[2023] Necromancy Insights - Story

it hasn't been renamed - categorically it is a siphon, the name for the weapon is still death guard :)

This is correct. They are two separate fights.

Death guards (main hand) are siphons (lower case 's') - it functions similarly to The Siphon (capital 's') in that it takes energy one one place and puts it in another (albeit more concentrated).

Ditto the off-hand is a conduit, not The Conduit, which connects your current location to the Underworld, so you can conjure spirits.

These are categorical terms, not item names - i.e. to conjure spirits requires a conduit; to harness necrotic energy requires a siphon. This way, we can later on have different weapons other than death guards and underworld lanterns, akin to melee weapons having maces, short swords, 2-handed swords, spears, et al.

You can buy the most expensive coffee in the world, but if you don't brew it long enough, it'll taste like water.

If Menaphos had had the development cycle we've had for Archaeology and Necromancy, or at least something in between, then maybe the (rightfully-lambasted) Menaphos quests wouldn't have turned out to be my albatross.

I don't dislike either of you either(!), but I do hope you'll judge them fairly upon release (and not before).