Long and dull, but just for Charles

The next few days go by quickly enough. Charles summons his war cats, the mystery mage messages us every day to taunt someone (that ten point save penalty from him having pieces of ua really sucks… but not for me after a day or two: Once I'm fully Mythic again, I go back to borrowing the Protection domain every day for a quick Mind Blank…), and we hunt monsters.

And, of course, experience leads to leveling up.

For my Freelancer abilities, I pick up Mettle (I already have Evasion from my Eidolon, this means anything that offers a save is fully negated if I pass the save), Attuned Mysticism (it let's me make type-specific spells apply to a different type: I go with Humanoid, as that gives me really good coverage of the party… except for Charles - he's an outsider -and his animal pets… but I can add Outsider when I hit fifth at no additional cost), and a few hoops to get a particular third party Shaman hex to make all of my wisdom-based skills Charisma-based instead. On the Monsterkin side, I go with Unassailable Power (because anti-magic fields are annoying; that ability lets me ignore them), Divine Providence (it essentially lets me maximize a dozen dice per round… including saving throws attack rolls, skill checks… and my hit dice: Never roll a natural 1 again, and I get tougher), and one that makes me feel a little yucky to pick: Blessing of Pain. It's a good ability: Charisma to AC, saves, attack rolls, and damage rolls. I need to template up the “Joyful Thing” with Young, Drunk, and Degenerate to get it in range. But it's… eugh. S&M doesn't appeal to me. At. All. Still, it's just a bunch of mechanical numbers… that go away when I stop being Mythic, as I'm not Lawful Evil, and Beyond Morality is keeping me in line there. I just go with more skill boosting on my Eidolon. Of course, I also have one more Mythic rank now, and I settle on Enduring Armor for that: A fifteen point permanent armor bonus? Yes please. For my feat, I pick up Secret of Magical Discipline. It's intended for Loremasters, but YIKES it's flexible, and I qualify due to grabbing the Secret hex from the Shaman. Yes, it's rules-lawyering terms.

It's a little weird thinking of Charles as my goddess… but it works. Alice worships me as her goddess, Brian worships Alice as his goddess, Charles worships Brian as his goddess, and I worship Charles as my goddess. Each of us appoints the next in the loop as their high priest, and we're all very high on the Mythic scale (ninth for Alice, tenth for the rest of us). Yes, we're munchkins… but each of them is getting four domains of their choice as spell-like abilities out of it, plus as many as fifty bonus hit points (I get forty from the shenanigans), which is basically five or ten levels of barbarian in terms of durability. Me? I'm the root of it all. Now, if anyone in the loop dies, I lose my Mythic power, as does anyone else ‘downstream’ in the loop before me… until their Immortality (from Mythic, even) kicks in and revives the missing link. As long as it's not me who dies… and if I perish, I'm back in two to eight days anyway.

Around the time Charles finishes his summoning, I intercept another ‘call’ from the mystery mage - to Charles, this time: “The addictions didn't keep, then?”

“Ah, the world's wimpiest wizard figured it out already?” Charles chooses to tease, “I'm out of the betting pool, then. I had you pegged for another week from now.” No, we didn't place bets.

“I AM THE ALL POWERFUL…” he manages to shout through the whisper link, then pauses, “Oh, you're good. I almost let my Name slip. Nope, I'm not that easy.”

“Oh, I'm just teasing idly out of spite.” Charles chuckles, “I honestly don't care who you are: You're simply not worth our time. We have better things to do than bother with an idiot that's so easily countered.”

“I can collect you at any time…” the mad mage begins.

“Then why haven't you?” Charles snaps back, “We've been out here for days, and you've done nothing of note, you're just a little peeping Tom, looking in on our leisure, rubbing yourself raw as we play, upset that you can't score a beautiful baby, stuck looking at us, because you can't actually attract anyone.”

Is he trying to bring Arcane Armageddon down on our heads? …probably, actually, thinking he's buffed up enough now to handle it… I quietly collect the rest of the party, keeping everyone ten feet from the scrying sensor (the limit of the view on Scrying) and start pre-summoning monsters (Just Summon Monster I, but still useful fodder) while I add some Spheres Talents to myself as Charles continues to antagonize the guy who has to have at least four levels on us… probably six or more, if he handled the Dominate spells on our summoners. Alice and Brian shake their heads as they also buff up.

And soon enough, Charles chatter bears fruit of dubious quality….