>problem with crimson salt crystals not preserving dead corpse long enuff to animate it, on sentry and on defender put crystals on corpse and 2 secs later the critter departed

That is not the issue with those creatures. Those creatures are considered non-corporeal and always depart very quickly. You need to use 3 shots of Pain to kill them, then you have about 12 seconds to get the crystals spread, get a gem, and cast 730

I use this script, which makes it very fast. The part about the crystals bursting into flames is no longer applicable, I think, since HSN. That was what happened when you tried to animate a person who was LKed. I MARK gems I want to use for animating so I won't accidentally sell them. Marked gems won't work with the animate dead spell, though. This script removes the mark.

---

if_2 goto Begin
echo Syntax: <target> <gem>
exit

Begin:
put get crimson crystal from my backpack
match Cast You carefully spread your crimson salt crystals
match Exit crimson salt crystals burst into flames
put spread my crystal on %1
matchwait

Cast:
put get %2 from my backpack
put mark %2 remove
put prep 730
waitfor You begin drawing
put cast %1
waitfor You gesture at
put put %2 in my backpack

Exit:
exit