The Wardstone is hot to the touch — not hot enough to burn him, but hot enough to be noticeable. He can still see inside, but it's as if he's looking through clouded glass in the winter, and he can hardly make out more than the indistinct shape of lights in motion; he can still hear the voices of the angels, but they're muffled, as though he's hearing them through a wall, and he has to strain to distinguish individual words. If he didn't know the truth, it would be easy to imagine that the sounds weren't voices at all, that the lights had no more soul than a Dancing Lights spell.

Do they respond to him thinking at them the way they did before, at all?

Some of the lights move closer to his hand. 

The muffled voices want to know why he is here again so soon.

He wants to know what happened to change him and the others who were here yesterday. (Also as long as he's here he might as well update them that he is trying to line things up to make the closure possible.)

They... aren't sure. They can take a closer look?

...There's something a little different about his soul, in comparison with yesterday. It looks like — a little piece of Heaven, reflected within him? They're not really sure how it got there. That's not the sort of thing that usually just... happens.

It doesn't sound like it! It wasn't them? He doesn't have angel shrapnel or something, it's something else?

They don't think it was them?? Not unless they somehow did it by accident??

...The part of his soul that it's attached to also looks unusual, at least for a mortal, but that part looked like that yesterday too. 

Okay. Thanks angels. He is seriously working on the wound thing.

He drops his hand.

"Learn anything useful from touching the big magic rock?"

"The big magic rock is probably not responsible for the situation. It could be a miracle like everyone is saying, or... the sword behaving further strangely, or some other thing I can't guess."

"Well, there goes my plan to go all around the whole line and see if I can get myself a couple hundred extra spell slots."

(Ember wasn't there, but she doesn't really think it sounds like a miracle. The gods aren't their friends, and they wouldn't do that sort of favor to them just out of kindness. But it doesn't really seem like Select Artigas is ready to hear that.)

"I do not think that would work, no." They can go collect Thall.

Thall has not managed to escape in the intervening few minutes. He's currently sketching out a spell diagram in charcoal.

"Select, one more thing while you're here. We swept the maze area beneath the Garrison yesterday once we'd finished securing the place, and we found a sword that we believe to formerly have belonged to the paladin Yaniel. We're issuing it to Ser Seelah — do you expect to have the opportunity to deliver it to her soon?"

"She's helping with some rubble but I would expect in the ordinary course of things to regroup with her before the end of the day."

"That should be adequate." She retrieves a longsword and hands it to Blai. "It's called Radiance."

Nenio looks it over with Detect Magic. "Disappointing. I would have expected the sword of such a renowned paladin to be more powerful. Nevertheless, it does appear to have minor magical properties."

"Oh, what are they?" he asks, clipping it onto his person where it will be reasonably out of the way.

"It is slightly more accurate and slightly deadlier than an ordinary cold iron longsword! Furthermore, the craftsman who created it appears to have designed it to synergize well with further enhancement, suggesting moderately unusual care was put into creating this weapon."

"Is weapon enhancement something you have studied at all?" he inquires as they depart the building.

"I do not recall ever personally studying the art of weapon-crafting. However, I am capable of identifying the magical auras of many common weapon enchantments."

"So you wouldn't know yourself how to make it better, you just notice a spot some improvement could slot into."

"That is correct."

"Oh well."

The place Arendae's staying?