Greetings Readers,

I wanted to follow up from the poll last week on Tazrok’s stealth form (257 votes total at time of writing this!) with some thoughts as well as a final poll to pick a winner. I appreciated and loved the conversation, banter and suggestions in the comments. It gives any author a warm-fuzzy to see their readers talking and speculating about the story.

So, first a little bad news, and I know many will be disappointed. Even though “Honey Badger” won the vote, I think some very good points were made in comments about how it really wasn’t a “stealth” form, and would effectively just be another form for melee DPS. While I said I could work with it story-wise, it would serve to close down a very specific aspect of the party’s capabilities (true small, stealthy espionage and infiltration) that might be useful down the road beyond my current plot notes. So regrettably, I’m going to remove Honey Badger from consideration for this form, but I have another spot where Tazrok’s ability to ‘not give a shit’ as Honey Badger could come into play with a different form/role.

Of the remaining four pre-selected choices, Jackalope was the clear winner. Within the comments, there was also strong support for “mouse” with a few other rodent-types getting honorable mentions.

So for this poll, I’m going to narrow down to two finalists:

Jackalope: Looks like a normal bunny, but with antlers. Magical “blink” ability to teleport line-of-sight, which includes anything he may be carrying in his mouth, with a range of maybe ten meters or so. Antlers can produce an electrical “stun” effect like a taser on touch. Darkvision. Has very sharp teeth, excellent for chewing through ropes and Knights who say Ni. Notes: Bunnies are not climbers, and they move by “hopping”, not crawling. Both may be limiting aspects of this choice.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Phase (Rodent): My first instinct would be a squirrel, but could also be a mouse, rat or a ferret (please discuss in comments). Has a phase ability to move through solid objects up to a few meters thick. This includes anything he may be carrying in his mouth. Is able to leap distances up to about four meters, including vertically. Limited “flight” ability, which is mostly gliding with maybe a few flaps allowing small altitude gains; effectively immune to falling damage as a result. Darkvision. Sharp teeth. Notes: this form has no active “defensive” power, save to bite/scratch someone, or leap/phase away quickly. It’s Tazrok, so maybe that doesn’t matter.

Point of information: Ogres have no enhanced vision (Darkvision, Nightvision, etc) in people form, but would in this form.

Common tropes for this form: Sneak up the drawbridge chains to open the portcullis from the inside to allow everyone in, sneak through the cage bars to retrieve the keys from the sleeping jailer, snatch the powerful Wand of Wonderous Power from the bedside table of the big baddie while she sleeps, sneak through the vents looking for Hans Gruber, hide under Callie's hat where he can sneak out while the villain monologues manically.

Voting in this poll will be limited to one option, and it will run for about one week total. If you have alternative thoughts as to the "powers" of either form, please discuss in comments.

As a final thought, I want to thank everyone again for their interest, enjoyment and support.

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