AN: This is a DND 3.5e epic-level character with only 21 levels in Wizard with access to epic-level casting.
The feats he has is Brew Potion, Craft construct, Essence Mastery, Silent Spell, Skill Focus (Knowledge(arcana), Epic level spell casting, still spell, craft magical arms and armor, craft wondrous items, empower spell, forge ring
Epic-level spell casting along with rules for epic-level characters are in the Epic Levels Handbook
Essence Mastery is from Feats book by Alderac Entertainment Group
The adventures mentioned are Savage Tide from Dragon magazine and Bastion of Broken Souls
The other feats can be found in the Players Handbook
Wizarding in Worm
Chapter 5: Oh, so I'm getting paid for this?
8:15 pm, January 17, 2010, New York
I should loot everything while I can! I scan the lab I am in besides the flesh computer and the corpses, there isn't anything I can see. This stack of papers looks like diagrams of some "body mods" the 9 had on. Which I am going to take along with this very thin-looking compact computer covered in sticky notes. When I leave this area, I should level this lab before I leave since what I read online leads me to think it has many problems in waiting.
I go through the side door to the rest of the building, heading for Burnscar's room. There is nothing special besides a diary and a handbag, which I take. There are also these books that look colorful so that's added to the pile. There are things like clothes and makeup but it's loot to go through so I add it to the bag. I close her room and move on to the next room.
The next room based on the bird things is Shatterbird's room. It has the standard clothes and all that. There is a journal of various parahumans who, based on their real names and addresses and crimes, are candidates to join the 9 based on skills and powers. There is her personal journal that with a glance details some of the things they did while she was a member. Since she isn't dusted yet I will take her neat-looking mask to add to my collection. There are a few rolls of money and bits of jewelry so I get more gems for magic! She even has outfits for me to give to people so I pocket everything and close the door.
The one I am most interested in is Mannequin's room. Besides Bonesaw, he has these neat robot parts that I could feasibly reproduce for my own golems or automata when I get things going. At least I hope so, if not I could use its body for ideas at least. The room has a few spare arms and legs, a toolkit that had various items that looked strange, and a container that when opened revealed more spare parts like bits of plating and spare blades. I shove everything into my bag, and I should keep track of how much is in there eventually.
What is interesting was he had a computer that is locked via a password so I will just take the whole thing with me. I think I can use divinations to figure it out but I am on the clock. The rest is just a lopsided chair, a case that has some sort of organ inside which I do take, and a mini keyboard which I also take. For some reason, he also has a wallet that has money in it along with an old-looking ID. I add it to my loot. I quickly scan the room for anything else for me to take. I close the door behind me as I leave.
The next room is boring, it's filled with this world's drugs, which don't even make you stronger or emulate a barbarian's rage, they just make you tired or hungry or itchy. It has various clothes similar to the other two ladies' rooms but a lot more compared to them. There were more rolls of money and jewelry so more shinnies. Her blankets look neat and these colorful rugs are as well. I will add them to my hoard but in my {Portable Hole} as they look kinda big. I pull out the hole and order the snowclones to fold and gather them. They label the pile, which has a lot of clothes, blankets, and rugs. They refold the hole and passed it to me to put back in the little pouch I had sown onto my robes.
The second to last room is just an empty room? There wasn't anything invisible nor any hidden spots after casting [Detect Secret Doors]. The rooms I went through before this one didn't proc anything. So, I close the door and go to the final room.
The final room is Jackslash's room. It's damn boring. I expected trophies of the heroes he caused the downfall of or something. It has a few outfits that aren't my size but it is loot. A few wads of cash and a small-looking phone. I turn on the phone and it does have a few contacts so I just take it. What is at least something is the large collection of cutting implements from small knives to large knives with various designs on them. I take a picture of them. I wonder if I should post them on PHO? Anyway, I just loot everything for later use. I close the door behind me. I should check on the bodies of people who I didn't turn to ash.
Entering the room and seeing the still corpses of these S-class threats makes me wonder. Am I above using the bodies of people for necromantic experiments or ways to understand how parahuman powers work with my methods? Even if they were evil in life?
Nah.
I did check their pockets first. Well, 2 out of the 4 had any pockets. One had some sort of candy and another had a couple of 20-dollar bills. I take a picture of their bodies after doing a stab to the hilt in everyone's hearts and do the same thing with the hole as the rugs earlier.
Fuck this is disappointing. I expected to find at least some cool things or something. I look at the notifications on my phone and see that I have several missed calls. A lot of missed calls. Oh gods some of them are Ms. Alexandria. I put my phone back.
I should speed up my looting. I briskly exit the building and see this thing called an RV. It has dents and a few holes on the side but it looks solid. I check its door to see if it's locked and it is not! Yes, more loot!
Entering it reveals the real goods. I see this claymore-looking weapon that I will keep, more parts for Mannequin so more for me, and a wide assortment of this tech stuff. I think the correct term is "Tinker-Tech". The items function like magic so to me they are magic items. And just like magic items, I will not move them until I can verify what they do. So, I will just take this RV as mine by looting right. I leave the RV, close the door, and cast [Shrink Item] on the RV. It glows a light blue for a few moments till it almost instantly shrinks to about the size of a medium-sized cat. I carefully pick it up and place it inside the bag. It should last long enough to have some people of the PRT go through and explain everything to me. That reminds me. There is still damn Manton's van and Crawlers trailer!
I do not know where he came from but I can summon something to look for it. I will send the snowclone that is with me to go along and keep me updated. I point towards the empty parking lot and cast [Summon Monster IX]. A Conjuration sigil appears on the floor before a large flash of light shoots out from it. It forms a Ghour. It is a larger demon version of a minotaur but its horns are more pointed forward if anything. it is as tall as some of the buildings around me and has brown fur. It looks around for a moment before looking down at me. Its face clearly expresses anticipation of orders.
"You and the Simulacrum will go and search for a trailer that has a similar smell to these ashes," I point to the large pile of ashes on the floor that was Crawler, "Afterwards you are to carry it here as quickly but quietly as possible." It nods, unexpectedly, and leans down to sniff the ashes. The Simulacrum gestures for it to carry him as they search. For a few moments, it sniffs the air before picking the snowclone up and leaving the area to find it. It shouldn't take more than a minute since it can teleport. I should grab Manton's van like I did the RV.
I cast [Fly] as a travel to his van. While I fly over to its location, I look at PHO quickly to see if I have any of those "DM's" I read about. I have a few asking about the magic items and how magic generally works for me. whether they believe me or not is up to them but I will not respond to the DM's till I can get the contract from the PRT signed. I should summon a contract devil to help me with it. I know I told them I would join but I would to have some freedom. Otherwise, I would just teleport and defeat every villain I can find in their homes or something to save time.
I did, however, post my slaying of the 9 along with the pictures. I even tried my hand at one of those "selfies" with me holding the same knife I used to stab them. I did not say how I did it but pictures of me stabbing them does lead to a discussion. I just put the phone in my bag again. I get to the van and it's also unlocked. Why is everything unlocked? His dead body is still there so that's another parahuman for me to study.
I pull out the hole and place my bag outside the van. I open the hole enough to fit through and realize I need to preserve these bastards. Scanning the clutter of things, I find the wand basket. A good 30 seconds of looking and I find a wand of [Gentle Repose]. It has 9 charges left. I cast it on the bodies before exiting the hole and refolding it. I gather all my things shrink the van as well and place it in my bag.
Gods, I should learn how to make wands or start wishing for them. I do need to organize my rods and staffs that I kept. Gods I need to learn how to make those too! Well, at least in this world I can probably do it faster. I think I have books on the subject but I would need to look for them. I should at least consider making artifacts. I have a lot of pending things besides starting to further my research, I should make more simulacrums but they don't end up getting past 5th circle spells.
That will be the first spell for me to invent, a better version of simulacrum making. I could make a few more and have them somewhere making some progress while I do the hero things. What would I even do as a hero? I would need to make a beating stick or something in case I can't just hit them with an empowered spell or something. I shake my head to refocus myself. I fly over and find the Ghour and the simulacrum standing next to the busted-looking trailer. It looks like it has a few scales or something on its blood-stained floors. I cast [Shrink] on it and also placed it in the bag. Before I forget I have the summon dismissed and tell the simulacrum to stay in the hole for now.
After a good minute of getting it to start cataloging all the things in the hole, I refold it and put it back in the designated pouch. I take a deep breath in satisfaction. I killed evil people, saved people and I got loot! This day can't get any better.
Before I can cast something I am picked up by my pits, hoisted a few feet off the ground. I was about to cast something to get me out of this before I recognized who had captured me.
"Hey, Ms. Alexandria…. I didn't get to call you back." I nervously chuckle. She didn't look all that pissed. She gave me a once over while still holding me.
"Magnus, why is it that when I'm not looking at you, you just leave and do something outrageous? I don't see any wounds on you so I'm guessing based on your posting on PHO, like I told you not to, you killed the Slaughterhouse 9." Oh yeah.
"I did, it was actually really easy. I expected to have to fight everyone all at once but they just died to basic things. I disintegrated the bodies of Jackslash, Bonesaw, and Crawler since they were the ones who might have had some kind of attack that triggered if they died all of a sudden."
"What about Siberian?" I forgot about him, well her, the summon.
"Turns out she was a summon of some kind by this guy named Manton. I found that out and sent simulacrums to kill him. He was asleep when they found him so it was really easy." I gesture to my bag.
She did seem at least slightly surprised at my answer. "And the others?"
"If you mean their bodies, do you mind if I keep them? I have them and their stuff in my bag here. I mean back home if you killed the bad guys, it's a common thing to just take their stuff." I hope I'm not in any legal trouble for this.
She sighs, "It's fine, Magnus. You can keep their stuff. If you want, I can find a Tinker to help you evaluate any Tinker tech you claim as your own." Yes! The loot is mine.
"I forgot," I point to the half-caved-in lab, "We need to blow that up. Give me a sec to do it."
She doesn't let go of me but she does point me at it. I cast [Hellball] at the point in the middle of the lab so the blast catches every inch of it. A sun-bright, fist-sized globe of energy streaks forth and impacts the floor. In an instant the lab is unmade, whatever the heat doesn't destroy, the acid does, and whatever survives that is electrocuted, beyond that it is hit with crushing concussive force. Overall, that part of the building is gone with not a single piece of it still there. But while the spell is strong, it does have a drawback.
I lurch in her grip; I can feel the pain spread from my chest outward. I can taste blood in my mouth. Forgot some of these Epic spells have backlash.
She turns me around instantly feeling me recoil in her arms. "What happened!?" I see her scan my body before focusing on my face. "Your bleeding! Do you need medical?" I try to wave her worry away.
"No," I swallow the bit of blood in my mouth before continuing, "My currently strongest spells outside of circle spells sometimes come with a backlash on me to make it easier for me to cast. It's annoying but it's something I have to consider when using them. Don't worry, I have some decent natural healing so I just need a bit while I wait for it to kick in."
The gift of the bastion provides me with a safeguard against death one time but while it hasn't activated, I can enjoy a bit of free healing every few seconds. It can't regrow limbs but it covers everything else.
She didn't seem that convinced.
"I still want you to get checked out, but I will just take you back to Chicago for now at least. You rest up and get ready for tomorrow." What. Why?
"What's tomorrow?" she has this look that she is glad I asked. Oh no.
"Well for one thing tomorrow, we will finalize everything involving you joining the PRT but also you have a lot of other things you have to attend. Since you announced that you killed the nine and showed proof, you need to get the reward money and all the new outlets will want interviews!" Oh no. Interviews.
"Do I have to?" Her smile seems to grow.
"Yes." Fuck. She starts to fly while holding me over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"And you have to talk to the Hero and Villain you saved today as well. Mouse Protector is mad that you didn't say anything through the thing you sent with them and Ravager probably needs some magic to fix her trauma." I go limp in her arms.
"Can't you say I was unconscious or something so I can at least get an excuse for forgetting to tell her?" I can't see her face but I can tell she is smug about this.
"No." Damn.
Well, at least I got loot out of all of this. Wait.
"I can get paid for killing S-class threats?" that sounds like easy money. Money I can use to buy gems and gold. And paper.
"Yes, but no more going after them. At least give the world a chance to catch up before you do something more insane."
"Fine, but I want my "hero" name to be Magic Man. It's something I can stomach at least." I am not going to have my name to be something long-winded.
"That's alright. But try not to reveal your identity to everyone."
"It's not like they have anything they can use against me. Everyone I care about is a universe away." I mumble as I start considering my plan for dealing with the people I save.
"You never know when that can change. You'll make new friends here. Give it time." She had this odd tone in her voice.
It would be nice…
I shake my head. I would need to stay in this world longer than a few hours before I can think about things like that.
AN: Can you spell level up? Also, an Epic Level caster has access to Epic spells,
AN: Him researching = Me taking spells from 3rd party books or Pathfinder 1e.
AN: the tldr on the bastion buff is he has fast healing 5 till he dies, in which case he gets a true resurrection on the spot.