Why are you special?

Knowledge (Arcana) tells me it's a Great Wyrm red dragon, Arcane Sight tells me it’s under an Enchantment effect, and Sense Motive says it’s being Dominated. Of itself, that's a non-issue: It's a CR 22 beastie, but I am running a theoretical optimization build that I'd never spring on a DM, so I'll be able to take that down quickly enough. He's not what I'm worried about.

The man on top of him, glowing merrily away with several strong auras of magic? Him I'm worried about. He has white hair, and wears black robes with a matching cloak. He has a bow and quiver on his back, two shortswords at his belt, and a few pouches as well. He wears lenses over his eyes, has a headband and hat both, gloves… oh, and ioun stones orbit his head. All item slots I can see are filled, and radiate magic … he's loaded, clearly.

What I'm worried most about? His skin. Because his skin is so light that "white" actually fits. And Death told me what that means. Marked by Death, he has Life’s blessing… which means he breaks the rules in some way. I'll want to know how for my battle plan. Especially as he's apparently been knocking down Death’s champions left and right. And I'd like to keep him guessing on what I'm doing with mine.

I update Wally, 《They’re after me. You run. Pretend I stay dead.》I'm sure I'm the target, and Life’s been pushing the limits of the rules, so her champion will know that…. Sorry Wally, you're not going to be able to stand in this fight anyway… first thing's first, his mount…

For once, I don't get to go first. Which is interesting, as between Noble Scion(War), my massively boosted Charisma, and Divine Providence getting me a twenty on the dice, I have a consistent forty on my check. Is he some kind of speed demon?

He draws a bow with lightning speed and pops off six arrows… all six of which hit my left eye. They’re apparently magic, as Starmantle doesn’t turn them into harmless light… I don’t bother forcing results on the saves, letting Amorphous negate the critical portions, my Hardness (boosted by a spell) and Damage Reduction from a spell soaking the base damage… which is odd, as even without forcing the results, the Opportunity spell I’m under should let me roll three times and take the best… yet I fail all on all six rolls? That’s… super unlikely… all six of those definitely would have been crits… oh, AND he pops off a spell! I recognize it: It's called Weird - a 9th level spell that targets several people in an area, all of whom must win one of at least two saves… or die. Lucky for me, I'm immune. Well, not luck: Proper planning. I'm immune to a lot of things. Also, I have Spell Turning… but he seems unaffected. I guess he made the save?

Paul, Wally, and Carter: Not so much. All three of them simply drop dead, screaming. Oh yes, Weird kills via fear. Not a fun way to go. Odd, though… all three of them should have pretty solid will saves, and Paul and Carter should both have great Fort as well. Seems very strange that they’d all blow both saves. But it bypasses hit points, so Delay Death doesn't help with it. Great.

But it’s my turn… I renew my Spell Turning (it’s basically exhausted), trigger Adept Spirit for the caster level boost, and start by targeting his mount - “Be Free!” I scream at it, slapping it with Greater Dispel Magic, and acing the Dispel checks via Divine Providence. I smile as the magic fades off the beast. There’s a problem with controlling other creatures… I skip casting another spell, instead keeping it quiet that I can. I don’t want to show all my cards, and all he can see is that I cast a Greater Dispel Magic on his ride… which he shouldn’t be able to identify, other than by the fact that it freed his ride. I want to keep him guessing on my limits.

The dragon, rather than turning on his rider … simply teleports away. Pity. Still… he ran, I defeated him, right? Maybe? I’ll find out later.

Life’s champion doesn’t fall; he drifts down slowly, again peppering me with arrows that manage not to do anything… no spell this time… ah, he used that action on Featherfall. Again, though… all six arrows hit my eye (right one, this time), and again, I fail all six reflex saves. What is UP with this guy? Seriously, my AC is 81. Does he roll nothing but twenties?

Still, my turn… I don't want to show my limits, so… Flame Strike, a 4th level Druid spell it is… the column of divine fire comes down from the heavens… and he expertly dodges, barely getting singed at all. I tack on an Entangle spell, pretending at Quicken Spell… and of course, he's not caught in it. Yeah… I think I know his blessing. Great… I'll need to plan on how to kill this guy, especially as he seems Arcane, and probably has a Clone stashed somewhere… or maybe not, he really doesn't need to bother with defense, does he? Well, one way to find out… I go for broke with Scorching Ray twice, using Divine Providence to ensure all six rays hit, forcing criticals on three, saving two uses of Divine Providence for saves. They do hit… but he's barely burned at all. Right… his gift. I'm not going to win this, am I?

He charges, drawing two shortswords as he does, but only attacking with one. This time around I negate it by forcing a twenty on the Reflex save for Starmantle… and he gets another spell in: Polar Ray, but "lucky" for me I have Ray Deflection up, which no-sells all ranged touch attacks, irrespective of the attack roll. I suppose the Energy Immunity spell I have running would do it too….

Fine… if I can't win, I can make sure you lose. I cast defensively (I won't fail the check on a natural one, so the dice don't matter), and I force crit five Molten Glass Bolts (it’s a third party spell; deals 5d6 Fire damage a round, and Slows the target), soaking the damage on Borrowed Time to get that fifth Molten Glass Bolt in. Ten uses of Divine Providence, but worth it to make that guy soak fifty damage a round, minimum, bypassing immunities and resistances thanks to Primordial Lore. FOREVER, thanks to Technological Wonders.

"How did you DO that?" the monster screams at me, what little of his face not covered contorted in rage, "NOBODY hits me, ever!"

Guess that makes me nobody. I retreat underground… or try, anyway. He gets me with an attack of opportunity for the movement… and I find his blades are Vorpal, as I briefly watch my body crumple to the ground as my head flies from my shoulders. The world fades to black.

I wake up an unknown amount of time later. Again I'm naked, without so much as shoes. I look around, and see the very bitten and chewed corpses of my party members… also completely naked. Not a single piece of gear for the lot of us. And my corpse is missing. I'm also not seeing his….

Still, I'm alive. Again. That's number three in memory, although apparently reincarnation is a normal thing here, so there’s really no telling how many there have been.

I check with Death, "How long was I out?"

Death’s disembodied voice speaks to me, "Eight days. The maximum for that ability."

Of course. That also means he’s Mythic, otherwise I would have only been out a day due to that one bringing me back. "If I guess at a thing you can't tell me straight out, are you allowed to tell me how wrong I am?"

Death pauses a moment, "Huh. I can't tell you how right you are, but how wrong seems to be OK. Interesting workaround."

Great… "I figure your sister already knows it. Now to test: Life’s Champion has a blessing that makes it so the dice always land in the most favorable way for him whenever he's involved. He makes every save, crits every hit, rolls maximum damage, and so on, while his opponents miss every blow, fail every save, roll minimum damage, and so on whenever he's the target."

Death replies immediately, "You are zero percent wrong."

I nod, as for the initiative bit… "Opposed checks are something of an exception, in that he always does well enough to win, even when it's not mathematically possible, so he always wins initiative, sees through disguises, spots people that are hiding from him, and so on."

Death confirms this as well, "You’re not even slightly incorrect."

I nod to myself, "And I can hit him anyway because I can avoid 'rolling the dice' so to speak."

Death again confirms my suspicion, "That's also as far from incorrect as possible."

Now… "How did he get out from under the burning curse I placed on him?"

"That's something I can't tell you, but it's not because of Dad's list or standing orders. It wasn't close enough to something in my portfolio, so I didn't see it."

Great. "Silly question: Why didn't I level up from the dragon?"

"You freed it, you didn't defeat it. Also, you lost that fight."

"So I still need one more experience. Fine. Well… I guess I'll wake Wally."

"That's fine… do remember the side effects, though."

I shrug,"I have slim pickings."

I redo my buff routine - yes, it lasts forever, but I get a new body each time I revive - and Suffer the Flesh still hurts - and Fabricate myself some clothes. Sadly, I'm largely stuck with Cyclic Reincarnate…. well, OK, I can manage Resurrection with some work…

Resurrection gets Wally on his feet… fortunately for him, that doesn't reshape the body… Restoration cleans out his negative level.

Wally seems a little out of it, "Oh… huh, still an elf? At least my chest isn't any bigger… what happened?"

I fill Wally in, "We lost. Total party kill. And got looted. But I'm immortal," within limits, "and was able to bring you back. So… Paul and Carter next?"

Wally nods, and I revive them similarly… but I drop Conditional Favor spell in the mix, with the condition, "Don't reveal what I can do." If they willingly break the condition, the paired spell - Resurrection - goes away as though it never was. So they will drop dead if they tell. And they'll know it, instinctively.

Paul speaks up, "So… we lost. How…"

I sigh, "Death is temporary for me, and I can fix it for others. Don't spread it around, please. We still have no gear, though. I can make some basic stuff quickly enough… but again, attention is something I don't want. Understand?"

He nods - after all, Conditional Favor tells him exactly what he will lose if he blabs - and I buff them all up (including Fleeting Spell, just in case they want to betray me or something): Delay Death, Greater Celestial Healing, Life Bubble, Freedom of Movement, Delay Disease, Delay Pain, Delay Poison, Sheltered Vitality, Greater Heroism (among other things, it grants immunity to fear), all of the basic stat boosting spells, and so on, all around. I also replace their weapons via Major Creation (because it's natively dismissable), and enchant them up with Greater Magic Weapon and Arcane Forge, and get their armor the same way (Magic Vestments, of course). Spell component pouches I Fabricate, ditto for gold holy symbols for Carter and Paul.

I feel really strange making those last items.