Orfal awakens after his collapse onto the wooden box. He slowly lifts himself up with shaking arms and carefully folds in his legs into a cross sitting position.
'If I ever make it out here I am going to flail Dundrid alive.'
One of Orfal's arms tries to reach for the box but it's strength fails and slumps back down to his side.
'I have no energy left to move. How am I going to open this thing now.'
Orfal closes his eyes and takes a few shallow breaths in attempt to calm his aching body. The pain has been so intense that he never noticed the peculiar environment around him till now.
'I can only take in about a third of my normal breaths and every inch of my body has a pressure bearing against it. What is this room?'
Orfal now realizes the room he slept in was the reason his bones are all broken. The room is twice the height of any other one on the submarine. Orfal looks to his right and sees a staircase that leads up to a door. On that door is a caution symbol containing a skull in fire and above the door is a glowing exit rune.
'I guess that's where I came from... no way I am making it back up there in this state'.
Orfals skin has changed from burnt blisters to a dark charred texture from the prolong heat exposure. The temperture in the room seems to have increased from when he first awoken.
The dryness in his Orfal's throat starts to make him recall the last time he had a cool refreshing drink, which was of course during the bender that put him here in the first place.
'Never again will I drink so much ale'
-Words many dwarfs have spoken but none have obeyed.
Orfal then looks to his left and sees a mechanical wonder. A giant metal chamber rest at the end of the room. It had many pipes running over, under and into it. The height of the chamber seemed to go futher than what this room contained. In the center of the chamber was a window made from blue diamond. Through that window a dark black substance was slowly being collected.
The substance filled about half of the chamber's volume and was rising by the minute. A metal cog slowly turns as more substance was collected. At the same time the rooms temperature and air pressure rises as more substance fills the chamber.
'I've stop the pain in my body by stabalizing my posture but everytime that cog turns pain surges through my body again. It's also getting harder to breathe. I got to get out of here before my lungs get crushed.' Orfal tells himself.
His attention turns back onto the chest and he decides to finally open it. Orfal grabs the lid with his now black crispy hands and opens it to see four objects contained inside.
The first item removed from the chest is an old axe that doesn't look very threatening. Orfal quickly discards it to the side and grabs the next item. This time it's a crafting journal that has a very elaborate metal embroidered binding. Any dwarf would drool at the sight of a journal like this but Orfal couldn't spar a thought on it's mysteries, much less any drool in his circumstance. So onto the ground the journal went.
As the third item was removed Orfal's eyes immediately widen when he sees an elixir that is transparent gold in color with bright shining specks floating inside it.
'Finally something to drink at last.'
...
'Just got to get this ridiculous wax off the cork'
...
Orfal fiddles with the wax cover for minutes before he realizes it won't open no matter how hard he pulls or scratches.
Orfals eyes move towards the axe that he laid down earlier and a chapped blistering grin appears on his face.
Orfal can almost feel some moisture returning to his mouth as he holds the elixir down with one hand and drops the axe head on the cork with his other. However before the axe makes contact with the cork a magic sheild appears around the elixir and the axe goes flinging upwards and embeds itself into the metal ceiling.
Tears would roll down Orfals cheeks if he had any moisture to spar. Frustration aside Orfals hope now lies in the last item. His hand goes into the chest and comes back out holding a book that's titled '10 easy steps toward a stunning beard for the dwarfies'.
Blood sprays out of Orfals mouth and all over the books cover. His hopes of help have finally died and the worlds quietest scream of anger starts to leave Orfal's airless throat. Once more the metal cog turns on the chamber, increasing the rooms pressure and Orfal collapses on the floor again.
The book he was holding doesn't leave his grip but orfal pays no more attention to it. If he did he would notice the blood that sprayed over the cover was absorbed almost instantly by the cover.
Orfals instinct to survive is holding onto that last bit of stubborness in his mind while he enters that classic state of life events flashing before his eyes. His body however has reached its limit and is stuck lying on the ground waiting to die.
Another hour goes by and his lungs capacity gets smaller and smaller to point where no breath is entering them. His thoughts slow down and the devistating pain in his body starts to feel almost welcomed as his blood is now boiling inside his own veins.
What a serene feeling to have. Knowing that his life is ending but his instincts to survive are drifting away and his mind enters into a state of peace.
The heat in the room is now burning muscle off Orfals body and his soul starts to feel freedom as a stone gateway appears beside it. The gateway slowly opens up its door and starts sucking away Orfal's soul from its mortal shell.
Orfal's hand gets weak from muscle loss and finally lets go of that book he was holding. The beard grooming book falls fully into the blood pool below Orfal and begins to rapid absorb more and more of his blood.
The runes on the book slowly morph their shape into an ancient dwarven dielect called Duergan. The new title now reads 'Mystic Body Art of the Insane Duergar Miner' but only to those familar with the ancient language.
The book then turns etheral and enters into Orfal's body, appearing in the same place with the stone gateway. Dark red chains shoot out of the book and latch onto Orfal' s soul, pulling it way from the stone gateway. The stone gate then shuts after it's prey has been lost and the gate slowly fades into the spirit void. Orfal's soul is then placed back inside his dying body by the book and his new life begins.
More chains starts to connect between Orfal's soul, body and the book. A surge of strength is sent to Orfals right arm as it grasps the elixir bottle, releases an essense of Orfals mana into the wax seal releasing the spell. Chains flow next into Orfals jaw as his body bites down hard to break through the cork and gulps down the elixir.
Instantly Orfals blood stops boiling. All his fragmented bones start to mend while his muscles begin to regrow. Next skin is born again over his body. Finally his mind feels like it was hit by a bolt of lightning as it connects back to the bodies nerves. A dead heart starts thumping and empty lungs take in that first deep breath of air.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH"
Orfal's eyes now open and to his bewilderment he is holding an empty elixir bottle and standing up naked in the chamber room. His body was restored and moved again like it use too. His skin however was glowing red like a hot piece of iron inside a furnace.
The heat and pressure in the room was still intense and hurting him but that was not the cause of this strange anomaly. The elixir he took did more than constantly repair any damage he was receiving. It was reforging his mortal body and cleansing it to become closer to that of an immortal. Orfal had no idea he was receiving his first body tempering of bones, muscles and skin so he ignored the anomaly and focused back on the exit door.
Orfal spars no more thoughts to think and lets his survival instincts kick in. He drops the empty bottle and rushes to the ladder to escape out the door above. He reaches out his right arm to grab onto the ladder but before he reaches it the chains inside his arm contract and hold it in place.
"Ahhh what is that!" shrieks Orfal as he sees the dark red chains binding his arm.
'Wait those chains look familar.' Memories start to reform in his mind as he pictures the scene of his soul being out of his body and pulled towards the gateway. Next he sees the book appear in this strange space and attach to him with chains, pulling him back into his body. These vague memory flashes join up to his first moments of new breath and pain in his reforged body. He concludes that this book must be what saved his life and soul if what he remembers is real.
"What are you and why will you not let me escape?" speaks Orfal in a puzzeled tone, half expecting to not get back an answer.
A moment later though the chains inside his body slowly regress back into his chest and eventually return to Orfal's spirit realm. A place thats existence couldn't yet be felt or comprehend by Orfal.
Most dwarfs in an out of body experience would have never been able to return to their mortal body because it would be dead. Orfal possessed a feat and knowledge that now allowed him to feel a small connection to his spirit realm. He could tell that the chains left his mortal body but at the same time were still apart of him.
There was no urgent danger of being crushed or burnt alive in his new body so Orfal decided to sit on the floor and focus on that new feeling inside him. Orfal closed his eyes and started processing this new knowledge and spiritual experience he had. This new ability could be a real silver lining for his life right now. After about a minute of concentration Orfal felt a quake so hard he thought the submarine had crashed and thrown him hard into the wall. However he opened his eyes to see his body had not moved an inch.
"What in Sindri's forge was that?" Orfal gasped with surprise.
Orfal actually took his first step into entering his spirit realm. However naturally there would be a defense to prevent such an unnatural act and Orfal just experienced it. A minuscule backlash of the soul hit him as it was forced back into his body.
This small backlash was usually enough to frighten mortals from pursing such an urge, and it did. Too much strange events have been happening to Orfal and now he is scared and done.
"Well its been a real pleasure down here but I really must be going" Orfal says in the most charismatic way possible. He stands up and once again reaches for the ladder. This time he touches it without restraint and smiles big with relief.
The book however had not given up and instead took a more direct approach. Orfal suddenly felt the chains pierce his body, just deep enough to pinch it a little. Then it yanked forcefully on Orfals soul, tearing it away from his body.
From Orfals point of view he felt a much larger quake this time and fainted instantly into a deep slumber. His body was left as a statue with that one arm holding the ladder and a face in mid transition from relief to panic.
-IronShell: Upper Shell District, Royal Castle
The royal family is gathered around the palace bailey. In the center of the courtyard stands a very old dwarf next to the young HearthGiver princess, Lady Erizelyn. The eldery dwarf is the arch mage of the IronShell Magic Division and private tutor to Lady Erizelyn. He is dressed in a majestic purple robe with a gemmed circlet around his head. His chin spouts a long white wispy beard below two drowsy looking eyes.
Today's courtyard event is both a blessing and curse. Everyone gathered feels blessed to potentially be a witness to the first successful casting of a third order spell in the colonies 40,000 years of history. At the same time they all felt cursed at having to stand outside in the fowl tainted air.
Murmurs of complaints can be heard all around Lady Erizelyn as she tries to focus all he attention on gather mana into her spell. Her arms that were out reached and steadily shaking suddenly become firm and moved quick as white glowing runes were drawn in the air around here.
Silence falls onto the crowd and everyone holds their breath. Some in anticipation, others for obvious reasons. But all hopeful that their young Lady will succeed.
The runes rotated pleasantly in the crowds view as the magic seemed to be performing a ballet in the bailey. When the last rune was drawn the spell was completed and a purge of the fowl air began to spread out across IronShell.
Claps and shouts showered the young Lady as a new paragon in the Colonies mages was just born. The drowsy eyed arch mage was now looking fully awake, smiling and waving to the crowd as if he himself casted the spell. Erizelyn rolls her eye at the old man and turns around to walk back inside the palace.
Within hours not one trace of Orfal's mistake could be found in IronShell and life for the dwarfs resume its regular activities.