CD-MGDN06 (Jan 27, 1996)
Puzzle
“I have uttered your sacred names, signs, and symbols, wherefore, O lord, cause my shadow to serve me at this sacred hour. PGM III.”
#71 Trivia | 2 Words
Clue
Hover over the clues if you require!
Clue 1: What does PGM stand for?
Clue 2: Any spell in PGM III that involves a shadow?
Clue 3: At what hour is this incantation supposed to be said? Use the numeral, don't spell out the word.
Answer and Explanation
Answer: 7th Hour
Explanation: In the incantation, it is required that it is chanted between the sixth and seventh hour.
Summary of Receipt
71 muses that Necromancy is one of the last few unknowns of magic as a whole, along with Soulworking and Blood Magic. He explains that there are three main ways to resurrect the dead using Necromancy: simply conjuring a soul back to the 'realm' it left (whether that be a dead human to the Flipside or vice-versa - which is how the Princes remain alive), splitting and sharing a piece of your own soul to revive a corpse, or trying to conjure 'the essence of a person before they died' as a ghost. Though the third one's not actually been achieved yet. Regardless, the question is how this Augustine Sarcophim was able to learn about this. Logically, he'd have gotten it from the demon he made a deal with, but only one knowledgeable enough about necromancy fits the bill: Rubeus Redman, Mrs. Aka.
Transcript
RECEIPT #006
FILED UNDER: AND-MGDN
DATE: 1/27/96
EMPLOYEE #71
Ah, Necromancy. One of the last true frontiers left of magic—and a dark one at that. Alongside Soulworking and Blood Magic, Necromancy is often regarded as taboo; thus, its practice is shunned. Though the three have many similarities, Soulworking seeks to alter the very soul itself, changing a person’s core essence in this life and the next. Blood Magic, on the other hand, is the art of enhancing or modifying one’s existing form. And Necromancy, Necromancy is the practice of bringing the dead back to life.
Of course, this can be accomplished in a few ways. When a person dies, their soul moves to the Otherside, and they become a demon, or their soul moves on to realms unknown. One school of Necromancy focuses on bidding a soul back into the realm it had previously left. This is most commonly practiced by the many cults and courts of the Princes of Hell, ensuring that the Princes remain alive and present in the Otherside. The other primary method cares not for returning the original soul to a body but instead splitting and sharing a piece of your own soul into a corpse to revive it. There is also a third school of Necromancy which attempts to conjure the essence of a person before they died in the form of an apparition, a ghost, but so far, Necromancers have yet to achieve anything close to that.
So, we can assume Augustine Sarcophim is practicing either soul restoration or soul-splitting Necromancy, no? And yet—how would a no-name decaf drinker from Montana learn the secrets of Necromancy. Therein lies the question—but also my greatest concern. As #53 pointed out, he likely made a deal with a demon. But few demons are knowledgeable of Necrotic Magic. There are so few I could count them on one hand. And of those few demons, the only one who has been Flipside in the past few months is Rubeus Redman.