Necromancy #5 : A look into other methods.

"Wholly inefficient."

Lord Ultovex raises his gloved left hand. A snap resounds in the room before a horrible feeling flooded the air. Behind him, the lifestream itself fracture, cracked and broke as a horrid purple and green light filled the area around him. A small circle widened, and soon undead stepped out, covered in cloaks but with eyes visible peering from the flesh. Eyes that covered their hands and bodies in places they should not.

Some of the undead stepped forwards, picking up the horse. The others came through the portal with a reinforced table, setting it down and the corpse soon thereafter on top of it.

"Ya should always try ta take tha' less inconvenient route.

Now, if ya startin' wit' a horse, 'spectin' ya got experience in this?"
(Lord Ultovex)

Renegin crosses his arms, standing side by side with the people who clearly far outclassed him in the knowledge of this sort of thing. Still, he didnt let that intimidate him. He was interested, and so he observed Rose quiety to see what would happen.
(Renegin Billard)

Roanna gave a slightly tired giggle, still a bit winded from her physical exertion. She hadn't felt her limits being reached in the strength department in a long time.

"Well, excuse me for not having skeletons to wait on me. That's why I'm working on this stuff...

But yes, I've got quite the experience. First with rats, then with a cat... It's mostly the same idea just scaled up. Same principle just with a little added effort."

Roanna didn't have such medical gloves as Lord Ultovex, but rather simple cotton ones that would quickly grow stained. She didn't quite mind and in fact sort of enjoyed the idea of having white gloves stained red with hard work and effort.

"… Also, I was hoping to do a majority of the work myself to gain the practical experience. I'd just like your assistance in learning other methods than the ones I was taught. Namely, using rune rituals to bring back the spirit in the Vox Quietus portion of the ceremony."

She approached the horse, already running through the steps in her head. She already knew its organs and limbs were in good shape, but she was trying to build good habits.

"Corpus Creare: Check.

Patin Ligitus: Check.

Viscus Vitae... That I'll have to do. I drained its blood to kill it, so next I'll fill its arteries up with holy water. Sound good, Sir?"
(Roanna Rosenkreuz)


Roanna Rosenkreuz says, "Alvi, if you could... Feel free to commentate on the steps I'm performing to Renegin. I'm sure he needs a bit more explanation given his inexperience. No harm in that of course."
Hatsu lightly wrinkles his nose as his hands remain in his pockets, though his eyes do drift toward the rift gate opening. This was a lesson in which he could easily acquire a few bits of knowledge on, even if it did not happen to be immediately first-hand. Much like studying the books, a live-action scenario would provide him with bits of insight that he otherwise would have overlooked. "What would you require holy water for? When Arthur was giving me a lesson, he never used such items for the body. Is this a different method, since you're utilizing an animal?" He inquires, his expression eventually evening out.

He had experience only with actual bodies, as the standard had been set relatively high when under tutelage of the Rowan. Even so, backing up a few paces and directing his attention to animals would certainly lower the failure rate he's experienced as of late. The messes exploding bodies could make was truly frightening.
(Hatsu Wvelven)

Corpus creare? Patin Ligitus? What...he stood there bewildered by what he was hearing. He was ready for complicated English to be thrown his way, stuff that he could atleast try and grasp. But all this language was new to him. He didn't move, just furrowed his brow a bit and watched on.

He figured, if nothing he'd be able to watch the physical portion of this procedure and gleam some knowledge from that. He did however give a thankful nod to Roanna, directly his gaze to Alvi.

He didn't mind, whatever she did. Instruct him simpler or not, either way he was here till the end.
(Renegin Billard)

Alvi quickly pats themselves down, looking for something. Quickly remembering where they kept their handy dandy notebook, the witch sticks a hand down their boob window - having apparently found a justification for keeping such a thing in undeath - and gets elbow deep as they rummage around inside their robes. Swiftly withdrawing their notebook and a trusty quill enchanted to produce an everlasting amount of ink for upwards to an hour so long as the tip came in contact with some form of fluid.

"I'll do my best, but I must admit your method is a tad different than what I'm used to."

Not just a tad. In truth, Alvi was taught entirely differently. Still, they could at least draw the pieces together by observational skills alone. Flicking the notebook to an empty page, the witch begins scribbling but finds their quill to be dry. Being undead, of course, they couldn't produce saliva. That means...

"Here. Lick this," Alvi states curtly as they hold the quill out to Hatsu.

While they patiently wait for Hatsu to do as he was asked, the witch gestures vaguely to the horse for both his and Renegin's benefit.

"To clarify. Corpus Creare is the physical, corporeal body. The more intact the better, obviously. Patin Ligitus are - I imagine - the ligiments that hold the body together. In a pinch, they could be substituted. Preferably by something that conducts magic, like mythril. Viscus Vitae is the body's blood. It doesn't have to be the original blood, and I imagine Miss Rosenkreuz here is going to use holy water. Not something I've seen done before, so this should be interesting.

As for the Vox Quietus? She's using runecasting to assist with the ritual, so she'll use that to assist her with pulling the horse's soul back into our mortal coil and seal it in."
(Alvi Slade)

Roanna nods along to Alvi's explanation and Sors' own speech. She would be on her own here, but she decided to update Renegin on her own education.

"There are four steps we go by - or that's what I was taught at least.

Corpus Creare is making sure the major and minor organs are intact and capable of being of use. The brain, heart, lungs, stomach... All that. Since I just freshly killed this thing, I don't need to worry about that.

Patin Ligitus has to do with the limbs. This is less crucial of course, but always good to have as many arms, legs, and fingers coming back to life as you did dying.

… Viscus Vitae is restoring the body's liquids to the proper state. Blood is best of course, but substitutes won't be too much of a problem. I simply use holy water since I'm most comfortable with that, and it might help seal the incision used to inject it."

With her explanation to Renegin finished, Roanna could actually get to work. She flicked her wrist the way she always did when calling upon her runecasting, and started concentrating the moisture in the air at her command. Already it was imbued with her emotions of love and compassion, making it a bit different than just common mundane water.

She guided the water to the gash in the neck, commanding it with her twitching fingers along her runes to enter the cavity and fill it up as best it could. While the horse was quite large and its blood capacity equally so, she could call upon a great deal of holy water. Enough to make it a suitable host for the horse's spirit at least.

"Viscus Vitae: Check.

… And now for the actual Necromancy part."

Roanna began her work with pure magic, drawing the outlines of runes around the Horse's body. This would take a while of course.
(Roanna Rosenkreuz)



Renegin, after having been explained the fancy stuff in more simpler terms was very attentive. He understood what was going on now atleast somewhat. He looked much more inquisitive then one might expect from how gruff and uneducated he looked.

His focus was cut short however as the quill was put in-front of his. He titled his head a bit, but the woman had just helped him so he did as she asked. Leaning forwards a tiny bit and letting the tip of the quill hit his tongue.
(Renegin Billard)

"I'm wit' Alvi. Ma own stages of Necromancy has a lot less steps. Evaluate how tha' corpse looks. Rip out wha's broken an' replace it wit' something tha' works. Modify till ya like it. I work less wit' tha' blood o' tha' undead, an mor' wit' givin' them tha' ability ta sap energy they need ta function. Mor' useful if they work fer it, stead o' ma."

The Master Necromancer leaned against the wall, snarling slightly as the feeling of holy filled the room. Dislike was primal and active on his face, but he does not lash out besides the heavy glare that stayed on Roanna as she worked.

"Dilgently, but don't rush. Tha's tha' mos' important part o' it. Ya rush it, ya mess it up real easy."
(Lord Ultovex)

Hatsu glances over at Alvi with a raised eyebrow, but it would appear that there was little need for him to use his tongue upon the quill. Even so, it was likely he would not have done so, but utilized a teensy bit of water magic to get her pen working. Regardless, his focus drifts back to the scene before him, a small book already procured from within his infinite inventory. He busily wrote notes with a blank expression, his hand subtly blurring as each word was concise, and cleanly written. Not a single word was wasted on the limited pieces of paper bound to the tome, though he silently disagreed with the excessive complications to the process.

 For his own process, it was a foundation that was based on his lesson with Arthur. Establishing a flow of mana through the circuitry of the target. Creating an excess of mana into an enriched field that is placed beneath the corpse in question. The step after that involved anchoring the soul to the corpse itself, binding it within thebody. All three steps had required concentration and the ability to perform multiple spell arts at once. A bit complicated, but he was more than a proficient magi, and had enough experience to pull it off with ease.

 Even so, this was a great opportunity to witness the other methods to bring forth the dead, and therefore educate himself further without the immense effort of roaming through books.
(Hatsu Wvelven)


The quill probably tasted like unpleasant ink. With its enchantment activated, though, Alvi could get right back to work scribbling down notes including the clarified definitions for the new terms. This may not be their preferred method of operation, but the basis of it was pretty much the same throughout.

"Yes, don't rush... But on the other hand I've never seen a horse explode before."

The witch stopped writing to contemplate what such a thing would look like before shrugging and getting right back to it. The presence of holy magic in the air was enough to make the long-dead hairs on the back of their neck stand on end, but the discomfort was weathered for the sake of science.

"Now," Alvi starts to clarify, keeping their tone hushes so as to not deter Roanna's concentration. "She's drawing her runes and mappingthe horse's mana circuits. I imagine you're both experienced magi so I don't need to clarify as to what runecasting itself is. However, as I said before, there are key areas you need to focus on when familiarizing yourself with mana circuitry. Every living creature has mana circuits, and each pathway is different, but generally they all congregate at the cranium, the eyes, the throat, the shoulders, the heart, the hands, the abdomen, and feet.

The less of those key areas a body has, the more difficult it'll become to resurrect."
(Alvi Slade)

The work is simple by now with how much she'd practiced with the rats. The runes at least were known by heart.

First the circle under the creature, followed by a line representing the spinal circuit, along with runes for the heart. Then an acute angle at the bottom for the stomach, followed by arcs from each of the angle's two points to the top of the spine for the mana to flow. After that, just a line for the shoulders and a smaller circle at the top for the head.

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. Practice did make perfect.

She'd had to lift up parts of the horse at times to draw the correct runes in their proper spots, but otherwise things proceeded without any real major effort. It shouldn't be with just how many pet rats she'd been churning out.

"There... The ritual will do most of the complicated work of realigning the soul to the body once I've got it, now all I must do is deliver it my energy and it should work just fine..."

The woman held out her arms and took a breath. She recalled Astaria's work in making arbitrary units to gauge how much energy would be required for a ritual like this to work without causing a massive explosion in the body.

"While rituals are a bit easier in my opinion with the whole 'soul-grabbing' bit, if I mess up... I really mess up and we'll be covered in horse guts. Not to worry, I've worked out of fool-proof system involving using rats as a measuring system!"

Roanna grinned. It was her own inside joke.

"Astaria did some work a long time ago using necromantic energies on a living criminal to see how much a human body would take. You'd need to feel the units out herself but she said that eighty was the right amount for a human...

While this thing is a lot bigger than a person, I imagine its soul is a lot simpler too. I'll only go up to about 'one hundred' and that hopefully wont result in red paint everywhere..."

Her runes started glowing brighter as she started feeling things out with her magic.
(Roanna Rosenkreuz)


Alvi Slade asks, "Is there a unit of measurement for nercromantic energies?"
Alvi Slade whispers: I bet she named it after herself.


Roanna Rosenkreuz says, "It was more of an arbitrary thing she made up with her work..."

Roanna Rosenkreuz says, "A rat is about a 'ten' to bring back as a base measurement."

Roanna Rosenkreuz says, "By her work, a human would be about an 'eighty'."

Roanna Rosenkreuz says, "Any more than that... You know what'll happen."
Hatsu Wvelven whispers: What makes you say that?

Alvi Slade whispers: Because I would name a unit of measuring necromantic energies after myself.

Alvi Slade whispers: If you're not egotistical in this line of work, then you're probably doing it wrong.

Hatsu Wvelven whispers: You're an eccentric one.

"How strange. Ain't used ta measurin' systems wit' Necromancy. But ya do this a whole lot o' different then I would. 'spose tha' runes take ta fillin' tha' circuits wit' ya mana too. An' ya connect them ta tha' four important areas? Heart, brain, spine, stomach. Make 'em functions, bobs ya uncle wit' tha' body. Then tha' soul." His arms cross over his chest as grey and gold watch the ritual process.

"Mite be eaiser if ya can' set it up ta function. But unusual fer ma. Go on an' work at it, use ya scale an' lets how ya ain't blow tha' thang up. But better safe then sorry."

A couple of skeletons stood in front of the Necromancer, ready to be bathed in blood to keep Sors dry.
(Lord Ultovex)

Renegin chuckles at Alvi's little side comment, shaking his head as he went over the steps of the process.

 First the vitals, then the extremities, then the bodily fluid, then the runes over the body to channel the mana through the specific circuits and thether the soul back to the dead creature.

Didn't sound all that hard, but he was limited in his use of magic. He used it to hit harder, or move faster...not bring stuff back from the dead.

"I don't mind either way Rose. Ye know me, getting covered in horse guts is like every other week."

He gave her a re-assuring wink, smiling brightly. Both at his success to grasp this, and how well she was doing from his point of view.
(Renegin Billard)

Hatsu lightly scowls as he sets his book against the table immediately behind him, only to tap his left foot upon the flooring. A thick sheet of ice rises upward akin to the shape of a small dome. It would keep the trio off to the side well shielded from the potential failure of the horse. He hasn't had the displeasure of being drenched in guts before, and he would prefer not to start today, either.
(Hatsu Wvelven)

Alvi shrugs non-chalantly at Hatsu's words. Perhaps he was right. Whatever the case may be, they merely went back to scribbling notes. Roanna's justification for using runecasting was an intriguing one, however, so Alvi scooted around a bit to get a rough sketch of the circles she used in her work. It could come in handy, some day.

"When she begins the next step, I'll explain it in more detail. I don't want to get ahead of her and look like an idiot when she does something else, however."
(Alvi Slade)



Well, at least Sors wasn't outright dismissive, but his precautions didn't exactly tell her she had his full confidence.

That aside, Roanna got back to work, feeling out the amount of magic she was pushing out. It was a bit of a personal thing you would get a feel for in time. Nothing was exact, but it was a fair enough metric to measure by.

"Eighty... Eighty-five..."

This much energy output was actually pushing her limits. Well, perhaps not 'limits', but she was certainly feeling it. It wasn't an amount she could continue outputting for an extremely extended period of time casually. Thankfully, this was a one-time startup cost. The actual ambient energies to maintain the dead were mercifully far less demanding on her mana.

Thankfully, her will was stronger than a mere bit of exhaustion, and the woman continued as her power continued to escalate. Her actual upper ability was quite far past this, but her finer control over her mana decreased as she approached it.

It was only thanks to her runecasting that she was maintaining such a stream of energy.

"Ninety-five... … There, we got it. I feel her circuits reacting positively, now I just have to... Yeah, get the- the spirit inside."

It was clear she was somewhat straining, not out of inexperience, but just how much energy and focus she had to put into this. Roanna took another deep breath in and out to recollect.

"I always do better with a little bit of word casting, so uh... Erm… Pardon the oncoming theatrics."

She cleared her throat a bit, preparing her tirade to empower her will and see it done.

"Beast of Burden, hear my call! I will you to return to the land of the living. Your service is not yet done and your debt as such a lowly creature is not yet paid to me.

I have come to collect, so do not deny me!"

There was clearly a force of will in her words, despite the melodramatics. A command - a call to the upper planes.
(Roanna Rosenkreuz)


Hatsu Wvelven says, "...."
Hatsu struggles to maintain a straight face, and his snickers echo lightly against the ice wall that he had mounted before him as a precaution. His confidence in the success of this lesson was naturally non-existent, as he often had trouble trusting much of anyone, these days! Even so, her incantation was something he'd expect from a story-book, as the theatrics leave him snorting as he rapidly scribbles down the notes. His eyes drift toward the horse as he inspects its body, the runic symbols scattering around it being taken note of. This method certainly was not for him, but it was always interesting to expand one's horizons and realize that the glory of Necromancy was very flexible.

 If he had learned anything from this excursion, it was the fact that magic in itself was limitless. The only true limitation was merely one that had to do with your creativity. A gentle smile forms, an altogether rare expression that usually left his face a few moments after.

Magic..it was truly a wonderous topic, and its vast potential left him in a pleasant mood. Hopefully it'd last a bit longer than usual, before he returned to his disinterested, grumpy self.
(Hatsu Wvelven)