Why are you special?

… and I’m back in Death’s office. He’s sitting behind the chair, as usual, reading a book, illuminated by his fiery hair… and he seems relieved when he sees me, “I’m glad you found a way to get what you wanted without that evil, evil spell.”

"Good to see you again… yeah, I wish I'd left under better circumstances, though. I'm buried." Which feels weird to say, when I'm perfectly fine in Death’s office and reaching for his books. His divine books that seem to know everything about how the world works….

Death hums a moment, "Well yes, but… even if you don't find a solution for your predicament here, and can’t spell your way out, you've let Wally know you'll live, so I can be reasonably confident he'll insist on digging you out once the place is done collapsing."

I pause, "And I can even research a solution while I'm here, can't I?" I continue looking through the book I have in front of me. Let's see… if I grab the Domains class feature from a Cloistered Cleric, I get three of them, although one is fixed at "knowledge" for ten points…and I worship me, so I'm limited to mine… ew. None of them give me any useful new options, except maybe the Rune domain… eh, lots of options for traps. I'll just use a Glyph of Warding if it comes up.

Death smiles, "You can, yes."

Oh, the Bound One… Magical Mastery for two more caster levels for Sphere effects… gets me up to six now, that'll be handy. "Something I've been curious about… what's up with the hay?" I point at the floor.

Death laughs, "It's not hay. Those are reeds, and it's called 'thresh' when used that way. It's a floor covering used by poorer people."

"You consider yourself poor, then?" Ah, Amorphous; good for avoiding critical hits….

Death chuckles at that, "No, but it's familiar to a lot of my clients, so…." he shrugs.

"Ah… oh hey, do you know why when I used Last Breath in the dungeon, everyone came back progressively more feminine - eventually to the point of ludicrousness?" I suppose more Charisma never hurts….

Death answers that one slowly, closing his twin voids while he thinks … "It's Life’s 'blessing', and you're making new life when you do that. They get a taste, and the newly-built body is altered to match."

And of course, Invisible Spell for the feat… need to get my ring going soon, so I can apply the more useful metamagic to spells, "Are they going to be stuck that way?"

Death sighs, "My sister would need to release them from it. So Paul and Carter will be good to go with that Miracle scroll plan that they always use…."

"...but Wally is one of yours, and you won't be able to fix that portion for him." Keeping to Immediate action spells for the new ones; Close Wounds can negate injury….

Death nods, "Right. He'll go that direction even more every time you bring him back that way. A Raise Dead or something should be OK… that's just repairing life… but Reincarnate? Sorry. I can restore his humanity, but he's not going to be a father until my sister relents, which doesn't seem likely, so he'll need to be a mother if he ever wants children."

No shortage of numbers to change, I get Charisma to nearly everything …. "So do you think I shouldn't have brought him back? Waited until we were in town and hired a casting?"

Death shrugs, "You had no way of knowing, he wants to live, and that's what you had available. It… well. Probably the right call, but the person you really need to ask is Wally."

Another hit die and evolution point on my Eidolon… I think I'll drop one of the skill boosters and get more Charisma… "Fair. And… I think I know how to fix the caster level problem permanently now. You cool with Suffer the Flesh, Adept Spirit, and Spell Enhancer?"

I feel that itch in my head again; Death smiles, "None of those do anything to the soul, so I'm 'cool' as you say. And… thank you for being considerate. You don't have to be."

And now I need to go back and adjust all the numbers again. "Yeah, well… demonic as you look, you're still a person, and a nice one at that… care to check my work?"

As Death looks over my sheet, I browse spells… Dimension Door will do… but I think Burrow is the most believable for doing on my own.

"So… no critical hits, more numbers, and the ability to make your lowest spells unseen, huh? Seems mild, comparatively."

"Ah, but all my buffs are Permanent and non-magical…" I explain, "... and I can get any spell off the three big lists of fourth level or lower. Possibly all the way up to 7th if I stretch... once the Mythic Ring is up and running, I'm going to go absolutely nuts with buffs."

Death nods, "I see…."

Oh, also: I should check: "And… am I going to be giving away your blessing to me accidentally?"

Death shrugs, "You'd have to do something that alters their levels and kill them at the same time, just like how Reincarnate creates a body and brings life at the same time… and it would only apply for those changes, and I could just not let it work that way, as it's my blessing.  So… it's not happening accidentally.   But if you find someone you want to bless, and figure out a way to meet all the criteria, you can talk it over with me and we can maybe set something up.  You are quite clever when it comes to these things, and could possibly arrange it.  But it's not going to be an accident."

Huh. That's a fun thought… "Well, I think I'm done here. Thank you."

Death waves his black clawed hand, "You’re helping me, too; be seeing you…."

And the world fades out.

Of course, I’m still buried. But at least I have a plan, now. So I recast Adept Spirit, giving me the option of a temporary caster level bonus until I use it. Channel the Gift to power another Fleeting Spell Lesser Evolution Surge to grant myself the Spark of Life spell as a spell known, and then a Fleeting Spell Attuned Mysticism Spark of Life on myself to remove - temporarily - my immunity to ability damage and drain. Then I activate the Adept Spirit, use Spell Enhancer, and go ahead with Suffer the Flesh via Wild Arcana: My base caster level of five, plus one for the Adept Spirit discharge effect, plus two for Spell Enhancer, plus two more from Wild Arcana makes ten, which is the limit for Suffer the Flesh… so I soak ten Constitution damage and get a five point bonus to my caster level, which will last forever.

Which is good, as THAT HURTS! Once is OK. But I really don’t want to do that again.

I sooth my wounds with a Restoration spell to clean up the Constitution damage, then dismiss Spark of Life. There. Now I have a caster level of ten for spells I directly cast, twelve for Wild Arcana, and I can still use Adept Spirit and Spell Enhancer when I want to really push it. Yes, I'm level five, and can squeeze out a caster level of fifteen. I still need to get an Orange Prism Ioun Stone and a Strand of Prayer Beads to have a buff routine with a caster level of twenty. For now, though, ten (eleven with Adept Spirit, twelve with Spell Enhancer, thirteen with both) is fine. Feeding spell points into Versatile Spellcaster instead of slots, with Spell Enhancer, lets me Heighten to 6th… so I can cast sixth level spells whenever via Wild Arcana. And with Adept Spirit’s discharge function, I can squeeze that to seventh, for one minute at a time.

… and I also still need to get out of here.

Well, the burrow spell is only third level, so I give it to myself via the usual path, and - because now it’s a spell known - I cast a Mythic Augmented Invisible Spell Burrow on myself (Primordial Lore rocks). I get a Burrow speed of forty feet, twenty through solid stone, and I can leave a tunnel - or not - behind me. Which is, you know, handy when you’re buried. As is Tremorsense, which is a third level Sorcerer or Wizard spell. So, you know… MINE.

I mentally contact Wally, 《I’m fine. Just a little buried, and I can get myself out. And… I have answers about your shape now… Paul and Carter will be all the way back to normal once they get their human forms back via the normal plan… you though… I’m sorry. Magic will be able to restore your humanity, but that’s it. You probably won’t even be able to use magic to temporarily get back to your old shape.》

Wally doesn’t get back to me for a little while, and his first response is,《Did you know this would happen?》

《No, I didn’t. I know NOW, but I didn’t then. Would you have wanted to stay dead, even if you’d known this would happen?》

Wally pauses for a while again, 《No, no, I want to live. It… would have been nice to know the cost in advance, but… I still would have paid, I think.》

So I shuffle through to the rubble, and - when I’m JUST at the edge, I push my way out normally, like I was only a little bit buried the whole time. I choose to laugh weakly, “Well… that’s what I get for being the slowpoke. So which way’s home?”