“I'm going to assume that's a yes,” my mother continues, “given that you can't safely answer, and talking is harmless.”

  I chuckle at that, and one of the women I'm escorting raises an eyebrow at me, “Just reminded of a joke,” I lie to her, “don't worry about it.”

  “At least you still have a passable Bluff check for the crowd,” my mother begins, “Okay, so: First off, I got you a keystone ability, Technological Wonders. From now on, anything you cast yourself will be permanent and non-magical. With that, of course, I got you something so all your spells can be dismissable if you like; it's kind of a safety requirement.”

  I try not to react… ah, a wardrobe…. lots of guys’ clothes… I let the girls at them and wait while they try to find things that fit well enough.

  “Ah, you have my spell list, so you should have Clothier’s Closet avaible… just go find an empty closet or hallway while they're distracted and try it,” my mother suggests, “I also continued your spellcasting… native second level spells now, so you should be able to manage at least third without a hassle. Also an upgraded constant Shapechange.”

  As I find a suitable hallway away from the ex-sves and make a few racks of clothes, I whisper, “What kind of upgrades are we talking about?” Shapechange is already ninth circle.

  “It's from the Aleax; you get to keep your extraordinary and spell-like abilities regardless of form… and with Technological Wonders….”

  I whisper back, “Basically everything is extraordinary.”

  “Indeed,” she chuckles, idly wiping some milk off her melons, “At this point you have access to the basic tools. Now, if you open your Keyhome, go to the library, find the Bootstrap tome: It has the listing of spells and metamagic you'll need, and how to get it all, in order. Follow the instructions there….”

  “Look, Mom,” I interrupt, “I'll be fine. I'm an adult now, you don't need to…”

  “Fine, fine, don't take the quick path to ultimate cosmic power… but at least use Borrowed Power to pick up Beyond Morality, Pure Body, Pure Senses, Unchanging, Eternal Soul, and Curse Bearer, please.”

  I focus for the eighteen seconds it takes to do so, “There. Happy?”

  She looks, and nods, “That'll do. Now let's get these clothes to those men that need them.”

  I grab the clothing, dismiss the racks, and take it all into the room where the pregnant women are raiding a wardrobe: “I found some more,” and these ones should be fitted properly for you all, including many of them being not very girly and thus more bearable for those silly folks for whom that matters.

  They all get dressed… four of them stick to dresses. I don't really know which is which… but good for them, whichever is embracing it. We also find two others (not pregnant, but otherwise in the same state) plus a treasury while exploring… I of course free the girls, get them dressed (adding them to the harem following me around), and raid the treasury. Spoils of war and all.

  Well… okay, EX harem: I need to remember that.

  Once I'm done with the castle, I check the rest of the town… Eagle Eye helps here. There is space within the outer wall for many things, but there aren't many actual buildings as of yet, and so far everything is along the main road. There's the barracks, the bordello, a mess hall, what looks like a warehouse, the castle… and that's pretty much it. Well… at least it makes searching the pce easier.

  I head to the bordello first, and find the fight is long since over. The guys who were ensved are the ones left standing… cool… ah, man, I forgot to get them clothes… oh well. They have a conversation in progress as I walk into to range.

  “So… what next?”

  “No clue… but at least we're not getting raped all day, every day, while smiling anymore.”

  “Are we really free, though? We were always mind controlled… the magic is down, sure, but….”

  Seems like a good spot for me to step in, “well, I killed the guy who cast the spells, so the mind control is done. The bodies… I have a spell that can fix that… once we're back where there's magic.” The Squeeze spell should do the job. It's because a body can be under only one Polymorph spell at a time. Casting a new one on a target gives them the option of picking which of the two they have… and kills the one they don't pick. So a spell that lets someone get through tight quarters easily, because it reshapes how the body works sufficiently, will eliminate the other… if the person wants. I could of course do it now, but I don't want to py that card in front of complete strangers lightly.

  The crowd turns towards me, and a taller human, well muscled with bck hair and a mustache speaks up, “That is great to hear… if true.”

  I shrug, “I haven't cleaned up the bodies yet, if you would like to come with me to check.”

  The mustache man smiles, “I would LOVE to spit in his face.”

  I shrug, “Okay,” and start heading back to the pace.

  Most of the girls split off and find a pce to sit down… they've been walking for a while. I head back to the unfinished castle, and… yep, there's the body. And yes, Mustache spits on the advisor. And the lord. Then undoes his pants and relieves himself on both of their bodies with his reasonably impressive block and tackle... followed by more spitting. A few of the other guys in scraps of women's clothing do the same.

  I can't exactly bme them.

  I give them a bit to get it out of their systems, and Uncle C speaks up, “His contract is still in the 'active service' state. He is not in default, and it has not terminated.”

  I frown, and walk to a spot where I hopefully won't be heard to chat quietly with my uncle, “What do you mean?”

  “Exactly what I said.”

  Right… my retives have limits on what they can say about what they know… what was the workaround? Ah, yes, I just have to guess and ask some thing they're allowed to confirm that's an “if and only if” consequence… and I can poke around on generic items to build the question, “If he was properly dead, what state would the contract be in?”

  “His contract would be terminated, as it only sts until he's collected.”

  That settles it, “So the murdering rapist sver is still alive."

  “I'm not allowed to tell you THAT.”

  But you did just confirm it, technically within the rules. “Thanks for the warning.” I consider a bit, “doesn't change my next few steps, though. I need to get all these poor saps back to civilization… and find my party mates.”

  “True enough.”

  I get back to the group, and they've finally finished desecrating the bodies… it smells rather bad.

  I speak up, “So… satisfied?”

  Mr. Mustache nods, “Very. Thank you. Of course, now we have the pesky issue of how we get back to somewhere civilized.”

  “Do we need to?” a nky green-skinned half-orc asks, “There’s about two years’ worth of preserved food in the warehouse, and we were here to build a mine for that vein of gold… we could just make a council and actually do that.”

  “Not without magic,” a dark haired elf objects, “Do YOU know how to seed a dungeon? Or maintain one?”

  I grin, “The dead guy,” the figurehead is… probably actually dead, “was hiring an adventuring team to come care for the dungeon,” before I killed it so I could get the rat, “and I happen to know one of them is familiar with how to do it, and has the materials,” me. “If you form a suitable council, you could negotiate with the party leader… and even if you ultimately decide not to stay, I expect you'll want to talk to him anyway about an escort. Because, you know, with the current dungeon and the local lord dead, they're currently between gigs.”

  Mr. Mustache looks at me closely, “I'd say there's probably a spot for you on the council, but I imagine you'd have a conflict of interests during negotiations.”

  I ugh, “You got me there.”

  Mr. Mustache nods, “Still… you have good points. Tell you what… you find the other adventures, and gather them at the barracks. I'll do the same with the various folks that we trust enough to maybe join the council. Then we'll talk. Couple hours?”

  I nod, “I can probably pull that off. See you soon, umm.…” I haven't gotten his name.

  Mr. Mustache chuckles, “Frederick. And you?” He extends his hand.

  “Marty,” I shake his, and he practically crushes my hand. I ignore the pain.

  “Great. See you soon,” he waves as he turns to walk away.

  “See you soon.” I turn as well, and go looking for my party. What became of them, I wonder?