Chortan's Guild Side RP: Darshee's Experiment

[Jack_Simth]

Starting in one of the conference rooms, Darshee Elazumin Dazeiros greets everyone who accepted her invitation and opens with "As most of you are probably aware, I've been researching ways to bring immortality to the masses. Not too long ago, I ran across a conclave of skeletons that had retained their intellect after having all been killed and raised a few centuries prior." The nature spirit pauses a moment "Now, I know that undeath often comes with a corrupting influence, and these folks were about as far from nice as it gets... however, all indications were that they were that way in life, too - a death cult that was engaging in human sacrifice. Nothing changed for them. I can duplicate the spells they used in their rituals, and get a similar effect... but they were already corrupted, so if the transition to undeath turned them into evil monsters... well, nobody would notice the difference, as they were evil monsters while they were alive." The nymph takes a breath - odd, with no longs - and continues "But it's very important to me that whatever form of immortality I eventually bring to the masses, it leaves the person within the body essentially unchanged. Preserving someone defeats the purpose if the result is someone else."

She pauses, then continues "Which brings me into the specifics of the experiment. This method of immortality can be improved upon, and can be distributed reasonably cheaply... which means if it doesn't corrupt the beneficiary, it's suitable... if very messy. I'm self-aware enough to recognize that my own desire to get something that works could cloud my judgement when verifying things, so I need others to evaluate the before and after. What I propose is as follows:"

The dead woman starts ticking off things on her fingers, starting with the thumb on her left hand "First, I find a suitable subject - a very old person with a strong desire to live longer... perhaps a grandmother who wants to see her granddaughter get married or some such." She continues with her index finger "Next, I have a panel interview the person - this is where you all come in initially - to get a good feel for the person, make sure that the subject fully understands what's coming, that they're doing this of their own free will, and so on." She adds her middle finger to the counting group "After that, I kill the subject." Darshee then moves on to her ring finger "Followed, of course, by immediately raising the subject as the target form of undead." She adds her pinkie on the same hand "And then you interview the subject again, and inform me whether or not it's the same person underneath the body." Ms. Dazeiros folds her hands behind her, and continues "If it is, well; we set the subject loose to enjoy immortality, and see about repeating the process. If not... then I destroy the abomination, Reincarnate the subject, and clean up the damage that does to the subject's spirit. If the experiment works, then the subject has gained immortality for their trouble, and will be the first of many. If not, then the subject is now a young adult again, with decades more life ahead than they had previously."

The meaty portion of her speech over, Darshee Elazumin Dazeiros concludes with "So: Who all is willing to be on the panel for this?"


Reincarnate spell in question is Cyclic Reincarnation (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/cyclic-reincarnation/), which leaves race and gender explicitly untouched.
The undead she encountered (off screen), were Skeletal Champions (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/skeletal-champion/), which can be created via Create Undead (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/create-undead/), and can explicitly be combined with other skeleton variants (See Here (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary/skeleton.html), including the Bloody Skeleton (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/skeleton-medium/skeleton-bloody/), which makes them require one of a few reasonably specific things to put down permanently (Killed in the area of a Bless or Hallow spell, killed by positive energy, or the remains sprinkled with holy water - and Darshee has the Cure line).

She plans to mitigate the costs (harmless, as this is just RP) via casting Mount (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/m/mount/) to get a horse and Anthropormorphic Animal (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/spells/anthropomorphicAnimal.html) to make it suitable for casting spells, using Malevolence on the beast (Ghost (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/ghost/) ability that Darshee selected), and then feeding the other spells via Blood Money (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/blood-money/) using the horse's blood.

So mechanically viable. Not gaining anything mechanical for anyone in the party out of using these mitigation methods, so I'm not worried about it here (I do not plan to do this when I start Permanencying spells).

[Gunhaven]

Quill bobbed lightly as it sent "I am always willing to learn more about the world around me. I may not fully understand the purpose for we theorize eventually all life will evolve to a higher state where mortality is less of a concern. But that is of no concern right now; what is a concern is that I may be of little use with the first step but can help with steps two and five, where you require our aid. Shelyn has granted me some insight into the morality of an individual. It isn't complete, of course, but it should be good enough for our purposes." The brain paused in it's telepathic speech and drew forth paper and pen from the golden runes that it kept it's belongings in and let them float around aimlessly around it's brain.

[Lord Bayushi]

Coiled in his natural form, Corivar tilted his head as his companion ran through her plan, focusing longer than he probably should on the humanoid obsession with counting through things on their fingers. He wondered, briefly, the degree to which the natural inclination to use one's digits limited the inherent thoughts of such creatures, if they would be as likely to create plans in iteratives of sevens if they had that many digits, and so on. As she came to a close on her remarks, he briefly shook the line of thought from his head, then took a brief moment to retrace the details of her proposal before answering.

"Rather than indulging in the hours of debate as to whether having masses of immortal humanoids would be a good idea in the first place, which I guess can be tabled for a later time and date, I would, instead, propose that the base of your premise is flawed." He took a moment to cast a simple spell, manipulating a pen and a scroll to float before him as he jotted down some thoughts as he spoke. "You intend to create immortal versions of people that are, to quote you correctly, 'essentially unchanged,' but mortality is the core basic condition of a mortal creature. Many, if not most, of a mortal creature's decisions are focused on the mortal condition and it's needs."

"For instance, a person often labors to earn out of necessity due to mortal constraints. They often desire to procreate due to a mortal need to pass on one's line beyond one's death. They often follow laws out of mortal fear of a limited lifespan or bodily constraint. Young people aspire to reach heights vacated by their elders following their eventual decline and expiration, while the old train and prepare the young for such eventual challenges. All of these inherent qualities to individuals and societies are 'essentially changed' with the advent of immortality, and are just the vaguest and most immediately considered of such essential changes."

"As a creature that has gained a similar state, through no intentions of my own, I can state that the simple lack of certain mortal constraints, like those of sustenance or sleep, bring with them inherent and essential changes. So, if you are willing to concede that your experiment, even if otherwise successful in intent, will include essential changes to the individual at hand, then there are new questions to consider. To what degree are such changes unacceptable? What 'essential' qualities' are you striving to maintain, and which can be acceptably sacrificed?"

He took a few more moments on his notes as he finished his statement, the last questions spoken in a tone that indicated that the naga might just be speaking out loud to himself. He finally peeked back to the others from over his parchment. "As an alchemist, I understand certain procedures need to be followed for an experiment to be successful. It is alchemically possible, and also possible through certain sorcery, that a person might be copied, so that a true control might be created, and careful comparisons made. Have you considered using such methods to attain more certain results?"

Assumed to take 10 on related Knowledge checks.

The only problems I see with your mechanics are, first, that Blood Money specifically states that if the caster doesn't have blood or cannot suffer from Strength damage, then they cannot cast Blood Money. No where under the description of Malevolence does it mention that you gain ownership of the body that you possess, and Magic Jar, which the ability references, is very specific in wording that a Host owns it's body and that the caster own's it's own. As a result, you wouldn't qualify to be able to cast the spell, even when possessing someone that does have the ability to suffer the wounds or damage, as you still cannot. This is also the RAI, as the provision on the spell was meant to be a barrier against precisely the way you are trying to use it. As you say, it isn't for actual character gain, but I would be intrinsically against such abuses for any form of gain. The materials used in these forms of experimentation are exactly what is meant to be represented by the costs involved with spell research and the like, so as long as those costs are eventually paid for the 'end game' results that Darshee is looking for, I have no problem with sidestepping the costs of such steps taken in game.

Second, Cyclic Reincarnation would have a cost of 1d6+10 hp and 10 Str damage to cast through blood money, and the hardiest form of Mount (the Light Horse) that you could summon would have only 15 hp, so if you rolled high on the d6 you would incapacitate the Mount, returning you to your own form. The spell has to be completed in the same round, the material components would now be unattended objects (as the 'attending entity' is now incapacitated), so they could be picked up as a Move action if you are in their square, and the spell could then be cast using them, but, again, this is a slippery slope with this spell, as the RAI are that the caster creates the components and then casts the spell, but in this instance you are getting said components for free while the Blood Money caster suffers the consequences, which opens the door for all kinds of abuses.

As Blood Money is a spell that is an abuse of the rules even used as written/intended without any additional manipulation involved, I would never allow any form of additional shenanigans with such a spell. In fact, it tends to be among the first on the banned list in IRL games I run in Pathfinder as there are so many easy was to get away with murder with this spell even without any shenanigans involved. When it is allowed, I tend to take advantage of it too (Corivar has it on his spell list as well), as it's just too good not to have in your tool bag if it isn't banned, but that doesn't mean I use it with impunity or the intention to unbalance games.

My point with all this is that, I just want to state for clarity, that I am 100% against any form of Blood Money shenanigans for any IG personal gain for anyone. I wouldn't want that allowed in any way, and I'm a bit leery of even allowing such manipulations in RP segments in the fear someone might have difficulty determining where the limits should be.

As a side note, even though there isn't any rule to support this, I would think that there would need to be a pretty heavy (i.e. high DC) Concentration check needed to successfully cast a spell in the same round you were booted out of a possessed body because it was incapacitated.

[Jack_Simth]

Darshee seems confused, visibly looks around at those she gathered for the purpose, and asks "Why would you think that when I say 'person' or 'people', that I limit those terms to humanoids? There are plenty of thinking, feeling beings out there that look nothing like a humanoid. Why should a pseudodragon or something be left behind?"

Darshee Elazumin Dazeiros shakes her head, and continues "Obviously some things will change - any person changes with circumstance, even with creatures that are already ageless. People form emotional and intellectual attachments irrespective of blood, and someone who suddenly gains or loses a large quantity of wealth has their priorities shift quickly. They're still the same person, regardless. I need to be very sure that whatever methods I use do not appreciably change a person's personality or memories other than the natural changes that come with altered circumstances. Sorry for not explaining that aspect before, I had thought it would be obvious... but what is obvious to a person from one background is not necessarily obvious to another."

As to the wording of Magic Jar: They have to word things that way in order to avoid confusion when referencing hopping bodies. Would you instead prefer I used Craft Construct or Simulacrum to make something that can duplicate the spells in question periodically? A Trompe L’oeil of an Efreeti could produce three Wishes per day, and would cost 3k for the painting plus 5,000 gp and ten days to enchant. A simulacrum would take 12 hours and 2,500 gp. There's no shortage of exploits, but I've no desire for the party to gain anything by them. Besides, we've settled on resetting to WBL each arc. Do you want to be charged permanently for each time you need a Restoration to clear a level drain from a failed save or a Resurrection? Cleanse gets rid of ability damage for no cost as well. Are you OK with a living spellcaster combining the two, but not with a deceased one getting the same effect by another route?

As to the Str damage: 5000 gp components means 11 points of str damage, so clear there on the 16; HP can be solved easily via Aid, which Darshee has.

[Gunhaven]

Quill shifted in position so that the floating brain appeared to be looking at Corivar. It then sent to those gathered "Even those that are functionally immortal still procreate and improve themselves. From the basest animal, such as the chuul, to a contemplative such as myself. Even those beings not blessed with immortality that later gains it continues to seem improvement. You wouldn't have the skeletons that are the basis of the experiment or, perhaps as a stronger example, liches. They are mortals who pursue immortality due to a desire to continue their work."
It paused and quickly ran through the notes it possessed on the subject of good undead, flashes of golden light as papers popped into and out of existence. Finally it found what it was looking for and continued to send i'ts message. "Here it is, the deathless. There's text within the library that mention some method to use what's termed 'positive' energy to reanimate a body. I believe they even help rule some nation or another, it is somewhat vague in the texts. Perhaps this experiment will have similar effects or, if not then, we can find out what was different and adjust it for the next attempt."

[Lord Bayushi]

The naga blinked at Darshee's admonishment. "To be honest, I have found it the default attitude of humanoids, or legged ones as my race common refers to them, that 'people' are humanoids, and all other creatures, regardless of intelligence or emotional capacity, are not. I apologize if my often reinforced assumption is incorrect in the current case, and I meant no disrespect." He paused for a moment, tongue licking in and out of his mouth in thought, before adding, "Truly, though, that only serves to exacerbate most of the potential negative consequences of your eventual success, but I digress on a subject that I agreed to table for the present, so, to continue."

Corivar turned back to his notes, and began to make adjustments. "As my first alchemical tutor told me early in my studies, nothing is obvious in good research. You must make yourself completely clear to an unprepared audience if you wish for your notes to be able to be followed and understood so that your work can continue should you no longer be present to drive it."

He made a few adjustments to wording, scribbling some further notes in the margins. "So, to be clear, the preservation of a person's personality and memories is the clear goal, while the other aspects of the creature, essential or otherwise, can be changed freely so long as the end result is an immortal specimen with said personality and memories intact." He tilted his head for a moment, pausing while he compared her desired results with his own life-changing situation, but, again, shook the thought away and focused on the current.

"As I asked before, have you considered the use of a Simulacrum or Clone to create a control for your subject? As I understand the interaction, either would fully possess both the personality and memories of the original after the time of the original's death, while still allowing their remains to be necromantically manipulated, as you intend. As such, you could have both the experimental result and a viable copy of the original for side by side comparisons in any number of tests."

As to the additional notes by Quill, Corivar only added, "Yes, I believe I read something similar to these 'deathless' before, though the notes I refer to were apparently the ravings of some poor mage that wondered over into another plane of existence outside the normal cosmology due to a foiled spell, and he was said to be never quite the same following his displacement."

I wasn't aware of the decision to reset to WBL following each arc, which helps to mitigate many problems. I would prefer any exploit that unreasonably increases PC power or wealth to not be used or allowed, Simulacrum being a known, obvious headache and your Trompe L’oeil option being obscure, clever, and potentially disastrous (you have no magical control over the subject, which can be argued isn't a genie at all, and, thus, could grant wishes to itself...). Being charged permanently is the RAW and RAI penalty for level drain and death, the idea being that there should be some measurable and lasting penalty for certain game effects, such as character death. So yes, I would be alright with said penalties, but also would limit their intentional inclusion in my arc(s) with said penalties being a possibility. I am also quite alright with living characters having routes to recover that are unavailable to unliving ones, as being undead has it's drawbacks as well as it's benefits.

And yes, my math on the Str damage was off by one, the hp issue can be resolved with a spell that boosts hp or grants temp hp (but should be included in your list of mechanics, for clarity), as could Deathless or several other effects.

Speaking of Deathless (in a completely different way), the creature templates are 3.5 and Eberron material that hasn't had an official Pathfinder conversion, which may be intentional.

[Jack_Simth]

Darshee Elazumin Dazeiros shrugs at the notes on full proceedure "I'm doing practical research, rather than a scholarly treatise; this is more of a quick test-of-concept than anything else. I'm not exactly worried about not being able to carry on my work. I'm already ageless and difficult to put down. As - if this works out - it's for distribution, the subject will also need to be able to communicate and act, of course." She continues "As to simulacrum: They're not people after. They're lacking the ability to grow and change... and that's ignoring the continuity flaw in memory copy immortality. Additionally, it's too expensive for widespread use; I don't want immortality to be just for the rich. As a control comparison for after it makes some sense... however, it's not a spell I can cast myself just yet, and a good interview for before and after suits nearly as well. Clone has related problems."

The spirit moves on "Anyway: Are you ready for me to go collect a suitable test subject?"

We settled on it OOC before we got the new recruits in. Conversation started Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?521038-Chortan-s-Guild-OOC&p=22300613&viewfull=1#post22300613), not that it was a very long or detailed one. My thought process noted that the game assumes a certain amount of wealth, which is in turn based off of standard treasure hauls and a certain number of fights each level. We're throwing the "center number of fights" out the window, so we need to adjust other things as well... and then we've always got one person who's not in the fights at all. It's good for expectations, with about the only major problem being people need to not "go wild" with NPC gfits/bribes, limited-use items, and spells with expensive components.

[Gunhaven]

Quill bobbed a few times and sent "I do believe I read about that unfortunate circumstance. Such can be the result of research when planes are involved. As for the current experiment, I am ready whenever everyone else. We are interested in whatever result comes about as we continue to enlighten ourselves." As if to confirm it's point it got out it's ink pen and a blank piece of paper to start jotting down notes as soon as they started.

[Lord Bayushi]

"Yes," the naga nodded, ""let us continue."

[Jack_Simth]

The nature spirit "All right then; I'll go fetch a suitable test subject. Back in a few hours...." and, leaves to find a suitable subject from a nearby city.

A few hours later, Darshee Elazumin Dazeiros comes back, with a very old man in tow: He is pleasant in appearance, with red hair and sharp amber eyes. He wears modest garments and an ermine fur cape. She introduces him: "This is Rancent, he has agreed to try it out. Please interview him at your leisure; I will simply step back and take notes until you are done."


Finding the subject: Gather Info diplomacy: Taking ten and using the at-will "Enhanced Diplomacy" cantrip, for a result of 43. Looking for an old or venerable nonevil level 1 sort with a strong desire to return to this world, who may be convinced the experiment is worthwhile.

Subject Info:
L/C alignment: [roll0]: 1: Lawful, 2: Neutral, 3: Chaotic.
G/E alignment: [roll1]: 1: Good, 2: Neutral.
Gender: [roll2] (X chromosome count)
Age: [roll3]: 1:Old, 2:Venerable
Reason [roll4]
1: See grandchild married (gender of grandchild: [roll5] (X chromosome count))
2: Keep the family business running
3: See great-grandchild born
4: Just REALLY enjoys living.
Class: [roll6] 1:Adept, 2:Aristocrat, 3:Commoner, 4:Expert, 5:Warrior, 6: Normal PC class ([roll7]: 1:Barbarian, 2:Bard, 3:Cleric, 4:Druid, 5:Fighter, 6:Monk, 7:Paladin, 8:Ranger, 9:Rogue, 10:Sorcerer, 11:Wizard)

Influence Attitude: Again, taking ten and using the at-will "Enhanced Diplomacy" cantrip, for a result of 43. If they start as "indifferent" (which most random NPC's will), and have a Cha of 23 (Venerable Sorcerer-1), then it's DC 21. I beat that DC by 22, I'm hitting the two steps, so they're "helpful". If they start as "Unfriendly", then it's DC 26, which I beat by 17, and they end up "Friendly".

Request: Convince them that this "very hazerdous" task is worth helping with: Again, taking ten and using the at-will "Enhanced Diplomacy" cantrip, for a result of 43. I figure "dangerous aid" and "could result in punishment" both apply, for a +25 modifier to the DC. However: After step 1, they're "Friendly" or "Helpful", so that's just DC 36 or 31 on the same subject. Again, pass the DC taking ten.

Edit: So that's a Venerable, Lawful-Good Adept, who wants to see his granddaughter married. Ok then then.

[Lord Bayushi]

When Darshee called them back after finding a subject, Corivar took a moment before the meeting to assume his preferred human guise, that of a slightly tall and thin man with a short, neat head of dark hair and a trimmed beard and mustache. He smiled warmly and offered Rancent a firm handshake and a cup of his signature coffee (with a bit of whiskey, of course). "Welcome, Mr. Rancent. I am Corivar, an associate of Ms. Dazeiros. Our other associate, Mr. Quill, will be happy to introduce himself in a moment." He offered him a chair, and to take his fur cape.

"I think we should begin by asking you to describe, in your own words, what all this is about, just to confirm that you have a firm understanding of the task at hand, and our goals."

[Gunhaven]

Quill floated into the room and bobbed it's brain at mention of it's name. A few seconds later and it was reading surface thoughts as the questions were asked and eventually answered. Only after the subject answered did it send "Once you confirm your understanding we would like to know what your motives are." It got it's own paper and pen to take notes at the same time, glancing briefly to confirm that the human wasn't evil in the first place.
DC 22 Will Save, just gonna grab them surface thoughts while I'm at it. Also throwing in a Detect Evil and Magic just to be sure we aren't dealing with much.

[Jack_Simth]

The ancient man nods, and replies "Darshee there" he indicates the very attractive ghost "Wants to make it so everyone can pretty much live forever. High end stuff, apparently; something about simply making people ageless really only doubles their life expectancy? Eh, anyway... basically, she wants to try a form out to make sure it actually works OK. Which involves killing my current form and raising the new. If it works well, Great! I'm going to be the first of a new breed of immortal. If not... well, she's got a spell ready to bring me back in a youthful body close to my own. Although apparently she can only open the door, I need to walk through it."

"My motives? Who doesn't want to live forever? Heh. Really, though, I mostly just want to be sure I can see my granddaughter get married. She's got this lovely young lad she's been meeting, and she may finally have found 'the one' for her... but they're taking their time, and I don't have much left in me. "

Will's his good save: [roll0]
He's pretty much thinking what he's saying. Also: Not evil, and no active spells.

[Lord Bayushi]

The human guise of the naga maintained a polite smile throughout Rancent's answers, nodding when appropriate to show that he was being attentive. "That would be the gist, though there are some details that we will discuss as we conduct the interview. The purpose of this dissertation is to give us enough insight into the current nature and personality of you as an individual that we might use that knowledge as a control, or baseline. Following Ms. Dazeiros' magics, we intend to conduct a similar interview, and compare the person that you are now with the person that you are following the transformation. Our intent is to make certain that your personality and memories survive the procedure intact. Should that not be the case, then, as you have stated, Ms. Dazeiros is prepared to use a Reincarnation spell to return you to your youth."

He took a moment to shuffle his pages, bringing his outline for the interview to the front. "Now, Mr. Rancent, can you tell me the things that you look forward to that occur on or about a daily basis? Name the first few things that you think of, please."

[Jack_Simth]

The old man smiles as he recounts "I always like when my grandchidren visit; my grandson is training for the guard, and will soon be able to help protect the town. My granddaughter always brings flowers - well, if they're growing, anyway - and she always has such a beautiful smile, now that she's courting. When they're not around... I suppose the next up is my cat, mittens. An inquisitive little fellow, he's always looking into every little nook and cranny for pests. Occasionally, he finds one, and then I've got a bit of cleanup, but what can you do? The final... I think autumn. I enjoy the colors on the trees, it's a wonderful break before winter."

[Jack_Simth]

After giving everyone a bit of time to get to know the subject, Darshee Elazumin Dazeiros inquiries "So, are you ready?" to which the the old sighs, and replies "I suppose so... "

After that, Darshee takes him aside, and runs the extended magical ritual to convert him: summoning a horse, giving it hands, creating for it a buffer against death, possessing it, killing the subject with a spell, then using the beast's blood to animate the subject... after which, the interview resumes, a bit more bloody than before.

[Gunhaven]

Quill silently took notes over the questions asked, floating slightly so that it could record the process of stripping the flesh and granting immortality, and almost seemed to sigh as it recorded the exact instance his detect evil triggered (if it triggered at all). When the bloody skeleton was returned to the interview area proper the thoughts were probed once more as Quill sent in a somewhat dry tone "Please state your name, race, and motive for performing this experiment. Any physical or mental abnormalities you personally notice?"

[Lord Bayushi]

"And," added Corivar, "if you would be so kind, tell us how you feel."

[Jack_Simth]

The bloody skeleton nods, and replies "I'm Rancent, human... or at least I was... and, well... who doesn't want to live forever? Heh. Really, though, I mostly just want to be sure I can see my granddaughter get married. She's got this foolish young lad she's been meeting, and she may finally have found the right person to exploit for breeding... but they're taking their time, and I don't have much left in me. As to abnormalities... my mind seems intact, but ... ah... the body is very different, and will take some adjustment. "

The old man continues in answer to the other question "As to how I feel... relieved, I think. The room doesn't feel as chilly anymore, and my bones don't ache. I was a little peckish earlier, but I'm not now. "

[Gunhaven]

Quill underlined the words that were wrong as it wrote it's notes and sent "How do you feel about cats?" It certainly didn't think that things went well with the experiment with the words out of place but could also understand not needing food or water seeing as how it didn't bother with such things.

[Jack_Simth]

The undead answers easily "You mean like my cat, mittens? Such a bloodthirsty little fellow, he's always looking into every little nook and cranny for something to kill. Occasionally, he finds one, and then I've got a bit of cleanup, but what can you do?"

[Lord Bayushi]

Corivar continued to compare the responses with his notes, making a few notations in the margins. "Mr. Rancent, what do you look forward to doing over the next few days?"

[Gunhaven]

Quill seemed to sigh as it sent to the experimenters "I am concerned about the change in words. The thoughts appear to still be there but they're apparently tainted by the transformation. Perhaps that's what the issue is?"

[Jack_Simth]

The undead considers, and says "Well... I had been planning on visiting a few people. However..." he looks at his arm "... I may need to figure out how to wrap myself up a bit better. Need to be presentable, after all, and it'd be rude to get blood all over everyone's furniture. Hmm. I may need to start saving to buy a maid for home. Anyway, I've got all eternity, now, and as I understand it I don't need to eat and such so my expenses should go down a bit... so that shouldn't be a problem, should it? So is there anything else, or can I go now?" The bloody skeleton looks at the door.

[Gunhaven]

Quill floated ideally for a moment before it sent to all present "Would you be alright with coming back in a couple days? As for covering..." It tore open the space next to it and telekinetically pulled out a set of dark pants and long sleeve shirt as well as a large brimmed hat to help hide the bones and offered them to the skeleton, adding "Perhaps these will do for now."

[Lord Bayushi]

Corivar considered the offered clothing. "I would worry that the blood would simply seep through. Perhaps some form of alchemical coating that might prevent that might be possible, given some time and effort. I may be able to be of some help in time." His mind was instantly filled with ideas for tackling the problem, and he almost entered into a detailed discourse before realizing, just before he began, that it would completely derail the conversation. Instead, he just stood there for a short moment silent, about to speak, his tongue playing in and out of his mouth for lack of his pipe before he returned to the matter at hand with a short head shake and a shift of the pages of his notes.

"For the moment, however, Mr. Rancent, have you given any thought to how you might approach your community given your changes in appearance? How might you prepare them for the, uh, new you, as it were? How might they be likely to treat you in return?"

[Jack_Simth]

The old man considers, and says "Oh, I don't imagine it'll be too much trouble to come back, and while there may be some short term issues... well, the plan's mass distribution, isn't it? While I might not fit in initially, I will once conversion starts in earnest. Long term, everyone will be like me. And hey: I'm pretty much immortal now, aren't I? I can afford to wait. And if people come after me... well, the process doesn't have to happen as quickly as it did for me... I can just kill them, then bring them to Darshee here to get them to join the cause, no?"

[Gunhaven]

Quill paused in it's floating as if frozen in place as it sent out slowly "It would be best to wait on that. We should maintain the same process that we used to gift you with your new body. However if you find others who are likewise okay with contributing to the experiment then you can direct them to us. We will remain here for a week, at least until we have another interview and confirm that the process works."

[Lord Bayushi]

Corivar's eyes narrowed and his head tilted slightly to the side as he shifted to a new page, his ensorcelled quill moving quickly. "Let's touch more on that for a moment. Certainly, you would agree that everyone should have the opportunity to live a full, natural life before becoming part of Ms. Dazeiros' project, even those that might have an initial aversion to your current, uh, state. As such, wouldn't avoidance be a far preferable situation to murder, even short term as it may be?

"Further, it would certainly be a significant length of time before it might be possible that this, uh, plan would be set in motion on a mass scale. It may be decades or entire lifetimes of your kin before such a wide range of implementation could be possible, so there may be a longer period of social difficulty than you have initially considered. As you noted, you certainly have the capacity to wait, but for those that wish to continue to have as a part of your, for lack of a better term, life experience, you will need a more complete short term plan."

[Jack_Simth]

The creature looks at you for a moment, then says "Oh, right. No eyebrows anymore, so you can't see my puzzled expression. I'm not talking about murder. I'm just planning on going about my business as normal, and defending myself. How's that murder? Heck, I'm even planning on bringing them back to get made immortal despite whatever they try to do to me."

[Gunhaven]

Quill seemed to pause in thought as it tried to figure out how to explain itself. Finally it sent "It would be better for you to use non-lethal methods as opposed to lethal methods when it came to self defense. We...I would prefer any others that we raise and test the methods on be questioned first as opposed to brought in dead. It's important to have a baseline for each individual as opposed to only their behavior post-immortality."

[Lord Bayushi]

Corivar came to a pause in his scribbling. "Perhaps my colleagues and I should have a short consult between ourselves before you leave, to make sure nothing has been missed."

He moved over to where Darshee had been hovering, gesturing Quill over as well. Once both were in proximity, he spoke in a low tone, only slightly above a whisper. "I can't be certain, of course, as this discourse is rather elementary, but I detect an aggressive streak that seemed absent before his change. In addition, he seems quite quick to accept his new circumstances without a full grasp of the social difficulties in his immediate future. Perhaps we should be quite blunt about the fact that many will now view him only as an undead monster, which may include close friends and family?"

[Jack_Simth]

Darshee Elazumin steels herself, and whispers "No need... the 'aggressive streak' and suddenly not seeming to think things through means I have my answer about this particular setup at this point." Then in a full voice to Rancent "I do have a few spells that will help you fit in much better and avoid the need. Here..." Rancent's corpse seems vaugely dissapointed, right up until Darshee's Heal spell completes, at which point he drops, re-dead. She then goes through the rest of the failure contingency, bringing Rancent back as a new young man, who looks related to his prior form.

[Gunhaven]

Quill bobbed it's acceptance of this result and sent "I suspected as much, unfortunately. At least the notes will be helpful if the experiment is repeated." It took a moment to finish up it's notes before they were filled away within the extradimensional space that it used to maintain it's possessions.

[Jack_Simth]

Darshee Elazumin Dazeiros shrugs, and says "There's always a lot of false paths before the right one is found..." And to Rancent "Well, sorry it didn't work out the way I'd hoped... still, you've got a long life ahead of you, now. Enjoy the wedding."

After a bit, she turns back to Corivar "Also... I'm curious what you thought would be the complication of making people immortal. Food production wouldn't exactly be a problem had that path worked out, and as durable as they are, they could easily simply settle the otherwise-uninhabitable areas for a very long time - especially with the option of other planes in the mix. Yeah, there's some hurdles with it, but I'm not aware of anything insurmountable."