“Keep these safe, and hidden,” Mahasset tells the young acolyte of the bone fragments. “These are words from foul and unhuman speech, and nothing I have ever delved into. Treat them as you would a poison.

“In the meantime,” he examines her arm again, “you will permit me to try.”

It’s not in Mahasset’s nature to allow wounds to be untreated, not when he has the power to heal; and so he casts a mild curing spell, which is usually sufficient for bites and gouges, and carefully examines the result.

Spoiler
Show
Mahasset is casting Cure Light Wounds on the young woman’s arm.

(1d8+5)[7]

He suspects the spell will have no effect; but even so he watches carefully, and compares what he sees with anything he has seen or read about unnatural afflictions such as this.

Knowledge(arcana)
(1d20+14)[26]

Knowledge(nature)
(1d20+17)[36]