Reroll

The only thing I wasn't sure about was when he'd make the move - but it seems he figured the narrow confines of the stairs are the best chance he's likely to have - so I'm not surprised when the blast of searing cold goes up the stairs, catching the three of us in the area.  It hurts very badly… but I'm still moving, barely.

Ed shouts in Shae, “Caster protocol,” as he casts, hurling a stone frisbee at the monster, shattering a few of its bones on impact, which start to mend as we watch.

Betty says a quick prayer, Blessing us with greater accuracy… and more importantly, cutting off the budget lich's ability to come back.

And… I'm the last to go, which leaves me playing counterspeller.  I ready myself for when he manifests again.  The beasts are, sadly, out of this fight: There's no room for them to fight in here without tripping over us, and he's not going to let them get past him for flanking.

Of course, the idiot skeleton does the predictable thing: He tries sending another lethal blast our way… which was exactly what I wanted: I blast him first with a stone burst, as I had been gathering my power for exactly that purpose: To interrupt his concentration so he can't bring the full power of his mind to bear on ripping reality (and us) apart.

And it works, too; I watch as the power he gathered splatters harmlessly on the walls as my rocks knock him for a loop.

The fight proceeds that way for a while: I interrupt his psychic powers by hitting him hard with my own spells at the right time, while Ed and Betty simply blast him (side note: Wilders are GREAT at that).

“I'm not going to win this, am I?” The evil, evil creature realizes once he's far more broken bone than intact, “But I can at least take you down with me…” and he comes at me with his claws… at which point, my body finally gives out, and I collapse,gurgling blood.

As the light fades, I hear Betty screaming, “Oh Pelor! He killed Kenny!” and watch as she blasts his skull into pieces.

And… it's the Abyss again.  There's the books, the character sheet, the quill and blotter, all sitting on the stairs… and Betty and Ed are here, too.  Interesting… “Why are you here? I'm the only one that died….”

“Dunno,” Betty shrugs.

Ed checks his sheet, “Level up, I think? Looks like we got enough experience points.”

Betty frowns, “But we're not resting.”

I shrug, “Maybe leveling up while I'm rewriting my character is convenient? Who knows how this works.”

I shrug and get to work.  Sixth now… I kind of like this build, so I make a variation on it: Spheres Arcanist again, this time nabbing Fey Adept for the other side.  Now, I have a few more magic talents to burn, and fewer skill points, so I offload the passive skills into Conjuration Companions - which is surprisingly easy. I grab the Sphere specific drawbacks of Constant Link, Elongated Summoning, Figment Companion, Life Merger, Limited Range, Material Weakness, and Object Bound… none of which will ever matter, as I never intend to Summon my companions.  That gives me several bonus talents, which I use for Otherworldly Audience (so I can talk to them and let them make passive skill checks on my behalf), and dump the others into copies of Extra Companion.  The companions themselves are Orbs (for the higher intelligence and Wisdom), using two archetypes: Unwilling (for the bonus hit dice for more skill points; the drawback only matters if I summon them, which I will never do) and Guileful Companion (they will never make a saving throw or attack, so I use both options to grant them Skillful, and then use their base talent on either Sage [for more Intelligence] or Willful Companion [for more wisdom] depending on which focus I picked for that companion).  Of course, I give them skill boosting feats for all of their feats (Skill Focus or the +2/+2 feats)… except for the one that takes Track.  I just need the active skills for myself after that: Bluff, Disguise, Stealth, Use Magic Device, and so on.  One talent spent, and I get maximum ranks plus bonuses in all of the passive skills… it's actually quite nice.  And if I need active skills I don't have… well, Create Reality has me covered for a few minutes for three shadow points and two spell points.

I keep the recharge, of course, and go Charisma-primary, Dexterity secondary this time (more active skills there than anywhere else), and take advantage of the disposable item loophole in this game, going in for a lot of scrolls after I have the basic boosters covered.  Undead again via Necropolitan, sticking with a Hengyoki Sparrow for the base, and getting the Transformation feat (plus the Improved feat for it) and the Perfect Imitation talent: Not only will I not need to get a new ID, but I'll be able to fake other people, too.  I do the one talent wonder into Destruction again as well, taking the same options (rocks are reliable), and carefully picking my talents otherwise, selecting things I expect to use often: Warp, Life, and Illusion, mostly, but I also drop two talents into Nature for the Metal package and Nature's Carapace; that will let me gather raw materials (especially once I find the Background Skills optional rule to have free ranks in Craft(Armorsmithing) and Craft(Jewelry)),and give me some armor on-demand

Ed of course finishes first; Betty sticks around until I'm done.

Which I do ask about, “Why are you…”.”

She responds by licking her lips.

“Yeah… steel stairs aren't a great place to lay down… maybe next time…” I QUICKLY finish signing, and the world fades back in.

And of course, I'm naked again. I unload my gear from Cuddles, my Riding Dog this go round, and take a look at myself… you know, I think there are a few girls at the school that have a larger chest than I ended up with this time… although the milk taps on these sucker's are bigger than my thumbs… it's ridiculous. My hair is crazy… dark purple going down to my knees. Thin waist, large hips, a cushioned backside, pale skin, toned muscles… pretty good, but there's one big issue: My lower lips are hungry and drooling, big time. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go through tampons like mad if I want to keep my pants dry and avoid leaving a wet trail.  And the smell… ugh, I smell like I'm desperate to get laid… or just did… that might be a problem: I don't remember my biology lessons perfectly but I'm probably giving off some heavy duty pheromones that'll be telling all the guys around me “yes, yes”.  I shake my head as I get dressed… yes, the Sleeves of Many Garments again.

I look at Ed and Betty as I shift to my prior face and height (those end up on the license), keeping my smaller chest and turning the taps down to something a baby could actually use, “Let’s see about fixing you two up….” I take a ‘coffee break’ to top up on spell points and refill my Arcane Reservoir, then use the basic Cure of the Life sphere repeatedly until both Ed and Betty are again at full health… I'm looking forward to level eight, when I'll be able to grant everyone minor Regeneration, suppressed by acid, for the cost of two real talents that I've already nabbed and four floating ones… but that's for later; I have a long way to go before I can do that.

When I'm done, I pause, “Okay, I have to know: I am Jasmine.” Jasmine, huh? It's keeping with the alphabet order.  That's both reassuring and frightening.

“Could be worse,” Betty shrugs.

It is, but I'm not mentioning it now, “Regardless… let's loot.”

I experimentally ping one of my intelligence-based “Als” as I look at the corpse.  “He's staying dead this time,” that Al confirms, “The Bless spell did the job of disrupting the residual energy that would have drawn him back.  He's off to get rewarded for his deeds in life.”  Another volunteers information, “And I can confirm his fragments aren't moving.”  A wisdom based one, of course.

I pick up Divination and scan for magic while Ed does the same with the Detect Magic spell. He had a few items, which I identify in place (or rather, I share the examination with one of my Als, who does the actual work of identifying while I look): A ring that grants a four point bonus to intelligence, and a Headband that grants a +2 Resistance bonus to saving throws.  Not bad… except that they're not suitable for us: We're all using our Headband slots already, have the same or better Resistance bonus, and none of us are intelligence based at this point.  Still… we may want them later, so we stash them in the “vault”: The control room for the basement, really; if it's really only accessible via teleportation, well… pretty safe.

We will be in better shape to examine the place after I've had a long rest and can get the Create Reality minions running: Arbitrary skills and feats on demand makes for excellent skill checks, even if I can only keep them out for six minutes at time for now.