BECMI Chapter 48 – Draconic Discoveries

“What would Mistress recommend I do?” the young blue dragon Cirruluxul asked quietly. “Take up a humanoid form and start doing the same kind of exercises the others were doing. Unlike them, you won’t get very bored with a demanding routine, and it’s easy enough to mix up. I can join you for some of it, and will be happy to spar with you, among other things.” Cirru considered that. Taking bipedal form was something the elders did, infiltrating towns and societies to learn about anti-dragon efforts, merchant caravans with gold and goods, and treasures hidden away by wealthy fools that would be far better served in a dragon’s hoard than a fat, soon-to-die human’s vaults somewhere. Their words about the experience were ambivalent, but she always had the impression they were hiding things from her, as if the subject was a bit taboo. Mistress was all about taboo. “Mother often assumed the guise of a human or animal to learn more about trade routes and wealth, but she didn’t speak much of it. I have no… objections to this process? It seems a wise thing to make use of… when my service is over.” “The different sensory ranges are probably distracting and tempting to her,” Mistress said without the slightest flicker of an eye at the implied intrigue. “Dragons don’t have a very developed sense of touch, because of your scales. Among other things, it’s why a bed of coins is so comfortable to you. Likewise, while your sense of smell is excellent, your sense of taste tends to be highly specialized along the lines of a predator. Mammalian humanoids are generally omnivores and have a much broader palette.” Cirruluxul blinked. That was startlingly direct. “You speak with knowledge of this, Mistress?” she asked hesitantly. “Yes, mages are completely able to shapechange into dragons with the appropriate spells, Cirru.” Cirru… had never quite heard that before. She found it appallingly arrogant, vaguely revolting, incredibly ostentatious… and because Mistress treated it so dismissively, vaguely humbling. How could a mere mammalian biped want to be a dragon? “Your mother also probably has a human lover, or really enjoys your father in his own human form. You might have noticed how humans and elves enjoy their sexual experiences, and most bipeds in general do. Mating is not a pleasant act among dragonkind, I’ve been informed, more a cessation of drives and lusts. That is very much not the case among most humanoids.” Cirruluxul blinked. It really did explain a lot of things... “I see. What, what manner of form would you suggest I take?” she finally asked, trying to comprehend her mother and father, as humans, doing… It sounded very interesting, actually… “I’ll let you think on that one. Easy enough to design one for yourself that I could transform you into.” Mistress’s magic was very powerful. Cirru flinched. “Will I be able to change back, Mistress?” she asked, her voice VERY carefully neutral. “There are two ways to neutralize hostile shapechanging magicks.” Two fingers, black nails just touched with crimson, were held up to her. “One way is to the magic by various means. No, you won’t be able to do that. The other is to be able to shapechange yourself, and then just return to your base form. You can easily learn to do that. A simple spell of will allow you to do so, you merely need to learn it.” That… sounded like learning a useful disguise spell, as well as an excellent defense against being forced into another shape… “I will think hard on a form, Mistress!” she promised crisply. “When you are ready.” -------- was a dangerous and versatile spell in many respects. It was never truly permanent, since it could always be Dispelled, even if the being changed forgot themselves and mentally receded into their new form, whatever it was. Being a potted flower was not conducive to keeping higher thought functions, after all. However, it also had its own limitations. For one thing, it couldn’t make you an exceptional member of another species. It either made you an average member of the species, or it made you the ‘you-equivalent’ of that species… if it was a weaker species. Thus, a powerful human warrior might become a powerful hyn warrior, although they’d definitely be weaker than before on account of size. On the other hand, a weakling transformed into an ogre would be a very average ogre, instead of a weakling ogre, and if they turned into another human, they could LOOK muscular, but any strength growth would be very modest, no more than +2 over their own. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. That and Morphing your allies and hirelings into monstrous forms sooner or later ended up with them losing their minds and acting like they’d always been that way, which meant Polymorph abuse was a sucker’s play. Dragons would not have the problem of thinking they were humans, especially if they could Morph themselves, as Gold and Amber Dragons were known to often do. Their egos were simply too high. Cirruluxul’s mental image of what she wanted to look like didn’t actually have to be anything human, so I obliged, if adding a bit of spin. The magic swirled over her, and her large scaled form shifted, flowed, and condensed like it was flowing into itself, gathering into a tighter form and taking on curves dragons didn’t have as everything reshaped itself smoothly. When it was over, she stood there blinking in the middle of the taproom, totally nude and a bit confused. She looked like a draconic half-elfin, mid-teens in human terms, with patches of blue scales at joints and contact places, looking more like ornamentation than protection. She was toned and fit and likewise completely average in all except physical beauty, because she had a good eye for humanoid attractiveness, and she looked enough like me to be a less moon-worshiping sister, with the added scales. She promptly crossed her arms in consternation. “I am suddenly cold…” she admitted, and then chewed her lips extravagantly to get the feel of her new mouth and tongue. “If you don’t concentrate on them, the reflexes are adapted and carry over. If you do think about them, you’ll likely fall down.” She looked at me as if I were daft, then looked down at herself, and her legs, trying to move her neck in ways it simply could not anymore. Her butt wriggled, as if she was trying to balance with her tail, then her legs wobbled, she over-compensated back, forth, and abruptly windmilled and fell backwards to the floor hard. The expression as she fell on her tailbone and jarred her butt was hilarious. My expression did not change. “Ignore the fact you are different. Just do, don’t think about it. The magic does not make you a cripple.” I reached out a hand to her as she sat there with a pained face, her butt sore from falling to the earthen floor. She eyed my hand, thinking about what it meant, had a moment of enlightenment, and braced her feet as she grasped my hand, pulled, and a bit awkwardly, rose up to her feet, a full head and more taller than I was. “Let’s first show you how to get dressed. Up to the lady’s room up there, and let’s start going through the closet.” ----- Her hair was a neck-length blue-black, her slanted eyes a blue so pale it was close to white, and her ears were sharper than mine and ridged. She had a mixture of features that were exotic to humans and elves, totally draconic and quite unique, and she was quite satisfied with her appearance as she posed in front of the mirror. However, she totally lacked the defined muscle and physique of the females of the company, which had her rich red lips frowning in dissatisfaction. I started with some comfortable garb for working out, easy and flowing to wear, how to put them all on and take them off. Then it was going through ALL the clothing, Cantrips able to easily re-fit them for her, and letting her compare and contrast everything to see how she looked. I also went through a dozen hairstyles for her, applied make-up and eye-shadow, the accents of jewelry and other accoutrements. She was staring at herself in the vanity’s mirror, done up in a rich blue silken dress, ornate braids in her hair, silver earrings with blue quartz dangling down, and pale pearls about her olive neck. She looked fantastic and exotic, commanding and compelling, but not like a warrior. Beautiful, haughty, and desirable, but not truly dangerous. “You can mix and match many of the clothes and styles, but you should operate from a working center of a dozen or so, adapting to the situation. I can give you ideas of what is acceptable at a moment in time, but your ability to observe fashion and mating displays will be your best judgment in what styles to use and when and how. I expect that with any time spent in human societies you’ll rapidly be better at the task than most women, although having an agreeable closet is always a challenge… but a fine closet is the hoard of a woman, and can be quite as valuable.” That definitely stirred her interest. We couldn’t take any of the clothing here, of course, and it would all reset come the dawn, but it left her a lot of things to try out on her own time. --------- The went up, because there was no reason not to expand our living area for the duration we were going to be here. I Tied Off the Slot to renew at the dawn, but that was fine. It wasn’t like I was going to go through all the magic. “Every day, you Cast all of your spells,” I told her as we both sat down on there. She had found it difficult to Cast like a dragon with Word-only spells while in humanoid form, not having the level of innate magic of her dragon body. It meant she had to use more mundane, biped-style casting methods and spellcraft, to her extreme annoyance. “By the time we leave, I expect you to have Cast all the spells you prefer to use hundreds of times, with some of them thousands of times and more. I emphasized to her, and she nodded hurriedly. “I will teach you a broader array of spells than most dragons know, so that you can change those you learn naturally and can adapt your spells to the situation, instead of trying to fit the situation to your spells. One does not need combat spells when moving about a city, for instance, but spells to conceal, to sniff out secrets, and to talk your way out of trouble are extremely useful. Likewise, spells to defend your lair while you are not there or to put up defenses on a battlefield are very different from spells designed to attack your foes and destroy on a wider scale. “I will sing to the Sublime Chord for us both, and you can join me in Meditation to regain your magic once you have expended it for the day. “I have sent a out to place some illusions around the Inn so that other beings cannot see it. We should be largely undisturbed, not that I expect anything outside will be alive for much longer, and our isolation will largely last years.” I was tempted to use the to seal off the outer pathway up to this plateau, but it existed in the future, so I held off, and I actually wasn’t worried about anything that would be coming through here. “You can return to your Dragon Form when you master and adapt , and later , so that you can take this form under your power then. “Now, let us begin.”