Chapter 96 An Escape Plan Forms part 3 (1/1)
Eleanor didn't know how much time she would have to practice before she would be drug up before the shaman and his cohort again, so she worked quickly. Pulling a couple small pieces of cloth from her dress, she set about trying to find a working formula for transmutation that would accomplish what she needed.
Prestidigitation, like what she used to hide her components, only worked on small things, and could also only alter simple things about an object, like its color or texture or smell, but that was about it. There was no way to make it perform all of the complex re-arranging of her anatomy that would be required for a proper transformation, or cause her to sprout fur and claws. For that, she was going to have to piece together what she knew, and experiment with what she didn't until she found something that worked, or she'd run out of options.
In addition to that, she needed to take some time to remember some of her other cantrips. Then, at least, she'd have some more tools in her toolkit that didn't require components. First on that list would be Mage Hand. With that, she could steal some things like more fur or other components from her captors without them realizing it, or maybe other things she could use in her attempt. She could maybe even steal a key, if the guard holding them was clueless enough. But she wasn't holding her breath.
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Cantrips came first. At first, progress was slow, but gradually picked up as she started piecing some things together. The first thing she managed to determine was the activation sigils and invocation for a Light spell, which she discovered by accident while working her way through sequences of spellwords to find the formula for Mage Hand. Testing it again to be sure it worked, she then used Prestidigitation to mark the correct formula for it on the inside of her thigh beneath her dress so she wouldn't accidentally forget it. Finding this formula also opened up other options, such as a Daze spell, or Blinding Flash, but those would have to wait.
After what felt like hours, she finally found the correct formula for Mage Hand. To confirm she had it right, she tested it half a dozen times, shifting and moving the bowl covering her component stash around her small cave room, picking it up and tossing it back and fort in mid-air with only minute gestures of her left index finger. She marked the formula on her leg, alongside Prestidigitation, Light Dancing Lights, and Blinding Flash. She'd found Dancing Lights when trying to find the correct spell fragment for movement, and combined it with light, and Blinding Flash by adding a few choice words of Infernal to the Light evocation. Her practicing also uncovered a few sigils and words that seemed to generate some kind of incomplete response, as if they required another fragment or motion to activate fully. She marked those on the inside of her other thigh for later practice.
It occurred to her as she looked down at the arcane sigils on the inside of both her legs that if the gnolls forced themselves upon her again, they'd find them immediately. But that wasn't going to be an issue. She would not let herself be used like some slave by those gibbering beasts ever again. She'd make them kill her before she ever let that happen.
After all of this practice, she could feel the constant mental strain and Spirit usage taking a toll on her, and she decided to take a break and try and rest. She had no idea when her captors would come back to feed her again, or drag her off before the shaman once more. Leaning her head back against the post, he closed her eyes, and for the first time since arriving, allowed herself a smile.