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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8235229" data-attributes="member: 508">Shandrilla awoke to the sounds of birds.At first, she kept her eyes closed, just listening – if this was just a dream, she didn't want to do anything that might cause it to end.  But then she heard the staccato noise of gnomish snoring and dared to take a quick peek.  Javorik was sitting on a wooden chair beside her bed, his head resting on his right hand, with an elbow propped on the armrest.  He didn't look the least bit comfortable.Shandrilla sat up, surprised to see she was wearing a simple cotton shift and not the tattered leather armor she last recalled wearing.  Furthermore, looking down at her smooth arms, she saw no signs of the scars inflicted by the little demon-torturers in that horrible pit.  She tentatively put a hand to her back, confirming the gash scored across it by the jagged chuul pincher-claw had likewise been healed up.  Then, looking around at her surroundings, she recognized the healing temple she and Javorik favored after their various excursions – the clerics here had healed up Javorik and Federico both from the acid scars that weirdo pudding-thing had inflicted on them some months back.  There was a window above her bed, through which the birdsong could be heard.Javorik snored himself awake, sat up, and saw Shandrilla looking over at him.  “You're awake!” he noted.  “How are you feeling?”“Better – much, much better,” the young woman replied.  “You guys...you came for me.”  A tear welled up at the corner of her eye and threatened to spill down her cheek.“Aw, don't start crying, Shanny, or you'll set me off too,” admonished the little gnome, rubbing his own eyes.  “Anyway, 'course we did.  Do you remember anything after the pit?  You were kind of out of it there for awhile.”“Nothing,” she admitted.  “Not until waking up just now.”“Well, you missed a bit of excitement, that's all.  We met up with those 'snirf goblins' of yours – nice fellows, really, although I'm pretty sure one of them was really some sort of doppelganger or something.[17]  They helped us get home.”“I'm surprised you needed the help,” teased Shandrilla.  “After all, aren't you Javorik the Bold, Illusionist Extraordinaire, Wielder of the Wand of--”“Not so much anymore,” Javorik interrupted, shrugging.He'd miss his wand of lightning, but all in all, it had been a worthwhile trade – it was good to be home.NOTES17.  With their shared shapeshifting capabilities, phasms get on rather well with doppelgangers. Phasms are also often hesitant to show their true forms to members of other races, preferring to remain mysterious and not give any clues about their true natures.  For that reason, even those races who deal with phasms on a regular basis know very little about them.Another reason phasms aren't well known is they first appeared in the 3rd Edition Monster Manual and do not seem to have been officially updated to 4th or 5th Edition, so they haven't seen a whole lot of game play.  There's a case to be made that the phasm is just an update to the protein polymorph, a monster first appearing in the AD&D 1st Edition Fiend Folio with similar powers, although protein polymorphs were colony creatures of only average human intelligence, had no telepathic abilities, and could not speak or even master the art of making facial expressions.  If the two creatures are in fact related, the phasm represents a much more highly advanced form of the protein polymorph.</blockquote>

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