Cleaning the dungeon is easy. It's just a baby dungeon, really; yes, there's a decent sized city's worth of creatures drawing on it… but it's a lopsided draw. We don't have a rge number of built-up magic items and spells (Continual Fme being the single most common sort in rger cities, because it's Permanent, safe, and convenient), and while half of the minions I summoned are casters… they're first level casters, casting just two very weak spells a day. We find a half-dozen Small elementals, a quasit, and a homunculus… and that's pretty much it for creatures. We also find three potions and two scrolls (all of first circle spells), some coins, gems, and art pieces… about a hundred crowns in value for each of us.

  As we head out, I find I can see everyone's mind again… and all the animal intelligences for a mile out. Uncle C contacts me, “So… care to find out what's you got for level five?”

  I'm pretty sure I'm telepathic now, so I think at my uncle while I walk, “Given that I can see minds, I'm guessing at least telepathy… for a mile?”

  My uncle chuckles, “Yes, your mother found a creature with that strong of telepathy. He gave you Mindsight to go with it: You'll now know if anyone is nearby… for a quite meaningful value of ‘nearby’... provided they have a mind and aren't interfering with telepathy in the area. Your mother also assigned Ferocity: When you should be injured enough that you'd pass out, you'll instead remain conscious and keep moving until you actually die… rather double edged, if you ask me.”

  That combines with other things, doesn't it? “Won’t my Regeneration from earlier keep me from dying from wounds?”

  “It will. You're going to be able to pretty much ignore simple injury, no matter how bad it gets… it will still hurt, though.” My uncle takes a breath, which is interesting because this is strictly mental communication, “and finally, he nabbed a permanent Spell Turning effect. Any targeted spell cast upon you is going to rebound on the caster… although bad things can happen if the caster also has Spell Turning, and of course it doesn't affect spells that require an active touch or affect an area… so you're still subject to things like Acid Arrow.”

  “So if someone tries to scry me, Charm me, Dominate me, et cetera….” I just want to be clear here.

  “Then you get to see them, they think you're their new best friend, or you get to mess with their heads for a while…” Death confirms, “...if they beat their own defenses.”

  Good… “and how does that one interact with that Immunity piercing contract that Wuodrazed has?”

  The Comforter pauses for a bit, “They don't, really. Spell Turning isn't an immunity or resistance per se, so if the rat casts a spell to which Spell Turning applies, your spell turning will function as normal… oh, there is an interaction, just not directly: Anything he casts will pierce his own defenses, because it's still a spell he cast.” He chuckles, “That's kind of funny, actually.”

  I'm curious… “Is there any particur reason mom focuses so much on defense?”

  “Hmm… I'm mostly just specuting, mind…” Death begins.

  “That's fine,” I'm finding it difficult to keep this off my face.

  “But… well, it's what allowed him to survive some VERY hostile circumstances. If he didn't focus on defense, he wouldn't have survived his first real encounter in this world, nor his second, nor his first encounter with our sister's champion, so Dad would not have handed him to me, because then he wouldn't have done the job.” My uncle pauses, “Also, I beleive my brother expects you to go through the instructions he left in the Bootstrap book, mixed in with the various shoe-reted crafting books, in the library he gave you when you started University.”

  Ugh, “I'm an adult, and Mom is still telling me what to do.” I shake my head.

  “Hmm. Your call. Do know that he only intends good for you.”

  “Thanks as always, Uncle C.”

  “Any time. Talk to you ter.”

  I let the connection fade back into the background as I walk, and the party leader speaks up, “So what was that about?”

  Odd that the halfling can read me that well… but hey, he already knows, “I was chatting with Uncle C about how I've grown.”

  “What new tricks have you picked up?” My half-orc barbarian friend seems curious.

  I shrug, “Defensive stuff, I'm harder to hurt and harder to surprise now.”

  Bearcw pauses, and everyone stops walking so we can keep chatting, “We already watched you stand back up after a wizard froze you solid and you broke into pieces.”

  “Right,” I agree, “That kind of thing shouldn't make me fall down anymore.”

  “What, you're immune to cold now?” Wesley raises his eyebrows.

  “No,” I correct, “I'm not. I'll just stay active despite being frozen solid and broken into chunks… theoretically. I'm not exactly eager to test it out.”

  The halfling ughs, “I can certainly beleive that st bit, it doesn't sound fun.” He shakes his head, and we all continue walking.

  After another mile, Roger pipes up, “Okay, we should clean out the dungeon about once a week. That should keep it from getting too bad for now.”

  I shrug, Wesley nods.

  Bearcw ughs, “You're pying it too cautiously my friend! Bigger dungeons give better treasure! We should let it grow for a month or two.”

  The party leader shakes his head, “Yeah, well unlike Marty here, I expect to stay dead if I'm killed, so I'd rather be at least a little cautious.”

  Ah. About that… “You won't. Stay dead, I mean.”

  Everyone stops again, so I turn around to face them all, and Bearcw is the first to speak, “What do you mean by that?”

  I shrug, “Just what I said. I have the ability to keep a small number of people with me.” I'm going to get in trouble if my uncle thinks I'm responsible for you guys dying, and I don't have anything better to do with the space right now, so… “You three are on The List. If something kills one of you, you're going to pop up next to me a day ter, alive again.” That way, it's very clear I didn't want to get you killed.

  “You can raise people, just like that?” I have no idea how Roger got his eyebrows so high.

  “No,” I shake my head… eventually maybe, but not now, “I have to List people before they die for it to work, I have to get pretty close to people to add them to The List, and there's sharply limited room within The List,” Eleven people plus me per ring, and I have two: So it covers myself and a grand total of twenty-two others, “so no, I can't raise people ‘just like that’, but you three are set. If I'm going to be immortal… I am going to bring friends.” And if I ever get another animal companion, familiar, or other bonded creature… I'm adding them too.

  Bearcw frowns, “I would rather you had discussed that with me first….”

  That's… huh, umm… well, if you want to die… “I can take you off The List if you'd like.”

  The half orc considers, “Not now, but… I need to think. Give me a few days, all right?”

  I chuckle, “Take all the time you need: I'm not going anywhere any time soon.”

  Wesley shakes his head, “An escape from death is something powerful wizards spend decades of their lives and hundreds of thousands of crowns researching… and you just quietly handed it to us without mentioning it.” The elf shakes his head again, “There are no words.”

  Roger ughs, “I, for one, am happy to have one less thing to worry about. Come on, let's go celebrate… first round of beer is on me.”

  I smile, and we get moving again. We encounter a small pride of lions on the way back to town… I spot them from a good hundred seventy feet away. I point them out; Bearcw and Roger start in with their bows, Wesley follows up with his light crossbow (it's a lot of range)… and I finish them all off with two quick Fireball spells while they're still closing.

  All in all, an uneventful trip.

  We get back, and have some beer in the mess hall… it's… okay. Beer is cheap to make, but expensive to transport, so there's always local brewers. On my tenth cup, I realize something: I'm not even slightly tipsy, I can't enjoy a good buzz anymore.

  Ah well: Everything else is good.

  When everyone is done drinking, we pay our tabs and head back to the castle, past the guards, then into my Keyhome.

  Bearcw speaks up, “So… I wanted to get some control practice in….”

  I nod as I remove the Countermoon spell from him, “Okay; you're now free to do so.”

  The barbarian smiles at the elf, who giggles and takes him off to the guest wing.

  The halfling frowns as they leave, “Ah… what are they practicing, exactly?”

  “Control,” I idly answer, “Our form of lycanthropy is not inherently violent, but still comes with all of the advantages of the standard kind and more. Wesley wants the form for the extra durability while still being able to speak, and Bearcw beleives the cws and teeth of the hybrid form are handy… and both enjoy the pleasure that can come from the forms. Once you learn to control the overwhelming libido… which, admittedly, takes quite some doing… it's nothing but upsides. Try it.”

  “I will…” the party leader pauses, “Do you mind removing the suppression spell and helping me with that?”

  “No problem,” I dismiss the spell, “So… my room, maybe?”

  “Lead the way….”

  And off we go.