Necromancers

Original source: Albeleo's Guide to Raising and Powerplaying Necromancers

Learning Curve	High
Damage Dealing	A+
Damage Absorption	A
Soloing ability	A+
Bashing ability	C
Tanking prowess	A

Famous necromancers: Lunger, Sinister, Peblo, Sauruman

(table drafted from rhynsts newbie guide)

Introduction

Necromancers on Ancient Anguish are a nearly mythical class. Long regarded as one of the most powerful classes (if not THE most powerful class), necros also have a reputation for being one of the most incredibly difficult to play. Both reputations are well deserved. A high level necromancer + undead pet can take down just about any NPC in the entire game solo, and do with with brutal efficiency. However, in seeking out the power this class has to offer, many players often grow frustrated and find the process of raising a necromancer nearly impossible. They raise a few levels, have crap weapon skills, wander around with skeletons of bats, have no money, etc.

The purpose of this guide is to give players a helping hand towards managing the basic mechanics of the necromancer class with an eye towards powerleveling a new necromancer from level 1 to level 19. Following the tips in this guide, a player should be able to adjust to the somewhat unusual playing style required to properly play a necromancer, reach level 19 far faster than is even possible with any other class, and get there with a sufficient bankroll to do pretty much anything you want.

A few caveats to this guide

• This guide assumes that the new necromancer will receive absolutely no outside help from anyone. No one will get corpses for you, no one will give you money, no one will give you eq, etc. Everything you get, you'll kill for and/or otherwise earn yourself. Obviously, there is nothing prohibiting you from actually accepting outside help (in fact, it's greatly encouraged!), but I want to make clear that it is completely possible to do it all yourself. This guide would be meaningless if step one was "get 100,000 coins from someone and have them kill Yosra for you every time you login."

• Necromancers are a highly advanced class. If you want to be successful with a necromancer, perhaps more than any other class you have to already have a solid working knowledge of the layout of Ancient Anguish, where to go to find appropriate kills for your level, how to get there on your own, and the general alignment of the NPCs in that area. If you're brand new to Ancient Anguish, pick another class. If you made it to level 19 killing nothing but orcs in Dalair and around the Scythe Camp, this isn't going to end well for you. Playing as a necromancer will greatly improve your working knowledge of Ancient Anguish, but it won't make it magically appear. Figure out the MUD first, then come back later.

• This guide is written by a powerplayer with an eye towards powerplaying. If your goal is to use Ancient Anguish as a chatmud...you're not going to find much in here that is useful. If you want to raise a necro who doesn't hit level 19 until your character's age is 2 years, then this guide will not be of much assistance. If you want to see the possibilities that exist in the necromancer class for making things dead quickly and earning gobs of experience in a short amount of time, then keep reading.

• While I expect to go into a fair amount of detail, do not expect a complete hand-holding. I'm not giving directions to kills or areas, and there will be no step-by-step instructions for how to get particular pieces of equipment. This isn't "from x, go 16w, 4n, 2e, kill orc sentry, 2e, kill orc captain/lieutenant and keep their gloves/boots, then go back 4w and sell excess equipment...". It's gonna be "get gloves/boots from Dalair." If that's not clear enough for you, tough. My goal is to help YOU play, not to play for you.

• I have previously been a wizard on AA, but I have never reviewed the code for necromancers. There is no secret wizinfo in this guide; everything you will read is the sum total of my experiences as a mortal on Ancient Anguish over the last 10-15 years (off and on).

• I do not claim to be the official, end-all be-all authority on the necromancer class. If you disagree with something I've said in this guide and have found a better way that works for you, then feel free to keep doing what you're doing. That being said, I've done a crapload of testing, and I can tell you with certainty that my way does work.

• Don't expect this guide to turn you into Lunger or Sinister overnight. My way of raising a new necro isn't going to get you to #1 on the lifetime efficiency list, and you can't expect to be consistently pulling 400k/hr experience when you hit level 19. There are some crazy things you can do with a necromancer, like raising your painfully slow exotic skill to use orbs. That kind of off the wall stuff is way outside the scope of this guide. This guide will get you familiar with the necromancer class and give you a brief introduction to powerplaying. The rest is up to you and how far you want to expand your abilities.

• It is always possible that this guide may contain some outdated information so take anything in here with a grain of salt. Of course, given the snail's pace at which necros actually get changed in AA...that's probably unlikely.

Necro Rituals

It's no secret: necromancers have extremely limited physical combat abilities. They don't have a ton of strength or dex, they skill slower with weapons than any other class, and about the only weapons they use well are knives and staves. Eventually, with max stats and high staff skill, you can do some real serious damage with your staff. For much of your necro's life, though, the bulk of your ability to make things dead will come from your rituals.

Necros don't have study hours like mages do, and there's nobody around to teach you anything. Your new rituals simply become automagically available to you as you increase your stats. The stats that control your rituals are intelligence and wisdom. Add those two stats together, and that if that number is high enough you'll get a new ritual. Many of these rituals also require you to have the right "component" available to you in your inventory to cast them; each of the components can be purchased from the alchemist 1w of the necromancer hall. Here's a list of rituals, the int+wis they become available to you, and the components you'll need for each.

Int+Wis	Ritual name	Sps cost	Component
2	Detect Good	5	none
2	Skeleton	50	vial of unholy water + corpse
2	Nettle	5	none
3	Summon	20	none
3	Will o'Wisp	10	glowing phial + corpse
4	Lifedrain	Variable	dirt from a fresh grave
5	Renewal	Variable	vial of unholy water
6	Zombie	66	waxen doll + corpse
6	Preserve	25	flask of oily salve
7	Chill Touch	Variable	some ice
8	Hold Undead	10	none
9	Warts	78	none
10	Shade	82	black silk square + corpse
11	Feign Death	30	none
12	Lifesteal	Variable	dirt from a fresh grave
14	Pox	98	none
15	Weakness	102	none
16	Mummy	106	mummy wrapping + corpse
17	Darkness	10	none
18	Disease	114	none
20	Fetch	122	darkly clouded mirror + humanoid corpse
21	Empower	15	none
22	Rot	Variable	dried worms from a hanged man's corpse
24	Insect Plague	138	small scarab
26	Mindkiller	146	none
28	Revenant	154	runed breastplate + fresh humanoid corpse
30	Pestilence	162	none
32	Lich	170	steel crown + fresh humanoid corpse
32	Doom	170	yellow sign

Rituals in detail

Intro

UTTERLY USELESS RITUALS

All the disease/bug rituals (nettle, warts, pox, weakness, disease, insect plague, and pestilence) are more or less worthless. Insect plague has some application in PK, but not in regular play.

Mindkiller also may work in PK, but it's useless against NPCs.

Hold undead temporarily stops undead opponents from attacking you. Then they'll start again. Whee! If you're really in trouble in a fight with an undead...perhaps LEAVING THE ROOM would be a better idea than trying to cast this?

Feign death...see above.

Darkness makes the room dark. If you're wondering why that would benefit anyone, ever...so are the rest of us.

Will o' Wisp creates an undead pet! One that does nothing for you other than...provide a light source? You need a glowing phial (25 coins) and a corpse. If you really need a light that badly at low levels...drop 50 coins and buy a friggin' torch from the store in Hobbitat. At high levels, you don't need it because your wand glows when you're controlling an undead pet, providing you with light. You wand won't provide enough light for you in REALLY dark places, so you might want to carry around a fire gem or holy gem as backup. But don't waste your time on this one.

Misc

Detect Good

You start with this one. Prepare it, then wave your wand in a room with NPCs. If they are nice or better, you'll get a message about them "glowing." The brighter the glow, the higher the NPC's alignment. If you're not to sure about the alignment of various NPCs, and they're not listed on AA for Dummies, this will help. Not much use for the high level necro, but potentially helpful early on if you're not used to having to track your alignment.

Rating: 2/5.

Empower

Empower takes away 15 sps. Then, it coverts hps -> sps, taking away as many hps as are necessary to max out your sps. This is a curse and a blessing. On the one hand, you get a nice refill of your sps to continue using other rituals, and proper use of empower makes necromancers one of the most efficient classes in terms of using both your hps and sps to your advanage. On the other hand, you have absolutely no control over how many hps you transfer. Empower will take as many hps as it can, every single time, to either max out your sps or completely drain your hps down to 1. Needless to say, that can be quite dangerous.

Empower has two main uses. First, when you kill for a corpse to animate, when you're done you can empower to quickly get your sps back so you'll be able to animate. Empower, take a few heals if you're short a few sps, animate, and you're ready to go. Given that the final two undead (revenant and lich) both require a "fresh" corpse (e.g. not "somewhat decayed" or balmed), time is of the essence.

The other use is during combat. Toss out a ritual or two, empower to shoot over some hps and max your sps back out, toss a few more rituals. There is some dispute as to how smart this strategy is, given the complete lack of control you have over the spell. Empower down to low hps and you might trigger a wimpy (if you have one set, that is). Empower down to 1 hp and have the NPC you're fighting pick that particular round to switch to you...and say hello to Lars. That's exactly how I earned my first death as Albeleo down in Drak.

My personal take: I empower in battle CONSTANTLY. Next to rot, this is probably the ritual I use the most. If I have high hps and mid-ish sps, I empower to keep throwing rituals and save on pots. When my hps/sps even out a bit, I eat or drink. Then I might empower again and keep rotting. My wimpy is set at zero, and if I accidentally empower down too low I'll quickly eat/drink or lifesteal if I can. Others have advocated tanking for your undead for a couple of rounds; I think that's a total waste of hps most of the time. I would only advise doing that if you're at max hps, nearly no sps, and either have no pots or don't want to use one. Otherwise, empowering is much more efficient. Yes, it's also more dangerous, but you have to find a balance that works for you.

Rating: 5/5, I LOVE this ritual.

Combat

Lifedrain

The weaker of the two "vampire" spells. You drop some sps, take hps away from your enemy, and some of those hps come back to you! To an extent, you could say that this is like empower in reverse (you're transfering sps -> hps), and getting in some damage to boot. Two limitations: it has no effect on undead NPCs, and if your opponent is super low on hps it will again have no effect. This means that while you can use lifedrain to damage your opponent, you cannot use it to finish them off. I don't generally use lifedrain that often, because by the time I start seriously getting into combat I already have lifesteal. But, if you're itching to fight and you haven't unlocked lifesteal, lifedrain will be your best friend.

Rating: 3/5.

Chill Touch

The first "pure damage" ritual. Grab some ice, wave your wand, watch NPCs get hurt. Early on, the process of getting a corpse will likely involve a lot of lifedrain/lifesteal to get the NPC down to really low hps, and chill touch will come in as your finisher. Other than that...I really don't have a lot of use for chill touch, even early on. The ice you need to prepare it periodically melts as you carry it around (bleh), so you have to use it quickly or you're wasting money. Plus, lifesteal is just an all-around better spell for causing damage and staying alive.

Rating: 2/5.

Lifesteal

Consider this "lifedrain on steroids." It causes more damage and heals you more. Still no effect on undead NPCs and NPCs with virtually no hps left. Lifesteal power increases as you level up, as does the number of sps required to use it. Bonus: lifestealing is considered an "evil act", so using this ritual decreases your alignment. Useful from the very second you get it all the way through to the absolute highest levels.

Rating: 5/5, you'd better carry around a few graveyards full of dirt.

Rot

Prepare rot. Wave wand at opponent. Worms squirm. NPCs get hurt. BADLY. Rots can be cast every round and they never miss. Damage is determined based on your int+wis, then when you get to level 19 rot damage increases again for each new level you gain. Oh, and did I mention that rotting is an "evil act" that lowers your alignment? It has exactly one limitation: like lifesteal, it has no effect on undead NPCs (notice a trend here?).

Rating: 1 billion/5. ROTROTROTROTROTROTROT!

Undead pets

Skeleton

Buy a glowing phial, make something deadlike, and get yourself a skeleton. They're incredibly weak, and at the time you get them you'll have no rituals available to heal them or renew their life force. Considering you can do the Balan beast miniquest + one round of CX and have more than enough int+wis to get zombie...I really can't imagine why anyone would bother raising a skeleton.

Rating: 0/5.

Zombie

The next undead pet, their big selling point is "they're not skeletons." Certainly more useful than skeleton, but quite frankly you don't really have a compelling need to have a pet at the really early levels.

Rating: 1/5.

Shade

Better than zombie, but shades can't carry anything. If you're desperate for a basher, raise yourself a shade.

Rating: 2/5.

Mummy

Depending on your race, if you're maxing int/wis at every level you should get access to mummy somewhere in the level 5-7 range. Mummies are the first fairly solid undeads; they can wear armour and wield weapons, but they cannot block with a shield (so don't bother giving them one, it won't help). Spend a bit of time to kill for a corpse above your level, mummy it, and deck it out. Once you get access to mummy, your game play should begin morphing into the true necromancer combat experience: you, running around the MUD commanding your undead pet, it attacking your enemies for extra damage and you tossing out rituals.

Rating: 3/5.

Fetch

The first of the "Big 3" undead, the fetch is a highly respectable tank. They wear armour, wield weapons, and they use shields. Fetches cause respectable damage to your enemies and soak it up very, very well. You need a darkly clouded mirror and a humanoid corpse (no baby dragon fetches). While "help fetch" says you need a fresh corpse to make a fetch, you can actually make one just fine from a balmed corpse. This is immensely helpful, because high level players in various guilds will occassionally kill big 9k+ NPCs and drop the balmed corpses somewhere around their guildhalls. It also means that if you're trying to fetch before you have access to empower, you can carry some balm with you, balm the corpse after the kill, and then you have more time to regen your sps so you can animate your fetch.

Rating: 4/5.

Revenant

Revenants wield weapons and use defend parry, but they cannot wear any armour at all. From there...oh, where to begin? If you peruse around the necro board, you'll probably read stories about these awesome dual-wielding, parrying revenants with their dual arrows causing massive damage. These revenants certainly sound awesome, right?

Wrong. Dual arrows was a bug that got fixed. Old revenants dual wielding was nerfed when the two weapon skill came in. New revenant dual wielding was OK for a time, at least until revenant two weapon skill was reduced to zero. Revanant AC was then further downgraded and their ability to parry was raped. Since revenants can't wear any armour at all, that's a bit of a problem. Theryn saw fit to restore some two weapon skill a few years back (rumor has it your rev will get a random value of two weapon skill between 40 and 70), but the damage was already done.

Here's the reality: revenants suck. They cause more physical damage with their attacks than fetches or liches, but it's impossible for them to tank. Put the rev out front and you're gonna be preserving non-stop, which means you're not rotting and you'll have to fly through heals to keep up your sps. Stick the rev behind you and wear armour, and you'll have no room to carry the crapload of heals you'll need to keep yourself alive since you can't soak up damage very efficiently. Pick the way you want to play; neither of them work particularly well.

If you use a rev, almost all your sps will end up going to healing either you or your rev. If you stick with fetch, those sps go to rots. Fetch weapon + your rots will damage NPCs quite a bit more than your revenant will with its weapon. All these downgrades have resulted in an allegedly "high-end" undead that is really nothing of the sort. While you can make exp with a revenant, you'll make a lot more with a fetch or a lich.

Lament the total demise of the revenant. This has now become another completely useless ritual, and it's sad.

Rating: 0/5. *bspit*

Lich

Liches are as great as revenants are bad. They get weapon damage that is only slightly below revenants, cast occasional spells for extra damage, and wear big heavy armour while blocking with a shield. Hands down, liches are the best undead. Get the best fresh humanoid corpse you can find, arm it to the teeth, and prepare for total carnage.

Rating: 5/5.

Pet related

Summon

Find yourself somewhere, and your undead pet is nowhere to be around? Prepare summon, wave wand, and viola! You'll generally find yourself using this when you've taken non-standard exits like climbing ropes, fences, diving underwater, etc.

Rating: 5/5.

Renewal

Unlike rangers' bonded superwolves, your undead followers do not last forever. About every half hour or so, your pet will start telling you its time on this Oerthe is rapidly drawing to a close. If you ignore them too long, they'll collapse into a pile of ashes. If you'd prefer that they stick around for awhile longer (say, so you don't have to continue fighting Yosra all by your lonesome), fire off the ritual of renewal and buy yourself another half hour with them.

Renewals cannot be stacked (e.g. +30 mins each time you use it, so if you fired off 3 in a row you'd have 1 1/2 hours). Instead, using this ritual resets the timer on your undead to the maximum. So, if you just renewed and then you do it again...you really just wasted your sps.

Rating: 5/5.

Preserve

Your undead is damaged. Preserve it to heal it. This + medicinals is the only way to heal your undead...so I'd say it's a pretty useful ritual.

Rating: 5/5.

Race

Ah, the age old question: what race do I make my character?

Elves

Elf: There are two reasons to make an elf necromancer. One, you're like CalviN and you just absolutely HAVE to have one character of every race/class combination with 1 million+ exp. Two, you hate your life and enjoy severe, agonizing pain.

Elves get a pathetic 12 str and con, so they're really fragile and lack the strength to carry much of anything. They also can't wield high-end staves. They have one less int+wis than half elves. About all they have going for them is a lot of dexterity, which I guess means they can amuse Lars and Death with their cool dance moves. Avoid at all costs.

Dwarves

Dwarf: Dwarves have 16 str and 15 con, each the highest possible values for a necromancer, so they've got that going for them. This is balanced out by their 14 dex, the lowest in the class. Dwarves, unfortunately, only finish up with 30 int+wis...which leaves them sadly 2 short of lich. If you're a maxed dwarf and you want lich, you're either going to have to grab an int or wis booster (you only need one), or save up the massive 260 trait points it's going to take you to get Exceptional Int and Exceptional Wis. Otherwise, you're confined to fetch or, even worse, new and *cough* "improved" revenants. I also don't recommend this one.

Orcs

Orc: For many years, orcs were arguably the best necros around. The lifetime efficiency king, Sinister, was an orc necro. With their high str, dex, and con, orcs are the best melee necros and will bash the crap out of NPCs with their staves. Their 29 int+wis leaves them TWO int/wis boosters short of lich, but that didn't used to matter in the old days of revs. But, with revenants completely nerfed and no longer existing as a viable option for an undead pet...orcsies got left out in the cold. Orcs are even worse off than dwarves if they want liches. Either whore two int/wis boosters...or you're in for a long slog as you save up a whopping 650 trait points to snag Exceptional Int, Exceptional Wis, and then a second point in one of those two. Unless/until revs become useful again...I just can't recommend going orc, unless you're planning on being in SK.

Half-elf

Half Elf: Finally, a decent racial choice. Half elves get all the rituals, so no worries about having trouble getting lich. At 35, half elves also have the highest int+wis of any race, which translates to the most sps and the biggest rots. This also means you'll be able to take more int+wis advancements per level, so you'll unlock the big rituals like rot and lich that much faster. The biggest drawback is their low str (13), which leaves them unable to naturally wield big staves like tetsubo. They also share the elf's pathetically low con (12), making them rather fragile. Since they have elven blood, their also banned from joining the Scythe guild, so this isn't an option if you're a dedicated Scyther. Half elf remains a solid option for a necromancer, as most of the power of the class lies in its rituals. Since half elf rituals hit the hardest of all, they can certainly bring the pain.

Human

Human: Humans rock the house. Humans are generally a "middle of the road" race with balanced stats; none terribly high, but also none terribly low. With necromancers, it's no different. That's their one and only downside, if you want to call it that. On the upside, humans in all classes have the highest total stats of any race (they get 76 total stat points spread out across all 5 stats, while the other 4 races get 75). At 32 int+wis, maxed human necros will get lich/doom naturally. With 15 str, humans can wield tetsubo. They also get to join any of the three guilds that accept necros. Good in combat, good rituals...seriously, what's not to love? Hands down, humans make the best necromancers.

Guild

Only three guilds accept necromancers: The Scythe, The Eldar, and The Courts of Chaos. Each guild has its own benefits and drawbacks to someone playing as a necromancer. The single most important consideration in choosing a guild for your newbie necromancer, however, is NOT what benefits/powers the guild can give you. Instead, go where your friends are (assuming you have any; we all know everyone hates Sinister). You'll probably be asking a lot of questions as you raise your new necro; better to have easy access to a guild line with all your ebuddies on it than end up somewhere with a bunch of people you don't know, or may not even like.

Obviously, that's not going to work if your favorite guild doesn't take necros (e.g. Knights, Bears, Snowfolk, etc.). So, if you're gonna need a new guild, let's look at what they each have to offer.

The Courts of Chaos

Joining Chaos will get you access to some commands that will marginally help you with your alignment. For example, if you kill something and bring it to the Chaos Temple, you can consecrate corpses there and lower your alignment. Theoretically, you could also get corpse help, because members can donate corpses to the vaults for extra karma. In practice...hardly anyone in Chaos is ever online. Those who are on mostly idle. So don't expect the vaults to be packed tons of free corpses for you.

Another major drawback to the few number of players in Chaos is that you have to have a "mentor" (an existing member of Chaos) before you'll be allowed to join. If nobody's online, or if ony one or two are online and they're being jerks, joining could be a pain in the ass.

Also, the guild's karma system can be a pain. You have to build up karma just to get any access at all to some of the most basic commands (such as "crush", the guild's way of getting rid of trash items like empty tobacco pouches). While Chaos is the only guild of the three to have a guild-wide storage system, you'll again have to burn through karma to take stuff out. There is no personal storage system in the guild, so it's either in the vaults or just laying around. This makes it very difficult (if not impossible) for you to gather up eq for your lich and save it for playing later in the day. Pair this with the sad fact that, again, hardly anybody actually plays this guild...and there's really not a ton of benefit to joining.

The good news is that any race can join, so if you're a necro and want to go Chaos, you don't need to worry about your race holding you back.

The Eldar

The Eldar accepts anyone of elven or human blood, so you get no love here as an orc or dwarf necro. The Eldar, unlike Chaos, has no "guild-wide" secure storage system, but they do have a personal storage system that rocks. You can store your equipment in personal "lockers" using the guild NPC Haldar. Give Haldar whatever you want to keep around, and he'll hang onto it for you at no cost. I don't know if there's a maximum storage amount, but I've never had trouble storing more than enough eq for me and my lich. If you do run into a limit, remember you can always put eq inside containers so there are fewer items to store.

The Eldar also have access to a tavern that sells some nice heals. The tavern sells steaks (25/25 heal) for 320 coins, a quite respectable heal. The big one, though, is the tea. Eldar tea also heals 25/25, which is slightly lower than what you'll get for sunsets/chickers. However, Eldar tea doesn't make you drunk, so it doesn't interfere with your ability to bind wounds with medicinals. If you drink enough of it, you'll get "cross-legged" and not be able to drink any more for a little while, but you can still use potions/elixirs.

If you're new to the Eldar, be warned that a large number of trolls inhabit the Eldar guild line. Unless your idea of fun is reading: "<Oscarballs> SUCK MY BALLS BALLS BALLS FUCK BALLS BALLS OMFG I SED BALLS BALLS BALLS BALLS BALLS" every three seconds...best to run around with your line OFF.

Trolls aside, Eldar offers some great benefits for a necro.

The Scythe

The Scythe is off limits to anyone with a drop of elven blood, so don't expect to be parking your half elf necro over here. For humans, orcs, or dwarves, though, the Scythe will let you in if you can get "nasty" and give Boki the corpse of something stronger than yourself (or a level 19 if you're there or higher). The Scythe also has no guild-wide storage system, but they have quite possibly the best personal storage system. For a measely 15,000 coins, members of the Scythe can buy their own personal rooms. You only get one room, but really that's all you need. Just leave whatever you want to save laying around, and you're good to go. If you want to share eq with your friends, you can give them invitations into your room if you want. With 49 hour reboots, you can get a full set of non-unique equipment (uniques will reset from your room) for you and a lich, play all you want, then drop it in your room and it will be there for you to run again tomorrow. While growing your necro, you can also use your room to park several balmed corpses to use for fetches (saves you from having to kill for a new one without a pet the next time you need to gear up).

The Scythe guild hall has a bar selling good heals. Primarily, sunsets for drinks and knuggets/stew for takeaway food heals. The bar also will not "cut" you if you buy too many heals, so you can buy as much as you want. All are quite good at a reasonable price. Extra equipment, medicinals, hobbitat gold smokes, etc. are often left at the guild board for others to use. I've also recently noticed some Scythers leaving some balmed corpses of high level NPCs laying around the guild hall; that's a big help for a lowbie necro. The Scythe also generally dominates Geo, so you'll have very easy access to Geo knapsacks, the best non-unique containers in the game.

1w of the sboard is the Scythe equipment shop. Most of the purchases are useless, but one in particular bears mention: the bottlebag. Carrying around a bottlebag, you can "dump" empty bottles, jars, and flasks into it to get rid of them (instead of dropping/eating them). The bottlebag holds a maximum of 10 bottles. When you've got 5 or more bottles in it, you can "release" them and the bottlebag will give you around 1hp/sp per bottle. Sinister's been raving about this for years, and I have to say...I've recently started coming around on it. You'll likely have a bunch of extra bottles laying around from alcohol/potions/elixirs, and if you just eat/drop them they go to waste. Put them in the bottlebag and you can have a 10/10 heal waiting for you. It's not a ton, but every little bit helps. Even better, you can dump in your empty flasks from the salves you're using to heal your undead pet! So look into using a bottlebag.

Note from Sinister regarding bottlebags: they apparently increase your magical tolerance.

For the uninitiated, the Scythe is not a "newbie-friendly" guild, so expect a fair amount of ball-bashing, cursing, and general mockery on the guild line. Don't expect hand holding.

Weapons

Staff

What, you expected this section to be longer?

Alright, fine. Raise staff and ignore pretty much everything else. Necros gain weapon skill painfully slowly in all areas. Staff and knife raise...uh...at a somewhat less painful rate than other classes. You want high weapon skill as a necro? Yer gonna have to work for it, and it's going to take awhile. Consider this: at the time of the writing of this guide, my staff skill with Alebleo is 55, and according to the AA website's player tools I have the 7th highest staff skill among all necromancers. Only one necro has ever reached 100 staff (Lunger), and he's insane. The good news, though, is that staves can actually cause some decent damage down the road, so if you focus on staff you will get pretty mean with it.

Knife skill goes up faster than staff. Knives also suck as a primary weapon. One use for knife: raising longsword as a necro. Necro longsword skill goes up at a torturingly slow rate. But, if you get 1 skill with a longsword, you can raise knife skill and transfer it over to longsword using Carcera. It still ain't gonna raise quickly, so this is only for the truly hardcore players.

Everything else you'd only raise if: 1.) you're an obscene skill whore who just absolutely has to have a bunch of pretty numbers showing up in their skill command; or 2.) you're trying to prove a point. That point generally being that you have far too much time on your hands.

Playing a Necromancer

You've picked a race, decided what guild you're looking to join...not much left but to get off and running!

General Considerations

As you level up, keep the following things in mind:

• With each new level, immediately max out your int and wis before touching anything else. A necromancer's power is derived almost entirely from rituals until about staff skill 40-50 (and you won't be seeing that for a long time). Maxing out your int/wis will get you those rituals as soon as possible.

• Hands down, the overarching concern for a new necromancer will be money. At all times, focus on bringing in as much money as possible. Figure out ways to be thrifty (like using free heals, avoiding potions unless necessary, etc.) and maximize your cash flow. While it may seem a bit counterintuitive for a powerleveling guide to suggest focusing on money instead of exp, I can assure you that you can powerlevel just fine focusing on cash kills. Obviously, if you had a friend hook you up with 200k coins to get your new necro started, you won't have to worry about it as much and can blow your money on whatever you'd like. Otherwise, you need a nice bankroll established for when you get up to about level 13/14/15. As long as you're set on money, you can spend more money to make more exp.

• Focusing on raising your staff skill before skill 15 is fine. Use Zhou when you have some down time and whack around swarms of bats/crows in the haunted mansion and the weak swarms in the fairy ring. Once you surpass skill 15, though, ignore your staff skill. To "focus" on raising it, you'd need to maximize the amount of staff hits you get in each fight with things like ignoring rituals and giving your pets weak/poorly suited weapons. That's a waste of time; just keep killing as fast as possible. If you hit level 20 with 25 staff skill at character age 24 hours, compare yourself to someone who hit level 20 with 40 staff skill. They probably took five times longer than you did to hit level 20, and by the time you're their age you'll have the same staff skill and boatloads more exp. So just get a decent staff and make things dead as fast as possible; the skills will come (slowly...).

• Speaking of age...consider 24 hours your benchmark for 1 million exp. You should be able to beat that mark with a necro of any race without having to do anything insane. Humans and half elves can easily hit 1 million faster due to their higher int/wis and natural access to lich/doom. Because orcs and dwarves will continue to be restricted to fetch without int/wis uniques, they raise a bit slower. Regardless, if it takes you longer than 24 hours to hit 1 million it's because you're moving too slow.

• Always defend "none." You'll be carrying way too much most of the time for dodge to be of any use, and your pet (when you have one) will be doing the majority of the tanking.

Levels 1-5

The first thing you should do is get to joining necromancers and your guild of choice. If they're still up, kick over the two signposts near Tantallon and you'll be nasty enough to join necros (you'll not have the heart to kill the baby if you're neutral). Then hit up Namril if you want to go Eldar, Maleficio for Chaos to start the process of getting a mentor, or do the Balan beast miniquest to join Scythe (the beast's corpse will work for the next several levels).

Once you've guilded, shooting through the first five levels is not that hard: Balan, CX, kill for a few staff skills, rinse and repeat. Always grab the coins from the Balan beast (~600), then sell its corpse to the butcher in Neville for another 400-500. Don't worry too much about your alignment during this time; you won't be using too many rituals. Why? Because those components cost money, and you ain't got it. You're saving money now so you can buy really good armour for your mummy as soon as you get there, because you won't be strong enough to efficiently kill the creatures holding the armour you'll likely want. Stick to low level stuff to work your staff with Zhou, hit up Balan when it's available, and watch your levels go up. For an easy staff, hit up Willim and ask for equipment; he'll always give you a short staff. Otherwise, buy a light staff from Fredd, or even better take the free strong branch from Ravel.

For extra cash, if you've played for any length of time you'll know there are several places where random eq can be found just laying around. High level players don't bother with it because it's not worth enough coins for them to bother with the weight. It's perfect for you, though. Run down to Leilya's area and get the free soft sack for a container. Then get free eq from the following areas:

• Around the Scythe Camp, through the forest, stretching west to the river. Lots of goblin eq (axes/shields/knives) and orc eq (armour/rusty chainmails/battered swords) that other players have left behind.

• Near the Eldar Guild hall, you can find more of the same stuff that's near the Scythe Camp.

• Same stuff again gets left by high level players in the mountain pass running near Fort Vaughn.

• Run through the Harkke Portal picking up all those fangs/claws/etc. that others ignore.

• At the entrance to the Underground Forest, most people don't bother picking up the tall guardian's axe/helmet/armour.

• Everyone ignores the buckskin warshirts & warrior's shields in Anasazi. Their loss is your gain!

Grab whatever you can, toss it in your soft sack so you can carry more, and run to the nearest shop when you're full. Watch yourself, though, as there are many aggro monsters in these areas and you don't have many hps. Be extra cautious around Greenhaven; the wandering trollocs can put a serious hurt on you. It's not hard to earn a few thousand coins doing this, which will really help down the road.

FYI: while other classes (especially artificers) can get good exp from Dafeon's excellent mining...it's a waste of time for you. In the time it will take you to earn the first few rather painful mining skills...you could have already advanced several levels and had a ton more money doing other things. Don't waste your time.

Levels 6-8

Somewhere around level 5/6 (depending on race), with max int+wis you should unlock mummy. This is the first undead that is really of any serious substance. It's like a fetch, but without a shield. If you've been saving up $$$, you should have around 20k-30k coins pretty comfortably. If someone's kind enough to provide you with a corpse, or you happen to find one laying around, then you're all set. Otherwise, buy a bunch of dirt for lifesteals, a little bit of ice for chill touch, a mummy wrapping, and a balm. It's time to go corpse hunting.

In the old days, the power of your undead was based primarily on how good the owner of the corpse was in real life. So you could make a mummy out of a 9k like King Philip at level 6, and you'd end up with this outrageous osword wielding freak standing in front of you causing mass chaos. It doesn't work that way anymore; now your undead's abilities/stats/skills are based primarily on YOUR level/stats (I think the controlling factor is your int/wis, but I'm not certain), with their's only really coming in to play if you're close to the level they were when they were alive. If you're making a mummy at level 6, a mummy from a level 11 creature will be just as good for you as a mummy from Valdrath. There's no real benefit to investing tons of time getting a corpse massively beyond your level. Just find something 4-5 levels higher than you and get moving.

You probably won't hit much with your staff, so all your damage will come from your rituals. Bring in some free heals, like peaches and berries, initiate combat, then stand there throwing lifesteals until you get low. When you're low on hps/sps and cut from food, leave the room and heal up on the ghost ship before coming back to try again. If the NPC is super low on hps, lifesteal won't do anything, so you'll have to switch to chill touch to finish them off. Here's where the balm comes in; you probably won't have the sps to make a mummy, and you don't have empower yet. Grab the corpse, balm it, and head back to the ship to heal up. You can animate at your leisure.

Arm your mummy up with the best armour it can carry and give it a low-ish level weapon (I had some luck with dark longswords; your mileage may vary). Get yourself a good pile of dirt, and start seeking out some good cash kills. Hobbits, messengers in Burnham, wandering orcs (especially the irritated ones with the battered swords/rusty chainmails), etc. Your main damage will come from lifesteal; as I said above in the rituals section, I'm not a fan of regularly using chill touch. When using lifesteal, rescue your mummy and tank for it. There's no point in you being at max hps and lifestealing, as you'd only waste the hps you get from it. Plus, your mummy is taking unnecessary damage that you'll have to heal up, probably with an expensive salve. Take a few shots, lifesteal back to nearly full, and chow down on some free heals when your hps/sps drop a bit. Let the mummy tank when you're not lifestealing. Use meds and smokes for extra healing; if you're concerned about weight remember that cigars removed from the box are weightless.

Keep this up, and you should be able to at least break even on cash while pulling decent enough exp. Keep a few salves around for emergencies, but you shouldn't need them much. Keep your mummy bound, and that + the dual tanking should allow you to lay off of the salves.

Levels 9-11

Around level 9 with max int/wis, you'll get fetch. Now, you have a pet that can use a shield, so it's even better at soaking up damage than a mummy was. Corpse hunting goes pretty much the same here, but you can expand your target corpse to something a bit higher level. Tall guards in Burnham, or perhaps even a l16 like Ruell Brakken will work quite well as a low level fetch. Arm it up the same way you did your mummy, but also toss it the best shield it can carry. Remember to balm if you have any doubts about your ability to animate before it decays. Despite "help fetch" saying you need a fresh corpse, a balmed one works just fine.

For your weapon, there's really no dispute: use Pris' elemental orbs if you possibly can. They're low/middle-ish difficulty, so your fetch should be able to use them well by level 9 or 10. The great thing about orbs, though, is that they completely ignore armour. The orb passes right through the NPC's armour and does the same damage it would do if the NPC was completely unarmed. This is especially great since we're focusing so much on cash kills, 'cuz they have lots of armour. Orbs don't necessarily hit hard, but they hit very consistently. Plus, if you're lucky enough to get a fire orb, you can absolutely lay waste to the easier kills in the frost giant steading. Once I find my undead can use an orb, it's pretty much the weapon of choice from there until I hit level 19. While the demon that has them is a very, very tough kill for a lowbie necro, I personally think it's well worth the extra cash invested in heals to start killing for orbs yourself if you can't find one.

Keep up the dual tanking w/lifesteal, and start adding in a few tougher cash kills: orc recruits/warriors/sergeant in Dalair, orc garden, Nepeth gate guards (not the ones guarding the castle), Andeli guard (not the one outside the castle unless you want them to refuse you entry until the next reset), sergeants/guards in Burnham Wood, etc.

Levels 12-14

Somewhere in here you'll pick up rot and empower if you're maxxing int/wis at each level. Kiss the dual tanking goodbye; you now have a much better and more efficient way to put your hps to work. Enter battle, command protect, rot/empower/rot. Your rots are not terribly strong, but should do just fine as long as you're planning your kills correctly. By now, you should also have enough cash in the bank and be efficient enough at taking down cash kills that you can afford to rely more heavily on salves for undead healing. If you're burning through salves, adjust your kills and lay off of the ones causing the most damage.

I generally start adding in the city/palace guards in Balan somewhere around here. They hit fairly hard, but a well armoured fetch at this level should be able to soak damage well enough that you can still make money (and, by extension, good exp). Corpse hunting also becomes easier around now, as your lifesteals/rots will be increasing in power with each level. You may need to run out and rest up a few times, but you should be able to take down a decent level 17/18 corpse without too much drama, or even an unguarded 9k like Hermit or King Philip if you really wanted to.

After about level 11, you'll start to notice the real power of the necromancer class. A lot of other classes have a long, slow grind through these middle levels. They aren't strong enough to solo well and earn the kind of experience they need to rapidly advance, but they're still low enough that it's hard to find parties. Necromancers, on the other hand, really start hitting their stride about now. The extra killing power of rot + the defensive abilities of a well armoured fetch mean you can fairly efficiently take down a lot of NPCs in a fairly short period of time. In fact, you'll find that your ability to quickly go through a level actually goes up around this time. That means you're gaining power and getting more comfortable with how the class works.

Levels 14-16

I only mention these levels because you'll get revenant around here, and may be tempted to switch over and start using it. Don't. As I said before, revenants suck, and you'll get more exp/cash with a fetch than is even possible with a revenant. Pass it up, and hold out for lich (if you're a race that gets it).

You should be mixing in more "cash inefficient but good exp" kills by now, such as fairy dragon/queen, wyvern/general, maybe even some easy 9ks like Wigwog. If you don't already have a fairly healthy bankroll by now, then you're clearly doing something wrong.

Levels 16-19

Lich. LUV.

Liches are fetches on steroids. They block with shields, do more damage with their weapons, and also randomly cast spells at your enemies for extra damage. By the time you get lich, you're practically at full power. Yes, you'll still have other stats that need to be raised, but there's not many NPCs that you can't take down by now. You may want to avoid super-high damage dealers like Jush and Illarin for a few more levels, but otherwise you should be good to go.

Level 19+

If you haven't figured out how to efficiently play a necromancer by now, there's not a lot more I can do to help you. For what it's worth, here's how a typical session goes for me with Albeleo.

Login, head to Dalair, buy 2 crowns (lich), a sign (doom), 5 waters (renewal), and 50-100 salves for preserves. From there, I want the following eq, as best I can get it, in no particular order:

• Hobbitat-made pipe from Puffy (if he's dead, then a big "fuck you" to the useless prick who killed him).
• Hobbitat gold tobacco
• Medicinals from Uena
• A big rabbit wineskin for my drinks
• An appropriate staff
• Food/drinks
• #2 pots from Shanni
• A fire gem
• 2 Geo knapsacks (love the Scythe domination of Geo).

Then, I'm off to Brunswick to kill Resty for my "starter" lich. Yes, Resty is a big, badass, very scary zmonster NPC who disarms you, follows you, and randomly blocks your exit if you try to leave the room. He's also a cinch to take down solo as a necro, as long as you keep your composure. Doom him, guzzle pots, and rot him into the middle of next week. If you're lucky, he'll never hit you because he's focused on attacking the Creeping Doom (who is really only there for distraction purposes). If you're unlucky, he'll turn to you on the very first hit. That's fine; just keep an eye on your hps and mix in lifesteals. When he's dead, empower/eat/drink/quaff until you've got your sps high enough, animate, and you're off and running.

Nasty bug I've noticed: if you kill Resty and the room resets before you animate, his corpse and all the eq it was carrying will disappear so you'll have to do it all over again. @@#$@#%!%.

Alternate method: buy your signs/crowns, run to an unguarded 9k (Resty/Philip/Linnhe/etc.), cast doom, and leave. Run around picking up the rest of your equipment to get yourself started, and maybe try to buy some lich eq as well. Come back a bit later, and hopefully the Creeping Doom has your target of choice within 1-2 rots of death. This method is less dangerous, but also less efficient time/exp-wise.

Next step is to fill in any missing holes in my equipment setup. I need a full set of armour for my lich, a good shield, a good 1 handed weapon (osword is already there if you got Resty), a silver talisman (no, I'm not telling you how to get it), and an appropriate staff for myself. If it's right after reboot and nothing's in the shops, I have to kill for everything. I consider this the most incredibly fun time to play. Most other players are sitting around with no clue what to do because they can't buy any eq. Artificers are spending time researching formulae to get their scorpions. In a matter of minutes, I'm killing anything I want with no competition.

Once my lich is more or less fully decked out (I'm not talking "Star Armour" decked out; just solidly armed), I take down Yosra for my final lich. To be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely convinced Yosra and/or Jush are actually better than a lich made from any generic 9k. I don't care, because I just enjoy having the most powerful humanoid NPC in the game at my beck and call, and really, he's not *that* hard to kill. Kill him, don't waste the corpse, command your other lich to die, and animate again. Have your new lich pick up whatever eq your other one had, and you're off and running again.

A word of advice: your lich will not always listen to your command to "die." Occasionally, they will take offense, decline your generous offer, and go feral. For those of you not keeping score, a fully armed lich is a massive pain in the ass for anyone (other than a paladin, damn smite!) to kill, and given the lack of any real rituals in your arsenal that have any effect whatsoever vs. undead...and this could be a problem for you. A smart necromancer, when making a second lich, will carry the new corpse to an empty room, command the current lich to drop everything FIRST, walk a room away, THEN command it to die. It's far easier to kill when you have all the eq!

From there...what, do you need me to play for you? Go kill stuff! Shoo!

Aliases

Not a 100% complete list (I have a ton of aliases for questy things), but here's a breakdown of my most helpful aliases.

a = wield prim_weap
an = animate corpse
as = assist my undead
ca = command arm
caa = command wield sword in right hand //needed for using osword 1 handed
cd = command drop $@
cdie = command die
cdl = command drop loot
cds = command desist
cf = command follow
cg = command get $@
cga = command get all
cp = command protect
cr = command remove $@
csl = command slay $@
csm = command smash $@
ct = prepare chill touch
cw = command wield $@
cwe = command wear $@
cwl = command wield $@ in left hand
dm = prepare doom
dw = drink from wineskin
eb = dump //put empties in the bottlebag
em = prepare empower
fe = prepare fetch
fw = fill wineskin with $@
gau = give all to my undead
gu = give $@ to my undead
k = kill $@
kas = keep all salve //you can sell them if you don't put them in keep!
lau = look at my undead
li = prepare lich
ls = prepare lifesteal
nhc = nick heals_cont $@
np = nick prey $@
npc = nick prim_cont $@
npw = nick prim_weap $@
pd = prepare detect
pr = prepare preserve
q = wave wand at prey
qq = wave wand at my undead
qw = wave wand
r = rescue my undead
ref = refill wineskin with firebreather
rel = release //release energy from the bottlebag
rev = prepare revenant
rn = prepare renewal
ro = prepare rot
setup = do attack crush, aim head
su = prepare summon
uks = unkeep all salve
vi = say I want to pass you help the king visit the princess spy on people
z = unwield

A few brief explanations:

• npc/nhc: As I explained in another thread, I run with two containers. To make sure I can use absolutely any containers, I keep them nicked as "heals_cont" and "prim_cont". I can pick up any two containers, "nhc soft sack" & "nhc knapsack" (for example) and I'm ready to go. Then all of my aliases involving the use of containers will put/take things from "heals_cont" and "prim_cont". This keeps me from having to either make sure I have the correct containers that match my aliases (e.g. "put all in pack", I better make sure I'm carrying something that responds to "pack") or have a crapload more aliases for every possible type of container.
• vi: Works for Andeli, Balan, Burnham, and Venletta. I could probably add more in there, but that's all I need.
• npw: Nicked to whatever staff I'm using, then I can hit "a" to wield it again. You could alternatively just change "a" (or whatever your "wield weapon" alias is) to whatever weapon you're using.
• ref: Need quick liquor? Bring your empty wineskin to Drudge in Tantallon, fire this off, and he'll refill it with firebreather all quicklike and whatnot.

Combat Example

Here's an example of what a typical battle might look like for me as Albeleo, just to give you an idea of the rhythm. Unfortunately, I just realized my mud client doesn't log the commands I send, so I'm filling them in after the fact.

> This is an immaculate guardroom with hardly anything out of order. It is
> absolutely spotless, from the small fireplace in the east wall that has no
> ashes despite the small fire, to the tidy pallets along the north and south
> walls that have neatly folded blankets on top. In the fireplace there is a
> clean pot hanging by some hooks embedded into the wall. There is an open
> doorway leading west towards the entrance of the mountain. Beside the door
> you notice a clay washbasin filled with water and a rag set near it.
> The only obvious exit is west.
> Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
kdw
> Yosra exclaims: Help! Albeleo is in the mountain!
> You missed.
cp
> Nothing happens.
> You missed.
> HP: 137 SP: 190
> Yosra pierced your arm keenly.
> Yosra gasps and smiles.
> The lich of The restful-looking guard arrives.
> Your wounds tingle strongly as the medicinals begin their healing work.
cp
> You intone: I command thee to protect me.
> The lich of The restful-looking guard says in a cold monotone: GLADLY,
> MASTER.
> Yosra skewered Lich's withered leg.
tps
> You take a dark red potion [Mental Recharge]; a dark red potion [Mental
> Recharge]; a dark red potion [Mental Recharge]; a dark red potion [Mental
> Recharge] from a rugged knapsack (worn).
> You battered Yosra's arm.
> Lich's block only manages to slow the force of Yosra's blow.
> Yosra notched Lich's skull.
> Lich missed Yosra.
> The lich of The restful-looking guard staggers suddenly with weakness, but
> soon recovers.
ro
> You prepare the ritual for the spell of rot.
q
> You wave your wand at Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
> You intone: May death's foul grip rot thy flesh!
> A few worms squirm helplessly as they are consumed!
> Yosra's flesh withers and decays!
> HP: 118 SP: 146
> Yosra sheared your head ruthlessly.
cp
> You intone: I command thee to protect me.
> The lich of The restful-looking guard says in a cold monotone: BY THY
> COMMAND, MASTER.
> Yosra impaled Lich's skull sharply.
> You missed.
> Lich's block only manages to slow the force of Yosra's blow.
> Yosra missed Lich.
> Lich pounded Yosra's leg heartlessly.
> The lich cackles evilly!
ro
> You prepare the ritual for the spell of rot.
q
> You wave your wand at Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
> You intone: May death's foul grip rot thy flesh!
> A few worms squirm helplessly as they are consumed!
> Yosra's flesh withers and decays!
> HP: 108 SP: 98
> Yosra impaled your arm sharply.
lau
> It appears to be a heavily robed The restful-looking guard. Its once-fine
> robes hang in rotten tatters, and it limps badly as it advances. Its
> withered flesh is drawn tight across its bony features, from which peer eyes
> like fiery coals. Upon its brow rests a steel crown, with sharpened points
> glinting in the light.
> Lich's wounds have been skillfully bound.
> It is in bad shape.
> My undead is carrying:
> A sorcerer's robe (worn).
> A fancy shield (worn).
> A stone helmet (worn).
> Some high leather boots (worn).
> A polished platemail (worn).
> An outstanding sword (wielded in right hand).
> You missed.
> HP: 84 SP: 103
> Yosra cleaved your head into hash.
> The lich burns Yosra with cold fire!
> Lich missed Yosra.
> You inhale some smoke and blow it out thoughtfully.
cp
> You intone: I command thee to protect me.
> The lich of The restful-looking guard says in a cold monotone: THY WILL BE
> DONE, MASTER.
> Yosra's strike thuds against Lich's shield.
> Yosra missed Lich.
dw
dw
> You drink some Polynesian Sunset from the wineskin.
> > You drink some Polynesian Sunset from the wineskin.
> You have 149 hps, 168 sps, and 21,762 gold coins.
> You missed.
> Yosra missed Lich.
> Yosra gasps and smiles.
> Lich stuck Yosra's body.
ro
> You prepare the ritual for the spell of rot.
q
> You wave your wand at Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
> You intone: May death's foul grip rot thy flesh!
> A few worms squirm helplessly as they are consumed!
> Yosra's flesh withers and decays!
lau
> It appears to be a heavily robed The restful-looking guard. Its once-fine
> robes hang in rotten tatters, and it limps badly as it advances. Its
> withered flesh is drawn tight across its bony features, from which peer eyes
> like fiery coals. Upon its brow rests a steel crown, with sharpened points
> glinting in the light.
> Lich's wounds have been skillfully bound.
> It is in bad shape.
> My undead is carrying:
> A sorcerer's robe (worn).
> A fancy shield (worn).
> A stone helmet (worn).
> Some high leather boots (worn).
> A polished platemail (worn).
> An outstanding sword (wielded in right hand).
> > You missed.
> Yosra missed Lich.
> The lich burns Yosra with cold fire!
> Lich slashed Yosra's arm viciously.
em
> You prepare the ritual for the spell of empower.
qw
> You wave your wand dramatically.
> You intone: From mine own flesh I draw eldritch power!
> Blood streams from your hands as a nimbus of black energy forms about you!
> Your blood sings as you draw the energy in!
> HP: 68 SP: 109
ls
> You prepare the ritual for the spell of lifesteal.
> You pounded Yosra's arm heartlessly.
> Yosra missed Lich.
> Lich pounded Yosra's head heartlessly.
q
> You wave your wand at Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
> You intone: With vampyric power I steal thy life!
> You scatter some dirt from a fresh grave.
> Yosra staggers in pain!
> HP: 103 SP: 152
> You feel stronger as you draw life energy from Yosra!
pr
> You prepare the ritual for the spell of preserve.
> You missed.
> Lich's block only manages to slow the force of Yosra's blow.
> Yosra notched Lich's twisted body.
> Lich chopped Yosra's head bluntly.
qq
> You wave your wand at the lich of The restful-looking guard.
> You intone: With eldritch force I preserve thy being.
> You smear some salve all over Lich.
> Lich looks in better shape.
ef
> You force an empty flask down your throat and almost throw up everywhere!
lau
> It appears to be a heavily robed The restful-looking guard. Its once-fine
> robes hang in rotten tatters, and it limps badly as it advances. Its
> withered flesh is drawn tight across its bony features, from which peer eyes
> like fiery coals. Upon its brow rests a steel crown, with sharpened points
> glinting in the light.
> Lich's wounds have been skillfully bound.
> It is slightly hurt.
> My undead is carrying:
> A sorcerer's robe (worn).
> A fancy shield (worn).
> A stone helmet (worn).
> Some high leather boots (worn).
> A polished platemail (worn).
> An outstanding sword (wielded in right hand).
> You pounded Yosra's leg heartlessly.
> Yosra impaled Lich's withered leg sharply.
> Yosra says: I have slain foes much mightier than you, worm.
> Lich slashed Yosra's head viciously.
> You puff on your finely carved pipe contentedly.
lao
> This dwarf is clearly a seasoned fighter who has worked his way to the top
> the hard way. Judging by his spellbook he is a mage, but he must certainly
> be the biggest and strongest mage you have ever seen. Numerous scars criss-
> cross his body and you have to wonder whether anyone could defeat this
> powerful figure.
> His skin seems hard as a rock.
> He is wearing a robe which emanates a glowing aura of all the colours of the
> rainbow.
> He is in bad shape.
> Opponent is carrying:
> An illustrious blue spellbook.
> A mithril shortsword (wielded in right hand).
> Some enchanted robes (worn).
> You missed.
> Yosra sliced Lich's withered arm deeply.
> Lich bludgeoned Yosra's arm heavily.
> The lich chants gutturally as it prepares a spell!
ro
> You prepare the ritual for the spell of rot.
q
> You wave your wand at Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
> You intone: May death's foul grip rot thy flesh!
> A few worms squirm helplessly as they are consumed!
> Yosra's flesh withers and decays!
> HP: 84 SP: 83
> Yosra hammered your head brutally.
sc
> You have 84 hps, 83 sps, and 21,762 gold coins.
> You pounded Yosra's head heartlessly.
> HP: 70 SP: 83
> Yosra slashed your body viciously.
> Lich slit Yosra's head.
cp
> You intone: I command thee to protect me.
> The lich of The restful-looking guard says in a cold monotone: GLADLY,
> MASTER.
> Yosra lacerated Lich's skull.
ls
> You prepare the ritual for the spell of lifesteal.
q
> You wave your wand at Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
> You intone: With vampyric power I steal thy life!
> You scatter some dirt from a fresh grave.
> Yosra staggers in pain!
> HP: 109 SP: 45
> You feel stronger as you draw life energy from Yosra!
> You missed.
> Yosra cleaved Lich's skull violently.
> Lich missed Yosra.
dp
dp
> You quaff a dark red potion [Mental Recharge].
> Your mind is suddenly clear!
> You quaff a dark red potion [Mental Recharge].
> Your mind is suddenly clear!
eb
eb
> With some effort you manage to eat an empty bottle. Your stomach grumbles
> painfully.
> With some effort you manage to eat an empty bottle. Your stomach grumbles
> painfully.
sc
> You have 109 hps, 166 sps, and 21,762 gold coins.
lau
> It appears to be a heavily robed The restful-looking guard. Its once-fine
> robes hang in rotten tatters, and it limps badly as it advances. Its
> withered flesh is drawn tight across its bony features, from which peer eyes
> like fiery coals. Upon its brow rests a steel crown, with sharpened points
> glinting in the light.
> Lich's wounds have been skillfully bound.
> It is in bad shape.
> My undead is carrying:
> A sorcerer's robe (worn).
> A fancy shield (worn).
> A stone helmet (worn).
> Some high leather boots (worn).
> A polished platemail (worn).
> An outstanding sword (wielded in right hand).
> You missed.
> Yosra missed Lich.
> Lich missed Yosra.
ro
> You prepare the ritual for the spell of rot.
q
> You wave your wand at Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
> You intone: May death's foul grip rot thy flesh!
> A few worms squirm helplessly as they are consumed!
> Yosra's flesh withers and decays!
> > You pounded Yosra's leg heartlessly.
> Yosra hewed Lich's skull crudely.
> Lich slashed Yosra's body viciously.
> You suck in some smoke and blow some very nice circles.
q
> You wave your wand at Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
> You intone: May death's foul grip rot thy flesh!
> A few worms squirm helplessly as they are consumed!
> Yosra's flesh withers and decays!
> You have 114 hps, 75 sps, and 21,762 gold coins.
dp
dp
> You quaff a dark red potion [Mental Recharge].
> Your mind is suddenly clear!
> You quaff a dark red potion [Mental Recharge].
> Your mind is suddenly clear!
> You missed.
> Yosra bludgeoned Lich's withered arm heavily.
> Lich missed Yosra.
> HP: 102 SP: 192
> Yosra slashed your body viciously.
eb
eb
> You tuck heartily into an empty bottle. Yummy, that was tasty!
> You toss an empty bottle down your throat. Your stomach rumbles unhappily.
> You have 102 hps, 192 sps, and 21,762 gold coins.
cp
> You intone: I command thee to protect me.
> The lich of The restful-looking guard says in a cold monotone: GLADLY,
> MASTER.
> Yosra impaled Lich's skull sharply.
> You missed.
> Yosra chopped Lich's withered arm bluntly.
> Lich missed Yosra.
> A nimbus of cold blue energy begins forming around the lich!
ro
> You prepare the ritual for the spell of rot.
q
> > You wave your wand at Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
> You intone: May death's foul grip rot thy flesh!
> A few worms squirm helplessly as they are consumed!
> Yosra's flesh withers and decays!
lau
> It appears to be a heavily robed The restful-looking guard. Its once-fine
> robes hang in rotten tatters, and it limps badly as it advances. Its
> withered flesh is drawn tight across its bony features, from which peer eyes
> like fiery coals. Upon its brow rests a steel crown, with sharpened points
> glinting in the light.
> Lich's wounds have been skillfully bound.
> It is in bad shape.
> My undead is carrying:
> A sorcerer's robe (worn).
> A fancy shield (worn).
> A stone helmet (worn).
> Some high leather boots (worn).
> A polished platemail (worn).
> An outstanding sword (wielded in right hand).
> You missed.
> Yosra missed Lich.
> Lich sliced Yosra's arm deeply.
lao
> This dwarf is clearly a seasoned fighter who has worked his way to the top
> the hard way. Judging by his spellbook he is a mage, but he must certainly
> be the biggest and strongest mage you have ever seen. Numerous scars criss-
> cross his body and you have to wonder whether anyone could defeat this
> powerful figure.
> His skin seems hard as a rock.
> He is wearing a robe which emanates a glowing aura of all the colours of the
> rainbow.
> He is seriously wounded.
> Opponent is carrying:
> An illustrious blue spellbook.
> A mithril shortsword (wielded in right hand).
> Some enchanted robes (worn).
> >
ro
> You prepare the ritual for the spell of rot.
q
> > You wave your wand at Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
> You intone: May death's foul grip rot thy flesh!
> A few worms squirm helplessly as they are consumed!
> Yosra's flesh withers and decays!
> You missed.
> Yosra hammered Lich's withered arm brutally.
> Lich impaled Yosra's leg sharply.
q
> You wave your wand at Yosra, the Captain of the Guard.
> You intone: May death's foul grip rot thy flesh!
> A few worms squirm helplessly as they are consumed!
> Yosra's flesh withers and decays!
> Yosra died.
> Lich killed Yosra.
> >
> You suck in some smoke and blow some very nice circles.
sc
> You have 110 hps, 54 sps, and 21,762 gold coins.