Sounds good to me. If you, the player, know the answers to Nilis' questions, you can probably answer them and continue on the conversation. If you don't know, we might be able to fill you in on some stuff if goat isn't around.

Sorry guys. Mom is in town this weekend and I had to take care of dinner and visit real quick. But now she's watching the baby and I'm relaxing! So I'm here, I mean.

I'm hoping that someone will point out that Tam bound Antos here against his will. Just sayin.

Not that Antos would necessarily reveal that to her; he might think she's another Tam, hoping to betray him.

I'm cooking something, but should have a post out fairly soon.

Hate to say it, but where the demilich, Szass Tam binding him, etc., are concerned, I'm starting to lose track of the details.

Me too!

The short version, though, is that Tam didn't bind him to the Mythal. He was already a part of the Mythal when Tam found him down here. He provided Tam with the method and power to acheive lichdom, and then Tam perverted the Mythal (and, therefore, Antos) to his purposes.

OK, so the ideal (and probably impossible, but it's Planescape, so that's normal) goal is to extract Tam from the mythal someday, but to keep the mythal and Antos intact.

I think that there is general confusing regarding liches, demi-liches, and mythals. I forget that not everyone has DMed 2nd edition for 23 years! So, the breakdown:

• A lich needs a phylactery, or an object of some kind to bind itself to the material plane. Apparently Tam figured out a way to use a mythal (q.v.) rather than a physical, material object.

• A demilich is a more powerful version of the lich (first seen in the original Tomb of Horrors, and damn was it nasty!). It is an über-powerful lich that has transcended lichdom and lost the need for a physical body. I will not go into details, but it ranks among the most powerful monsters in AD&D (along with great wrym dragons, the tarrasque, pit fiends, and of course, the Jabberwock).

• A mythal is a piece of elven high magic, laid by multiple wizards capable of casting 10th level elven high magic (unknown in the world now). Each member of the casting bestows known and hidden powers to the mythal. The mythal covers a very large area (square miles, usually an entire city) and confers properties within. Sometimes casting mages must give their lives (or hit points) to cast the spell. Known properties can include things like: inhabitants never become sick; teleportation into our out of the mythal is disallowed; scrying in or out of the mythal is disallowed; fires could be put out if over a certain size; inhabitants can fly (as per the wizard spell) at will; things of that nature.

Mel knows about liches from his training; he knows about mythals through experience (he is from Cormanthor, the forest of the elves in the Forgotten Realms, which still has cities that are surrounded by mythals). I doubt that he would know about mythals in great detail, nor exact processes for becoming a lich, but he'd know the basics. As for demiliches, such as Antos, he knows nothing at all (I included that as an aside here). He assumes that Antos is a regular lich, and maybe wonders if Tam didn't destroy the rest of his body.

If anyone wants to read more about liches or demi-liches, the monstrous compendium and Van Richten's Guide to Liches are the best sources; mythals, while detailed in several books, are most clearly laid out in TSR 1084 "The Ruins of Myth Drannor". Let me know if you want a PDF.

Yes, that was the hope, although that's probably a side adventure goat isn't read to deal with right now.

That's cool. I could totally see Nilis adding "Free my ancestor from that Szass Tam berk" to her list of long-term life goals.

One thing about this character is that her ancestors accomplished a lot of over-the-top things, so she wants to do so too. A totally over-the-top goal like that would be entirely appropriate.