Why are you special?

I'm momentarily disoriented. Why can't I see… ah, right. I'm still inside the purple worm. I can hear my party mates talking through the corpse. I guess Wally and Carter got down while I was in the beast's belly? I suppose I still am….

"Well… it's dead." That's Wally. He knows I’ll be back, one way or another, so I can easily forgive his nonchalance.

"Yeah, but how are we going to deal with the dungeon? We NEED a trapper." Seriously? He was putting the moves on me minutes ago and that's all Paul has to say?

"... maybe she's still alive in there? She was sent by the goddess." She didn't send me, Carter, but you go on thinking that, it's great. And thank you for the vote of confidence, too. Well, time to go.

"Do you SEE those teeth? IT ATE HER. How could anyone possibly survive…" Paul really doesn't have any faith in me, does he? I hear them all taking a ready position. I guess my claws digging my way out of the thing are making it move? No matter.

It takes very little time for me to cut my way out. My claws are sharp enough, and a purple worm's belly isn't very tough. Also, it's already dead. I cast Life Conduit - which can now no longer be identified as a spell, thanks to Technological Wonders - and begin repairing my eidolon as I speak, "Do you guys have no faith in me at all? Wait… why are you looking at me like that?"

Wally’s got this lovey-dovey look on his face - I guess Death’s nudge is in overdrive for some reason - Paul's practically drooling, and Carter is turning quite the shade of red. And all three of them are looking straight at me but not meeting my eyes….

I put my hand to my chest, and feel it from both sides. I'm quite soft, and oh that feels nice when my hand runs across my milk tap… but there's no cloth there. I look down to confirm. Great… so while I am completely uninjured thanks to Hardness and healing, the non-magical shirt I was wearing as a dress is completely AWOL. And that was the only actual clothing I had. And of course, I’m unnaturally feminine, and that apparently includes shedding grime like water off a duck's back: Despite having just literally clawed my way out of a dead worm… I'm perfectly clean. I run a hand through my hair… not even a tangle. Great. I won't even be able to use mud for modesty. I guess that also explains why I don’t have any body hair… wonderful. And while my backpack survived… no clothes in there. Cloth, sure, but not thread. Well, party members are supposed to help each other… I mean, if I were in there shoes, I’m not sure I’d answer this one with a yes even if I did have spares available, but I have to try:

“Anyone got a spare shirt or something?”

Carter shakes his head, “Not really, no… just armor care stuff.”

Wally starts to reach for his backpack, but Paul elbows him hard enough that he doubles over, and Paul speaks up, “Sorry, but no… I know it sucks, but we can probably find something in the dungeon, and worst-case scenario, we’ll all go shopping when we get back to town anyway.”

Paul, you’re officially on my ‘do not like’ list. Wally… you’re good, if a bit too much of a follower. And we’ll need to chat at some point about who you revere. I shake my head, “Great… well, at least I’m rested and can prepare my spells…” Which is true. I’ve had over eight hours of restful calm, because nothing was happening while Carter and Wally were watching. So I can prepare my spells… which is good, as I need to prepare my Archmage Arcana slots. My spontaneous slots don’t matter, simply because Versatile Spellcaster is a feat that lets me burn two spell slots of lower level to cast a spell, and Font of Power grants me essentially limitless spell points… and Spheres has a note that I can spend spell points to power feats that require slots. Which means unlimited spell slots, too, for anything I know. Isn’t that fun? Still need to prepare the Archmage Arcana stuff, though.

So I sit down and concentrate, trying to ignore the little issue that I’m a naked woman in front of three men whom I’ve only known for maybe a day. Closing my eyes… mostly helps me ignore their stares.

Paul interrupts me, “Wait… you’re a spellcaster?”

Fortunately, speaking is a free action, and doesn’t interrupt concentration, “Yes. I told the guildmaster I used a wand and a belt because I don’t know him or trust him, and it’s easier to defend myself if the idiot attacking me doesn’t actually know what I can do.  So don't tell anyone, all right?  I was using my own magic to beat him, not any external items. There was no wand or belt. I’m going to have to fight alongside you guys, though, so you need to have an idea what I can do. And yes, I can absolutely deal with traps. Quietly, even. Now shush, I need to focus.”

Paul gives a brief "Gotcha...." and otherwise respects my request for silence… whether because of the show or because he understands the need for concentration thanks to Wally, I can’t tell. But either way, he’s quiet.

When I’m done with my fifteen minutes of concentration… I find Wally pouring over a spellbook, while Paul and Carter are facing the rising sun, eyes closed, their lips moving quietly while they sit in identical folded-leg poses, their hands clasped. Ah. Everyone’s preparing spells … and I only need fifteen minutes vs. their full hour. Huh.

Well, first off: Fake clothing. I have some Spheres illusion thanks to Domain Mastery, and I can pick up a few extra talents via Well of Miracles. It’s only “mid casting,” so at fourth level I only get a caster level of three… but that’s fine. So I illusion up some clothing. Illusionary sound and illusionary touch means it’ll even feel like I’m clothed if someone gropes me… assuming they fail the save, anyway, which should have a difficulty class of twenty two, so not trivial for most. And I’ve got Lingering Illusion right now via Well of Miracles, because it needs to have some kind of a useful duration for a permanent state to apply… and I apply Fleeting Spell, of course, so I can get rid of it later when I get some REAL clothes. So now at least I look and feel like I’m wearing something. Well, to everyone else, anyway. To me, I’m still naked. Still… less staring, hopefully.

And I have a nice trick for buff spells… but I’ll leave those off for now. I’m not seriously concerned about a dungeon yet, as it’s not adaptive in being out to get me, and I won’t be able to hide the side effects of spells until I have the Invisible Spell metamagic feat… I plan to get that next level. For now, I can simply buff up as needed.

I wait patiently while everyone else finishes up their preparations. I watch as Wally casts Greater Magic weapon on Paul’s bow, and pulls out a Pearl of Power to recover it. I nod as he does, but before he casts it again, I stop him. “Here…” I cast Channel the Gift on him via Wild Arcana, and he uses that to cast Greater Magic Weapon on Paul’s Greatsword… and I use Channel the Gift Again, which Wally uses to cover Paul’s Lucerne Hammer. We keep going at that, and soon enough every weapon in the party has the spell. I catch Carter before he casts Magic Vestments, and we do the same for his and Paul’s armor.

I also use a trick to actually “know” any spell, so I can apply metamagic to it: Channel the Gift on myself, which I use to cast my Fleeting Lesser Evolution Surge on my eidolon to pick up Extra Feat, which I use for Expanded Arcana. I use that feat to pick up Greater Mage Armor, and then use Fleeting Spell with it to armor up both Wally and Myself. A nice +6 armor bonus... and just one round, even with dismissing the spell knowledge from my head, thanks to my action economy abuse.  I cast a Fleeting Shield spell the same way for a +4 Shield bonus to armor class.

Carter doesn’t seem to notice, but Wally looks at me funny, “OK, so… I can feel the effects, but… how are you disguising your spellcasting so well? I can’t even detect any magic on you. I can see the focus, but….”

Heh. “We… have a few things to go over, but not now. There’s a number of ways to disguise spellcasting and magical auras, and I know one of them well enough for you.  Of course I don't want to advertise that I'm a caster to any intelligent or magic sensitive creatures in the dungeon, now do I?  And as I said last night: I have access to a lot of spells.”

Wally nods, “All right… perhaps we can go over it on my next watch, or maybe over dinner when we get back?”

Oh, you’ve got more courage that Carter gives you credit for… “I think I’d like that. It’s a date. But we should probably get to the dungeon, delve and destroy, right?” Wait… why’d I agree to that? It’ll… help with the charade, and give me a nice opportunity to talk privately with Wally. Right?  Right.  That must be why.

Everyone packs their gear, and we head towards the dungeon….