The city of Rovale was a strange and unique site for Thoz and his companions. Positioned on the banks of a lake large enough to be called an inland sea, one side of the settlement backed up against the water directly and the others were surrounded in thick stone walls. The walls themselves continued out into the water for dozens of meters to allow a large chain to be strung across the natural harbor. It was a defensible position if nothing else, and a testament to just how far mankind had come in the past centuries since Thozronnath’s last summoning.

By no means was it perfect. They had a serious sanitation problem after all, all the sewers and gutters poured outwards into the lake. Citizens of the city couldn’t go swimming or bathe at the beach, and had to rely on a series of wells to provide them with water. Even then, their wells had frequent contamination,only the diligent efforts of several priests kept it drinkable, and prevented outbreaks of disease. Thoz hates priests he decided. They followed the gods, and his own king had a less than stellar reputation among gods and their followers. That was even ignoring the fact that priestly magic as it was passed down traditionally was incredibly potent against all manner of creatures from beyond the mortal plane, a list that included devils.

None of that was important right now though, Zildoxoxi was waiting patiently in the woods a few miles from the city, Thoz and Prisaela were currently waiting in line to enter the main city gate. People came into Rovale’s gate almost as frequently as they came through the port, it was a trading hub for the nation of Vesmar so it saw all manner of products and people. Thus, to keep the city safe and stop the smuggling of illicit goods (or take a cut in the case of Vesmar’s criminally dominated population), the gate into the city was also a checkpoint for the guard.

Rovale’s city guards were not the usual sort for an armed city police force. The guards for the city of Rovale all wore slightly worn and distressed leather armor instead of a standard issue chain or plate set. This allows them to move almost silently. Combining this with the fact that all of them, without exception, carried some form of hidden or partially concealed weapon meant that a would-be criminal in the city could be beset upon by the guards nigh instantaneously. It only took once for a guard to drop in on you unexpectedly with a dagger held against your spine to convince the average person that committing a crime in Rovale wasn’t worth mysteriously dying in their sleep.

Thoz and Prisaela heard all kinds of rumors like this as they stood patiently in line to enter the city. Prisaela had initially been worried that their entry to the city would be out of the ordinary or that they would somehow be the only ones entering today. This was obviously not the case. By the time they reached the front of the line, there were several people behind them, some with wagons and horses to be inspected, and some on foot just like them. As the duo got closer and closer to the gate over the preceding few minutes, they could start to hear the words being exchanged with the gate guards in more detail.

Most of it was rather pointless, with the only arguably important fact being that the guards were seemingly expectant of each traveler to pay a ‘toll’ or a ‘fee’, the words they used changed between groups, as did the amount. Thozronnath thought nothing of it, but Prisaela knew exactly what this meant. Bribes. There may have actually been a fee of some kind, but it was obvious to the newly ranked doppelganger that the guards were changing it from person to person and skimming off the rest. Assuming the fee existed in the first place and they weren’t just pocketing all of the money. When she whispered an explanation to Thoz, he thought it was an incredibly devilish thing for a human to do, he also swore under his breath about having to potentially part with more money. Hopefully Prisaela would be able to do something about that, she always seemed to have a plan after all.

When they approached the guards one of the men in the back serving as an inspector or more likely an intimidation factor let out a low whistle of approval as he noticed Prisaela’s disheveled outfit and it’s many revealing tears.

“And what might have happened to a pretty young thing like you?” the guard asked in a gruff voice as he looked down on Prisaela.

Thoz could tell he was being completely ignored as all the eyes around him were locked on Prisaela. Thoz had his default human shape shift activated, rough hair and bronze tanned skin, he was currently wrapped in tattered clothes he had taken from his victims both to serve as a disguise and to protect his modesty.

Prisaela on the other hand, used her new found doppelganger shape shifting to assume a form very similar to Thoz while staying female. She had soft black hair falling just past her shoulders, and her usually pale skin was now a sun-kissed ochre. Deep hazel eyes went completely unnoticed with her extreme curves being hugged and exposed by the scraps of torn clothes she has similarly donned.

Prisaela sniffled faintly at the question and began recounting the constructed sob story she and Thozronnath had agreed upon previously. They were traveling in the woods together to try and get to Rovale when they were attacked by bandits. Her husband ‘Bren’ was significantly higher level than she was and had struggled to protect her. Thankfully the two survived without ‘Alice’ getting too roughed up by the bandits or being taken against her will, but they had absconded with the duo’s supplies.

The guards squinted as she continued speaking, belying a healthy level of skepticism, but without any evidence there was very little they could do to deny the supposed couple.

“Alright, we will issue both of you new ID tags and then I suggest you get some food. Wouldn’t want such a pretty young thing like you wasting away” the guard explained with a smirk after a very brief pause.

“There’s a one gold fee to get through the gate though, toll road and all…” the guard began, his voice trailing off as he very obviously stared down into Prisaela’s cleavage.

“Though if you can’t pay…” he continued, his intentions obvious even without the new mind read skill Prisaela had recently acquired.

“Oh, Mister guard sir! We don’t have any money left, the bandits took everything we had '' Prisaela wept through fake tears, her subterfuge skill doing a lot of heavy lifting for the fake background story. The guard clearly wanted her to pay her way through some sort of ‘favor’ but this was a last resort as far as either of the monsters were concerned.

“I still have a broken rib that I need to see a healer about, and I’m afraid if I don’t replace the clothes soon it might invite some sort of ruffian” the doppelganger continued, her tears growing more and more exaggerated while the gate guard was clearly becomes uncomfortable. A quick flash of the mind read skill revealed he was debating this entire interaction even being worth it.

He clearly didn’t come to that conclusion.

“Fine. Head on inside, but don’t cause any trouble. We’ll have your ID plates in a few minutes, I just need you to step over there and answer a few questions while we keep the line moving” he eventually sighed.

Thozronnath and Prisaela stepped through the gate and began speaking to a few different guards at the same time as they answered questions regarding their personal histories. Then they were assessed for level.

By some miracle or other, the crystalline ball that was used for appraisal didn’t actually read class, and couldn’t read race beyond the shapeshift skill, so they both registered as human. Prisaela being level 27, and Thoz at level 55. A bit higher than average in the devil’s case, but nothing to write home about.

Each of them did eventually receive a wooden plate, carved and then enchanted with their basic details. The guards also informed them that if they needed another one it would cost five gold pieces to have it minted, or the adventurers guild supplied them in metal to their differently ranked members.

Prisaela made a mental note to learn what a “guild” was.

Once on the city streets, Rovale was an exciting and intimidating place. The streets seemed to wind randomly and without reason, at times even over or under each other thanks to strange bridges and tunnels that dotted the city. The buildings themselves were packed in tightly and at times hung over the edges of the streets like cramped arches. Everyone that moved through these eclectic streets kept their heads low and made a point not to linger when they glanced at one another, even when those glances were pointed towards Prisaela.

The duo made their way through these streets exceedingly awkwardly, both keeping an eye out for an inn where they could rest for the night as well as a store they could hopefully buy some clothes from.

Of course, Thoz would first have to deal with the four men that had been following them since they stepped through the gate.