Admittedly, the Signal Ultra drive on this ship is pretty nice; the path to Sepres Prime out in The Vast is only going to be three days.  Two days in, we run across a planar bubble from The Boneyard, with a piece of The Spire.  Part of the divine realm of Pharasma, Lady of Graves, the judge of the dead in this world… and also goddess of death, birth, fate, and prophecy… and somebody's drift engine chopped off a piece of her impossibly tall palace.

Eh, I'm not in a hurry, and there may be stranded folks.

I give the ship’s VI suitable instructions, and we go in for a landing, getting the ship inside the tower by the simple expedient of flying into the section where it was cut off.

Yes, the tower is that big.

Patricia and I get out, leaving the ship briefly flying so as not to crush anyone, and then I have the ship turn into a mouse, which I pocket: No point in risking her.

The tower itself seems made of granite… not that normal granite would support the architecture. Seriously, the place is miles tall, those exterior walls are only ten feet thick, there's enough room in here to play a few games of football at once on just this floor, and this is just a fragment of the side of the tower… I'm not the only one who ignores physics, I guess.

And this place NEEDS to be big. It's full of people. Well, mostly dead souls, but I can SEE those now.  Masked Psychopomps are shepherding the dead away from the slowly crumbling edges of the tower as The Drift “digests” this planar bubble… but without anywhere for them to go, that cannot be a successful tactic forever.

It's quite easy to tell the psychopomps from the rest of the crowd: They all have thin plaster masks over their faces, with holes allowing their empty eye sockets to “see”.  Also… their souls are white, not pink, blue, or even purple.  Why…?

“It's because they don't engage in reproduction or any related activities,” my pink partner practically spits in my mind, “they're made for a job, they do it, and that's it.  They are NO fun at all.”

So you can't eat them, then?

“...no…” she replies wistfully, “...and these dead aren't nutritious either.  Souls, souls, everywhere, and not a one to eat.”

The Rime of the ancient mariner, really?

“What’s… oh. Huh. Not intentionally….” she trails off as one of the psychopomps, a humanoid-looking creature wrapped up somewhat like a classic movie mummy (save for the star-shaped plaster mask and the giant bone wings sticking out of his back) approaches us, moving quite smoothly and quickly.

“What business have ye here?” His voice reminds me of a cold wind blowing through a graveyard.

By lore, these outsiders hate immortals… but I'm not undead, and my immortality hopefully isn't inherently obvious, so… honesty should work here, as long as I avoid mentioning certain things, “I recognized this tower for what it is, and have a means of returning the souls stranded here to Pharasma's realm proper…” I hesitate here. I can't exactly leave them stranded to dissolve, but if the wrong people catch wind of what I can do….

His mask tilts up slightly, “You have carriage on that invisible ship of yours for four million, two hundred eighty seven thousand, six hundred thirty one souls?”  

Did I mention this place is big? “Not directly, but I can get them all out. If the wrong people find out I can, though….” I trail off and shake my head. These guys aren't going to be stupid, they know what goes next.

“You require secrecy.” It is clearly not a question.

“Correct,” I inform him… more properly ‘ta’ I suppose.

“Is that all?” The creature still sounds like a cold wind.

I shrug, “Honestly? A reward for my work might be nice… but I am not going to insist. Everyone should pitch in when there's a disaster.  If I get something out of it, great! If not… oh well, doesn't change what I need to do… but I do still want to keep myself and my friends safe, you know?”

The being shakes its head, “I don’t really understand your mindset, no, but your terms are acceptable. How shall we do this?”

I smile, and cast Gate, opening a twenty foot diameter circular portal lined in glowing light from here directly to Pharasma's realm, “You need merely march everyone through.”

That gives the being pause, “You can open a magical portal from here?”  I can't read his face under the mask… but his body language makes it clear he's shocked.

I shake my head, “Nope. What you’re looking at isn't magic,” technically, “which is why it works. You're perfectly welcome to try it yourself to ensure it is safe for your charges.  Keeping it open forever isn't viable,” technically I can, but I'm not going to, “but I can keep it up for hours.”

“I will, yes…” the being steps through, and back less than a minute later, “...you have convinced me this is legitimate.”

I leave the “door” open, and watch as the outsiders expertly shepherd the disembodied souls through.  Out of boredom, I count how quickly people pass through… about three hundred a minute; at that rate… a bit over four million people, so thirteen and a third thousand minutes… more, as it was four and a quarter million…60 minutes per hour… this will take more than a week.

…yeah, no.

One of the benefits of Technological Wonders is that it changes durations, which is where concentration is specified. Which, among other things, means I don't actually need to concentrate on the spells. So I cast Gate a few dozen more times: That speeds things up a bit.

It still takes hours, but it’s not too bad. I mean, it's a bit spooky, watching literally millions of disembodied dead people walk into holes in reality for hours on end.  I mean, they're going to a better place… mostly. The people that earned good or neutral afterlives, at least. They're all on their way to judgment, though, and some of them are walking into eternal torment.  Which… might still be better than getting digested by The Drift?  Maybe?  On the flip side, those going there DID earn it, so… maybe I shouldn't feel guilty about it?

And yet, I do.

Such are my musings as this huge segment ripped out of an even bigger complex slowly empties out.  With the giant crowds of the dead, I don’t notice that the several thousand Psychopomps are not, themselves, going through the portals until everyone else is through, and I’m surrounded.  Hope springs eternal, however, so I ask the obvious question: “Aren’t you going through as well?”

They shrug, and the more talkative one that first greeted me answers, “That wasn’t part of the deal.”

Pity. I can loot the place with a clean conscience once it’s properly abandoned, and there’s no telling what I might find in the remains of a piece of a divine realm, “Oh… I’m fine with you using it as well.  You serve a vital function for the universe, of course you should preserve yourselves as well when it’s a simple matter, and I am quite content in letting you leave.”

“As you wish,” the relatively chatty one replies as the rest file out.  

When all of the Psychopomps have left, the chatty one hangs behind.  I raise an eyebrow, “Aren't you leaving?”

“I shall in a moment,” the strange being explains, “but there are a few things left before I go.”

I wait patiently, and the deathly outsider continues, “First, thank you for your aid with our charges. We owe you a debt.”

He hands me a plaster mask, which I accept and examine as the Psychopomp continues,  “Second… were you just an immortal, we would be obligated to ‘do something’ about you… but you are far more than that, and out of our jurisdiction.” Before I can process what the chatty one means, well enough to ask questions, it has passed through the portal, and is gone.

Well.  They CAN see it.  Great.

I shut down the portals, prepare for exploring.  I can keep an eye out for loot by way of Greater Arcane Sight for magical auras, and Aura Sight for alignment auras... but I want better.  I disconnect from my body and tack a few more sensory spells onto myself: Technomancy, a first level spell that detects technological items; Detect Secret Doors, another first level spell, which does what it says; Find Traps, a second level spell that automatically gives me a Perception check to locate any traps I come near… as well as giving a decent bonus to finding them; and Trapfinder's Focus, a second level spell which lets me disarm traps as a rogue… and grants small bonuses to doing so.  When I reconnect, I pause, and apply the spells to Patricia as well.

That done, I begin exploring the vast section of tower, hoping I won't have any unpleasant surprises….