Lup | IC Contact Page | Hugtopia

[necromanswers]

"Lucky you, you've reached Lup! ...Is what I'd say if I were around. Let me know what's up and I'll get back to you in a jiffy."

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[iustaegis]

[ Pyra doesn't even know what third level shit means, but from the way Lup describes it, it must be relatively basic spells compared to what she is used to.

Pyra sets the skull down upon the table, and then comes around to near Lup's side, peering into the book she reveals. ]

No, it was something like a... long-necked animal, about twenty units high. When we first encoutnered it, it appeared to be inanimate, sitting in a nest and a pool of an oily, black ooze. [ And here, she brings out the sample of ooze in a small vial. ]

When it began to move, this ooze was drawn back into its thorax.

[ She sets the vial down upon the table. ] I've only been able to analyze it so much. It's not like the toxin that's, say, found within the giant spiders from before, and it doesn't produce a malaise that is alleviated by touch, just a rash.

[necromanswers]

[Lup rather unsubtly tilts herself - and more pointedly, her book - in a way that won't allow Pyra to get a close enough look to read the text properly. You don't just look at someone else's spellbook without permission, gosh. Learn proper wizard protocol!

Her tone is easy-breezy as she replies, not annoyed but not afraid to make her intentions known, either.]

Just how much ooze have you been ingesting to learn that, huh?

[iustaegis]

[ She's... not a wizard! But she understands the look, and so quickly averts her gaze.

Pyra clears her throat at the question. Joke. Joke-question, but with that underlying seriousness to it. ] D-do you think I would be so reckless?

[ Actually, the truth is none. It was all topically handling it, because while she has no stomach, her skin is the most human-like layer about her! ]

[necromanswers]

I do, actually. I've been on that side.

[There's more than one way to "ingest" something, so to speak. And she's touched, eaten, examined, and experimented on all sorts of strange things over the years. Sometimes you get sick! Sometimes you die for science. And unlike her, not everyone comes back from that.]

I'm not gonna point fingers, but I hope you're at least telling someone what you're doing with this stuff. Or writing it down so if you keel over dead we'll have a record of things you've tried already.

[iustaegis]

[ She listens, picking up on Lup's tone. "I've been on that side," is all she needs to say for Pyra to pause.

Eventually, she merely nods, doing her best to make her ensuing smile quietly reassuring. ]

I've shared information on the reaction to the ooze with others and on the network.

[necromanswers]

I meant before you did your thing, but that's a good start, I guess. Anyway, I must've missed that. I'll check back later, been kind of distracted.

[It was a rough.....while.]

There's a spell that allows for the animation of a corpse or skeleton. It requires at least most of a body, though, and the caster has to be almost close enough to touch it. Other spells I've heard of have similar constraints on them, and they have other material requirements as well.

[She reaches out to give the vial a poke.]

Any blood in this?

[iustaegis]

[ Pyra wants to ask what she meant by being distracted, but files it away for later. 

But gathering from what else Lup has said, it seems that those who reanimate the dead must come in contact with the organism that is dead, and from there it's the work of power.

As she thinks further on this, she glances at the vial, then at Lup. ] Oh, ah, ...no.

[ A beat, and then ever the student, she asks with a curious tilt of her head: ] Why do you ask? Do you... need blood?

[necromanswers]

Blood is a required spell component for animating the dead. Bone is another one, which the skull would cover. I figured it wasn't that, if there was no visible caster in the vicinity, but it's worth eliminating all aspects of the spell to strike it off the list.

[Sometimes cutting down on the list of potential answers is just as satisfying as finding the truth, in this line of work.]

[iustaegis]

[ She has a long line of questions that are just piling up and up about this magic.... ]

....What about... Is there raw power? To reanimate the dead?

[ There is an energy here, after all, one that is undetectable, that exists. She had her doubts on there being an literal divine sort of energy generated from contact or touch, but working with Honerva had undone those doubts to its existence. While she does not fully understand it, and remains baffled by its presence when she is able to sense it when linking with Honerva to this day, she now knows for certain that it is there, present, and wherever people engage in touch. ]

I've met a few here who were deceased before coming to this world.

[necromanswers]

There's all sorts of raw powers in the universe, sure. Most of that sort of thing is the realm of the gods, not scrubs like us. There's like six death gods and goddesses in Faerun alone, any of them could probably raise a corpse with a wave of their fancy celestial hand. But that's not the kind of magic I can help you much with.

[She folds her spellbook shut. There are no other useful necromancy spells for this situation inside; that was Barry's specialty, not hers.]

Either that, or a kind of necromancy I've never heard of.

[iustaegis]

[ In terms of some other kind of necromany even Lup doesn't know about, Pyra won't be able to help with any theories. But along the lines of there being some sort of divine meddling-- ] Perhaps... it was the work of the gods. Not the four here, but one of the two unnamed ones....

[ The recently revealed passage mentioned "the Crawling One" and "the Winged One". Assuming neither of those titles belonged to any of the Four within the city, they would be the epithets of the remaining two.

Regardless, she sighs. There's not much use in theorizing when she knows so little. ]

[necromanswers]

Could explain why we know so little about it. You saw that passage, right? The one Magolor found. Said some things about spewing poison into the ground. Maybe that poison brings nasties back to life.

[That would certainly be a kind of necromancy she's never heard of.]

[iustaegis]

[ Maybe that poison brings nasties back to life.

Suddenly, she wants to go into Verstael's lab and destroy all traces of the toxin. ]

....If so, it's far more dangerous than we would have ever thought.

[necromanswers]

Sure is. The world is dead, so we've been told. That means it's full of dead things. That's a lot of corpses to bring to life if someone were to need an army. To, for example, punch a hole through the wall and send a mass of spiders inside our little safety bubble.

[Depending on what's out there, spiders could be the least of their worries, going forward.]

[iustaegis]

[ Troubling, troubling. ]

Is there... any magical way to confirm that it can or cannot reanimate an organism?

[ Besides testing it, ideally. She wouldn’t want to do that, especially not on the skull of the creature they found outside. Yet if there is no other option... perhaps they can test it out on something more benign, like a dead flower. ]

[necromanswers]

Mm... I can use a spell to verify whether or not it's magic, and if that magic is necromancy it'd be a solid point in that direction. If the reanimation isn't magic-based though, our options are more limited.

[She's very much a magic-focused scientist, here- regular organic testing wasn't so much her focus of expertise.]

[iustaegis]

[ Any direction would be good. ] It's... worth trying, I believe.

If you are partial to the idea as well.

[ If Lup is going to complete this analysis spell right here and now, she'll be taking a step or so back at Lup's direction if needed. ]

[necromanswers]

I don't mind. It takes about ten minutes, though, so if you're cool with the wait, make yourself comfortable and give me some quiet.

[She tucks away her book and lifts a hand, quietly tracing a pattern in the air above the vial.]

[iustaegis]

[ Pyra nods quietly, stepping back to find a seat. Taking it, she watches in silence as Lup begins to work. A part of her wants to ask if she might help her in someway-- lend energy, perhaps, but surely that won't be necessary with some kind of detection spell.

So, she waits. ]

[necromanswers]

[And... ten minutes passes! Without much of anything interesting happening, just Lup quietly focusing on her book and the object on the table. She could cast it immediately, but it's not as if they don't have time to kill here, so why waste the spell slot?

At the end of the ten minutes, Lup's eyes gleam silver for a moment, and the magic around her lights up in her gaze. Her own gear, of course - the gauntlet at her wrist as her focus, her book, and she can sense the objects belonging to the rest of the household, little things they've enchanted. Pyra of course lights up like a Candlenights tree, but that's no surprise.

There's no gleam from the vial, and Lup offers up a thoughtful hum, rolling it between her fingers to watch the contents ooze from one side to the other.]

Organic only, no magic. Whatever it is that made this thing come to life was probably an external source- or the magic disappears once it's dead.

[iustaegis]

I see... [ When the spell is over, Pyra stands from her seat. She doesn't appear to be too disappointed in not discovering more. They tried, and they at least have a confirmation that no magic lingers; at least, not magic in a traditional sense.

She walks over to the counter near Lup, looking at the vial of ooze with a small smile. ] It seems that many parts of this world remain a mystery, still... [ She reaches for the vial, plucking it off the countertop to hold within her palm. ] But this was helpful, too... knowing that it doesn't have any resurrecting power currently active within it.

[ She lifts her head, offering a grateful smile. ] Thank you, Lup.

[necromanswers]

Every little bit helps, [Lup muses, offering up a smile in return; she's not disappointed either, nor is she discouraged. In the past, countless experiments that ended in failure or no new information whatsoever have taught her to celebrate success without expecting much of any in the process. mysteries such as these can take a long, long time to suss out.]

You're welcome, though. I hope it makes a difference in the long run, and if you need anything else, just ring me up, yeah?

[iustaegis]

Oh... Yes.

[ A nod. She'll probably be by for ingredients for a cheesecake later in the far future, not that she knows this yet. ] And, my apologizes for my manners. I hadn't asked how you are doing! It's been a while.

[necromanswers]

Oh shit, yeah. I've been keeping busy! The restaurant's doing well, had a nice hookup with the fella, Honerva got me arrested...

[Her tone stays carefully playful; a joke, of course, the arrest was both of their faults. She would not have even brought it up, but she doesn't know if Honerva has, and with all her meddling and experimenting Pyra should probably know about that place.]

How've you been?

1/2

[iustaegis]

[ "Restaurant doing well"--

A nod; good, good.

"--a hookup--"

Oh. Another nod. That's nice.

"--arrested--" ]