Speak with Dead

With this spell the caster causes the corpse of an intelligent creature to become animated and to answer the caster's questions. It does not matter how long the corpse has been dead, but it must be essentially intact with at least a complete mouth in order to answer questions. The corpse will answer at most one question per two caster levels, but if the duration expires any remaining questions are lost. The corpse only knows what it knew when it was alive; this includes the languages it knew in life. Thus, the caster must share a language with the deceased in order to get any questions answered at all. The answers given are drawn from knowledge "imprinted" on the corpse during life; the caster does not in any case actually communicate with the spirit of the deceased creature. The corpse cannot retain any information given to it, and does not even remember any previous instances of communication via this spell. The answers given may not be useful for various reasons. If the corpse knew the caster when it was alive, or if the caster is a member of a group the deceased disliked, it may choose to lie or mislead the caster. If the caster asks the corpse questions of a personal nature, or questions that indicate the caster may be working against whatever interests the corpse had in life, it will almost certainly seek to mislead the caster. If the corpse has been roused by this spell within the last seven days, the spell will fail. Undead creatures (including the remains of defeated undead creatures) cannot be affected by this spell.