The manor on the outskirts of town

"My order was the Honorable Servants of The Apis, we were summoners, thaumaturges, we served in the priesthoods, devoted our lives to the gods in exchange for gifts. And we kept out the great Adversary, The endless serpent Apep, and his crawling chaos." He replied with an air of pride and reverence "I was honored to be among their number, even when I was young and rebellious I could see the nobility in their fight."

"That certainly sounds quite exciting." Victor said with a nod, he made sure to reserve moral judgement for the time being as he was unfamiliar with both sides, though the crawling chaos seemed a bit bleak and evil. "Now I believe it is your turn to ask..."

"Ahem...how do those lights on the ceiling work?"

"Well the exact inner workings have never been my forte, but picture it like this..." Victor said as he thought of how to explain this to an ancient human "Essentially every town and city in this country and indeed most countries has harnessed the power of lightning through non magical means. Using metal wires and more sophisticated things it is brought from power stations to everyone's homes where wires run along the inside of walls to power technological contraptions, like the light bulbs on the ceiling, no magic involved..."

Surprising, he would need to keep note of this, what other wondrous contraptions could the mundane's have created? Regardless his turn was passed "Inquire to your hearts desire."

"Who is apis?" Victor wondered taking much less time to think now as all of these names made him quite curious.

Ah, this one knew which questions to ask "Apis was our patron, our god..the holy bull, son of the great goddess Hathor. He was intermediary between men and the gods, taking the form of a great black bull, who would die and be reborn. Courageous, fertile, symbol of the renewal of life and of the best qualities of kingship, an incarnation of Osiris, and messenger to Ptah and Atum....Though I also was a servant on Apedemak, to Apis I dedicated all my efforts in the battle against the spawn of Apep."

"Most interesting, I had no idea there was a time when mortals interacted with such beings beyond our realms, even the records I've found of the recent wizard orders do not speak of such things, but indicate that they were rather against devoting ones self to deities." Victor commented idly as he took notes and waited for the ancient's questions

"What disciplines of magic have survived since I first went into slumber?" He questioned, this question far more important to him than the last.

"The last orders divided them into two umbrella categories based on their point of origin. Magic From Within included elementalism, destruction, glamour, and warding. Magic From Without Consisted of Sorcery, Necromancy, Entropy, Enchantment, and Thaumaturgy." He explained showing that the number had risen and not declined; necromancy for instance had been a mere subschool, he soon added the bad news however "But I'm the only mage I know of, and all I have available, are Destruction, Warding, and Necromancy."

"A whole school for necromancy?" He replied with a raised brow, he had mixed feelings on that for obvious reasons "It's good to see that each has endured, perhaps there is hope yet for a resurgence....though such a thing would be beyond me."

"Indeed it turns out there are some... very interesting uses for necromancy distinct from summoning and binding spirits... that body you melted had no spirit it was merely a vessel for magic bent to my will..."  Despite how sinister that sounded it was probably actually more ethical at least by modern standards than the necromancy of his time, and victor didn't seem to notice how it sounded, as he asked. "What kind of magic did your order specialize in?"

He nodded, cataloguing the nonchalance with which Victor spoke about such things "Summoning and Thaumaturgy were the two schools of our order. "

"Before we continue this I should mention I have human servants up stairs, who while they know there are crazy things out there don't know I'm a mage or that undead are real. I'm not sure if I should tell them or not, however I am fairly certain them walking into an undead mage is not the best way to break it to them..." Victor tried to explain to the mummy, both as warning that they would need to be discrete when he left the basement, and hoping for council on if he should inform them.

Ah, so mages still had servants even in this far flung era, good to see some things didn't change "...It is not the purview of the master to hide from his servants, give them the truth but swear them to secrecy, and do so in such a way that inspires awe rather than fear." He advised sagely "As for me, I will stay disguised....it does me shame to be seen like this in any case, even now as we speak."

"Well for just that purpose I have brought a cloak and mask." He gestured to said cloak and mask on the table "Well my family does have servants, but that's due to our wealth and not our magic. Regardless I will take that to heart, and I can have you shown to a room if you wish."

Shoulders sagging a bit he immediately put on both of the garments, a feeling of relief coming over him as his hideous visage was now obscured. Self-consciousness was something below one of his station normally, and he could feel his pride denting at the thought of such things. Yet he couldn't help it when he looked like this, he who was once known as the blessed of Apedemak, handsome and tall. Perhaps then this was some cruel lesson of the gods?