 MP - Casting time: 30 minutes, possibly longer if covering a larger area. As Minor Ward, but the field is strong enough to disrupt concentrations of the Magic in question, potentially causing spell failure. Durations are measured in days. Can be centered on a person or object for 9 MP instead, with a duration measured in half-hours.

Sanctuary- 9 MP - Casting time: 30 minutes, possibly longer if covering a larger area. As Major Ward, but the field is strong enough to physically halt or oppose creatures and objects strongly imbued with the Magic in question. This field cannot be tied to a person or object, and the field is not physically tied to the area it is cast.

Order Divinations
Diagnosis- 2 MP - Casting time: 5 minutes. Range: Touch. Provides overall impressions of a being's Vitality network, providing important clues to the maladies they may be suffering from.

Detect Thoughts- 2 MP - Range: 5ft. Detects the mindset of a creature or person, providing clues about their intentions and emotional state. Works less well on those who are strong of will.

Probe Thoughts- 4 MP - Range: 5ft. Detects the surface thoughts of a person, though it works less well on those who are strong of will.

Detect Undead- X MP - Detects the presence of zombies animated by a Necromancer, including a vague sense of direction (but not distance.) Each point of mana spent on the spell increases the radius by about half a mile.

Clairaudience- 3 MP - Range: 500ft. Allows you to hear at a distance by creating an invisible magical sensor at the location. Does not require line of sight, but the location of the sensor must be well known to the caster. Reduce the MP cost by one if the location of the sensor has been prepared beforehand (10 minutes of preparation time at physical location)

Order Equations
Minor Counterspell- 2 MP - Disrupts the casting of a specific spell; easily resisted, target can overcome Counterspell by spending extra mana.

Minor Mana Diffusion- 2 MP - Range: 30ft. Reduces the mana reserves of a target creature by 4 MP; easily resisted

Minor Abjuration- 3 MP - Range: 30ft. Corrects unequal distributions of magical energy; in practice, causes spells to dissipate and repulses magical creatures.

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.
-Our abilities seem centered around manipulation of vitality, correct? We should try to directly manipulate the vitality of a living thing. If we're unable to do that, then perhaps we could create a "tainted" orb of vitality, like a virus that once absorbed by the body of a living thing will disrupt its vitality network. A curse, essentially.

Spoiler: Maps (click to show/hide)

World Map


Northwest Thrimesdur

[Baffler]

It lives!

The Curse didn't affect the priest before, but he was warded the entire time and used indirect methods to try to find it. We can't rule out that it has some means of concealing itself. Almost everyone else who goes in, unprotected, must be attacked by it at some point because they rarely return. It's risky, but we may have to eschew the protection of the wards (specifically designed to conceal people under its protection from the undead) and lure it out of hiding to have any hope of finding it. Ideally some protection to step into wouldn't be far away. Also worth noting is that the only attacks that we know details of occurred at night. It chased us out of the forest after dark, and the children fled into the forest from a zombie attack the night before. Again, it's risky, but it's worth considering.

[RAM]

I wonder what the shape of a divination typically is, maybe they are squashed-out and do not extend much vertically...

For me, the obvious approach would be to just spend our time, personally, outside of the ward, but close to it, and remain alert for as long as we are able. If it shows up, the three of us throw all our divinations at it and retreat to the ward.

[endlessblaze]

yhea might be best to sit outside the ward.... if siting does not work, then walk around, snap branches, throw rocks. make a disturbance.   then.......if that still will not work move further from the wards, it may be smart enough to stay away and not attack us when we are close to safety.

[Shadestyle]

I wonder what the shape of a divination typically is, maybe they are squashed-out and do not extend much vertically...

For me, the obvious approach would be to just spend our time, personally, outside of the ward, but close to it, and remain alert for as long as we are able. If it shows up, the three of us throw all our divinations at it and retreat to the ward.

...Above

What if the creature has a means of flight? It could avoid both sharp eyes and careful wards is it could fly or levitate high enough above the trees, while a passerby lucky enough to look up would mistake it for a simple bird or even a dot.

Honestly if it can fly at all it could avoid detection as high as the forest is wide. and swoop down suddenly on potential prey.

[endlessblaze]

...............tree.....climb.....now.

[3man75]

...............tree.....climb.....now.

...............tree.....climb.....now.

+1 also where exactly are we again? Sorry it's been a very long while for me and I want to know about the situation we are in.

[Parisbre56]

Hmm... So the leaf has some property that allows it to store vitality and utilize it, as if its body has that information stored in it, at least in a basic way (perhaps in a way linked to the leaf's biology). More than that, it wants to have vitality in it, it accepts it. But without something to bind the vitality there, because the leaf is damaged, the vitality just dissipates instead of animating it. It is like doing a blood transfusion to a corpse that's missing a limb.

So the raise zombie spell must somehow either seal the vitality inside the zombie or magically repair some of the damage done to it or supplant the functions of the body. Maybe all three at once. And it uses the information stored in the body to do so. That's why the headless ant got a magical purple head after being raised.

And the animate object does something similar for inanimate objects. Only now the problem is that inanimate objects don't naturally support vitality, so again you must seal it into them. And then you can do similar things to what the raise zombie spell does, you can alter its vitality network to add functions the body is missing, functions that imitate life.

At least that's my interpretation of that. A bit sleepy now and I still haven't finished rereading...

Good experiment Andres.

[Deep Waters]

I'm busy right now, so I can't analyze this situation deeply-- but it would be prudent to consider that the creature might be neither physical nor undead. Perhaps ask if Detect Magic can also detect creatures that are derived from magic?