"If you're trying to bring him back, wait a moment, I'm going to try to restore his vigor". Simaal touches the fallen comrade and then nods to Mirica.

Thyrius comes out of hiding and moves toward Mirica's light as soon as he sees/hears her. "Can you restore him?" Is all the black cat managed to say for now. His eyes were both desperate and expectant.

Simmal's additional efforts earned a nod of gratitude as well.

The group presses forward sluggishly through the water, as fast as they can through the well lit crystal clear liquid that encases the space. 

Simaal reaches out, pressing his hand against the withered body of Xemnez, and the muscles seems to balloon out, the body expanding until once again it is at the full might and muscle that Thyrius has known for so long.  A moment later Mirica closes her eyes, summoning the all powerful magic of her god...and a swirl of power extends out....seeking the soul of a brother who has recently departed.  The magic seems to stutter...Mirica can feel it questing out, trying to find Xemnez's soul....but...as if he were long dead....the spell grasps about finding nothing. Just as the magic is about to evaporate though, it grabs a hold of something that wasn't there a moment before. Almost as if it had just appeared from nowhere.  The spell doesn't care. It grabs the soul that matches the body and re-tethers them, binding them as one.  

Xemnez opens his eyes. And his mouth. And begins to choke. 

Toc frowns and mentally says to Thyrius, "I take him above now."   Out loud, though it's distorted by the water, Xemnez hears Toc say, "Do not resist."  Reaching out and grabbing him, the two suddenly twist into into vortex's and vanish, the water splashing together in their sudden absence.

(Xemnez, your water breathing, and your telepathic bond are both broken.)  

Thryius, his emotional ride still going, his brother only moments ago dead, but now alive, but unable to speak or say anything to him.  He looks down and notices a rope tied to his body that is dragging behind in the water.  The rope that connected him and his brother also seems to have been severed upon Xemnez's brief death.

Toc says mentally, "We are in the cave above, Xemnez seems ok."

Mirica was as practical as ever. The Morning Lord answered her prayer and that was enough to restore her confidence (should one be lost). "Good, let's get those bones and trinkets then. Thyrius, where did you see them?"

She kept the light on, but should Nujez's probing for taps require it, the light would be quenched.

With everything happening as quickly as it had, Xemnez offered little in the way of resistance to Toc's request, and had instead in fact practically clung to the wizard until the two popped back up in the main chamber. Only after which had he relaxed enough to just let himself collapse onto the ground or brace against the wall while hacking up a lung full of water. "That... That was.... Hoooi...." He trailed off there brushing at his face and slowly shaking his head. 

... Then a thought occurs, compelling the Leonin to straighten up again and look to Toc. "The phylla-whatever.... Don't. Destroy it. Let the others know... Recover it. Bring it here, if you can... but DON'T destroy it. I... I was able to speak with the entity within and..." He gulps another deep lung full of air, looked thoughtful for a second, and then following another curt shake of the head, stepped over to try and clasp Toc's shoulder. "Let the others know... There's... Please. Tell them... be careful as well."

Toc sends a mental message to the rest of the group, “Um, we have a problem. I don’t know if this is Xemnez.  He’s urgently telling me to tell you guys to NOT destroy the phylactery, and giving me vague comments….”

Toc steps back away from Xemnez, then takes a few more steps defensively, his hand going to the hilt of his blade, “Xemnez, tell me, where did we first meet?”

Xemnez gives Toc an incredulous look. But as his own hurried words played back in mind, he sighs and drags a hand(paw?) down his face with a groan. "Ancestor give me strength -- it was near the natura spirit's tree. I stood waiting for your group to approach while my brother -- *huff*... Look... When I died, my spirit was captured in our quarries life, prison... 'thing'. And while he threatened to absorb my spirit, when I assured it of its own imminent destruction, he..." He sighed. "We came to an agreement. In exchange for my release and his divulging of more information of the greater threat following the Lich's... return, his life, such that it is-" He scoffed. "-would be spared... At least until his master has been dealt with." He explained.

It's at that point, Xemnez placed a hand on the hilt his longsword and spoke with some remorse. "As I am now, I cannot stop you all for doing otherwise... but by life and honor, I am bound to do everything within my power to stop you until the conditions are fulfilled or accord broken. So... what will it be, Toc?"

It took Thyrius a few seconds to even register Mirica's question. The last several seconds all happened in slow motion, it seemed, and the black cat was not given a chance to react to it... at least not until his brain caught up to what his eyes had observed. With the defunct rope still attached to him, Thyrius slowly led Mirica to where she wanted to go, should he know the way.

For the moment, Thyrius had no words to share with Toc in his role as a bridge between the golden lion and the rest of the party. He preferred to share them with Xem directly once given the opportunity. Knowing his brother had recovered was all that mattered for now. Nonetheless, hearing Toc's message, the still physically weakened and atrophied black cat made his own plea to Mirica: "If it must be done, I beg you to separate the soul from the physical phylactery without destroying the soul itself. I think I can use the soul to our advantage... or more accurately... may learn to do so as my own bonds strengthen. I am not sure of what I am asking here, but I would like to try something. That said, should Xem's request be heeded, I may not get a chance anyhow, not with this phylactery at least."

Toc quickly relays everything Xemnez has said to the rest of the group through their mental connection. 

To Xemnez he adds out loud, “I have relayed your words to your brother and the group.”  He seems to take this message at face value, and removes his hand from his sword hilt.  “You had me worried for a moment.”  He still stands in a defensive posture but seems less on edge. 

Mirica was looking at the semy-transparent skeleton and runes surrounding the niche with a potential phylactery. "Aha... Well, I did not give a word to the incredibly dangerous monster, which is a threat to everything breathing and was trying to kill me personally. So, unless that undead can show us the backdoor into the Larloch's lair and provide information about his plans and the current state of affairs, detailed enough that we can interrupt it, I see no reason to keep that un-life existing. But let's begin with the simple questions. Can we safely pick up the phylactery? And, Toc, can you get us out of here as well or should I bring everything and everyone to my place?"

"I'd expect most to say anything to keep their life. How many of them would actually keep their word is the greater question."

Mirica, Simaal, Nuzej and Thyrius swim through the water, lit by Mirica's glowing hammer, the glowing water perfect and clear as they push through the sluggish environment. A few moments later they arrive at a pile of treasure laying in an alcove in the underwater cave. Coins, silver, bronze, gold, and platinum lay scattered across the silty floor of the underwater lake. You also note a few sparkling gems throughout the pile. In amongst the coins they catch site of numerous items laying amidst the horde. There, laying in the middle, of the pile of treasure you see a skeletal form. The bones are half formed, their spiderweb insides half revealed as they seem to be in the middle of 'growing' from nothing. Near to the form, laying amidst the coins, you see a steel locket on a steel chain, with several small gems embedded in its face. 

Toc mentally replies, “Maybe Nuzej can use magic to pick up the phylactery. If you give me ten minutes I can bring Xemnez down and then take us all back to another location.”

Nuzej says, as soon as things are not an emergency, "do not touch anything until I can see what we are dealing with here" and begins to ritually cast detect magic.

Once going, he takes a look at the area around the treasure pile, the phylactery. Looking for any kind of arcane residue, anything that'd signify danger or boon. He expects, of course, the pre-lich, but looking for anything else.

Tired and weak, Thyrius asks the still unasked obvious question: "Which of these many items is the actual phylactery? The locket is the obvious choice, but it could be any of these many coins or gems, right?" He looks to Nuzej for an answer.

(@Blue: Just clarifying but did Mirica ignore Thyrius' plea?)

(@Lerus: Not at all! Her whole answer is "count on you to get the information to decide if it's worth sparing the monster". Though, I (the player) have no idea how to catch the soul with a destroyed phylactery.)

Over the mental link which will obviously exclude the recently dead as a door nail wet cat. "It's rather ironic that the lich's defenses are the things that's keeping his newly acquired protector from being able to properly protect it. The locked and the growing corpse seem to be the obvious thing, but I'd still be weary of touching it without magical aid. The ask before us is simple, destroy or trust to be stabbed at some point in time. I would rather not see this lich again fighting against us along his brethren. What say you all."

Nuzej stands on the silty bottom of the underground lake and begins muttering the words of his spell.  He's cast it a million times, so even being under water and having his words distorted gives him no pause. But it still takes time and the rest of the group exchange mental messages back and forth as he slowly completes his spell.  Meanwhile, up above, Toc steps back away from Xemnez out of his defensive posture, and casually leans against the wall.  

Mentally in reply Toc says, "Nuzej or I need to cast the spell that will analyze the phylactery and determine how it can be destroyed. It will require one of us to touch the phylactery. Only once we know how to destroy it will we be in a position to make such a decision....depending on what is required of course.  If it needs the strike of a dwarven lords hammer or some nonsense, we may be a ways being able to decide."

Then to Xemnez, out loud he says, "Xemnez, tell me about your experience. Oh, and can i give you anything? Are you hungry or thirsty or...anything?" 

It's clear to Xemnez that Toc is mentally communicating with the others in between the spaces in their conversation.

Eventually though, Nuzej's spell is complete.  Layers of magical emanations come from the treasure pile. He spots a sword, no...two....a suit of leather armor, some plate armor, potions, a rod, a shield, a medallion, and ...yes...the amulet.  Of them, both the leather armor and the amulet both have auras of Necrotic energy, though the amulet is by far the more powerful one. Based on Nuzej's expert opinion, he would bed that the amulet is indeed the Phylactery. Unless of course the aura's have been altered, which....is not unheard of.  In which case it could be anything. There are no other aura's about, so Nuzej feels confident that the place must be free of magical traps. 

"Take your time, Toc," sent Mirica the message. "We are thinking about how to pick up all the stuff we see here."  She began not with the scooping, though but finally got the spiritual weapon closer (can summon one again even) to the transparent skeleton and tried to break the spiritual bones with the spiritual hammer. "Should give us more time to figure out what to do with phylactery," explained sh, should anyone care to ask.

(Should I roll for attacks? Or can we go with "keep attacking until hit"?)

Since no magical traps were discovered, she could add the weight of Dawncrusher to the pulverizing of the skeleton. The treasure could go to the bags of holding once it was established that touching was safe. Though even in this case, should someone be able to use, say, some form of Magic Hands, she would much prefer that way of collecting the treasure.

Mirica's magical hammer goes to work on the newly forming skeletal body.  *smash smash smash smash*.   The bits of crushed bone spiral away lazily in the water coming to settle several feet away in all directions.  Whatever progress reforming the body had made, was completely undone in a few moments by Mirica's work.