Bandaging the wound on the head or torso that has sent a character into their grace period does not restore the hits in any way, unless the bandages are applied by a character with the physician skill. Once the affected location (or both locations if the head and torso are at -1) has been restored to zero hits or better, the character will no longer be in their grace period. Locations at zero are unusable but stable and do not deteriorate.
If a limb is reduced to -1, it will begin to bleed. If this bleeding is not checked (by bandaging or healing the wound), blood loss will cause the wounded character to fall unconscious after ten minutes and they will enter their grace period as above. Once the damaged location is restored to zero hits or better, the character will no longer be in their grace period.
The ritual of peace does not prevent bleeding, or the effects of locations being reduced to -1. If you suffer damage that will reduce a location to -1 through the ritual of peace then you will suffer all of the effects described here and your character will be at risk of death.
There are two cases in which the grace period is shorter than ten minutes. Firstly, for some fast, lethal poisons the grace period is only one minute. Only healing or an alchemical antidote can be used to cure a character of poison. Secondly, a character can sometimes suffer so much damage in a short period of time that their pattern is forced to leave their body immediately. When all of a character's body locations have been reduced to -1, the character will die immediately. There is no grace period when this occurs; the character will expire as soon as their final body location reaches -1. There are no circumstances in which a body location can be reduced below -1.
Death occurs if the grace period is completed without the character receiving healing of any form that can cure the wounds, poison disease of effect afflicting them. When a character's pattern departs their body and travels to whichever of the planes is home, the character is dead and no power will ever bring them back as they were. Some necromantic powers can restore a semblance of life to the character, but they will never be truly alive. Necromancy will corrupt their pattern, and turn the character into an unliving. Magic may be used to talk to the pattern for a short time after death, but once a character's pattern has left their body, that character is no more.
As with all aspects of the game, the Lorien Trust asks all participants to be aware of other people's feelings. Losing a character into which you have put a lot of time and creativity can be an upsetting experience, particularly if it happens suddenly. Please be aware that someone whose character has just died may be upset and respect their feelings, particularly if the player is a child.