Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

My friends, my undead and I sat around a table, staring at a small headless snake. It was evening and we were discussing our options while having a drink.

"Could you make a dullahan?" Helena asked.

"It does not have a wind affinity. Kaito's body came from a powerful shaman, I can't replicate that even if he does a joint casting with me." I replied.

"The frostfire coming from the neck would not be very subtle either, this new undead should be hidden and protect Koyuki when needed." Kaito stated.

Nyx, who was on the table with the other cats, approached the corpse. Then she used her paw to push the head around a bit.

"Nyx, we need that corpse." I warned her.

Nyx looked at me, nodded, then pushed the head around again. However, she was not using her claws and so far it seemed harmless.

"I still think you should wear the snake around your neck." Garm suggested.

"We need to create an undead first, with its earth affinity we could go vampiric." I mused, then I had a sip from my beer. This time I managed to suppress my instinct to reach for my neck. Maybe Garm's obsession with neckwear was helping me to think of more pleasant things than my old collar?

"Perhaps a blood affinity could help it heal you in some way?" Hatsumi suggested. "I have learned some limited healing that works on Koyuki."

"Wait, an undead can heal?" Valeria asked. She had opted for some red wine while we enjoyed our beer.

"I do have blood magic which has healing spells, they don't work on fellow undead but they do work on the living just fine." Hatsumi stated. "Usually my necrotic mana could be a problem but it does not matter for Koyuki."

"The snake will be a tier two, it won't be able to learn spells. I still think it would be wrong to ask a tier three to stay on my arm most of the time." I said.

"Maybe the snake could drain poison from your blood, if needed?" Cassie suggested.

"Could an undead snake do that?" I wondered.

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"Technically that would be possible with blood magic but it might be too complicated for a tier two." Skadi said, then shrugged and took a sip from her beer.

"Maybe we should focus on the offense first, or consider shields? I want the snake to intercept an attack and kill, or incapacitate, the attacker." I said.

"Blood magic is good at incapacitating, assuming the enemy has blood." Rose said.

"A draugr would have the easiest time to use your powers for a type of joint casting, because the affinities match perfectly." Kaito stated.

"A vampiric snake could draw power from the enemy, you should not underestimate that. Blood is a powerful element." Hatsumi said.

"How are you connecting the head?" Valeria asked, while staring at the snake.

"We will connect it with a medium, like water or blood." I said, while refilling my mug from the pitcher. Helena's mug was empty as well, and she held it towards me, so I filled hers too. "I will just have to ensure that the spell considers the head and the body as one and then the undead flesh will grow together again." I purposefully did not mention our circulation technique, which was doing a lot of work. It really helped to shape and empower the undead, standing water would be less effective.

"The former wound will be a weak point since the scales were cut there but it will be hard to hit the same spot, the snake is small." Helena mused.

"Maybe we could cover the spot with a ribbon?" Garm suggested.

"Wouldn't that draw attention to it?" Cassie asked.

"Our enemies would be unaware of that weak point and the ribbon would hide the spot nicely. Even if they knew, the cut is right behind the head, we are hardly providing any useful information. Further, the ribbon is wider and obscures the exact spot and angle." Garm argued.

"It would look cute with a ribbon." Skadi said.

"Neckwear aside, vampiric or draugr is the question." I said and took a sip from my beer.

"Wouldn't you waste the earth affinity with a draugr?" Valeria asked.

"Not necessarily. The snake has a tougher skin because of the affinity, that translates to a stronger undead because I have a better base material. Further, the body of a magical creature can hold more mana which makes the undead stronger, if raised properly. Ideally it could even retain the earth affinity as an undead but then it wouldn't be a draugr. Draugrs only have a water affinity and use ice powers. I wonder what a pure earth undead would be?" I said.

"Can an undead be pure earth?" Valeria asked.

"Ah no, it always has a death affinity. With pure earth I just meant that earth was the only addition." I clarified. "But since I lack the affinity myself I would need a good earth corpse for that, and possibly Skadi's help, or the help of my vampires. Adding water is easy for me."

"Since blood is a combination of earth and water it does not need as much earth." Skadi added. "So Koyuki is becoming quite good at creating blood affinities, with a joint casting."

"Actually, what sort of supplies do you have, Cassie? If I want to create the snake before we leave my options might be limited anyway." I asked.

"Hm?" Cassie took a sip and pondered that. "Oh, you surely have some of this new drug confiscated, right Valeria? I think I could do some blood enhancement with that. We don't need much for a small snake."

"Um, you want to use the drug for an undead?" Valeria asked.

"Sure. That, some pigs blood and a lab with basic ingredients and I can get you some snake enhancement blood in an afternoon!" Cassie boasted.

"I will have to ask my mother." Valeria replied.

"I guess we will see if you get your stuff, otherwise I might just go draugr." I concluded. "Ideally I will have it for our return trip, then I can start working on commands and train with it."

"The sooner you are protected, the better." Kaito stated.

"Let's drink that!" Helena proposed and raised her mug.

"Cheers!" We answered.