In addition to the wisdom gleamed from the blessing was stark realization; whatever
Lazule was made from was not living flesh at all. Rather than healing, the excess energy of his blessing had left radiant burns within the warrior wherever the spell had checked over – and not knowing where his wounds might lie,
Kiros had checked everywhere. Any bruised muscle or wounds were only harmed further by the very nature of the spell, with additional surface burns of varied degrees in varied locations from the priest's hasty blessing. Upon his realization he brought the incantation to an abrupt halt; but the damage had been done.
That the man seemed technically
undead raised even further questions, but these would need to be answered later - if at all.
If his blessing had aided
Thorne, his unconscious body gave no sign. But at least he was alive and physically intact. Unable to help him, and bewildered by Lazule, his attention turned next to his own injuries. He braced his staff against the floor with his good arm, pulling himself to his feet,with a grimace of pain from. A shove of his shoulder against the wall popped the limb popped back into place. While it would be faster and less painful to use his powers of healing, that would also be a waste of arcane energy. And he knew not how long it might take for them to escape this cursed house.
Taking a moment to recover, Kiros was abruptly interrupted by the sound of wooden scratching in the otherwise silent hallway. Catching sight of the motion out of the corner of his eye, he withdrew a knife as he approached the creature. Another sudden stir from the waking sneezie caused him to drop down immediately, plunging the blade downward in a killing blow,despite the pain of his injuries. The
monster died with a pained honk, and Kiros looked over the remaining sneezies in the room with uncertainty about which was dead, and which may be merely unconscious.
So he took the most reasonable action that came to mind, and went around to drive the knife into each fallen sneezie that littered the hallway floor. The dead made no sound, while those that still carried life had it promptly ended with further shrill honks. Only once he was sure that he and his companions remained the sole active beings in the hallway did he return to them, finally laying the blessing of health upon himself to mend his own bruises and broken bones.
He could do little else but wait for Thorne. In the time he had, he'd examine Lazule further in search of what he might do to restore him to his former condition.
* * *
The wall behind Lazule was now marked with a series of hastily scrawled notes written in chalk. Kiros's arcane inquiry had taken a bit of time, but using his harmless incantation of insight he had managed to discover much about the motionless, heartless man contained within the metal armour. Seemingly a construction of both magic and man, his true power source was the energies within – a sort of 'inner fire' that burned with magic, yet was presently disconnected from his body. The man's internals were peppered with shards of glass too; studying the glass revealed nothing further about it. In a way it was a relief, his
empty search for further answers told him the glass wasn't enchanted, nor was it ever.
There was one final oddity that he had been able to note. The air, or whatever it was beneath the armour, was notably different than the air they were breathing. While unable to discern why this would be, something this odd and deliberate could be no coincidence. It was more than likely that Lazule's continued existence depended upon this property as well.
Thus, all he truly required it would seem, was a sealed glass vessel. One that Kiros, conveniently enough, had been carrying with him. He pulled out a small empty glass bottle and set it aside. He also removed the lid, preventing the procedure from transporting the deadly Aerethil air as assumed contents. It was but one obstacle to overcome; his state of quasi-undeath would further complicate attempts at resuscitation. With limited tools to help him, the next actions required careful planning. Transplanting the bottle would be tricky but feasible. His magic did enable the transport of foreign material; usually seen in reagents such as wax and ground rust. Using the bottle as reagent might suffice, so long as the container did not break down during the procedure. It would require a little finesse, were the warrior fully alive. With no other means to connect the life fire to the body it had been severed from, the procedure – facilitated through the same blessing of health – would cause unavoidable burns. Yet there was some benefit; healing upon the living carried certain limitations as guarantee against such power ever causing harm. A promise the undead were exempt from, granting Kiros some free reign in how he might continue.
He laid the lidless bottle atop Lazule’s chest and prepared his spell with the lightest touch possible; it would still burn, albeit less haphazardly as the prior blessing had done. Invoking the spell, the transparent glass container grew opaque with luminescence, lighting up the area before vanishing in a bright flash. The vessel now laid in the empty cavity where his heart ought to be, surrounding the severed heart within him and scalding his lungs in the process. He did the same with the cork cap, placing it within the bottle using the same magic. This too caused damage, albeit less than than before with the bottle acting as shield to stunt the radiant burns.
The bottle now laid within his rib cage, and the cork within it. The next step would be the most complex; to place the life fire within the bottle. His dispel magic would be suitable, in small and careful applications it enabled him to manipulate arcane effects rather than destroying them outright. And here, Kiros exercised utmost caution, even giving his notes one final glance over before he set to work.
The spell caught hold of the life fire in secure grasp, one that required great strain and concentration to keep steady. It was a clumsy arcane tool to be wielding and hardly the intended use of the spell, but it was the best he had available and all his deity had bothered to hand him. Arcane energy was spent on one failed attempt after another, before he finally managed to get the life fire within the bottle and hold it in place.
The final step was now before him, and it would necessarily be the most reckless. With the life fire inside the bottle he would now need to seal it, but the force required to do so would release uncontrollable radiant energy. Placing the cork within the bottle allowed the glass to act as a shield, but until the moment the vessel was closed the radiance would cause further damage to Lazule's insides. Speed was now a premium over carefulness. Readying himself, Kiros laid his hands on the warrior's armour again to begin the process, using an excess of power to seal the cork into place within the neck of the bottle. The force gave Lazule a barely noticeable jolt, along with completely unnoticeable internal burns. But the action was brief enough, Kiros hoped, to prevent the damage from being outright destructive.
Only time would tell however. He had carefully worked with what knowledge he could gleam, but only the reanimation of Lazule could truly tell him whether his efforts had resulted in success or failure...
Thorne Lazule
