He takes a moment to process this ('carbon' translates as an alchemical term which luckily he recognizes) and then responds excitedly. 

"Carbon... as in the base essence of charcoal and ash?  The crystallization... is there a particular solution you can get diamond to precipitate out of?  Does it need pressure like in the depths of the earth?  Does the crystallization need adjacent elemental energies?"

The wizard is probably bothering Darth Occlus about whatever magical technique it was she used a moment ago, which means boring wizard talk.  On the other hand, he is bored enough boring wizard talk might actually be a relief, and maybe watching Darth Occlus get annoyed will be fun.

So he stands up from the rock he was sitting on and walks over to join the whispered conversation.

"Immense heat and pressure is the simplest method, though there are others. And of course, the closer to pure, the better quality the resulting stone will be. Simple charcoal is unlikely to be particularly useful without further refinement. I would be looking for something like processed coke, depending on the state of your steel manufacturing, or high-grade mineral coal."

"Yes, yes, very fascinating.  Just what I always wanted to learn, an alchemical process for turning coal into stone.  Truly the lore of distant planets is deeply fascinating!"

He resolves to just ignore the Count.

"Do you know of any techniques for quantifying the heat and pressure required?  Or maybe... would overshooting the pressure and heat needed still work?"

His mind is racing through all the spells that could apply very focused heat and pressure.  Maybe a modification to forcecage for pressure?

"Yes, though I am not terribly interested in attempting to translate those for you in the absence of a more solid grounding in the state of scientific understanding here. As a point of comparison, most natural diamonds are formed during the collation of a planetary system, or in the hearts of stars."

Wait, making diamonds is what they are taking about? 

"You may not have anyone dead you would want back, but are there really no Wishes your heart desires?  For myself, I would like to become even more splendid and dazzling, although that might not be a safe Wish seeing as how it borders on the impossible."

That joke wasn't to his usual quality, he's concealing a hint of real anger about Darth Occlus being so careless about the knowledge of unlimited diamonds.

He's going to keep ignoring the Count, how about that.

"The Order of the Flaming Lance is quite interested in magic and alchemy and could put you into contact with all sorts of alchemists if you have any interest in the state of alchemical knowledge on this, uh, planet?"

Right, the Count had been talking to her before the rest of them were brought down by Terendelev and he mentioned she was from another planet just now.

"Certainly, I expect it would be an amusing diversion if nothing else."

To Daeran, "Unless you are at present in contact with a high-circle spellcaster, the question is academic, no?

"Such a boring and academic topic, I am sure you have more interesting and exciting things to talk about while we sit here waiting for the demons to dare attack us again?  Or maybe you'd like to meditate, I here that is an exciting and popular diversion of monks?"

"We'll be in contact in the future yes."

He is about to bow out of the conversation, but maybe she isn't enjoying the Count's wit.

"Would you like me to continue from Anevia with a general summary about magic?"

"Ughhh..."  The count dramatically sighs and goes back to sitting on the rock he had earlier.

If he's going to recuse himself on his own recognizance, then they may as well continue with the magic. They had gotten up to fifth-circle, yes?

Anevia's knowledge of higher circle spells is kinda lacking (they can only rarely afford to use a scroll of it and don't have anyone in Kenabres that high circle besides Terendelev, and Terendelev has spontaneous casting where she can't swap out spells and is stuck with just a few she knows innately).  So she'll let Aquilia take over.

"Would you prefer a loose overview of some of the more important higher circle spells or a more general summary of categorizations of spells first?"

"Continue with the overview, if you would."

Anevia skipped over a few 5th circle spells he thinks are notable.  He tries to keep it tactically focused but can't resist mentioning a point or two or theory or concept here and there.  Among the spells for 5th circle he discusses, True seeing, 5th for clerics, 6th for wizards, great for illusions but requires an expensive component.  Polymorph, very flexible open-ended shapeshifting!  Mage's Private Sanctum, blocks out all divination (an important distinction, as some information gathering magics aren't actually divination, for example, message is actually transmutation), good for privacy.  Stoneskin, nice powerful durability against physical attacks, but uses a moderate amount of diamond dust.  Permanency, uses lots of diamond dust, can make several other key spells permanent!  Commune, yes-or-no questions from a God!  Somewhat less impressive than it sounds, even if you get clever with trees of questions, even Gods have limits on their awareness, but still pretty useful.

Does she have any questions about any of these?

Several that are theory-focused, but none that need disrupt the flow at this point.

He is really easy to derail into more theoretical topics, but he catches himself before he goes on for too long or gets into explanations beyond the basics.  6th circle has Greater Dispel Magic (like Dispel Magic but better in a few key ways), Antimagic field (a great option for killing wizards, but it is bound to the same area as the caster which means you need a team working together to leverage it like that, or at least so he's heard), Cold Ice Strike (notable over other offensive evocations because it can be cast by both wizards and clerics, and it can be cast very quickly compared to most spells), Flesh to Stone (good for trapping someone in a not technically dead state) and Stone to Flesh (reverse the previously mentioned spell, can be used on just plain stone, but takes lots of tricks and technique to get something even vaguely edible but is noteworthy for the sheer bulk of 'food' it can generate, or at least that's what he's heard), Telepathy (kind of costly at 6th circle considering message is a cantrip and translation magic is 2nd or 3rd). 

Oh that remind him, is she okay with him casting a message on her so they can have this conversation more quietly?

If he thinks it necessary.

He would kind of like to yes, in case she has anything else on the level of making diamonds.

He continues... Create Undead... did Anevia mention Animate Undead (he has her on the message also, even though she can't talk directly to Darth Occlus)?  Okay she didn't.  She probably skipped the 3rd/4th circle Animate Dead because Demons are bad enough at logistics they can't source the material for using undead too often, and Mendev bans the use of them, even to the point of owning the material for the spells.  Anyway, Animate Dead creates simple skeletons and zombies, maybe slightly more advanced skeletons and zombies for a skilled enough necromancer.  Skeletons and zombies are mindless but still cause some torment for souls in their afterlife, at least according to his understanding of the theory.  Undead created by Animate Undead are nastier and more powerful and retain some intelligence, in some cases dragging souls from their afterlife to suffer and cause suffering as twisted monsters.  He doesn't know what her thing is but if it includes the power to create undead she should know that is very illegal in Mendev.

Noted. So the difference between Create Undead and Raise Dead is whether the soul... suffers?

He hadn't even thought of them as in the same category... Raise Dead fully restores the mind and all but fully restores the body (give or take a Restoration or two).  Create Undead creates horrifically warped monsters with unrecognizable personalities and only tenuous connections to their former life.  There are often mad necromancers convinced they can do better... well compared to the Evil afterlives he supposes it is possible the necromancers occasionally do somewhat better, but that is a low, low, bar.  Even undead that come out with more continuity of personality and memories of their former life and are one of the types that aren't constantly suffering generally have a complete loss of empathy and Goodness and an inability to enjoy many of the innocent Good things of their former life.  Like a Lich (not that Create Undead can make a Lich, it takes a specialized ritual unique to the caster, but as an example of an undead) might retain their love of magic and scientific experiments, but lose their ability to enjoy playing with pets or seeing beautiful natural scenery.

(He tries not to show it, but he is kind of worried about getting the extraplanetary monk interested in Evil magic.)

(Oh, it is far too late for that, dear child.)

One sees why it was made illegal, in that case.

Right... moving on.  There is Planar Binding (for wizards) and Planar Ally (for clerics).  They can call outsiders, you know, beings from the afterlives, to aid the caster.  He starts to find his stride listing off spells again... Chain Lightning (worse than her lightning effect looked like, direct offensive magic isn't really the optimal use of wizardry).  Heal, for clerics, cures basically everything (blindness, deafness, poison, disease), except for the deeper sort of damage a restoration gets at.  Word of Recall, like teleport for clerics but more limited in most ways.  Moving on to 7th circle... Banishment sends outsider (like demons) back to their home plane (the Abyss in the case of demons).  Mage's Magnificent Mansion, shelter and one of the few ways wizardry has of properly and directly producing food.  Plane shift, 7th for wizard, 5th for clerics, you can directly visit the afterlives.  Greater Teleport, none of the risk of going off target even the most carefully cast 5th circle teleport has.  Greater Scrying, like Scrying but with a more convenient casting time.  Limited Wish, a tricky spell that requires a diamond.  It is capable of taking spoken input to accomplish nearly anything, but often goes disastrously wrong if you don't stick to one of the known safe wordings and/or emulating existing 6th circle and lower spells.  Mass Greater Magic Weapon, handy for empowering a group's weapons, he's heard legends of a version with no limit on people and immense range, and it should be theoretically doable as a spell because... sorry getting off topic into theory.  Greater Polymorph, like Polymorph but even more flexible and more powerful forms.  Resurrection, like raise dead, and requires a bigger diamond, but it only needs a small piece of the body and can reach back over a century to restore someone to life.

Any questions?