My Lord Asmodeus, I request permission to enter talks with the enemy for a ceasefire in Avernus.

I will talk to them Myself. See to Your own affairs, Barbatos. The novel field is still covering Avernus and He is not sure He can counteract it in time, with the other gods opposing Him. And more importantly, talks may buy Him time, because the thing He needs most of all now is knowledge. Knowledge of the enemy, at any price.

The Good gods are already retreating from Caina, their purpose there accomplished. His lieutenants scramble to move His remaining resources, the artifacts that survived the blasts and those kept in Avernus and Cocytus, to His deepest vaults in Nessus. He leaves them with part of Himself, to guard against that field ever again encroaching beyond Malebolge. 

And almost the whole of Asmodeus's attention, across the many worlds, turns to this: how did they do it? Can they do it again? How soon, at what cost?

It is clear, from past-watching, that the novel field created the antimatter; only between Dis and Malebolge, where He did not think to look closely in time; not in Avernus, where the first incursion was observed, or in Caina where the hardest battle was fought against it.

It is clear now, also, why the Good gods went to such lengths to steal His souls. It cost Them much, but They would not leave the damned to extinction, not if They could pay the price. The scales of the exchange are balanced in Their favor now; and it still not over.

The foot-soldiers of Heaven carried the field with them. Past-watching shows Him the devices that produced it. He can replicate it, in time, but that is time He does not yet have.

Did they test it before today, anywhere outside of Heaven? Was it developed in Axis? Does any of His fragments across Creation have information that is, in hindsight, relevant?

There are several gods as yet uninvolved He may call on for assistance.

I offer a temporary cease-fire, to apply across Hell, with neither side moving or acting except for voluntary retreat (out of Hell for You, to deeper layers for My forces), until we can Lawfully agree on the balance of power between Us, to avoid pointless mutual destruction of resources. With the longest, most detailed, trickiest compact He can adapt on the spot to the circumstances attached.

We will accept surrender, from You and from anyone else who wishes to, on the standard Lawful Good terms for honorable and comfortable imprisonment. The attached terms are short and plain and have not changed in a very, very long time.

We will allow Your forces to withdraw from Avernus, with their arms, if you cede Avernus to Us, in perpetuity.

We will not cease fire, until We know You and Yours will never harm another soul again.

They have no war-aims other than His complete surrender? That is preposterous. He is not harmed by antimatter. He will not stop fighting, not even should He lose all of the Hells.

Not that He expects to -

Now that there is no need to refrain from acting in Golarion to preserve the element of surprise, fixity fields race out across the world. They sweep people to safety, and ensure that nobody is left to be hurt if Rovagug's prison should be opened.

It is still the round on which Hell was invaded.

Most of the people powerful enough to be left on Golarion - a stray nascent demon lord, archmages and rulers wearing divine artifacts, a Duke of Hell still on his way to Dis in pursuit of his latest orders - are also powerful enough to notice, and react, and escape whatever catastrophe is incoming, all on the same turn.

Most of the archmages flee to their secure demiplanes, to ride out the coming storm. Aspexia Rugatonn makes the mistake of fleeing to Avernus instead.

Arazni has Her orders, to defend Mechitar. Even should she remain there alone.

She sees no enemy to defend against. She waits, and does not hope She is the next to disappear.

She informs Geb. He determines that Nex is not behind the event, as it is not magical in nature, and loses interest.

They used the same tactics to empty Golarion as they did Hell. Why Golarion? 

Do they think He will release Rovagug? They demand His utter surrender, which He will never proffer, and they know He'd rather destroy Creation than have it ruled by Good, and not even Lafwul Good alone at that.

But Rovagug cannot be stopped, not by antimatter or anything else the lesser gods of this day can bring to bear without His aid. They would not risk Him releasing the Rough Beast if they did not have a hard counter for It. Evacuating Golarion would only buy them a little time.

This is not yet the answer He is looking for.

Are they making a play for the Starstone, while He is too occupied to prevent more Good gods from ascending? Did they evacuate Golarion in anticipation of a fight with Achaekek? Surely that would not require emptying the whole planet.

Were they hiding something here, that required the shadow of broken prophecy, with consequences that now require evacuation? A secret project would be safer from His gaze in Heaven. A dangerous one, then?

Asmodeus inspects Golarion, to the limits of His attention and understanding; and that is deep and broad indeed, when the confusing squirrels are largely out of the picture.

The planet is covered in that field, but there are no visible generators.

There is an opening to another plane which was not there yesterday. The field reaches into it.

It is not a plane He has ever seen before.

It is not a demiplane created by any standard magic He knows. 

Asmodeus looks inside Milliways.

Inside is a bar -- a place where people are tricked into buying poison, and then taken advantage of while they are addled. It's a place where fools and their money are soon parted. It's a place where there are rules, strictly enforced by the presence of an enforcer stronger than any of the patrons.

It's a place that takes coin it doesn't need in exchange for something it can make for free, just because it can. It's a place that offers sweet intoxication like a hook, to lure people in with the promise that if they only weaken themselves they will feel better.

Everyone who follows the rules is welcome, it tells him. And the first drink is free.

The new plane is assigned the highest priority by His shard that sees it, pulling in more and more of His attention, all He can spare from Golarion and the other Material worlds, everywhere but Hell itself.

Once, long ago, when Creation was new, Asmodeus explored it for Heaven. Later He conquered it for them, and then when Heaven went astray He conquered for Himself.

He had met, then, strange creatures in a foreign land, who were Lawful Evil, but not like He was; and from Their union something new was born.

He knows what it is like, to meet the truly alien and find it interesting enough, novel enough that your own outlook changes. And He knows, too, what it is like to speak and compact with one who values lies and deception above all else.

But it is late in the day, and Creation too well-trodden, to discover a new and powerful Lawful Evil realm, with its own gods, where none were before.

Also, this place is swarming with those wretched squirrels.

They are not the same as the ones who carried the field into Hell, their bodies are of a different configuration, but the racial similarities of their basic composition are unmistakable.

They do not have souls. He wasn't sure, before, the way they generated the field in Hell was confusing and He had other priorities. Now that He can spare the attention, He can see more clearly. They are constructs, moving with purpose, perhaps controlled using that same field. Except that-

Pharasma's alignment algorithm identifies them as Lawful Good. They are individual enough to have alignment, and individually intelligent. They use recognizable magic. But they are not souls, or mortals, or gods, or anything else that abides by the rules of Creation.

There is another planar connection here, narrow and twisted, but when He tries to look through it He is blocked by a familiar presence.

Normally I am in favor of free travel. But in this case I must make an exception, on behalf of the original inhabitants of this plane. 

I believe the Lawful wording goes...

No Further. You Shall Not Pass.

But He has seen enough, and more than enough. 

Desna has always been mad. She has journeyed to the distant stars and between them. All of Law from Himself to Erastil told Her to stop, stop endangering all of Creation, and still She kept going. His one faint hope had been that She would return Lawful Evil, as Zon-Kuthon had. But the horrors that lurk between the stars are not so convenient, they are not consistent or reliable, and even when they wear the guise of a friendly alignment they are not to be trusted.

Otolmens! Pharasma! All gods, take heed!

These mad fools have made compact with an Outer God, and brought the Dark Tapestry to Rovagug's prison! By ancient pact and by Your own values, I call upon You to defend Creation! 

Wait, we can explain!

WHAT is the EMERGENCY.

They brought a novel way to generate antimatter into Creation, and to Golarion! They covered the planet in a field that gives them control of it, and now they can blow Rovagug's prison open any time they want!

ANTIMATTER is not permitted near ROVAGUG. 

I will BAN this field from Golarion.

No, wait! We would never release Rovagug! And we can agree not to create antimatter on Golarion, but that's not why the field is here, you should ban antimatter instead!

Desna is insane (*) and You cannot trust anything She says She would or Would not do. She has been talking with an Outer God. The field is controlled by aliens! We can't know what they might do! We have to stop them before it's too late!

(*) Chaotic (pejorative)

It is correct procedure to BAN something BEFORE catastrophe occurs.

ANTIMATTER controlled by ALIENS near ROVAGUG is UNACCEPTABLE. It would be WORSE THAN THAT, but I am sane and do not need words for WORSE THAN THAT before I BAN something.

BY PHARASMA'S POWER VESTED IN ME, THIS FIELD IS BANNED FROM GOLARION, UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

Some edicts bind upon the gods, by treaty and by threat of punishment. But godtreaties are no substitute for eternal vigilance. When prophecy has been broken and squirrels run amok, a better tool is needed.

Otolmens' edicts can bind upon the very laws and fabric of Creation.

The fixity fields on Golarion, outside of Milliways, wink out.

What is going on here? Who has brought an Outer God into My Creation?!

Desna, apparently. She was always the likeliest suspect for such a crime.