Reroll

When morning comes I distribute food packs to everyone. It really is a bit more than most people will eat in one sitting… so we have the dried fruit for breakfast, and hang onto the hardtack and jerky for later… I experimentally use the Catrips feat to flavor mine as I eat it… it works well; I enjoy my pepperoni pizza flavored dried fruit.

I then pull out the scroll I picked up.  Bestow Curse.  Am I actually going to curse myself?  I look it over… I have Use Magic Device; it’s a class skill for the Hedgewitch, and I'm an intelligence based caster, so I have the skill points to burn.  As a Charisma-based skill, I'm not great at it, but I can retry until I roll a one… then I'm done for the day and need to try again tomorrow… so that's no big deal when it's not in the middle of a fight.

I think back to the drunkard in the library: If I didn't have Fiery Burst - and I don't anymore - he may very well have knocked me up… which is not a concern I'd have ever thought I'd have.  Well… here goes….

I use Spellcraft to decipher the spell (it's a simple matter as it's an Intelligence based skill and I have an Intelligence based build), and then get to work on using the scroll… and after the fourth time, I get the impression that I won't get this done today.

Well, *I* won't get this done today, “Hey, Betty…” I ask the person previously known as Jim, “By any chance did you get the Use Magic Device skill?”

“Oh yes,” she laughs, “It's almost as valuable as Perception, and it's Charisma-based. Of course I grabbed it.  Here, let me handle that for you… Bestow Curse, for sterility, I'm guessing?”

I nod, and she takes the scroll, focusing on me and after the fourth try of her focusing and chanting, I see the magic leap off the page and hit me… which I willingly accept, knowing what it is and what it does… and I feel something shrivel inside my belly… I'm not sure if it's real or imagined, but I can ultimately fix it the same way if I need to do so… next level; new characters would come without the baggage on the prior ones, so I’ll just need to repeat this on my next death unless I want to carry a child.

Not that I WANT to carry a child… but one should seldom say ‘never’, so it's good to have a reversal plan.

“Pity I don't have one of those…” Ed looks on, “But I wouldn't be able to use it anyway.   I don't suppose…” he looks at me hopefully.

I shake my head, “I didn't get two, no.  In happier news… we have some cash; how do you two feel about getting some paint and making this place look respectable?”

Ed considers, “It needs to happen, I suppose….”

“What colors do we want for our sorority?” Betty seems excited….

“Standing out would be bad,” Ed considers, “So how about brown and white?”

I consider and look around: The house across the street is jet black with bone white trim. The one to the right, bone white with jet black trim.  To the left, fire engine red with lime green trim. Left of ours is ivy green with blood red trim, and right of ours… the paint might have been royal purple at one time? It's not in very good shape.  “Muted colors will stick out like a sore thumb, here.  If we want to blend in….”

“Hot pink!” squeals Betty, “With Purple trim!”

No, I don't like it… but as odd as it sounds, I can't think of a better choice.  

I look at Ed, and he shrugs, “I guess,” is all he says.

I shake my head, “Hot pink and purple it is….”

I open my phone, find a paint store, use their estimation tool to identify how much paint we need, and go to place an order… and I don't have a credit card, debit card, PayPal account, or similar.  Which leads me to one, inescapable conclusion: “We'll need to actually visit the paint store.”

I look up the directions… not TOO bad, just a few miles, and we all have pack saddles for the animals for carrying the gallons and gallons of paint and primer back.

And so off we go.  We all have our pets dressed up as service animals by way of Glammered Barding (we all qualify for some variation of Craft Magic Arms & Armor at this point), so we don't get stopped for bringing the animals into the store with us.  We get PLENTY of odd looks, mind: Three women of varying kinds of outrageous looks walking big dogs and a giant cat?  Yes, we get attention. I'm four foot two with a surprisingly huge chest; Betty is six foot six with a much bigger chest, and a tail that's pretending to be a belt; Ed is four foot nine and has thin splotchy fur like a cow and a chest sized like mine (also a guy's package under his skirt, which he needs to be careful with to avoid a feedback loop…).   Lucky for us, the oversized animals keep most guys thinking twice about hitting on us… although Betty seems disappointed by that.

The paint store itself is quite accommodating; they look at us askance as we order up the paint, primer, painters’ tape, paint rollers, paint brushes, paint trays, ladder, and other assorted items, then bundle them all up on two big dogs and a giant cat (High strength quadrupeds can carry a lot), but they don't actually stop us or say anything about it (a service animal harness goes a long way).  I wonder what they'll think when Ed's cat hits Large at 8th?  Full sized lion at that point… eh, we'll cross that bridge when we get there… Reduce Animal is a Druid spell… no matter.  The walk home is also largely uneventful. A couple of wolf whistles, but nothing major.

We get started on the painting; the curb view is of course what matters for us right now, so that's where we start. And while my hybrid form can fly… we use the ladder: We'll all survive a fall just fine… although I DO stay on the ground… but I still remember my last fall; dying is NO fun at all.  And really, nobody objects to me taking all the ground work.  We spend the remainder of the day at it, and go to bed.

The next morning, when I check my gear, I have a surprise, “Ah… did either of you get a scroll of Bestow Curse of your own?”

Ed shakes his head, and Betty answers, “No, why do you ask?”

“Mine's back,” I answer simply, as I check myself and… yes, I still have the Necromancy aura; the spell is definitely present.

“I think I get it…” Ed supplies, “Wealth by level. It's expected for some things to get used up, but you're still supposed to have the amount.”

“Maybe I'm a little dense…” I look at Ed.

Betty fills me in, “We have wealth by level. You destroyed some by using it.  But we have wealth by level. So you get it back.  Expendable items are apparently dailies now.”

“Oh…” I'll need to take advantage of that next level up… for now… “would either of you like the sterility curse?”

“Yes please!” they both answer simultaneously.

“I only have the one…” I'm not sure where to go with this, “but it looks like I'll get it back tomorrow.”

“I want it now,” Betty begins, “As I'm REALLY looking forward to some cream in my bakery.  Hmm…” she smiles and trails off.

“I'd like some insurance against getting myself preggers,” Ed counters, switching from addressing me to Betty, “and of course, if I can't have kids, then I can fill you up, so we can both be happy.”

Betty considers, “Okay, fine, you win. You can go first.”

I nod, and try my hand at activating the scroll on Ed, and I get it… on the eighth try. I'm not going to be using combat spells from scrolls any time soon with this build; spell trigger items like wands and staves will be pretty risky as well for a while. Still… good for utility spells and healing where we're not in a hurry.

Well, once I level up again and can buy that gold mine, anyway.

“So…” Betty turns to Ed after the casting, “you did kind of imply….”

“Oh, I'm so there,” Ed smiles, “I really want to try out that last hole of yours.”

I walk out of the room as Betty says, “Well come on then…” as I really don't want to get drawn into it.  And I walk over to the other side of the house, as I really don't want to overheat.  Mind you, I don't go so far as I won't know if they get into trouble. I can still hear them, a little.

At least they're trying to be quiet. Failing miserably, but they're trying.