"I am Definitely a Badger! An Undead Badger, make no Mistake, but in No Way does my current State make me any less a Badger! I should Note that I was Amplified from being Merely a Common Forest Badger, but I am the Same Being, and I retain memories from when I was Purely an Animal. Do you not Retain memories of being a Human? You are Amplified as Well, I think?" 

“Yes, Lichdom provides a substantial boost in clarity of purpose, like several types of headbands together.  I had developed my core principles as a mere human, but my human foibles and weaknesses distracted me from my principles and weakened my resolve in following them.  My human origins are now a mere footnote in my development as an economic agent and innovator.”

“Interesting. Dying certainly didn’t help my focus or energy.” She frowns. “I can’t drink tea anymore, so really it’s far worse. I quite miss tea. You seem to have flesh - can you still eat and drink, then?”

"I also Find that Moles are also Less Compelling to Eat, although I still Can. I like Innovations! What have you Innovated?"

"A variety of things..."

"Among them economical mechanisms and financial vehicles: A licensing scheme for the management of how corpses are to be used... Geb's legal structure wasn't supportive enough of the idea and too many other countries outright ban the usage of reanimation.  An insurance service aimed at protecting your corpse from undeath and returning it to the grave should it be reanimated... I couldn't quite develop a good customer base, but the Abadarans I sold the business to have done well with it and they still contract out some of their.. procurement.. to me.  And most recently, and very promising... I've been experimenting with importing some of the production setup used in Alkenstar into Geb, the work Alkenstar has put into dividing labor and production into small repeatable jobs seems quite suitable for adapting to undead labor!"

"As for the magical... I've tried my hand at spell invention.  I have some necromantic variants of standard spells... but the tradeoffs generally make them not worth it in terms of practical applications.  I'm an item crafter as well... my innovation there has mostly been minor: for instance adding small extra enchantments to standard items, like headbands.  Headbands are one of the most common and earliest major purchases of spellcasters as they grow in wealth, and when the client has saved up thousands of pieces of gold I find I can often upsell them to to a headband with a few extra perks.  For instance... a constant cool breeze is quite cheap to add, and to a living adventurer it saves a daily casting of endure elements.  Or for my undead clients, I've actually found minor mind-affecting curses can be added for almost negative cost, you just have to let the item-crafting process go awry in very controlled amounts.  A mind-affecting curse has no effect on undead and provides potential retaliation against any living looters aiming to steal the rightfully earned value of my client!"

By the end, Eliezeu has almost defaulted into his standard sales pitch to Haria but manages to catch himself.  His priority is making interesting acquaintances, he already has plenty of customers.

"What innovations have caught your eye lately?  I too like innovations, even when I'm not the innovator."

"Cursed Items sound Very Useful. Perhaps you might Even have Thief return the Item through some kind of Control of the Mind!  As to to Myself, there has Long been a Druid Spell for Making the Common Badger have a Great Intellect. It was Adapted for Wizards by my Late Companion, Lady Eriape, Princess of Badgers. It is a Great Innovation. I have it in my Spellbook Myself, though I cannot yet Cast It, not having Attained the Necessary Strength! Such is Life! Or Unlife, if you would Have It!"

“Fascinating… I hope I’m not being too forward… have you considered under what terms you would be willing to share that spell?”

Being able to make an animal into an intelligent worker (a wizard at that!) seems to have a lot of potential economic value.  Although, the principles might require some nuance.

“And relatedly, do you strongly prefer being an intelligent undead to a living animal?  …how much would you estimate it is worth it to you, monetarily speaking.”

Logically, if animals would pay money to become intelligent undead, it would only be fair if they accepted some debt to do so, and thus he would have a justification for extracting a fair amount of value from their labor after reanimating them.

"Being a thinking Creature is Certainly Superior, as being an Animal is Very Scary" 

"Why I would Offer this Spell to You for One Small Consideration My lost Companion Eriape would want me to Insist On. Namely that you Swear to only Awaken the Badger, and likewise so Swear those to whom you Offer it, etcetera." 

“Allow me a moment to consider.”

Elizeu doesn’t actually currently read lawful.  (Possibly he’s been a bit too loose with agreements or bent too many ignorantly fashioned mundane laws… but he suspect the real reason is that Pharasma’s definition of lawfulness isn’t in alignment with the natural principles he adheres to.). But he does deeply respect consensually made agreements and makes his oaths carefully.

“I would ask for an exception in the unlikely event I come across or develop the spell through completely unrelated channels.  Inventing a similar spell similar to Eriape’s spell wouldn’t count as “unrelated” unless I outright completely erased my memory of Eriape’s spell and developed through some other channel of inspiration.  If I eventually make Druid acquaintances and acquire the Druid spell myself that might be sufficient inspiration.”

He raises a hand to indicate he is thinking more.

“And dire badgers, or other variants of badgers, like, I don’t know, I assume there are underdark badgers, all count as badgers right?”

Of course his main application will be indentured indebted servants employees.  So he’ll need them to be capable of economically valuable production.

“And they’ll still count as badgers if I give them a few augmentations before reanimating and uplifting them, right?  Like opposable thumbs?  Have you ever wished for more dexterous thumbs?”

”And it’s admittedly unlikely to come up (my forays into spell invention have been mediocre at best, macabre at worst) but how exactly do derived spells interact with your request?  Like if I invent a new spell for awakening statues based on Eriape’s spell, am I obligated to only use it on badger statues?”

"The Exception for Erasing your Memory sounds very Reasonable. Giant badgers are less Suitable for the Spell, but I foresee no Problem with any Badger Varieties. Opposable Thumbs would In fact be Welcomed, I think. I would think that Eriape would Prefer Statues of Badgers, but I will Not Insist Unreasonably on it. Only if the Derived Spell is an Animal-Affecting spell do I consider that your Oath Applies." 

“I believe those terms are acceptable to me.”

His voice is level, but his mind is already filled with visions of undead badger necromancers directing hordes of undead in turn working in lines to manufacture and assemble value goods.

"Why this kind of social intercourse is what this club is all about. I can't imagine that you wouldn't want to join it now, miss Haria." 

"No, no, you Have Quite Convinced me." 

“The company of this club is quite interesting, if not, on average, as interesting as yourself or as innovative as your lost companion.”

He doesn’t have the new spell in his spellbook so a little flattery is called for.  And he is being quite truthful!