Seek thy abyss. The light blinds the darkness binds.

[Raleigh]

Ifreet: Why have you summoned me here to this cold plane? State your purpose for calling me so that I might be done with it and return.

[Lucia]

I called you here to beckon your power, O great one.

[Raleigh]

Ifreet: Then by the rules and rites of the summoning bindings I am bound to give it so long as you possess control over the ritual. What need do you have of me when I see you have the Deceiver already here to aid you?

[Lucia]

The.. Deciever?

Lucia looks to Raleigh, then back to the Ifreet

I called you here for means of practice, O great one. I have no need at this time for your powers. I may however, wish to summon you again in the future.

[Raleigh]

Ifreet: Very well. Release me then until you require my services.

Raleigh: Ugh.. I so hate that title. Lets see should I continue with the elemental demons or progress to training her in some necromantic stuff? *He seems busy talking to himself.*

[Lucia]

Lucia focusses, as the summon breaks, the Ifreet returning to it's home

Dare I ask how you aquired that title? and Necromancy sounds good. It'd help quite a bit.

[Raleigh]

One could say it was gained thanks to a bit of a mess from contact with the lesser races. Apparently humans weren't able to handle what I taught them as paths of power and knowledge and wound up killing both each other and themselves, a lot. Could also come from the fact that most beings know to never trust any of the members of my race too much and me even more so than others. Thankfully it wasn't one of the higher demons. They have much more annoying names to call me.

Now then I believe you wanted to move onto necromantic powers. Do you wish to start with simply seeking a way to make your body immortal through the powers of unlife or simply bringing forth a legion of the dead?

[Lucia]

Hm, tough choice.. immortality or minions.. well, I've got minions covered for the moment, so I suppose the former.

[Raleigh]

Remember, like all supposed immortalities, this has its limitations. Time to get into character for this discussion though. *Suddenly the form of a human vanishes and in its place is a medium sized undead dracolich. Its skin is fetid and barely hanging from the bones in several place. One can see things flowing under the skin but whether it is some decaying fluid or carrion scavengers is unknown. A field of energy seems to literally hum in the air around it, obviously a field of undeath designed to sap away life from anything that gets too close and feed it to the creature it comes from. When it talks the voice sounds as gravely as if the sound of something trying to escape from the earth below, filled with disease and malice.*

First one must keep in mind that most undead, with probably only two exceptions, are harmed by healing magic, put down for quite a time through life spells or items, and don't stand up too well to being burned away. One must also remember that once they become undead, unless a lich themselves, they can hardly hope to do much against another necromancer save for simply trying to battle it out and hoping the opponent doesn't realize they can control their body. Secondly we must address the fact that there are several states of undeath. A few are more ideal than others. Being a zombie for instance would be a pointless option for the necromancer themselves. The things have almost no regeneration rate and pretty much simply hunt down prey. Some may argue a ghost is an option, but technically they are not possessing of a body and are excluded from this discussion.

The best ideal immortality for the necromancer is to become a lich. Basically this is little more than a necromancer who has raised his own body after death. Usually immune to most mundane attacks they are capable of enjoying some of the benefits of ghosts as well as access to the complete workings of all their necromantic powers or any others they may have had. Able to use items, weapons, and continue to actually learn makes this one of the most ideal states of undeath for the necromancer seeking immortality. However, this form has some of the natural weaknesses this state possesses such as weakness to silver. Another disadvantage of this state is that you will have to put some effort into making sure the body isn't damaged too greatly for it would take some sort of life stealing magic in order to restore any damaged portions of the body. While the body is dead it doesn't decay unless damaged in this state is basically what I am driving at there.

There is of course a third option and one with even greater benefits. Like most undead they grow stronger with age but they are immune to the damage from healing items. Some even eventually grow immune to the natural weaknesses their kind possess such as sunlight. I am, of course, speaking of vampires. This form allows for a lot of the advantages of the lich but would require a slightly more concerted effort to remain unharmed during the early stages before your 200th year for instance. By that time you should have acquired enough power, assuming you have fed regularly, to avoid most any death that might befall you including being burnt alive. As I've heard it stated, blood is the currency of the soul and as such can be used to awaken great powers as you would know as a blood mage. This would even help you in that particular area of expertise for there is a degree of inherent knowledge of such things amongst the vampire race not including what one could learn if they get in with a good cabal of others of their kind.

Know that there are always some powers, such as elder demons, to whom no undead's immortality means anything and they can tear through that. Possibly taking the soul of the undead as some play thing but that is a general concern you would have anyway regardless of how immortal you may seem to become. So which of these options sounds good to your, or would you like to consider other options?

[Lucia]

Lucia seems a tad shocked of Raleigh's sudden new form, stepping back and looking at it in wonder, then listens carefully as her options are outlined.


Hmm.. So, it comes down to vampire or lich. Tough decision, but I'd say lich comes out slightly ahead for me. The sunlight thing would be slightly more than irritating.

[Raleigh]

An understandable choice. I assumed this form to show you what can happen to the undead that doesn't take too much care of its body. Admittedly this decayed state has a few bonuses the preserved one doesn't but I doubt you would wish to house flesh eating maggots as a form of defense. *Suddenly the dracolich is replaced with the human form that had appeared before.* Then I suppose we should get started on you becoming a lich, ehh? First we will need some way to bind your soul to your body regardless of whatever state it is in. This part isn't much different than creating a zombie.

[Lucia]

I have a spell that restrains my soul from my body.. I suppose that would be a reverse?

[Raleigh]

Well we would need to separate the two and then bind them so I suppose that spell could help with part of it. Its similar to binding your soul into an item only instead of some inanimate object you do it to your body. Now the question is, do you wish to do this now or wait until just before someone kills you? The advantage to waiting is that you reduce the need to keep the body fit for now, seeing as your cellular regeneration is that of a normal living being but once you turn you will not have that working for you any more. If you wish to start now, we can begin with you casting the spell to separate the two.

[Lucia]

Well, my body, mind, and soul were seperated by my teacher, so it wouldn't be much of a serious change. I'm not sure about the cellular regeneration, but I'm sure there's something a little beyond 'human' there.

[Raleigh]

Very well. Please go ahead and split off from your body for a moment while I prepare some runes to allow for regeneration as well as a good dose of unlife to be introduced to the body.