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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 9612582" data-attributes="member: 7737">A roll of 2, 3 barely gets us to 24.129We command Rufyl to show himself so we can see his shape. The sight of a miniature Draco conflagratio horribilis draws the attention of the marines on the nearby war galley who shout to each other “Kill it and its friends!” but make no move to do so. [Even though on the failed roll, they immediately riddle everyone’s body with crossbow bolts.]We chant our cool verbal component again…Forces of nature, hear my command!I, Carr, mage of Wealwood thus demandThat the mortal form of this beast be freeTo assume whichever form I decree!Rufyl goes limp, “entering a dangerous phase of the spell when he exists only on another plane.” [Still not remotely true to the AD&D version of polymorph.]When we complete the spell, Rufyl’s body “begins to swell as if an egg were hatching inside his chest. Suddenly, there’s a gruesome rending sound as the scales split and a huge feathered creature emerges, growing ever larger.”We expect to hear Rufyl’s thoughts, but the transformation seems to have damaged his telepathy. Dalris asks Rufyl to “squak three times if you can understand me”, which the roc does. We hope the spell didn’t alter Rufyl’s personality or intelligence.We ask Rufyl to Roc to fly us to land. He encircles us loosely with his talons, “forming two secure cages for [us] to ride in.” He leaps into the air and soars away from the angry shouts of the galley “as [we] fly towards Saven.”Turn to (99).---Commentary:The sight of a miniature Draco conflagratio horribilis draws the attention of the marines…Fakus Latinus in the original text. Because all worlds use the same dead language for precise nomenclature.When we complete the spell, Rufyl’s body “begins to swell as if an egg were hatching inside his chest. Suddenly, there’s a gruesome rending sound as the scales split and a huge feathered creature emerges, growing ever larger.”I did not recall the extreme body horror of the polymorph transformations in these books. Gnarly!</blockquote>

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