Necromancer's Descent

30 - Necromancy 101

Nao / Rosalin's Point of View

I open the book somewhat carefully at first, just to make sure what condition the book is in, but unexpectedly it almost seems new.

That said, it does feel old at the same time. Though, that's probably because you can feel that it's made by hand. It's the small things, like the not perfectly even or identical cursive letters, and the illustrations that have odd little errors in them. Or the paper that seems just the slightest bit uneven.

I flip past the introduction, as they're usually not important, and lean over the book as I start reading seriously.

"Let's see then..."

Section 1: Preparing your target

Whether you are using a fresh corpse, bones, or a custom construction of your own device, there are some small rules that you must keep in mind:

- Only parts directly connected to the core, will be animated. Rope will work as a connection, but will easily be destroyed as well.

- Joints are important. Their stiffness and rigidity as well as range of motion become important in control and combat ability. This means that on auto-mode with the brain as a pattern, unusual arm-range or number of arms cannot be used to their full extent. For marionette-mode, or with custom changes this does not become a problem.

I shudder at the thought of the Frankenstein-ish horror that the author is suggesting. He even calls it custom construction. How did you go from a standard engineer, to this kind of insane mess?

Also... With the brain as a pattern?

I glance back to Theodore. Is that why he still seems alive? Then, if he had been raised as a skeleton then he wouldn't have seemed lifelike? But since it's a pattern, would he then still be lifelike if he decomposed to a skeleton?

That said... what is marionette mode? My guess would be that I control him like a marionette of course, but with what strings? Consider how good you have to be, to make the zombie seem even half as life-like as Theodore is right now.

I shake my head quietly and glance down at the text again.

I'm supposed to make a golem for this practice, right? What should I make it out of?

I glance around the room for something to use, but as you might expect, it isn't really an arts and crafts room. If there was at least paper or something-

Ah- this is a writing table, right?

I glance under the table, and as expected, there is a little drawer, which opens up to reveal paper, an ink bottle and a pen. It's extremely rough paper that looks like it's about to fall apart, but it's paper,

I could attempt to fold a little paper crane, but being as stiff as it is, then something even simpler might be preferable. Like a worm?

I wriggle the paper a bit.

A worm is good.

A couple minutes later, and there we have a folded little cabbage worm. Or a silk worm in this case, since it's white.

Should I draw eyes on too?

...it gets a couple cool and mean looking eyes.

That should mean it's done, right? Then... let's continue.

Section 2: Reanimation

Choose a mode. Unlike normal golems, auto mode doesn't require a magic crystal core engraved with actions, and instead gain a large spectrum of basic orders, where defense and offense are included. This mode is advised for your first flesh golems. Marionette mode is far more difficult than normal, however, and in learning to use it, you should be prepared to lose approximately 10 corpses. Fewer if you have the similar skill from golem engineering. The default mode is automatic.