Mr.Sandman
2015-03-26, 06:26 AM
Greetings Playground, I once again come before you pleading assistance. In a Carrion Crown game on the paizo forums I put forth the following background, spoilered, I hope, for length.
Eliza doesn't really remember anything until around the age of six. Her mothers tell her that she must have been orphaned, or ran away, as she was living on the streets when they found her, but all she can remember is a series of half heard whispers when she closes her eyes. But despite that, she is a happy young woman, blending the magic taught to her by one mother with the rigorous exercise and combat training of the other. She remembers Mr. Lorrimor, vaguely, from the first few years of her life. Her mothers had called on him to help her with the whispers, and he had called her 'fascinating', which she had taken as a compliment, although she didn't know what it meant at the time, and still doesn't know why he said it. Her mothers where reluctant to let her go when a message came, announcing his death, but it had been sent to her specifically, so they eventually relented. As her carriage approaches Rivengro, she is unaware that this trip would be the one that changes her entire life, by revealing its past secrets...
And said secrets could return one of the greatest darknesses in existence to this world.
Thirteen years ago a Paladin and a Witch met by chance, the witch searching for her cousin who had run away after a fight with her parents, and the paladin investigating a rash of disappearing orphans in the area. Through their research they discovered that similar things had been happening for hundreds of years, all over Ustalav. They eventually catch wind of an ancient lich, called the Daughter of Nightmares, who acts as a recruiter for the shadowy Whispering Way. The foul creature disguises herself as a young girl, no more than the age of six, and befriends the children of the streets before taking them 'somewhere safe' to be inducted into the dark organization themselves.
Reluctantly using a gnomish ally as bait, the two snuck into the lich's hideout to find her phylectory, but what they found with it shook them to their souls. The lich wasn't just pretending to be a six year old girl, she was one. Her parents had been followers of the Whispering Way themselves and, when she had been caught in the crossfire between their sect and a group of Paladins, they had turned the child into a Lich, and offered her to their dark masters for the rest of her incredibly long existence. She had been placed under a Gentle Repose spell for disguise, and forced to locate children to induct into the evil cult for eight hundred years, commanded by powerful magic compulsions and the need of a child to obey their parents wishes.
Tears in their eyes, the two women turned to leave with the dark item, only to be stopped by two figures blocking the doorway. The Daughter of Nightmares looked at them, their gnomish friend held dead in one hand, and pleaded for their forgiveness before brutally attacking. They defeated her, with difficulty, and with her last breath the girl begged them to destroy the phylectory before it could begin to regenerate her, just starting the dark cycle all over again, and they complied.
Grief overcame them for the terrible tragedy that had befallen the once innocent girl, and they begged and used up the influence they had gained with the church of Pharisma to give her a second chance. She was raised, her memories of the past wiped clean, and adopted by the her slayers and saviors. This is the true history of Eliza Valderas, and one her mothers hope she will never experience again.
The DM said he liked the premise of it, but found it unbelievable that she had been such a powerful creature, lich, and that high level magics were needed to revive her, raise dead in this case, lowered from Resurrection with the addition of the gentle repose bit.
I am more than willing to negotiate on the type of undead, but being undead and then brought back is core to the concept, and I can't find any spell lower than Raise Dead except Reincarnate, which doesn't really fit what I'm after. So, I come to you. Is there anyway to bring back a body that has been technically dead for 800 years thats lower 4th or lower? Any way someone could survive for 800 years in the same form, but not show it once its reversed? I'm not even going to bother saying what spell reversed her memories, as they are all probably way too high as well. Any ideas you guys have would be great.
Eliza doesn't really remember anything until around the age of six. Her mothers tell her that she must have been orphaned, or ran away, as she was living on the streets when they found her, but all she can remember is a series of half heard whispers when she closes her eyes. But despite that, she is a happy young woman, blending the magic taught to her by one mother with the rigorous exercise and combat training of the other. She remembers Mr. Lorrimor, vaguely, from the first few years of her life. Her mothers had called on him to help her with the whispers, and he had called her 'fascinating', which she had taken as a compliment, although she didn't know what it meant at the time, and still doesn't know why he said it. Her mothers where reluctant to let her go when a message came, announcing his death, but it had been sent to her specifically, so they eventually relented. As her carriage approaches Rivengro, she is unaware that this trip would be the one that changes her entire life, by revealing its past secrets...
And said secrets could return one of the greatest darknesses in existence to this world.
Thirteen years ago a Paladin and a Witch met by chance, the witch searching for her cousin who had run away after a fight with her parents, and the paladin investigating a rash of disappearing orphans in the area. Through their research they discovered that similar things had been happening for hundreds of years, all over Ustalav. They eventually catch wind of an ancient lich, called the Daughter of Nightmares, who acts as a recruiter for the shadowy Whispering Way. The foul creature disguises herself as a young girl, no more than the age of six, and befriends the children of the streets before taking them 'somewhere safe' to be inducted into the dark organization themselves.
Reluctantly using a gnomish ally as bait, the two snuck into the lich's hideout to find her phylectory, but what they found with it shook them to their souls. The lich wasn't just pretending to be a six year old girl, she was one. Her parents had been followers of the Whispering Way themselves and, when she had been caught in the crossfire between their sect and a group of Paladins, they had turned the child into a Lich, and offered her to their dark masters for the rest of her incredibly long existence. She had been placed under a Gentle Repose spell for disguise, and forced to locate children to induct into the evil cult for eight hundred years, commanded by powerful magic compulsions and the need of a child to obey their parents wishes.
Tears in their eyes, the two women turned to leave with the dark item, only to be stopped by two figures blocking the doorway. The Daughter of Nightmares looked at them, their gnomish friend held dead in one hand, and pleaded for their forgiveness before brutally attacking. They defeated her, with difficulty, and with her last breath the girl begged them to destroy the phylectory before it could begin to regenerate her, just starting the dark cycle all over again, and they complied.
Grief overcame them for the terrible tragedy that had befallen the once innocent girl, and they begged and used up the influence they had gained with the church of Pharisma to give her a second chance. She was raised, her memories of the past wiped clean, and adopted by the her slayers and saviors. This is the true history of Eliza Valderas, and one her mothers hope she will never experience again.
The DM said he liked the premise of it, but found it unbelievable that she had been such a powerful creature, lich, and that high level magics were needed to revive her, raise dead in this case, lowered from Resurrection with the addition of the gentle repose bit.
I am more than willing to negotiate on the type of undead, but being undead and then brought back is core to the concept, and I can't find any spell lower than Raise Dead except Reincarnate, which doesn't really fit what I'm after. So, I come to you. Is there anyway to bring back a body that has been technically dead for 800 years thats lower 4th or lower? Any way someone could survive for 800 years in the same form, but not show it once its reversed? I'm not even going to bother saying what spell reversed her memories, as they are all probably way too high as well. Any ideas you guys have would be great.