Lieze passed in and out of consciousness throughout the rest of the day. Thankfully, with Helmach dead, she was in no rush to accomplish anything. The hideout was no clinic - especially not with hordes of undead passing through its chambers on the regular, but medical supplies migrated from Marché hideout in the sewers would at least guarantee her survival for a short while.
Trapped in a haze of delirium, Lieze’s worries seemed to inflate, though she was never quite lucid enough to make them known. The only desire she could express clearly was the desire for the aching in her arm to disappear. During the night, feverish dreams assaulted her mind - recollections of her time as a young girl in the Order, days spent gallivanting about with a friendlier Drayya, or nights pouring over Lüngen’s endless collection of grimoires.
For all her ambition, things truly were simpler in the past. In the next moment, she was awake, broken body illuminated by a candle flickering atop a table one of Marché’s followers had lugged in to make the place seem less unfeeling. As she sat up on her meagre bed of straw and took a breath to distract herself from the pain, Drayya wandered into the room from below, outfitted in a hooded shawl that obscured her appearance.
“Oh dear - look who’s awake. And everything was so peaceful for a few blissful hours.” She joked, “You’re sitting up. That’s certainly an improvement from yesterday.”
“Ah… my head is killing me…” Lieze clenched her eyes to escape the light, “I haven’t missed anything important, have I…?”
“Nothing you weren’t present for.” Drayya answered, “Alistair’s coup, chiefly. Or, I should say - the Church of the Golden Dragon’s coup.”
“Ah, yes… I’d almost forgotten.” She paused, “That slug… I’ll bet he’s been searching for an opportunity like this for decades. That outrage from the attack I orchestrated gave him precisely the chance he needed to seize the throne. Has this affected our plans?”
“Oh yes. But I’m sure you knew that already.” Drayya reached into her shawl and pulled out something that glistened in the firelight before placing it on the table, “You’d better see the state of Tonberg with your own eyes. I can’t quite do it justice with words alone.”
Somehow, Lieze staggered to her feet, half-prepared to fall right back down again. Staggering over to the table, she examined the object with eyes not entirely focused. It seemed to be a gemstone - black as night and cut so beautifully as to rival the works of master artisans. She reached out her right arm only to recall that she no longer had one. A chill ran down her spine as familiar sensations flexed in what should have been a perfectly empty space.
“...What is this?” She asked, hiding her surprise.
“I was hoping you would be able to tell me that.” Drayya answered, “Once we dragged Helmach’s carcass back to the hideout, Marché dug this stone out of his left palm which seemed to be infested by the Blackbriar’s tendrils. Once it was removed, they disappeared.”
“Then… it must have something to do with the ‘gift’ me and him shared…” Lieze muttered.
“That’s what I was thinking as well.”
Twelve Gods. Twelve bearers of the gift. Including herself, Lieze knew of only four, and one of them was dead. The other had ascended to Tonberg’s throne, and the last possessed an as-of-yet unknown connection to both. Somewhere else in the world - in the far reaches of the Dwarven Mountains or the black forest of Akzhem, it was possible that similar conflicts between those holders of power were erupting.
With her only hand, Lieze reached out to hold the gemstone between her thumb and index finger, marvelling at the impeccable sheen. Then, all at once, she was assaulted by a repulsive sensation which invaded her mind like a parasite. The scale embedded in her palm seemed to pulse in reaction to the stone’s proximity.
I am the One who rebels against the heavens.
I am the deepening night. I am the great pretender.
If thou seekest power, then become one with my darkness.
In the name of Salvation…
Something spoke to her. A presence out of the chamber’s darkness, idling in her peripheral vision like an assassin ready to strike, and yet which disappeared as soon as she darted her eyes. Her fatigue dissolved away, replaced by an unfamiliar longing inserted into the bursting synapses of her brain. What she held was no mere stone. It was an artefact of power - great and terrible power. With care, she pinched the gem above her palm and weighed the choice of allowing it to touch her scale.
“Lieze?” Drayya leaned over the table to get a look at her face, “Are you okay?”
“I… yes.” She swallowed, “I think… I might be able to do something with this.”
“What do you mean?”
Lieze didn’t answer. Though she was at first apprehensive, the thought dawned that she had no reason to refuse such an unconditional offering of power. No matter the effects it could have on her life, she was devoted to the rejection of earthly pleasures and suffering. With that in mind, she allowed her fingers to separate, causing the gemstone to drop gently onto her scale.
There was a flash of light - bright enough to sear Lieze’s vision, and an uncontrollable surge of warmth which spread from her arm to the rest of her body. The gemstone appeared to be combining with her scale, reducing to a molten mass before sinking into the protrusion. At no point did Lieze experience pain of any sort. As a matter of fact, she would soon begin feeling quite energetic indeed.
Divine Providence Accepted Calibrating Subject [Lieze Sokalar] Please Wait...
She recognised the statement from when she had accepted the Gildwyrm’s gift during the siege. Power animated her weary muscles. A pleasant electricity tickled her skull. When the sensation subsided, she was left feeling more alive than she - as a necromancer - had any right to.
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Scion [Helmach Lawain] Incorporated Current Scion Level - [2]
Scion Milestone Reached!
Heavenly Favours Unlocked! Heavenly Favours Learned - [Destroy Undead] [Supreme Regeneration]
Scion? Heavenly Favours? Whatever Lieze had done, the scale had certainly expected it to happen.
“Oh dear…” Drayya blinked, a tear forming in her eye, “You might have warned me that you were about to do that.”
“Sorry. It just felt… natural.” Lieze replied, “Is this the will of the Gods? Am I serving some higher purpose by collecting the ‘scales’ of others who share my power?”
“I don’t like it.” She crossed her arms, “No good can come of being a pawn to the Gods. Look at what happened to the 16 Sages. Our goals are straightforward and uncorrupted. I wouldn’t like that to be infringed by divine will.”
“I don’t plan on being the pawn of any God.” Lieze assured, “Power is power. I won’t complain about where it comes from if I can put it to good use. We’ll be needing everything we can get now that Ricta has been dethroned.”
Her thoughts returned to the so-called [Heavenly Favours]. She’d learned two, but what exactly were they, and how useful would they be in her struggle against the holds of man? As if to answer the question, two boxes of plain text expanded from her scale.
Feature - Heavenly Favours Description - You have a number of Heavenly Favours equal to your Scion Level. You regain 1 Favour at dawn. Your total amount of Favours cannot exceed your current Scion level.
Heavenly Favour - [Destroy Undead] Original Scion - Lieze Sokalar (Ouromaedr, the Golden Dragon) Description - Use 1 Heavenly Favour to target every [Undead] creature within 300m of your current position with this spell. If an [Undead] creature's level is equal to or lower than your own, it is instantly reduced to ashes.
Heavenly Favour - [Supreme Regeneration] Original Scion - Helmach Lawain (Bueram, the Great Pretender) Description - Use 1 Heavenly Favour to vastly improve your natural healing ability. For 60 seconds, you recover 50 HP every 10 seconds. Additionally, upon activation, any permanent injuries you have previously sustained are immediately healed.
Two brand-new abilities, ready to be abused for her own gain.
“[Destroy Undead] seems… counterproductive.” She thought,. “Well, I suppose that’s what happens when you receive the blessing of the Gildwyrm. At least I won’t have to worry about someone else using it. But the second ability - [Supreme Regeneration] - that’s something I could use right now.”
After all, she had a stump in desperate need of replacing. The timing couldn’t have been any more perfect.
[Supreme Regeneration] Activated
Remaining Heavenly Favours - 1
All at once, a nightmarish hallucination took hold of her. She’d experienced visions of the Blackbriar’s glory during her sessions of communion while raising thralls, but never had she suffered one so lucid and visceral. Her mind struggled to comprehend the God’s full majesty as the world seemed to melt away, replaced by a cocoon of intertwining thorns.
She understood it then - that the pitiful ‘communion’ suffered to manifest spells only offered a teasing glimpse into the true nature of the Gods. No longer was she dropping to her hands and knees and begging for the barest crumb of power, but outright demanding the Blackbriar’s strength for her own needs. An excruciating pain assaulted her right arm in the chaos, as if a celestial cancer was spreading out from the well of her soul.
When the vibrant hallucinations subsided and she was returned to the world of the abled, a familiar sensation had returned. The sounds of vines tightening accompanied the flexing of her muscles as Lieze raised her left arm to see that her discarded flesh had been replaced with a mass of intertwining tendrils. Thorns of purest crimson studded the vines like jewels. Drayya could only observe in quiet disbelief as Lieze curled her freshly-grown fingers, rather unsure of how to feel about the situation herself.
“Unbelievable…” Drayya croaked, “Master Sokalar - no, anyone from the Order would throw a fit if they saw this. To be chosen by the Blackbriar itself… for a necromancer, there’s scarcely an honour more enviable.”
“Hm…” Lieze brought her arm closer to the candle, “It’s not exactly how it used to be…”
“Oh, my apologies. Is it not to your liking?” She blinked, “I certainly wouldn’t be complaining if I regrew an arm.”
“Let’s hope I don’t lose anything else.” Lieze said, “I’d rather keep my body mostly flesh and bone, assuming I have a choice in the matter.”
“That’s simple enough. Just cut down on the suicidal strategies, hm?” Drayya smirked, “-In any case, it seems you’ve made a full recovery. A pity, too - I sent Marché out on an errand to find someone who could help you.”
“He went to the city?”
She nodded, “A privilege I’m afraid you no longer have.”
“...What do you mean?”
-Is what she asked, but truthfully, Lieze already has a good idea of why that might have been the case.
“As an accessory to treason, you’re now quite possibly the most wanted criminal in Tonberg.” Drayya explained, “Starting a riot was all well and good. It certainly kept the guards off my back while I was burning wheat fields to the ground. But didn’t you consider the ramifications of becoming a public enemy?”
“The problem is that Ricta was still on the throne when I started that riot.” Lieze replied, “I had planned on leveraging my considerable influence against him - before Alistair up and pulled him off the throne, that is.”
“Yes… and now that he’s been evicted from the castle, our bargaining chip is void.” Drayya sighed, “You’ve made quite the mess.”
“It’s nothing we can’t handle.”
“Well, at least you’re optimistic about it.” Placing her hands on the table, Drayya collected her thoughts, “...Baccharum wishes to meet with you. Though I can’t say whether it’s to congratulate you for slaying Helmach or to kill you for dooming Tonberg to theocratic rule. Alma also had something she wished to discuss - she’s not here, however.”
“Did she abandon us?”
“No, no… I mean to say, she’s currently residing in her home in the city to lay low for a while.”
“Hm. It sounds like we’ll be needing a way in, then.”
“Isn’t that the truth.” Drayya sighed, “-And I think I might have just the thing to help with that.”