The Good Necromancer: Questions/Answers and Information

This is just a place to throw all of the questions/answers and information from the quest. Better to throw it all here than to have to sift through Anonpone or the archives.

>Looks like we're starting out in imperial territory? Fuck, I very much want to stay as far away from the empire as possible. Also, do the wanted posters include our name or just our description?
The Sea of Trees used to be part of the Empire of Cannor a long time ago, but after the empire's collapse the area became independent. None of the kingdoms on the map are part of the Holy Empire and they all pretty much do their own thing.

>I assume summon skeleton requires a nearby body? If it does that should be added to the spell, if it doesn't then that should probably also be noted.
>Though the shield spell is pretty weak, unless it lasts either for more then one attack or can be cast ahead of time.
Yeah, I changed the skeleton so it requires a body to be summoned. The shield lasts for one turn so if several enemies go after you then the shield will hold up until it's your turn again.

>s there another use for food? Food doesn't really heal much. Are there going to be recipes later, or a hunger system? Otherwise, there's no real use for food. Is there an item limit, or do we have infinite inventory?
I was mostly thinking for food to be healing items, with recipes restoring more health. A hunger system would be interesting but I don't know how to get that in.
And there is no item limit. I'm not going to spend time writing assigning every item a weight or something like that.

Luscinia is 21 years old and has pretty much spent most of her life in her master's tower, besides some very vague memories of being raised in a village when she was very young. Her master definitely wasn't her father and definitely wasn't the nurturing type, but your relationship with him was okay and became pretty good by the time the army came to storm the tower. Her master was a known Necromancer and a standard evil Necromancer at that, which was why the army stormed his tower.

>Good question, don't know. Having some established/estimated facts, stances, and motives would be helpful with that (how does she feel about death? What is her goal in learning necromancy? Does she just think of it as another school of magic, even knowing others don't feel the same?) We don't know her age even.
For why she wants to be good. You guys can definitely make your own reason for her wanting to be good and ignore my reasoning, but she sees that Necromancy can be used for good. It doesn't need to be used to create massive undead armies to attack a city and can be used to help others.
Like I said, feel free to come up with your own reasons on why she's good because I feel like the reason I have is very weak.

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Welcome to the battle tutorial! Since this is your first battle this tutorial will walk you through all of the basics that you need to know.
Before we can get into the meat of the combat system we first have to talk about the turn system. Battles operate on a turn system where you can either make an attack or use an item. You cannot both attack and use an item on the same turn.
Turn order is determined by simply rolling a dice with each party member and enemy rolling to determine their turn. The lowest number rolled going last and the highest number going first.

During a battle, your, your party member's, and enemies stats are shown. These stats show your HP, MP, Level, XP, your base damage, and base defense:
Luscinia Wren, Level 1
XP: 0
HP: 100
MP: 30
Dmg: +3
Def: +5
Attacks. Items.
>Level and XP:
XP is gained by killing enemies which is used to level up. Each level up will give you more HP, MP, Dmg, and Def. Enemies also have levels with enemies above your own level giving out more XP but with greater risk. Leveling up may also give you new spells.
>HP:
HP is your hit points. Death occurs when HP hits 0, though you and your party members get three death saving throws unless the injury that sends them to 0 is determined to be unlivable. Potions and food items can be used to restore health and can either be used on yourself or other party members. Be carefully not to eat too much or too quickly though as it'll cause a debuff and a little bit of damage for a few turns. The same thing can happen with potions, but it'll take quite a bit more potions to be debuffed. Recipes can be found to make more advanced food items that heal a lot more and can even sometimes give buffs. Different healing potions can also be purchased or crafted that heal more as well. HP doesn't automatically restore outside of battle and requires some time to fully heal. You can still use potions and food items outside of battle to heal or let it heal naturally, though resting in a bed will make it heal faster.
>MP:
MP is your magic points and what you use to cast spells. Each spell has a certain amount of MP required to be used and if your MP is empty or doesn't meet the spell's requirements then you can't use that spell until you get more MP. MP restores itself naturally inside and outside of battle by +1 a turn, though certain clothings and items can increase this rate. Potions of Magic and some food items can also restore MP inside and outside of battle, with better foods and better potions restoring more. Just like HP, MP doesn't automatically restore itself outside of battle.
>Dmg and Def:
This is your base damage and defense. Damage is increased by leveling up or with clothings and items that increase damage. Defense is also increased by leveling up but can also be increased by wearing armor. For example, the leather armor you are wearing provides 3 Def while you have a base of 5 Def, adding up to 8 Def in total. When you take damage your defense number subtracts the total damage you would receive.

>Attacks:
You have two attacks to choose from: your sword and your spells. Your sword only has a standard attack currently with damage between 15-20 and chance to set a target on Ghoul Fire. Whatever number between 15-20 that your sword does will be added to your base attack and subtracted by your target's base defense. As you use a certain weapon or certain class of weapons you will become more proficient with the weapon, unlocking stronger attacks that you can use with your weapon instead of the base standard attack.
You also have certain spells that you can use during combat. Just like your sword the damage of the spells are added to your base damage and subtracted by your target's defense.
>Items:
You can use any item you have in your inventory during your turn, though this will take up your turn. You can use things like potions and foods, even items that can temporarily buff you and your allies or debuff the enemy.
Now, let's look at your opponent's stats:
Shishiga Scout, Level 1
HP: 30
MP: 0
Dmg: +5
Def: 0
Wooden Stick.
You can see the Shishiga's HP, MP, Dmg, Def, weapon, and level. The enemy's level determines it's HP, MP, Dmg, and Def, though different enemies will naturally have different stats. It's just a Shishiga Scout so it's health is naturally low and it has no magic to use. Being a Shishiga it has a base 5+ dmg but 0 def. It isn't wearing any armor so it has no armor defense to add either.
The weapon an enemy has is shown but it's stats are hidden. Picking up the weapon as loot after the battle will reveal it's stats and sell value.

>Blocking/Dodging
Your blocking chance has been added to your inventory. It is simply your percent chance to block an incoming attack. Your base blocking chance is 15% and doesn't increase through leveling up. Blocking can be increased through training along with items like shields and some foods. Dodging is the same thing and can be used interchangeably.

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You were back in his tower, sitting in a chair behind a desk in Master's research room. You were quite excited as this would be the first time he taught you anything about Necromancy.
For now though, you waited. Impatiently bouncing in your seat as you waited for him to return with the 'equipment'.
A few minutes later he entered the room through the wooden door. He was a thin Unicorn stallion, his skin sunken against his bones. He had a long, blood red mane with a yellow coat and icy blue eyes that seemed to stare into your soul. In his hooves sat a chicken.
Not even looking at you, he closes the door with his magic and trots over to your desk, setting the chicken down upon it.
"...Luscinia, tell me what you see." He commands.
"...A chicken." You reply.
"Inside the chicken." He tells you sternly.
You squint a bit at the chicken. Floating inside it's chest was a floating ball made out of a countless number of strings of light.
"I see a... floating, ball, thing." You say.
"That's a Soul," He tells you, "Every living thing has a soul. I have one and you have one. Only us Necromancers and the Dusha can see them."
"Why do we have them?" You ask.
"They are us. They are what dictate our personality and what we are. They control our every thought, desire, likes, dislikes. A great necromancer and even add and take away thoughts from a soul. Every soul is unique."
"What are they for?"
"These souls are vital for what Necromancers do. Most undead, and all the living, can't function without a soul. Whether it's their own or a different one. They can also be manipulated and changed to suit our desires and needs, though the process is very delicate and not all souls are powerful. The soul of a wolf is, of course, weaker than a soul of a pony."
"How do we get it?"
"You take it," He explains; raising his hoof up and then pulling it back like he was actually taking something, "Necromancers can take the soul of any living thing, from the lowliest of worms to the greatest of giants! Of course, a living soul will almost always resist being removed from their host.

The soul of the recently deceased will readily come to you, though they don't last without a host for very long though."
Master trots over to a nearby table and brings back a small, red container covered in strange symbols.
"Souls need a place to be kept though," He continues, "They will quickly disappear if left out, but a Soul Jar like this one will keep the soul for later use indefinitely. You just need any suitable container and a spell to create a Soul Jar. Now-"
He places a hoof on the chicken in front of you.
"-Take this Chicken's soul."
You look at the chicken for a moment and then back at Master.
"What will happen to it when I take it's soul?" You ask.
"It'll die."
Hearing this, you hesitate. Did you want to take it's soul if it meant that it would die?

You stare at the chicken a bit more. As far as you could tell it was a normal, healthy chicken.
You hesitate again as you look back up at Master, somewhat imploringly, and then back at the chicken. You want to learn Necromancy, to help ponies, but this wasn't what you exactly had in mind. But doing this would take you on the path to become on and he was trying to teach you and...
'If I don't do it, then Master will be disappointed.'
"...And you won't be able to teach me if I don't... There really isn't a better way to do this?"
"If there is, I don't know it." He shakes his head.
"Will it suffer?"
"...Yes," He nods after a moment, "To be a Necromancer you have to hurt others, one way or another."
You hesitate for another moment before finally taking the plunge.
"...Alright. Do I just reach for it and put in the jar?"
He nods.
You lick your lips and lift a hoof up, reaching towards the chicken while focusing on it's soul. After moving your hoof a bit it eventually touches something warm and light, something that gave way slightly to your touch despite your hoof just touching the air. You grab it and begin to pull.
The chicken's eyes widen and it's feathers fluff up, it's body shaking violently as you pull at it's soul harder and harder until it finally is ripped away from it's body. As soon as the soul leaves the chicken it falls limp.
Shaking a little, you carefully lift the soul over to one of the Soul Jars, Master lifting one of it's lids up for you to put it in. You carefully place it inside and let Master closer it, the symbols on the container glowing to confirm that the soul was inside it.
Master looks at your still shaking form and gives you a small smile, one of the few that he gave you when you were that young and just starting.
"You did well, Luscinia."

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>Can we later use/release it and reuse the soul jar?
Soul Jars can be reused.

>If we were to summon a skeleton, does that skeleton bends to our will? So if we were to summon one without a weapon, can we equip one to it? Also, I know this is a stretch, but can we enchant items at some point? For example, that stick: we could use 15 MP to give it 3 firebolt charges, which could be useful later on.
I was going to go more in-depth on it at a later time, but I can say some stuff.
Skeletons, being one of the unintelligent undead and the simplest undead to raise, will always bend to your will without question. It is unintelligent though so it will need guidance to function.
I was going to point this out later, but skeletons are one of the few undead that don't require a soul to be raised, though a soul will make them intelligent. I will go more into the undead later though.
I was going to bring up enchantments at a different time, but I suppose Luscinia should already know how to enchant items. And what you suggested seems like it would work well enough.

>Aside from putting the Shishiga soul in an undead servant, what else can we do at our level? To what extent does our Book of the Grave cover that?
Another thing I will go into later but can go into a little bit.
Souls can be used for a variety of things like restoring health and MP in and outside of combat. It's main use to Necromancers are to create undead and monsters with and some future Necromancer spells require souls as well. The traits of a soul can be very carefully changed by a Necromancer to do something like make it more intelligent, more obedient, more aggressive and so on, which changes the stats of what you want to make. You can also increase the soul's strength.
Some undead and monsters require a certain type of soul and/or soul strength to function, some undead and monsters also require a corpse to be risen, and some undead and monsters require multiple souls. The strength of a soul can be increased but it's type cannot be changed. To show this, I put this in your inventory:
>-1x filled soul jar (shishiga scout soul) (weak equus)
As you can see, it shows from what creature you got it from, it's strength, and it's type.
This is just the condensed version though and I'll go more into souls and the undead when you open the book or have another memory.