One of the least plausible aspects of fantasy as a genre is that sorcerers NEVER seem to get bogged down in creating a new spell then spend the next three or four months muttering "I hate this, it's rubbish" under their breath.
@cstross "I don't know why it needs exactly seven toad legs. This spell shouldn't need any toad whatsoever. But any less or any more and your target implodes and that's not what we want in a healing spell. Best practices are a lie. Magic was a mistake."
@cstross took a closer look at the script. Turns out the toad is to counteract this line here which summons the all-consuming Void. That line was copied straight from a hypothetical untested cure for cancer on Ars Overflow, and that was an adaptation of an entry off Matt’s Scroll Archive to get rid of unwanted houseguests.