"Well," says Azure, "that could very well be the guardian that the weapon calls. If so, then it's not an actual living being, and is part of the weapon's enchantments. Or if the maker was both really paranoid and had lots of time and resources, then the skull belongs to a separately made guardian mechanism, and the blade still has one that it can manifest."<br/><br/>Frost looks at the skull. "Well, I hope that whoever made it, they were poor, and this thing was their master work."<br/><br/>