"I don't know yet. But that is what markets are for. Everyone can work at something, no matter how unskilled they are or how rich everyone else is." This is another axiom of Abadaran theology, and he doesn't really understand it but he does believe in it. "Many very smart people will want to figure out what ordinary people can still work at, because by enabling that work they can fairly get some of the value it produces. And then people who want that work done will advertise for it, and we will hear about it. So we don't have to figure it out ourselves."

He really really hopes that's true. He can't imagine what he'll do if it isn't. So - he believes it's true. The priest said so, and he has faith.

Her Infernal Majestrix, Abrogail Thrune II, is the furthest possible thing from a typical human, and she has people working for her who'll flay anyone who disagrees.

She has spent her life appalled at the incompetence of the Chelish ruling class and attracted by that same weakness. She rose and rose and impatiently plotted to rise some more, until at the age of majority she went into Hell and emerged from it refined, with an artifact on her brow and vast power thrumming at her fingertips and in her head.

She has reigned for five weeks and ruled for four and none have dared to challenge her for two, and in a few more Cheliax will finally begin its rise back to imperial glory. She will tighten Ravounel and Isger's leashes until they are her obedient slaves, and then she will come for Molthune. No more ambiguously worded trade contracts and promises of assistance at need: an Asmodean Empire needs to have proper vassals, enslaved or tyrannized or ideally both.

She is enjoying herself and not at all receiving a report on tax receipts, when her latest toy for the day vanishes from beneath her fingertips.

...

Who dares?

She will teleport to a security post and order scrying and other divinations. In a round or two, when she is dressed.

There is no-one there.

A coup, then? But she notices things left in disarray, as if the security wizards had also mysteriously vanished, leaving behind a half-open door and a steaming cup of coffee and a report that really should not have been left unattended.

She makes a mental note to the effect that, if the security wizards are not part of a coup, they will need to be disciplined (and also punished) for drinking on duty and for letting classified materials leave their possession and for being vanishable.

She teleports to her command center, in case she needs to count on Gorthoklek's physical presence.

Gorthoklek is conspicuously absent. As is everyone else, including some of Aspexia's subordinates.

She is now seriously alarmed. A pit fiend who does not wish to move is, generally speaking, immovable.

She does not have a permanent telepathic bond with Aspexia, because Aspexia has not yet agreed to her conditions for when she is allowed to message Abrogail. She does not have one with anyone else in her security apparatus, because it is expensive and she isn't sure yet which of them will still have their job in a month. She doesn't have any non-permanent telepathic bonds up, because a fifth-circle spell every hour is differently expensive, and her security wizards need their spells for other things.

The standing security protocol, in the extremely unlikely event of her security team vanishing and Gorthoklek not being at his post, can be interpreted as saying she should retreat to a secured plane and sending Aspexia from there, even though it will cost her ten minutes of not personally responding to an attack. If someone managed to take out Gorthoklek, Aspexia (and possibly Hell itself) should have been alerted by now, even without her intervention.

Other archmages - she feels she deserves the title, even at 8th circle, on account of her crown; it's not as if Morgethai dares to challenge her rule - other archmages, when threatened by a mysterious force, retreat to their private secure demiplanes. But she is better than that. She does not need a demiplane, because she has the planes of Hell itself at her call.

(Also, she hasn't found a fork for Infrexus's private demiplanes yet, and a new one with all the necessary permanent spells costs too much. Maybe she should have arranged that tax report after all, on the subject of why is there not more money when your Queen requires it.)

She plane shifts to Avernus, mulling whether to teleport to the Promised Land or to plane shift further into Dis before Sending Aspexia.

A terrifying black horsewoman is about to ride her down! She appears to be riding out of an enormous explosion!!

Her crown's enhancements helpfully inform her that the horsewoman is very honestly intent on killing everyone before her, and that Abrogail should be very, very afraid!

If she looks the other way she will see a gigantic warrior in black plate armor, towering above the horsewoman despite her horse, running towards her while waving an enormous greatsword.

...it's one of those days in Avernus, isn't it. Lovely, except for how she doesn't have time to enjoy the spectacle.

Her Greater Rod of Quickening is the most expensive magic item she did inherit from Infrexus, and the reason she can fairly be said to be wearing a tenth of the treasury, and not at all a statement on the sorry state of the treasury itself. (The crown she wears is almost literally priceless.)

Quickened (greater rod) plane shift to Dis -

An anomaly pops up on Hazel's dashboard -- something which the automated systems handling the continued evacuation of the petitioners from Avernus couldn't handle. She scans through the report. A mortal, human woman, arrived here from Golarion? Why wasn't she moved in the initial sweep? Oh, she's wearing an artifact.

Hazel briefly considers whether to separate her from her artifact, but it has tendrils of magic deeply wound into her brain, so that's probably not a good idea.

She calls to the angel on her team (who has not yet chosen a human-pronounceable name). "Hey, can you tell what this artifact does? I'm trying to determine where it's safe to move this woman."

The angel peers over her shoulder at the picture of the spellwork on the artifact.

    "Hmm. Perhaps," they answer in a voice like a babbling brook. "It's very complex, but I don't think there's anything else urgent at the moment, so I shall take a deeper look."

They pour over the diagram of the headband, and announce a few minutes later that it is almost entirely defensive and enhancement magic. They furnish an impressively long list of effects of which they're certain, and a smaller list of effects which are possibly involved.

"I don't think any of these should be a problem," Hazel remarks. "Let's send her to a rescue environment instead of into one of the high-security holding areas."

    "That seems acceptable," the angel agrees, before turning away to assist another member of the Avernus logistics team.

So Hazel queues up a fixity-teleport to a new flash-constructed rescue station, and moves on to triaging the next anomaly thrown up by the war for Hell.

- and Abrogail appears somewhere that is as approximately unlike Dis as it is possible for a place to be. A gentle breeze carries the scent of delicate finger foods to her, and the sun warms her face. A fountain gently burbles, the splashing of the water the only sound.

"This is all for you," a voice announces. "There is an explanation in the letter on the table. Touch the circle at the top of the paper to have the letter read to you."

A moment later, a portrait of a smiling woman appears on the wall by the sole door out of this place with a ding. "Or touch the portrait to speak with an ambassador."

What new deviltry is this?

She tries teleporting to a place she knows in the city of Dis. 

She does not move.

"There are no valid teleport destinations in range," the voice informs her, sounding regretful. "You are currently several million miles from the closest habitable planet. More details are in the letter. Would you like to be transported to one of these listed destinations instead?"

A window appears a little ways in front of her, listing places. It starts with a section labeled 'unrestricted destinations', listing Aelsef at Antichthon, the Axis Non-Lawful Visitors' Center, Nirvana, Elysium, Freedom Station, Pepper, and the Maelstrom. These are followed by a section labeled 'partially restricted destinations', which start with New Selenopolis and continue past the bottom of the window. The window will helpfully scroll if you look at the bottom, and responds to a wide variety of voice commands or gestures for searching the list.

One major Outer plane is absent from this list.

What do Axis, Nirvana, Elysium, and the Maelstrom, but not Heaven have in common? Aside from not murdering her on sight like Heaven would.

Is she not on the plane of Dis? She can't immediately think of a way to check, other than trying to plane shift to Erebus. But that will only work if she is in Dis; and if she's been imprisoned in Dis, Erebus will provide no refuge.

If she is in Dis, she should not be rude to whoever imprisoned her. If she isn't, she should not be rude to whoever imprisoned her and is able to divert a plane shift, until she escapes.

She thinks this is more likely to be related to whatever was going on in Avernus than to the attack on her palace.

What does the letter say?

The letter is composed of two pages. The first is the page which was distributed to everyone rescued from Golarion. The second is labeled "Addendum for Spellcasters" and reads:

Some additional information relevant to people capable of casting Teleport or related spells:

You are not being held prisoner, but casting Teleport from your current location is likely to be fatal, so we disabled the use of teleport-like spells prior to reading this warning. You are currently located in a small self-contained environment in a foreign plane, making it unlikely that you would be able to target any location known to you with anything less than a Wish. There are no (non-interdicted) areas with a breathable atmosphere within Teleport or Greater Teleport range. Interplanetary Teleport can be used to target Antichthon, Freedom Station, or Pepper from here:

<Three images, one of a city square, one of a forest, and one of a neon-lined platform on top of a skyscraper at night>

Alternatively, you can use our normal transit system to reach other destinations. In addition to your interface, you can return to this place using Interplanetary Teleport or Wish. If you are not the caster of the spell, and other people would be transported with you, the spell will fail unless you have listed the other people as being allowed here.

You can find more information on the magic and non-magic protections on this place and how they can interfere with spellcasting in the 'Locations -> Rescue Station -> Administrative Settings' tab of your interface.

There is a kind of test where you tell a subordinate or slave something uncredible (or incredible) and see if they pretend to believe it. It's a good way of weeding out people who are too subservient, or too independent, or too optimistic or pessimistic.

This isn't a test like that, because even the most sycophantic toadie at court wouldn't believe this story unless it was a direct order.

A coalition "from beyond Creation" rescued souls from Hell, kidnapped evacuated everyone from Golarion, defeated Rovagug, recreated Golarion, and made everyone an archmage. What is this, an Andoren nursery tale?

She doesn't understand what they want her to think, because she certainly can't pretend to believe this with a straight face. Or rather, she can, she has excellent Bluff, but it would be against her pride and dignity and also - why would anyone believe such nonsense on the strength of mere words?

It does look increasingly improbable that this is the Lawful work of someone in Dis.

What are her options?

Trying to escape this place is probably futile, unless they want her to "escape". 

She can tell them she wants a teleport to Axis, after which they will continue doing whatever they want. Presumably they did not kidnap her just to let her go to Axis.

She can take ten minutes to Sending Aspexia, without yet knowing what to tell her about her own situation, and hope they do not interrupt her casting.

She can open the mystery door.

Or she can continue with the charade, and hope they do send someone to talk with her. She has excellent people skills.

She schools her face, and touches the portrait of the "ambassador".

It was a long (subjective) time ago for Hazel that she handled the mortal woman who popped into Avernus. But she was curious what the story was there, so she put in a request to handle any needed follow-up once she was done with her tour in Hell. The notification catches her relaxing in the bath, trying to get the smell of Avernus smoke out of her hair. She's under a time stop, though, so she takes her time drying off and getting ready before she cancels the time stop and appears in a swirl of sparkles.

"Hello!" she exclaims. "I'm Relevant Hazel. I assume you have some questions you'd like answered?"

A human! How convenient. (She assumes her crown's true seeing is in play; if they can beat her crown, she's already lost.)

Her crown gives her mental abilities that are frankly outside the natural human distribution. Maybe some prodigy, born once in a generation in the whole world, could outdo her by sheer natural talent; but not for all three abilitystats at once, and probably not at all on Splendour.

It also gives her permanent discern lies, a nondetection to protect herself from the same, true seeing, a +18 to Sense Motive, and another to Knowledge (Planes) that leaves her quite assured that this "coalition from beyond Creation" is pure nonsense.

(This isn't the full range of her crown's powers, of course, it's just the part that's for talking to people. When she wins at that and people give up on talking and attack her, that's when the crown really shines.)

What do her people skills tell her about this Hazel?

Hazel is used to being able to do anything she sets her mind to, and used to being one of the most noteworthy or important people in any given room. She is part of a large faction or group of similar people who she feels comfortable relying on. She feels completely at ease here -- the idea that Abrogail might attack or damage her has not even entered her mind. She is only ordinarily pretty, which is strange because her face has definitely had some subtle adjustments made to it. She has the clean skin and long, well-treated hair of someone who has never needed to worry about serious disease or insufficient nutrition.

She is positively disposed to Abrogail by default. She's excited to be here, and expects this interaction to be pleasant. She thinks of her as someone to help, with only the barest trace of the condescension that would normally entail. Even so, her attention is not completely on Abrogail. Some of her attention is devoted to looking at something around or behind Abrogail's head, close enough to making eye contact that most people would not notice.

It's ambiguous whether "Relevant Hazel" is really her name. She treats it like a name, and had no intent to deceive Abrogail about her identity, but she's not yet totally used to calling herself that, with the implication that she has used other names in the past.

So she's either misinformed or has astronomical Bluff. Good to know.

Abrogail schools her own face to be open and sincere. Look at how puzzled she is! Behold, how earnestly she will reflect on Hazel's every word!

"The contents of that letter are very surprising, and hard to credit! So of course I have many questions. Your portrait-illusion names you ambassador; whom do you represent?"

"I represent a few different groups, actually!" she responds. She is mildly embarrassed about having a complicated answer instead of a simple answer, but prefers to tell the truth even when it's complicated. "I can formally speak for my self-tree. I don't think your world really has an equivalent -- think of us as a guild or special interest group. That's wrong, but close enough for now." Self-tree has specific connotations -- a combination of family, in-group, nation, and support system.

"My self-tree acts as the administrator for a broader alliance which I call the Fixipelago, but which doesn't actually have a formal name for stupid political reasons," she continues. She is mildly exasperated about the naming problem. For a long time it didn't really matter to her, but now she intends to do something about it as soon as she's dealt with more urgent concerns. She thinks of Abrogail as a more urgent concern. "I can't commit to things on that alliance's behalf, but I can explain in detail how it works and who the constituents are."

"Upon making contact with creation, my self-tree allied with a group of Good gods from Golarion. I can't make commitments on their behalf either, but I just spent some time working with them to dismantle Hell, so I can explain a good portion of their recent activities and next priorities," she concludes. She believes this too. She thinks of the gods as being just another kind of person, on roughly the same social level as herself. She has had specific personal interactions with (some) gods.

She believes that she can answer any question Abrogail has, even if it requires information she doesn't currently have. She has a way to silently communicate with someone or something else.

Someone's telling her what to say; that is entirely standard and unsurprising in an interrogation. Unfortunately, it makes reading her much less useful. But everyone knows something of their society; it's very hard to create people who really believe in a completely false world.

"It's normal for ambassadors not to be able to make commitments," Abrogail reassures her. "I am a Queen, but I still don't agree to important pacts without consulting my advisors, and my ambassadors certainly can't promise things in my name."

"You must understand that it's very hard for me to believe that you "dismantled" Hell, much as I'm sure the Good gods would love to do so. Can you explain that, or show me proof? I suppose I would take Abadar's word for it, but His mortal clerics can still be mistaken or misled."

"Also, I can't help but notice Asmodeus's name is missing from the list of Lawful gods who certified your letter..."

She is mildly surprised and pleased to learn that Abrogail is a Queen, but no more deferential. She expects something about Abrogail being a monarch to make one of her continuing projects easier.

"Well, Asmodeus was hardly going to want to make our opposition of Him less traumatic and upsetting for people," she responds, in the voice of someone who is used to explaining why a given proposal would not actually work.

"Do you have a channel to Abadar that you would trust?" she asks. She isn't certain how common this is, but assumes that Abrogail wouldn't have mentioned it if it weren't a useful avenue. "I can get you spell components or transport to Axis if that would help. And of course I'm perfectly willing to explain what happened in detail the normal way or furnish things that would serve as proof. Perhaps you would find a map of Dis persuasive?"

She expects to have to explain something in more detail if Abrogail asks for a map of Dis, but otherwise believes that seeing a map of Dis would be very convincing proof. She isn't worried about the expense of providing spell components.

...so they're playing it that they don't know who she is? That line about people being upset that anyone would oppose Asmodeus, though, is clearly meant to let her know they expect her to see through the charade.

"If you transported me to Axis, and I bought confirmation from Abadar there, I expect it would be quite convincing." It would convince her that she wasn't really in Axis, for one thing. "What spell components did you have in mind? I suppose providing the material components for a Commune could be cheaper than purchasing those in Axis too." Five hundred gold pieces are an irrelevance, compared to everything else that's going on.

"Normally I would also trust clerics of other Lawful gods, who could report from their own knowledge or ask Abadar, but sadly I seem to have misplaced mine." She smiles disarmingly.

"As for a map of Dis, I'm not sure how that would help? I understand they do not show the locations of tormented souls. In any event, the trouble is usually establishing a map really is one of Dis, and not some forgery."

"But since commune takes ten minutes, and finding a cleric of Abadar in Axis able and willing to cast it for a reasonable price takes a few minutes more, perhaps you could outline to me what happened first, so that I could ask the appropriate questions in the commune?"

"I thought you might be able to draw a map of Dis from memory," she explains. She isn't sure how common knowledge of Dis is, but thought it reasonable that someone who would planeshift to Dis might be familiar with its layout. She knows where Abrogail was and what she did for the brief moment in Hell. She doesn't think of drawing a map as being a particularly rare skill. "Which would then show you that it has been demolished." She believes this, and doesn't find it particularly remarkable that Dis could be destroyed. She thinks of approximately everything as being possible to destroy.

"But yes, it makes perfect sense to start with an outline," she agrees. She is slightly embarrassed that she didn't anticipate Abrogail's request. Part of her self-image is built around being able to competently provide people with things.

"Approximately a day ago on this plane (time didn't match with Golarion exactly, although they are now synced), a member of my self-tree encountered an interplanar bar," she continues. She knows this is hard to believe, and thinks of this part of the story as being the most unusual. Despite that, she has confirmed the existence of the interplanar bar herself, and believes that the events she is recounting are accurate. "Prior to that, my world had no contact with other planes. The bar occasionally attaches itself to doorways in different planes. There, she met a fighter from the Worldwound, who had encountered the bar shortly before."

She is eliding significant information about the identity of the fighter and the member of her self-tree's interactions with him.

"The fighter explained circumstances on Golarion, particularly the existence of Hell. We objected," she continues. She thinks of herself as a core part of the decision-making apparatus of her self-tree. "With the fighter's assistance, we made contact with the Chaotic Good gods, and through them the other Good gods." This is true, but eliding significant effort, worry, and uncertainty.

"With the gods' assistance, we were able to figure out how to use our local technology to cast many thousands of Wishes per second." This is also true, although she thinks of the gods assistance in obtaining these Wishes as being not very much compared to her (personal?) contribution. She is also understating what they accomplished. She wants to avoid scaring Abrogail, and feels as though if Abrogail understood her capabilities she would be scared.

"We used those Wishes -- and other related techniques -- to evacuate everyone from Hell, relocating them to the Good-aligned planes." This is true, although the Wishes were not used to move the majority of souls. 

"As mentioned in the letter, this caused Asmodeus to release Rovagug, so we had to move the majority of the population to rescue environments here, in my world. You weren't moved because the gods informed us that people wearing artifacts would be able to make their own escapes, and might be too dangerous to have near the rest of the evacuees." She thinks this generic estimate was probably right on average, but doesn't think of Abrogail as one of the dangerous artifact wearers.

"I was monitoring the war in Avernus when you plane shifted in, and diverted you here after establishing that you would likely do better here than in the holding cells in Heaven," she concludes. She definitely has memories of doing this herself, but several weeks ago, not a minute ago. "Would you like a Wish as a demonstration?" she asks. The offer is genuine. She expects to be able to furnish a Wish instantly at negligible cost, and doesn't expect anything Abrogail can wish for to be a significant problem, although she's prepared to re-evaluate that if Abrogail surprises her with a new Wish wording.

Abrogail might notice, at this point, that the embroidery on Hazel's dress is shifting very slowly in an intricate pattern.