Audio | un: greywords; It's fiiine don't worry about it

[heartlessswordsman]

I'm sure a lot of us have spent time researching and practicing this world's magic, I'm hoping that someone out there has come up with a solution to this issue I've run into. One of the abilities of a death mage is supposedly the ability to animate the dead, but practicing such a thing would obviously require a dead body. Preferably a fresh one.  Practicing the spiritual side of death magic is simple enough, there are spirits everywhere. Bodies are obviously a little more difficult to come by. Without breaking several laws, that is.

I guess my question is, have any other death mages found a way to practice raising the dead, preferably without needing to provide their own corpses? I've already considered visiting the Land of Rot, but seeing as those corpses are already animated, it kind of defeats the purpose of trying to learn spells that animate a body.

[why yes, this is just a round about way of asking where he can get a dead body. shut up.] 

Comments

text; UN: swordandshield

[icastsword]

[Woooooah, is this his buddy Zelgadis, the nice dude who calmed him down when he thought he'd lost Daisy at the bottom of a lake? What a weird question!]

What would you do with a freshly animated zombie?

[It's probably fine; he's buddies with a newly minted amateur necromancer warforged, so this seems alright!]

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[heartlessswordsman]

I figure I'd probably have a couple of days to practice on it before it needed to be disposed of. I don't necessarily need an undead army, but it might not be a bad skill to have.

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[icastsword]

That's fair.

Does it have to be a person-shaped corpse? Maybe you could start practicing on chickens or something. It'd probably upset fewer people. And then afterward you could have dinner.

If you don't let it zombie around for days and days, anyway.

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[heartlessswordsman]

I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to start practicing on small, defenseless animals, and then work my way up to something bigger.

Video, un: sorcerygenius

[dragon_slaaaaaaave]

[Lina mostly keeps the audio on as background while she works on her experiments; she's been holed up for most of her first month learning her way around Green magic and how to make plants extra destructive and she's in the middle of some vine-whip manipulations when that voice comes on over the network. Needless to say, the experiment is quickly abandoned. Rushing to the journal, she checks the username and holy crap it is Zel. She quickly tries to fiddle with the doohickey to get video on because Lina Inverse was made to be seen not just heard. At first however, all Zel gets is the sound of stuff being knocked over, buttons being pressed and angry muttering.]

Come on how is this—oh come in I'm pressing the...wait was it this one? Zel? Zel you there, it's—

[Video flicks on to the view of a harried looking but familiar Lina looking over the phone...while giant vines rampage in the background. Her hotel room's not looking great right now.]

It's me, Zel! Hey! How ya doin', buddy? [She waves excitedly, apparently to wrapped up in her excitement to notice the vines currently trashing the room behind her.]

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[heartlessswordsman]

[Zelgadis had set his phone aside to go back to reading books like a nerd, but upon hearing a familiar voice he snatches the device back up and switches his video on. Damn he's been here alone for months, as much as he hates being stuck here, it's a relief top finally see someone he knows again.]

Lina!? When did--

...what the hell is going on behind you?

[That's an alarming vine rampage, Lina. Nothing good ever comes out of scenarios like this.

Unless that's what you're into]

[dragon_slaaaaaaave]

[She waves the vines off.] Oh nothin', just working on some spell ideas. I got Green magic, can you believe it? Plants'n stuff. I mean, I don't mind the challenge but I do miss the old tricks, y'know? Fireballs can be extremely satisfying to cast. [She sighs wistfully]

I got here last month! But I've been kind of busy with magic study. Wait, don't tell me are Gourry or Amelia here? [Her voice rises with hope. After all, if she'd missed Zel being here after a whole month, maybe...?]

[heartlessswordsman]

[Oh Lina. That is... kind of not a super cool magic? Well, if anyone can make green magic terrifying, it's Lina goddamn Inverse. Zel believes in you.]

You've been here for a month and I haven't seen you? I'm... shocked, honestly. You don't stand out as much when you're not blowing towns up.

[Not that he's complaining.]

Gourry and Amelia aren't here, no. It's just been me for the past few months.

video; UN: firstfallen

[corruptedsave]

That's a pretty messed up thing to be asking about, you know.

[Ironic coming from Chara after all.]

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[heartlessswordsman]

[A little bit, buuut]

I won't deny that. It seems like a useful sort of magic to know, but going about learning it is proving to be complicated.

[corruptedsave]

Well asking for a fresh corpse is kinda... [They wave their hand in an "ehhhhn" motion.]

Maybe it's a magic that shouldn't be known, if going about it is so hard to do in a legal manner.

[heartlessswordsman]

...Okay, that's a good point. I should probably just leave it alone.

... Seems like kind of a waste of potential, though.

[Voice] un: fireworks

[usedforcepalm]

[She'd read that death magic was a type of magic here, and she knows that people don't choose their magic here. Case in point: while elemental magic is something she might have picked on her own? Blood magic definitely isn't.

Here, Zelgadis. Have a curious kid.]

Um...I don't know the answer to your question, but I have a question about death magic. Do the bodies have the same abilities that they did when they were alive?

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[heartlessswordsman]

[man is this really something a kid should be asking about? Ah well, they gotta learn about zombies some time, right?]

That's a good question. From what I understand of necromancy, you're just making the body move again, not actually bringing a person back to life. The body is still dead. Using magical abilities and the like is something that would require the ability to think and focus, something that you can't exactly do when you're not alive.

[usedforcepalm]

Oh, I see.

[That's less scary than what she'd thought, albeit not pleasant. She goes on to explain her reason for asking in the first place.]

There's a forbidden jutsu from my world -- I guess the correct term would be spell, here. And in that forbidden jutsu, it takes a human sacrifice, but you can revive and control a person with their full abilities.

[heartlessswordsman]

[Oh yeah, it's still super creepy. Not nearly as cool as that though damn.]

That sounds like an incredibly powerful ability. Horrifying, of course, but I can see it being useful.

text; un: weaver

[chatwithdeath]

As someone suggested earlier, practice using animals. They're more often to die, whether of natural causes or external forces.

[Perhaps not the method some people would choose, but it's there.]

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[heartlessswordsman]

Starting small would be the best way to kick this off, but eventually I will need to start working with something bigger.

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[chatwithdeath]

There are larger game animals in the forest. Unless you're talking about using humans. You can come by the morgue with permission.

Text; un: Koromaru

[whatsamada]

I could make a comment about how dangerous it is to find dead bodies without making you look like a serial killer.

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[heartlessswordsman]

That won't be necessary, I'm fully aware of how sketchy asking something like this is.

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[whatsamada]

Just hope that you'll get the answer you're looking for.

If you do, let me know. I'm a death mage myself and I'm curious what would happen since I never tried it myself either.

[VIDEO] | UN: HAMMERTIME

[forgeabettertomorrow]

...Wow, and I thought figuring out my blood magic was hard.

...Wait. Why do you want to animate the dead?

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[heartlessswordsman]

If I'm going to be stuck with death magic then I might as well master it, right?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

You don't have to, though! Doesn't the idea of messing with the dead kinda weird you out??