Why are you special?

Well away from the gate, I make bags of platinum coins for everyone and hand them out, "So I'd prefer to officially stay dead, because I am being hunted… but that would mean you all would need to go through the same, or we'd need to part ways… which may be a good idea anyway, as I come with some serious baggage, which has already gotten you killed once.  What say you?" Also, at this point, I can make and equip minions that could beat you up; caster level shenanigans, heighten spell, versatile spellcaster, and Font of Power combine to let me cast 9ths, and Summon Monster IX can get a 14th level Cleric caster with full BAB via the Trumpet Archon or a 13th via the Ghaele Azata; a nice melee monster as well in the Astral Deva, or maybe a Storm Giant from Summon Nature's Ally IX. You guys are about ninth at this point.

But I don't want to hurt your feelings.

Paul laughs at me, "We don't leave a man… or I guess woman… in arms behind. We've been through fire together, you're not getting rid of us that easily."

Carter adds, "You break things, but you also patch them back up really well. Besides…" he holds up the moneybag, "... you have some REALLY nice tricks."

Wally smiles, "What they said," 《Also, the Harvester vouched for you. Seriously, I'm sticking around… and I may take you up on the spells thing.》

I nod, "OK then… so we all need new names, and I need a new face, then?"

Paul seems confused, "Why wouldn't we all?"

I shrug, "You pretty much already do, don't you, because I used Reincarnate rather than something a bit more stable?"

Carter laughs, "Don't you remember? This is easy to fix. Standard fare, happens all the time."

"Yeah, but you're planning on asking the Blessed Mother to remove it, and she's probably a little ticked off at you right now… remember last night's activities?" There's another reason, but I'm not quite ready to say it's my fault.

Paul sighs, "If that is her judgment, then she is righteous, and so be it, but I am still going to ask."

Carter nods, "And I'll be the one using the scroll to invoke her power. Thanks for the cash for that, by the way."

Mild tactical error there… oh well, "You’re welcome. So disguises and new names all around… and I have some shopping to do. So… meet up at the guildhall to apply again and reform under a new team name?"

Paul laughs at me, "You’re going shopping for magic, right?"

I nod, and Carter speaks up, "Then we're all going to the guildhall anyway. Might as well stick together."

I didn't think that through, did I? Also… the guildhall is where you shop for magical items? "Oh, of course…."

I change my disguise (via the Instant Disguise spell), we head back into town, and I pay the gatekeeper (we don't have guild cards at the moment - yes, I could forge them very effectively, but it's simpler to just pay the fee… with technically forged coins, but they're really only concerned about the metal content, and that is as real as anything).

We make our way to the guildhall, which is still the same stone building, and walk in; Francis is at the desk again, going through papers.  He’s sitting down, but he’s still taller than I am. He’s starting to go gray, but he’s wearing full plate despite the desk work, with spikes protruding from his armor.

He looks up as we come in, "Ah… I've not seen you lot before… out of towners or getting registered?"

Paul speaks up, "Getting registered…. although three of us also need Miracle scrolls for Reincarnate cleanup."

Francis nods, "Fun times, then. You got the cash?"

Paul holds up his moneybag, and nods, "Yes, I have the money, all eleven thousand four hundred seventy five Crowns. Well, they're Sovereigns, and I'll need a five Crowns in change, but you know what I mean."

So they call Platinum coins Sovereigns as well, and gold coins Crowns… wonder what they use for silver and copper?

Francis pulls out a scale and a weight set, puts several labeled weights on one side of the scale, and Paul fills the other with coins until they balance out. Saves time counting, I guess.

Francis takes the coins, and lays out three scrolls that look to be made of some kind of leather; Arcane Sight tells me they have strong auras, and Spellcraft identifies them as being Evocation. He also pulls out a bracelet of wooden beads and a small orange pebble.

Francis gives a warning, "Keep in mind, as stock items, they only work here, and only when I'm nearby, to make them worthless in the event they're stolen." They're deliberately cursed for security reasons? Good to know. Also means someone's making bank on those, as the restrictions reduce the crafting costs….

Paul chuckles, "I know the drill," Paul hands them to Carter, "Would you do the honors?"

Hmm. Carter’s caster level is only going to be about half that of the scroll's… I wonder how he plans to avoid a mishap? I watch as Carter places the bead over his head, and it takes up orbit around him. He starts by casting Bless out of his own spells, considers a moment, and speaks a command word… ah, an Orange Prism Ioun stone and a Strand of Prayer Beads. Between the two, his caster levels is five higher than normal, so he only needs to roll a four to successfully activate the scroll: eighty five percent success rate, and as a Wis-based caster, he just needs to avoid a one to prevent a mishap in the case of a failure to activate the scroll… so this is ninety nine percent safe.

Paul takes a bit to read the scroll to himself, then speaks…. and nothing happens. He tries again, and Paul returns to human form… but still as an outrageously proportioned female.

"Ah, man… I was hoping to get my sword back… ah well. Her will is just," Paul shakes his head.

Carter reads the next scroll, this time focusing on Wally… and this works on the first go-round. Wally’s human again, but still has two smallish lumps pushing out of his robes.  Still female. Wally just sighs. Carter finally goes for himself… and as with Paul and Wally… human? Yes. Male? Nope.

Well… at least that has the "new faces" problem covered.  They all changed races since they were last seen by the guy hunting me, and genders from their records.  I should probably Mind Blank them all… well, I need to up my buffs for the new available tricks anyway.

I watch patiently as Paul pays Francis a fee, and fills out some paperwork… apparently he's decided he's going by Paula for the paperwork, and our team name is going to be the Deadly Dungeon Dames. Could be better… but it's fine. We each take a turn with the paperwork: Wally is now Wendy, Carter is now Christine, and I go with Donna.

And of course, the tests.  The poor guildmaster… Carter (Christine?) tags him with Hold Person and taps his helmet lightly with a mace. Wally (Wendy?) wraps him in a Resilient Sphere for a few minutes. Paul(a) has a fight on his hands, and after about a minute of trading blows on each other's armor, Francis nods, and they call the game.

Francis takes a bit to heal up, and it's my turn.  I try to go easy on him. Really I do. I even fight for nonlethal… but my buffs are insane… he can't hurt me one bit, and the slightest hit from me practically floors him. I may be going a bit heavy on the buffs… not that that's a bad thing in a fight. I already defeated him previously, though….

In the end, he passes us all, and we have shiny new guildcards under our new names.

I also find out how shopping works: The guildmaster pulls out a crystal ball that radiates moderate divination magic to Arcane Sight, hands it to Paul along with a small book, which Paul examines; Paul then spends the hour to activate it.

I interrogate Wally while he does.《So… what's he doing, exactly?》

Wally seems content to answer,《Oh, right. You wouldn’t know. Well, the guild facilitates trade of magic items from the dungeons. People who have things to sell contact the pages, describe what they have, and the pages enter it into the catalogs. People who have money contact the pages, describe what they want, and the pages check the catalogs. When someone buys, the guild collects the money, and a guild mage handles transport. Two thirds of the money goes to the seller, the rest is used to pay everyone involved and buy the various supplies. If you're in a hurry you can sell to a broker for half market, who'll be the seller and pocket the difference… eventually.》

So not a store where you can go and browse?《So there's no warehouse of magic items, then?》

Wally gives me a mental laugh,《No. How tempting would that be for thieves? Somebody would get stupid.》

《And fraudsters?》There’s got to be holes in this….

Wally doesn't seem even slightly concerned,《What, you mean like someone misrepresenting what they have? Non issue. The guild mage that handles transport verifies, and if it's not as claimed, they cancel the sale and fine the provider - half of which goes to the buyer as an apology. We'll have our orders in a few days, a week at the most. You can get expedited delivery if you're in a hurry, but that’s expensive unless it's a particularly expensive item, in which case the sale is managed by one of the top mages anyway, and they teleport, so it’s automatic.》

I think on this,《So if I order a Staff of Power, Staff of the Woodlands, a Staff of the Hierophant, and a Ring of Telekinesis…》

Wally raises his eyebrows, 《Then you have expensive tastes… must be nice to be able to simply make money. Yeah, you'd have it tomorrow, assuming anyone's registered for selling them… which is usually the case. There's lots of stuff to unload after a delve.》

I nod, and talk to Francis, "I can do my own Scrying and messaging; can I just skip the crystal ball?"

Francis shrugs, "Yeah, sure.  Here…"

He shows me the book Paul's concentrating on: It's a picture and a name. I grant myself the Greater Scrying spell, cast Spell Enhancer to get my caster level up, and cast a Fleeting Spell Greater Scrying on the page, followed by Message through it.  I place an order for a lot of very expensive equipment - in addition to the three named staves, I also grab a Wayfinder of Passage, an Orange Prism Ioun Stone, and a Portable hole.  I plan to make something better than that last, but that will take three weeks, so for now, those will do.

Now I just need to wait, and pay the man tomorrow….