# Forum > Play-by-Post Games > Ongoing Games (In-Character) >  The world's gone to hell, but at least your alive

## dantiesilva

It has been a month since the temple of Asmedous and Hector successfully opened a portal connecting hell to the material plane. The world did not end when this happened, the sky did not explode, and for most citizens their day to day life didn't change much under the rule of their new diabolical leaders. However many would be heroes did die, all of the great archmages we're systematically destroyed. And all forms of religious worship that inspired and helped the spread of chaos and rebellion were outlawed or outright hunted to extinction. What was left you ask, the elves closed their borders, enacting ancient magic from their first age locking them behind magical barriers not even they can exit. The dwarves, mostly stayed in their mountain strongholds, though to some the strict laws of the devils did not bother in the least. As such trade between the dwarven empire and that of the human empire known as The Sword watch remained mostly unchanged.

     However the other kingdoms, those of the centaur tribes to the west, to the south the hobgoblins and yuan-ti have allied with the devil's while the Black dragon who calls his domain the swamp just outside the Swordwatch empire sees this invasion as a serious threat to his rule, as do the dragon lords of the Northern desert. It is they who have summoned you now to this rather unassuming looking rock outcropping in the middle of nowhere with not a building or person in sight.

     "Where two are one and one are two meet the rocks of Aklodu. Speak the words you know are true and the truth shall be revealed to you. But speak wrong or mean harm and you will not survive the wrath inside."

This was the message that was sent to you one morning as you awoke, before any protections could be placed upon you. What it could mean or from who you can guess easily enough, but what could they expect from one person?

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## Biscuit

Grunting, Viele rubs her eyes and glances over at a rumbled bedroom in the 'camp pit's corner, where Miau was still sleeping, the tibbit flopped and splayed out on her back in humanoid form. *"Lazy cat,"* Viele sighed, and stood up to climb up out of the pit taking down the tent covering it before tossing it into the pit on top of the sleeping cat-girl as it became a cloak once more. Pulling a campfire from her Survival Pouch ant set to making coffee and ponders sleepily at the message.

Miau's pitiful groan was muffled as the grumpy feline-adjacent women struggled to extricate herself from the folds of her own cloak. *"V,"* she whined, *"I was having the good tuna dream again..."* With a cavernous yawn, Miau rubs the sleep from her heterochromatic eyes and grumped pitifully. Stubbornly, she stuffs her bedroom into its customary wad before packing it away and pulls on her boots and eventually joining the changeling out of the pit. Taking a cup of coffee, they sit in silence as the sun finishes rising, both lost in thought. One, contemplating a cryptic message, and the other trying to capture and savor dreams of lightly braised lemon seasoned tuna steaks as large as small dinner tables.

Coffee consumed, and rations nibbled, the two finish breakfast. Using Prestidigitation, Viele cleans up after herself and freshens up both herself and her companion before she packs everything away into the 'camp pit' before folding it up to slide into her pocket, once again fooling the item into believing her to be lawful, or evil, or both, as easy as it was for Miau to fall asleep. *"I still think its creepy you are able to trick magic items like that,"* Miau mumbles, to which Viele just smiles. She hadn't always been so good at it, but she wasn't about to admit that to her companion. _Never admit weakness_, she thought. _Even if the weakness was in the past._

Stretching languidly, Miau starts casting several spells that have become all but routine every morning to prepare for the day, before transforming into a house cat and hopping up onto Viele's shoulder, still waiting for the coffee to kick in before bothering to walk. Rolling her eyes, Viele simply grunts noncommittally as her companion settles down before shifting her armor to look like an ordinary overcoat and shifting her own form to look like a plain human woman.

*Spoiler: OOC*
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*Viele*
Female C/G Changeling Gestalt, *Level* 16, *Init* 5, *HP* 192/192, *Speed* 45'
*AC* 30, *Touch* 23, *Flat-footed* 25, *Fort* 20, *Ref* 20, *Will* 20, *Base Attack Bonus* +16/+11/+6   
*+9 Electric Keen Parrying Magebane Mind Thinblade of Collision*  +28/+28/+23/+23/+18 (1d6+19 +5 Fire +2d6 vs Arcanists +1d6 Electric, 12-20/x2)
*+4 Precise Ghost Touch Mind Arrow of Collision*  +23/+18/+13 (1d8+14, 20/x3)
*+2 Glamoured Easy Travel Mithral Chainmail of Nimbleness and Quickness* (+7 Armor, +5 Dex, +2 Deflect, +6 Misc)
*Abilities* Str 20, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 20
*Condition* None
*Active Spells*Tyche's Touch (+4/+3/+2/+1)

*Miau*
Female C/G Tibbit Favored Soul 9 / Force Missile Mage 5, *Level* 14, *Init* 6, *HP* 92/92, *Speed* 40'
*AC* 27, *Touch* 19, *Flat-footed* 21, *Fort* 15, *Ref* 16, *Will* 15, *Base Attack Bonus* +9.25/+4.25   
*Tentacle Whip Symbiont*  +17/+12 (1, 20/x2)
*Tentacle Whip Symbiont (Sting)*  +6 (1d41  +Poison [DC 12, 1d4/1d4 Dex], 20/x2)
*Missile Reserves*  Automatic-Hit (1d4+5, x 3 Missiles)
*+1 Easy Travel Mithral Breastplate of Nimbleness (+ Magic Vestment)*, *Shield *  (+8 Armor, +6 Dex, +2 Size, +2 Deflect, -1 Misc)
*Abilities* Str 3, Dex 22, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 20
*Condition* None
*Active Spells*Tyche's Touch (+4/+3/+2/+1), Magic Vestment (+3), Superior Resistance (+6)


Viele uses Minor Shape Shift to Disguise (1d20+25)[*42*] herself after she casts:Prestidigitation (used for the Cleaning function)

Miau uses Feline Transformation to assume cat form after she casts:Tyche's Touch (on herself)Tyche's Touch (on V)Magic Vestment (on herself)Superior Resistance (on herself)

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## dantiesilva

As the morning breeze lightly blows by you can tell today will be a nice day, not a rain cloud in the sky and with the breeze it thankfully shouldnt be too hot today. Sipping your coffee and contemplating the riddle in peace you notice nothing seems to have come near your camp the previous night, even this morning, while you can see a bird in the distance none seem to come closer than a hundred feet to where you are.

     Eventually it is time to pack up the camp however and so with Miau casting her daily protections on the two of you before shifting into her more preferred form, and you changing to look like an ordinary human in an overcoat you look forward to the rock outcropping that stands before you. Aklodu wasnt an easy thing to discover, and the word wasnt found in a sages tome, or a library but in the mouth of a bard. A simple little fellow who laughed when he overheard you talking about it. You wont find Aklodu on any map ever made for it is the name of a place far older than any recorded history, and those who know of it do not dare to write it down. Make your way to the old lighthouse, abandoned since the war with Kurast centuries ago, along the way you will find a road that leads up and through the mountains, do not take it. Instead follow the rocky outcropping where the land meets the sea, keeping the outcropping to your right and you shall find the place you seek. Or you wont, in which case you were not meant to see it. Best to keep this secret to yourself though. The bard warned saying this all in a hushed voice before taking your drink and downing it.

     It has been two days since then and you have followed his directions, keeping the sea to the left and the cliff to the right of you, however nothing has jumped out at you thus far as a structure of any kind. A few coastal caves that each seem to lead to dead ends have been the only thing looking anything like a structure so far, but then again this place was known to a bard, and to those who spoke to you with magic. Perhaps magic is the key as the waves roll in on the left of you, rolling along the sand, however never overtaking the simple trail you and Miau walk.

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## Biscuit

Yawning cavernously as she lounges on Viele's shoulders, Miau mutters, *"Why can't we just take one of those ghost horses you can conjure up, V? This is taking foreeeever."* She couldn't keep a hint of a whine out of her voice, despite the fact she was expending exactly zero effort in this hike. Sighing heavily, Viele replies patiently, *"If we used a Phantom Steed to just speed overland at its break-neck speed, we might miss....whatever it is we're supposed to find."*

*"Ugh...I guess. Do you have any spells that could, I don't know...like find hidden stuff? Oh, hey, maybe Detect Magic!"* Pausing to pinch the bridge of her nose, Viele's eyes remain shut as she asks calmly, *"And what is the range of the spell you just burned through, Miau?"* Glancing around, Miau's excited face falls a little, *"Um...about sixty feet..."* Opening her eyes and gesturing around at the coastline one one side and the rocky ridge on the other, Viele nods. *"If it comes down to casting Detect Magic, or even True Sight, we'd burn through all our spells for the day within just a mile or so, as we would have to zig-zag around attempting to look for what might or might not be there."*

Holding up a hand before Miau could apologize for being hasty as she opened her mouth, Viele continues. *"But, even a toppled sundial is right every now and then, I suppose. A few spells here and there won't hurt."* Casting her own spell in solidarity, she decides on See Invisible so as not to double-up on effects, as the distance in the daylight is as far as he own natural vision.
*Spoiler: OOC*
Show


*Viele*
Female C/G Changeling Gestalt, *Level* 16, *Init* 5, *HP* 192/192, *Speed* 45'
*AC* 30, *Touch* 23, *Flat-footed* 25, *Fort* 20, *Ref* 20, *Will* 20, *Base Attack Bonus* +16/+11/+6   
*+9 Electric Keen Parrying Magebane Mind Thinblade of Collision*  +28/+28/+23/+23/+18 (1d6+19 +5 Fire +2d6 vs Arcanists +1d6 Electric, 12-20/x2)
*+4 Precise Ghost Touch Mind Arrow of Collision*  +23/+18/+13 (1d8+14, 20/x3)
*+2 Glamoured Easy Travel Mithral Chainmail of Nimbleness and Quickness* (+7 Armor, +5 Dex, +2 Deflect, +6 Misc)
*Abilities* Str 20, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 20
*Condition* None
*Active Spells*Tyche's Touch (+4/+3/+2/+1)

*Miau*
Female C/G Tibbit Favored Soul 9 / Force Missile Mage 5, *Level* 14, *Init* 6, *HP* 92/92, *Speed* 40'
*AC* 27, *Touch* 19, *Flat-footed* 21, *Fort* 15, *Ref* 16, *Will* 15, *Base Attack Bonus* +9.25/+4.25   
*Tentacle Whip Symbiont*  +17/+12 (1, 20/x2)
*Tentacle Whip Symbiont (Sting)*  +6 (1d41  +Poison [DC 12, 1d4/1d4 Dex], 20/x2)
*Missile Reserves*  Automatic-Hit (1d4+5, x 3 Missiles)
*+1 Easy Travel Mithral Breastplate of Nimbleness (+ Magic Vestment)*, *Shield *  (+8 Armor, +6 Dex, +2 Size, +2 Deflect, -1 Misc)
*Abilities* Str 3, Dex 22, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 20
*Condition* None
*Active Spells*Tyche's Touch (+4/+3/+2/+1), Magic Vestment (+3), Superior Resistance (+6)


Viele casts:See Invisibility (Duration: 130 Minutes)

Miau  casts:Detect Magic (Duration: Concentration, up to 13 minutes)

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## dantiesilva

As the two of you with your magical vision work together to search the area it doesn't take you long at all to notice a humanoid figure standing in the smallest of alcoves. At first the figure tries to pretend as if you do not really see them, slowly moving this way and that, however as you are able to follow their movements the figure speaks. The sound is very gravely as it speaks, slowly. 

*"What comes here to this place few know and fewer travel.
Speak quickly now before the powers that bind me here unravel."*

The figure says its shape seemingly to be in a constant state of motion, yet never really moving the longer you look at it. However it is not the same as a displacer beast, but more akin to an air elemental, simply unlike most this one seems to speak common, and not be visible.

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## Biscuit

Pausing to consider the figure, Viele hesitates but finally shrugs, feeling Miau's claws briefly as she flexes her paws to ride the shoulder wave, he mind is distracted as she guesses at the answer. *"Where two are one and one are two meet the rocks of Aklodu?"* Despite not wanting it to come out as a question, the lilt at the end was unavoidable as she realized she probably should have thought harder before blurting out an answer. Why was this person so...wavey? And what was Miau doing with that creepy tentacle pet behind her? It was all very distracting.

Staying silent, Miau's eyes simply take in the scene, easing her claws out of the fabric around Viele's shoulder as she snakes her tentacle whip behind her and slips it around the back of the woman's belt instead to secure her perched position, ready to swing down and away if fireballs or the like start flying.

*Spoiler: OOC*
Show


*Viele*
Female C/G Changeling Gestalt, *Level* 16, *Init* 5, *HP* 192/192, *Speed* 45'
*AC* 30, *Touch* 23, *Flat-footed* 25, *Fort* 20, *Ref* 20, *Will* 20, *Base Attack Bonus* +16/+11/+6   
*+9 Electric Keen Parrying Magebane Mind Thinblade of Collision*  +28/+28/+23/+23/+18 (1d6+19 +5 Fire +2d6 vs Arcanists +1d6 Electric, 12-20/x2)
*+4 Precise Ghost Touch Mind Arrow of Collision*  +23/+18/+13 (1d8+14, 20/x3)
*+2 Glamoured Easy Travel Mithral Chainmail of Nimbleness and Quickness* (+7 Armor, +5 Dex, +2 Deflect, +6 Misc)
*Abilities* Str 20, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 20
*Condition* None
*Active Spells*Tyche's Touch (+4/+3/+2/+1)

*Miau*
Female C/G Tibbit Favored Soul 9 / Force Missile Mage 5, *Level* 14, *Init* 6, *HP* 92/92, *Speed* 40'
*AC* 27, *Touch* 19, *Flat-footed* 21, *Fort* 15, *Ref* 16, *Will* 15, *Base Attack Bonus* +9.25/+4.25   
*Tentacle Whip Symbiont*  +17/+12 (1, 20/x2)
*Tentacle Whip Symbiont (Sting)*  +6 (1d41  +Poison [DC 12, 1d4/1d4 Dex], 20/x2)
*Missile Reserves*  Automatic-Hit (1d4+5, x 3 Missiles)
*+1 Easy Travel Mithral Breastplate of Nimbleness (+ Magic Vestment)*, *Shield *  (+8 Armor, +6 Dex, +2 Size, +2 Deflect, -1 Misc)
*Abilities* Str 3, Dex 22, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 20
*Condition* None
*Active Spells*Tyche's Touch (+4/+3/+2/+1), Magic Vestment (+3), Superior Resistance (+6)

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