Msi Lich Thi Dau

[Glynis Waughtal]

Various works of fantasy fiction, such as Clark Ashton Smith's "The Empire of the Necromancers" (1932), had used lich as a general term for any corpse, animated or inanimate, before the term's specific use in fantasy role-playing games. The more recent use of the term lich for a specific type of undead creature originates from the 1976 Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game booklet Greyhawk, written by Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz.[2]

Often such a creature is the result of a willful transformation, as a powerful wizard skilled in necromancy who seeks eternal life uses rare substances in a magical ritual to become undead. Unlike zombies, which are often depicted as mindless, liches are sapient revenants, retaining their previous intelligence and magical abilities. Liches are often depicted as holding power over lesser mindless undead soldiers and servants.

A lich's most often depicted distinguishing feature from other undead in fantasy fiction is the method of achieving immortality; liches give up their souls to form "soul-artifacts" (called a "soul gem" or "phylactery" in other fantasy works), the source of their magic and immortality. Many liches take precautions to hide and/or safeguard one or more soul-artifacts that anchor a part of a lich's soul to the material world. If the corporeal body of a lich is killed, that portion of the lich's soul that had remained in the body does not pass on to the next world, but will rather exist in a non-corporeal form capable of being resurrected in the near future. However, if all of the lich's soul-artifacts are destroyed, then the lich's only anchor in the material world would be the corporeal body, whereupon destruction will cause permanent death.

Lich is an archaic English word for "corpse"; the gate at the lowest end of the cemetery where the coffin and funerary procession usually entered was commonly referred to as the lich gate. This gate was quite often covered by a small roof where part of the funerary service could be carried out.[3] Liches are sometimes depicted using a magical device called a phylactery to anchor their souls to the physical world so that if their body is destroyed they can rise again over and over, as long as the phylactery remains intact.[4]

The lich developed from monsters found in earlier classic sword and sorcery fiction, which is filled with powerful sorcerers who use their magic to triumph over death. Many of Clark Ashton Smith's short stories feature powerful wizards whose magic enables them to return from the dead. Several stories by Robert E. Howard, such as the novella Skull-Face (1929) and the short story "Scarlet Tears", feature undying sorcerers who retain a semblance of life through mystical means, their bodies reduced to shriveled husks with which they manage to maintain inhuman mobility and active thought.[5] Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons, stated that he based the description of a lich included in the game on the short story "The Sword of the Sorcerer" (1969) by Gardner Fox.[6][7] The term lich, used as an archaic word for corpse (or body), is commonly used in these stories. Ambrose Bierce's tale of possession "The Death of Halpin Frayser" features the word in its introduction, referring to a corpse. H. P. Lovecraft also used the word in "The Thing on the Doorstep" (published 1937) where the narrator refers to the corpse of his friend possessed by a sorcerer.[8] Other imagery surrounding demiliches, in particular that of a jeweled skull, is drawn from the early Fritz Leiber story "Thieves' House".[9]

The premise is that you recently managed to turn yourself into a lich, inside an abandoned subterranean complex belonging to a previous necromancer. You thus need to start getting to know your new surroundings, research new spells, raise your minions -skeletons, zombies, ghouls, necrodragons, golemns, etc -, organise them, and try to decide what it is you are doing.

The game has already been playtested quite a bit, so I am fairly confident that a) It kind of works as intended, b) There may be some small bugs still there (though hopefully not game-breaking), c) It is not well balanced (please help me with this!)

This game can be played in 4 modes:
-As a sequel to Tokyo Wizard (if you managed to turn yourself into a Lich)
-As a sequel to Raiders of Icepeak Mountains (I have yet to code the quest that will allow you to turn into a Lich, but will do so in the coming months, before this is released)
-As a standalone game in a fantasy setting.
-As a standalone game set in Yokohama/Tokyo (Japan).

@adrao the introduction scene with he four armed undead lich happened like three times along with all the following scenes, same with the demoness and stealing the couldron of the damned souls, happened multiple times, I could barely trigger akane interactions. Are the red vials Astral travel components? If so I barely encountered them, got to Astral travel once in the entire demo.

Liches were generally gaunt and skeletal with withered flesh stretched tight across horribly visible bones, but they could vary greatly in appearance depending on their age and level of decay. If their eyes had been destroyed, lost, or rotted away, bright pinpoints of crimson light burned in their empty sockets.[1][4][5][6] Some maintained a hint of their old hair or beards.[13] Liches often did not have lips or the necessary organs to produce natural speech, but they had the ability to project speech from their mouths magically, moving the jaw (if present) to aid the illusion.[14] As their bodies continued to degrade over the centuries, a lich might eventually become a demilich.[1][5]

Some liches dressed in rich and regal finery and jewelry, others wore the clothes or uniforms of former occupations or allegiances, while many appeared to be nothing more than lepers as their clothes had rotted away.[1][4][5][6]

Those spellcasters who sought immortality through lichdom tended not to do so merely for fear of death,[15] but to buy themselves limitless time to pursue their own ambitious goals. Thus, they discarded any mortal connections in favor of a solitary existence, generally to pursue magical power and knowledge.[5][16]

The hallmark of a lich was that it had tethered its soul to the Prime Material plane,[1][17] and as a result, most liches retained much of the personality and even emotions that they had in life, at least at first. However, countless years of undeath caused memories to fade and the mind to twist.[18] Eventually, a lich lost all shreds of its humanity.[15]

The state of existing as a lich was not a pleasant one,[11] and a lich was able to maintain its existence only through sheer force of will. However, over time this willpower warped into an obsessive drive to become more and more powerful.[5] Many soon appeared borderline insane in their hunger to acquire arcane secrets.[2][4] This fixation would often lead a lich to outright forget about its former life, and most liches reached a point at which they abandoned their real names in preference for ominous titles and pseudonyms. Perhaps because of this effort to bury their old identities, it was said that speaking a lich's true name could confer power over it[5] and reminders of its past life were a good way to get its attention.[1]

Liches were often proud and arrogant,[19] demanding the subservience of all those around them.[20] Many were also cold and scheming.[1][2] They cared only for their own affairs and usually paid little heed to the living unless their own activities were disrupted or some major event caught their attention. Contrary to popular belief, most did not have explicitly evil goals. Technically, a lich might ascribe to any alignment, however because they were so completely detached from any sense of mortal morality, the living could generally not understand their actions as anything but pure evil.[5] Even so, some liches were known to be amicable and willing to exchange words rather than spells with mortals, or even to offer advice or training.[21] In very rare instances, truly good liches arose,[5] which included those who had a more noble purpose for seeking lichdom as well as those who had lichdom forced upon them.[22]

Liches were avid collectors of arcane secrets and tools, including magic items, potions, spell scrolls, spellbooks, staves, and wands.[1][4] They used these items extensively, and would design devious traps meant to ensnare adventurers in order to add their victims' magic items to their own collection.[10]

Whatever its goals were, a lich pursued them patiently and single-mindedly,[1] usually relying on its cunning, its magic, and legions of lesser undead (which it would animate personally).[5] Because a lich had eternal longevity, it often used this time to form schemes that took decades or even centuries to develop,[4] sometimes preferring to outlive its foes instead of confronting them. As such, most liches lived in secluded areas of Toril, where they were content with furthering whatever research or plots they had in motion.[16]

The average lich was a very powerful arcane spellcaster. They could memorize and cast spells as they had in life, and required the use of spell components and spellbooks just as a living caster did.[5] A notable exception to this rule was that some liches were able to permanently commit some spells to memory, allowing them to be cast even without material components.[10] Owing to the great depths of time they had to research and practice their magic, it was not uncommon for a lich to wield potent unique spells of their own devising.[5]

Liches also possessed several unique abilities, such as being able to manifest coldfire; weaken, terrorize, or even kill the living with a touch; drive the living into unconsciousness with just the sound of their voice; and cause fear, pain, or death with a simple glare.[1][24] Even merely looking upon a lich could compel the weak-willed to flee in terror.[4][5]

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