"I wanted Villarosa's poor to still live happy lives with material wealth and convenient magic. If I choose Poverty, do I get the same? Or am I the only person in Villarosa experiencing the miserable, grinding kind of poverty."

"It'll somehow end up grinding anyway, if probably less so than if you hadn't set this up about the world - just like you'll still probably be better off than if you'd chosen somewhere without any magical or technological healing.  But there are parts of these Bad Endings you can't escape.

She smiles faintly.  "I remember someone who tried to escape her Convent by designing a world without any gods.  It didn't work."

That's fascinating. What did they worship? Or did they just meditate or practice penances or something?

"I'll stick with Convent, then. The rest of this looks good." Should he have taken the perk that makes him amazing at, uh, seducing men. He looks over the drawbacks but none of them seem worth the trade. Is it worth swapping for Unearthly Insight? Maybe not with the strategy he wants to apply.

"What's the highest time dilation Villarosa can have relative to Golarion? In the form where time goes faster in Villarosa."

"I don't know -"

"Oh!  Does that mean I can maybe see Mother again?"

Is Seshka his ally in this. Actually, yeah, maybe she is his natural ally, here. Fuck it.

"I hope to help Good end the Evil afterlifes, using the magics and resources of this new universe. I don't know if it's possible, but if it is, maybe we could protect your mother from the Abyss. But if we want to do that we should have as much time as possible to prepare."

She looks at him in confusion.  "Resurrect her?  I'm not sure there'll be enough left of Mother to resurrect after she gets to the Abyss..."  She shakes her head.  "What was she doing before you came here?  Besides doing things with the pieces of my soul?"

"I meant do something about the Abyss before she gets there." This next part could be awkward. "...Were you alive when your mother became infamous across Avistan?"

Seshka looks uneasy.

"... She was fairly well-known among researchers?  And of course those annoying paladins from other countries."

"...This might be difficult to hear. Please keep in mind that I have no idea what her motivations were. But what I've read of her is that she opened the vast rift to the Abyss known as the Worldwound. It's presently the largest threat to Golarion on the Material. Several nations commit armies to contain the demons pouring out of it, and many others send soldiers or material support."

Seshka's mouth hangs open, probably farther than it could if she had a physical body.

"How could she do it - why would she even if she could - is she trying to challenge all the Lawful gods at once somehow!?  And she somehow succeeded enough that she could actually do it??"

"Well, she made ninth circle." Lac figures Seshka will be happy about this, at least. "I don't know what she was thinking. She's reclusive even by archmage standards, which is probably how she survived this long. But she fought with the demons against the crusades that were launched against the Worldwound." Should he mention that she's said to be part demon. Probably not, since it was uncorroborated rumor and fairly insulting.

Seshka smiles in wonder.  "Ninth circle!  And it's working somehow..." Her smile dwindles slowly toward a frown.  "But why?  I thought she liked the world too much to destroy it... well, liked parts of it... did that change after I died?"  She shakes her head.

"And now she put my soul inside you... but now you're dead too."

"Whatever her plan was, I assume it misfired. Maybe she hoped to sneak your soul into Nirvana by tying my soul to yours and getting me killed. But I don't know why she wouldn't kill me immediately, in that case, instead of wounding me and teleporting me to a city next to the Wound. Maybe she thought I would die there? I only survived due to the intervention of a powerful healer."

She holds up a hand.  "And now your soul's here, and the last bits of mine are too - and Mother's lost them.

"After I died, she opened the Worldwound.  What's she going to do now?"

"That's a terrifying thought. Hopefully nothing, because it's possible in theory to connect Villarosa's afterlife to Golarion's. If we can do that, maybe we can get you back into Pharasma's Creation, or at least tell your mom that you're alive. Especially if we have enough time dilation-" glance at Lila "-to make it happen fast. Also, we might want to try to get her for Villarosa's afterlife. It's a paradise for everyone, not just Good people." It doesn't exist yet but Lac is very proud of it.

"Maybe - I can't tell if it might work.  But it sounds like something that a lot of the gods won't like."  She shakes her head.  "Is there any surer way?"

"Actually, you can each bring several people to be reborn in Villarosa with you!  They could be normal people, or perhaps someone with a smaller role in the plot if you want.  Assuming the Diplomacy Department can grab them, but they were able to grab you."

Seshka beams with sudden hope.  "I'll bring Mother!"

"...If you're okay with it, Seshka, I don't think your mom should keep her vast magical powers in her new life. Or have a lot of power in general, really."

"Oh, no, she should certainly have magical powers!"  She looks like the very suggestion otherwise is preposterous.  "I won't be insisting she has a part in the plot, of course, but definitely magic!"

"Certainly!  Now she won't have her memories of her old life, but both of you will - neither of you took the Unprepared drawback - and you can of course tell her if you want."  And of course if they identify her.

"Lac, what about you?  You won't be removing them from Golarion earlier than otherwise; the Diplomacy Department would take them once they're dead."

"Then... what will she be doing in the meantime?"

Seshka's eyes are wide.

Shit, there goes his plan to kidnap the Queen of Cheliax.

"Would that mean that the story would be delayed until she dies?"

Nod.

"If she does die within a reasonable time, of course.  There was one person who wanted this one immortal Elven-queen in his Villarosa, but she just wouldn't die, so there was a big fight between Worldbuilding and Diplomacy and they finally launched his Villarosa without her."