Shrug. "All that talk about 'budget' never made much sense to me. People say the angels fought with us during the First Crusade, and that they haven't been back since, but trying to guess why feels like a fool's errand."

"If Iomedae could have prevented Deskari from laying waste to Kenabres and slaying Terendelev, she surely would have." She licks her lips.

Please stop screaming about the murder, Camellia, it's going to be awkward to present as evidence at your eventual trial because his monogrammed bracers of Tongues do not tell him the Hallit for "screaming with your face". "Yes," he says, "nothing about the gods' behavior makes sense without intervention budget underlying it, to my mind, but - this could I suppose be a very old intervention, placed under time pressure..."

"I think it was waiting for someone worthy." Tiny wince.

"It wanted - someone who'd wield it for the cause of Heaven, I imagine Ser Seelah would have had it if she'd touched it first." He'd try to give it to her but under their present conditions he thinks concentrating the surplus random power in the single strongest party member may be a winning move over distributing it more flatly. He may try this later.

Seelah looks a little uncertain of that, but she doesn't object.

"As exciting as this is, if you are finished with the 'sword', perhaps we could begin to make our way towards the surface? I hope you have managed to devise a plan to return through the rift without need for the" (she wrinkles her nose) "maze, but if we must venture inside, the spirits did bless me with an orison that functions in a compass-like manner."

"I do not have a plan for that. We did not come up with one last night, no inspiration struck me at dawn, and my spells this morning were prepared on the expectation that we might have to fight our way up through the maze. If you have a plan for that, please tell us."

"...It seemed possible that after a night among the barbarians, you might have reconsidered your reluctance to call an archon to communicate with the surface."

"I can summon one. This will last only thirty seconds, but it will not permanently destroy a servant of Heaven who runs afoul of a vrolikai."

But it would be so fascinating to see the last moments of a creature for whom death was truly the end.

...Even Camellia has the sense not to say that.

"Then I suppose we had better set off for the maze."

"We should get Wenduag first. And Anevia."

Sigh. "I suppose, if you insist."

She's really very chatty and opinionated for someone who can't shut up about murder. How has she lived this long, was that one her first time? "I'll want to ask Wenduag about the layout of the maze, and it will also matter if it's extensive enough that we can't expect to clear it, only to identify a path - in which case someone will need to get rope topside and come down for anyone unfit for the adventure that way, should we successfully escape with word and find a loosely functional Kenabres above."

"Well, lead on."

Wenduag is easy to find back at the camp. Horgus Gwerm and Anevia have also woken up, and are eating breakfast together.

(The camp was definitely more than a minute's walk from Lariel's grave, but the Virtue-like effect is still present.)

He doesn't know how many times a day it can do that (it might only feel like an orison) but it's nice to know that it's a minute-scale buff and not a round-scale one! "Good morning. We found the sword, which... transmuted itself into a sort of magical effect when I touched it. We mean to assay the shield maze."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to accompany you through the maze," says Horgus Gwerm. "My fighting skill simply isn't what it used to be. But if you can clear a path to the surface, you shall have my reward, however you go about it."

Wow, that is the opposite of what she wanted here! No way she can talk them down from it if they were able to find the sword, though, Lann says surfacers go crazy for anything that seems like a miracle.

...This guy is really good at fighting. Maybe even strong enough to beat Hosilla.

"Alright. When do we leave?"

"Who else needs to be notified? Is there anyone else who will care to join us? Has everyone eaten?"

"We should tell the Chief before we set out." Sigh. "I don't think anyone else is joining us."

Glance at Wenduag.

"I'm still eating, but I can finish up while you talk to him."

Nod. Blai will accompany Lann to the chief, if Lann wants.

"Hey, Chief. We're about to head out for the Shield Maze."