Angati tasted rotting seaweed and then dark salty water as she crashed down through the hole that had opened in the Sargasso, and slipped to the sea beneath. Her armour weighed her down and she quickly started heading for the ocean floor many miles beneath.

The oracle struggled to free herself from her armour as her descent to the bottom accelerated, but she realised from the outset that it was hopeless. Even if by some miracle she did manage to dump the heavy metal that was dragging her down, the hole above her had already closed over and her lungs were in desperate need of fresh air.

The only thing that surprised her was Anansi... her dead sister would normally be wailing around in such instances but this time she was no-where to be seen.

Angati gave up, resigned herself to the long trip to the bottom and several seconds passed with the pressure of the water around growing stronger and stronger... she prepared to open her mouth and draw a lungful of salt water, and then...

She felt herself pass through a white portal of wafer thin light, a second later her stomach lurched as she entered free fall and everything spun around her. Angati seemed to fall for a long time, and then finally managed to regain her equilibrium... she wasn't falling, although her stomach told her other wise.

She was 'hovering' in a wide open area, like a dark spot in the sky with the white points of stars far off in the distance. A little bit nearer there was a grey cube, also suspended in mid-air, with tiny blue and red ants crawling all over it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:34, Sat 10 June 2017.

Angati did not even stop to consider why her cloak of the manta ray had not kicked in and transformed her as the water touched it. She was far too confused to make much sense of anything that was happening. Not seeing her sister was distressing her more than she cared to admit.

Once the retching was over, she started to consider her surroundings. She did not have a clue as to where she was... and tried to gather her thoughts around the facts... what was that thing there ?.

She tried to approach it.

18:15, Today: Angati rolled 26 using 1d20+7.  Knowledge religion.

*Bump* I suppose you are keeping me here in the void for a reason… How's everything ?.

It takes a second for Angati to realise that her cloak of the manta ray had been activated when she fell through the water, and it was now fitted to her form giving her the power to swim quickly through any water... and it was pretty ineffective out here in... air? Was she just hanging in mid air? Her stomach definitely told her that she was falling, but judging by her position relative to the grey cube she was just levitating there. Unless the cube was also falling at the same speed? As she watches the cube with the red and blue shapes wriggling across it seems to mutate, the edges of it growing indistinct until it is a cube with rounded corners. The shapes moving across it change their courses at little, but otherwise continue their dance. This is truly a weird and chaotic environment.

The oracle calms herself and tries to half swim, half wriggle through the air towards the cube. It is slow going, and she begins to be alarmed at how it doesn't seem to be drawing closer at all.

A red shape streaks past her on her left, coming from over her shoulder and zooming onwards towards the cube. Then another on her right, and another overhead. One passes quite close beneath her, and this one slows down so she can get a good look at it.

The creature is a roughly humanoid, red-skinned toad with almost no neck and a massive, flat head. It appears to be bipedal (hard to tell since just like her it is hanging in midair), with clawed hands and webbed feet. The fingers and toes on the creature are disproportionately large, as are the three jagged claws poking out the end of the hands.

The creature comes to a full stop, staring at Angati, and a word starts to take shape in the oracle's mind as though she'd heard the creature speak it. A word conveyed with deep disgust and hatred. The word is: "ABERRATION".

With a snarl the creature starts swimming through the air towards her, and unlike her it seems to be able to make good progress. Angati starts to realize that it is even bigger than she thought as it approaches her... it must be able eight feet tall and it looks very hungry.

OOC: It is starting 90' away from Angati and moves 30' a round, so she might have a few rounds to prepare if she's lucky.

13:16, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 15 using 1d20+2.  Initiative.

18:15, Today: Angati rolled 26 using 1d20+7.  Knowledge religion.

Hang on. Chaotic environment. Bipedal giant red toads. Could this be 'limbo'? The outerplane aligned with chaotic neutrality and inhabited by giant frogmen known as 'slaad'? If so, what was she doing her?!

Things are good. I have been a bit flat out and have more or less prioritized the main thread since then I let less people down :D I have however been looking forward to this particular chapter of Angati's character arc for a long time.

Angati had never seen one of these creatures but she imagined that she was going to need some help if she didn't want it to skewer her up nice and dandy with those claws... somehow, they reminded her of her rose thorn at her wrist... just, they were perhaps 3 or 4 times it's size.

The thing had spotted her and started charging at her before she had the time to react, but at least it was still far away. She started to concentrate to summon something to her aid, and while she did, she tried to think hard as to what might be the best thing that she could summon that could navigate this weird environment.

---

HP: 22/56 |  AC: 2224 | CMD : 15 | Saves: 4/4/5
Free : | Swft : | Move : | Stnd :  Summon monster III

07:27, Today: Angati rolled 8 using 2d20+2, dropping the lowest dice only.  Initiative (Temporal Celerity).
Blur would still be active ?
Roll whatever knowledge is necessary to get an idea of what might hurt this thing... although I don't have knowledge planes so... if thats the thing I'll have to go by gut.

Prioritise the other thread by all means... I just didn't know if you have missed my post thats why I bumped. Don't worry about me :)
</small>

---

Special Notes:

  (De)Buffs :  Blur 20% Miss chance.
 Conditions :
  L1 Spells : 6+1/7+1 CLW, Ill Omen, Protect from evil, Obscurring Mist, Divine Favor, Summon Monster ,Sanctuary, Liberating command
  L2 Spells : 4+1/4+1 Oracles Burden, Cure Moderate Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, Restoration Lesser, Instrument of Agony
  L3 Spells: 3+1/4+1 Cure Serious Wounds, Bestow curse, Summon monster III
  Abilities : Misfortune, Fortune, Starlight Agility (dodge), Time Flicker (3/3 minutes blur),Temporal Celerity

Monsters of the outer planes is really not Angati's forte and she doesn't have a clue about what this creature's strengths and weaknesses might be. Those claws do look sharp though...

The red slaad moves first and advances to 60'.

Yes, blur is still active. You're just going to have to guess what would be best to summon.

Angati casts her summoning spell. The slaad scrambles through the air towards her and gets to 30' away.

A lantern Archon appeared a bit of a ways off to one side so as to give support while affecting the creature with his aura if it got closer to Angati, as the slaad continued on its path Angati started casting sanctuary in the hopes that the creature would not be able to surpass it and attack her.
The time she had left she tried to advance towards the strange cube, even not knowing what it was it might help her somehow.

The archon, didnt loose its time and launched two light rays towards the creature

---

HP: 22/56 |  AC: 2224 | CMD : 15 | Saves: 4/4/5
Free : | Swft : | Move : towards cube | Stnd :  Sanctuary (DC16)

11:04, Today: Angati rolled 6,3 using 1d20+3,1d6.  Ray 2 vs touch AC.
11:04, Today: Angati rolled 12,2 using 1d20+3,1d6.  Ray 1 (vs Touch AC).
Aura of Menace (Su) Any hostile creature within a 20-foot radius of an archon must succeed on a Will save (DC 13) to resist its effects. The save DC is Charisma-based, and includes a +2 racial bonus. Those who fail take a –2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit the archon that generated the aura. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by the same archon's aura for 24 hours.

---

Special Notes:

  (De)Buffs :  Blur 20% Miss chance.
 Conditions :
  L1 Spells : 5+1/7+1 CLW, Ill Omen, Protect from evil, Obscurring Mist, Divine Favor, Summon Monster ,Sanctuary, Liberating command
  L2 Spells : 4+1/4+1 Oracles Burden, Cure Moderate Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, Restoration Lesser, Instrument of Agony
  L3 Spells: 3+1/4+1 Cure Serious Wounds, Bestow curse, Summon monster III
  Abilities : Misfortune, Fortune, Starlight Agility (dodge), Time Flicker (3/3 minutes blur),Temporal Celerity

Laser rays shoot out of the archon's eyes, but the little creature is too flustered by its arrival into some strange plane of existence to actually hit anything.

12:45, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 5 using 1d20+3.  Slaad will save vs archon aura DC13.

The creature does a little better with its aura though - the slaad looks bewildered (menaced?) as it comes closer to Angati (-2 on attacks, AC and saves!).

The frogman shakes its head, as if to clear it, and then launches itself at the oracle, just as Angati completes her sanctuary spell.

12:48, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 11 using 1d20+3.  Slaad will save vs sanctuary.

The beast cries out in frustration as all of its attacks are deflected as though coming into contact with an invisible shield. It still collides with Angati through, propelling her through the void towards the gray cube/sphere that she'd been trying to get to anyway.

After that the Slaad leaves her and her summed archon be, and the oracle makes increasing speed towards the strange grey object. As it shifts and morphs in front of her eyes again, she begins to realize just how big this thing must be... no, HUGE! As more slaad fly past her, she realizes that what she thought were blue and red ants crawling across the surface are actually two different variety of slaad. These dots begin to take form as she shortens the distance between herself and the object and she sees that the slaad are fighting each other, with the combat raging between the two colours and reinforcements arriving all the time. The gray sphere changes and hollows out, becoming more of a donut shape.

Where on earth is she?!

A razor thin disc of white light appears in front of her, right in her path of movement. There is nothing she can do to avoid it, and screaming at the top of her lungs the oracle slams right into it and passes through into somewhere else.

Stars move across the sky as though dragged by racing horses, always moving further away until congealing into galaxies. The galaxies then begin to move across the skies as well, swirling and changing. Stars are born and die, only to form remnants that are born again. Always changing, randomly across the black space in front of her. But there is a trend. Less stars are born into each generation and they are less bright. Stars start exploding in massive displaces of light and are not replaced. Eventually there are few enough stars that the galaxies become spreadout and some loose cohesion. The lights spin and spin until Angati is lost in them and all the stars burn out. Everything becomes a random soup of swirling parts, lifeless and homogeneously chaotic, everything is the same temperature. The heat death of the universe.

Angati witnesses the Fall of Math, and her eyes weep blood at the beauty of it.

Some time later Angati wakes. Her summoned archon is gone, Omi has disappeared and even Anansi is nowhere to be seen. She is in some sort of strange pagoda with a roof of four-sided pyramids that get smaller and smaller as they head up. Both the roof and the four wooden pillars supporting it are painted red.

Outside the pagoda is a lush rainforest with heavy tropical rain landing on it. As her eyes adjust, Angati realized that there is someone else in the pagoda. A man so skinny that he is little more than a skeleton stands with his back to her, looking out into the rain. Angati herself is lying on a wooden floor about 20' away, she still has all of her gear.

OOC: Sorry for the delay... I had not seen the post, and somehow it appeared all marked read.
Angati looked around the place confused. Her bewilderment and fear subsiding with each breath as the calmness of the place grew on her.

She sat up and observed the stranger. It felt bad to stand while he was still sitting, so she just sat down and observed for some more time trying to discern who or what he was, and where she could be. After a few moments she dared ask in as soft a voice as she could muster "Excuse me sir... could you please tell me where we are ? I am not sure what I am doing here "

"Shhhhhhhh!" shushes the man, without even turning around to look at her. "Do you hear it?" he then whispers in question. He continues looking out at the rain.

OOC: Perception check please.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:10, Fri 07 July 2017.

Angati looked around, trying to look for the source of any noise, and not finding or hearing anything, closing her eyes for a little while trying to concentrate just on her hearing.

12:59, Today: Angati rolled 12 using 1d20+6.  Perception.

Angati strains but can't hear a thing. After an uncomfortably long time, the old man scoffs.

"Two millennia and it is still apparently the best I have. So very disappointing." The old man turns to her and Angati sees that he is EXTREMELY old. In fact, he is nothing more than taunt skin pulled tight over a bare skeleton.

"LISTEN!" he barks, and begins chanting.

"Echoes in rain
Drifting in waves
Long journey home
Never too late
Black as a crow
Night comes again
Everything flows
Here comes another new day"

And then Angati does hear it! In the rain. Again and again, cyclic patterns of white noise in the rain, rising and falling, but always repeating.

"Heh," grunts the man. "Finally." He gets to his feet, turning away from the rain towards her and Angati realises that he'd just been squatting, not sitting.

"The patterns shouldn't be there. It is wrong. For me."

"What does it call itself?" he asks.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:52, Sun 09 July 2017.

Angati slowly stood up and went behind the ancient being, she hesitated for a moment before saying "Angati, my name is Angati, may I ask who you are ?" although she wasn't entirely sure that it was that which he had asked.

She concentrated again on the repeating patterns to see if there was any information to be gleamed from them.

As she went behind him, and after a while of waiting for him to speak again she asked "Excuse me Sir, but I don't quite understand... what is wrong ? where are we ?"

It seems that Angati guessed the meaning of the old man's question correctly, as he nods his head and even tries her name out... "Anga... Angat..." he can't seem to get his lips around the sounds and eventually gives up with an angry snarl.

Angati continues to keep one ear on the rain still falling outside the pagoda, but although the pattern in the rain is now a lot more evident to her, she doesn't get any sort of special message from it.

The old man answers her question. "I AM THE FINAL ANSWER TO THE UNIVERSE. I AM THE HEAT DEATH OF THE STARS. I AM THE SPLITTER OF INFINITY," roars the man. And that is the only name he gives her, so it is the one she comes to know him by: Heat Death Infinity Splitter.

"And you are at the confluence of chaos. The epicenter of disorder. And... my creature. You are home."

Angati frowned, she was not at ease and not understanding even the basics of this weird communication, "I am home... or I am at home ? if I am home, whose home are you talking about ?... " she was furious that this was the best that came to her as questions at that minute, but there was not much to make head from tail at that minute.

"So.. you are time ? or just the actual end of all ? and how am I your creature if I may know ?"

The 'man' spreads his arms around, pointing out the weird jungle and lush growth beyond the pagoda. "It is your home."



"Bah, I am nothing so feeble as time!"



"I AM CHAOS!" roars the man. "It is stupid, but still a potentially useful tool." Heat Death Infinity Splitter points at Angati as he makes the last statement. Apparently Angati is the 'it' that the man is talking about.



The skeletal man smiles. It does not look pretty on his face. "...because I made you."

He continues talking in a trancelike way. "I am the end of all order. I was born at the end of the universe. I am the singularity of chaos. But there is one that does not treat chaos properly. He tries to make it permanent. Nothing is permanent! Except me!"

"Two thousand of its (he is pointing at Angati again) years ago the Prince of Savage Tides made his move. The greatest of human cities fell... but it was not enough. One thousand years ago the greatest of human empires fell... but it was not enough. This time the Prince will do it right. Your whole world will fall and the Prince will succeed and this..." he points outside at the rain. Actually, Angati senses that he is pointing at the pattern in the rain. "... this will become permanent. He will become permanent and I will cease!"

"I cannot act directly. I have made things like it (pointing at Angati) over hundreds of years. You are the closest I have come to what is needed. You will stop the Prince."

OOC: Wa-hoo! It felt so good to get that exposition dump out of my head! Avanti glorious storyline, AVANTI!

Angati stopped on her tracks looking at the old man, "Chaos... I had always thought I was related somehow to time... but chaos fits the thing more tightly somehow" said Angati thinking at how her future changing thing had always amazed her at its apparent randomness.

She breathed out noticing that she had been holding her breath and that she had also spoken out loud "So... who is he that is trying to stop chaos ? I was well into trying to stop him when I ended up here... so I don't quite see the point in this meeting if you forgive it being stupid again.... why not just let me go on without directly contacting me if I was already set on the path that you wanted me to follow ?"

"I brought you in because you failed!" snarls the 'man'. "I have been making ones like you for thousands of years. I made one like you before... she became very powerful but left the path and now she is the abomination that binds Journey's End together. She would have slain you, but I intervened. Now I will make you what you should be... and send you back."

The man leaps forward and grabs Angati by the head.

"I am going to tell you why you are here
You're here because you know something
And what you know you can't explain
Can you feel it?
You felt it your entire life
Like darkness in your mind, driving you insane
It is this pain, that has brought you to me
Do you know, what I am talking about?
Do you want to know what it is?
Free your mind."

And Angati's mind clears. She sees her mission... to become a true servant of chaos.

OOC: Angati's alignment changes to chaotic neutral. She gains a level (WELCOME TO LEVEL SEVEN) and is freed from the effects of her old age curse. She is also freed from the 'haunted' curse and must say goodbye to her dead twin sister. She gains another curse that will be revealed over time.