Rescue from the cockatrice.

[SlimGauge]

My character is about to attempt the rescue of about a dozen various people who've fallen victim to a cockatrice. I need to transport them
out of the swamp they're in to the services of a more powerful magic user. However, there may be some issues.

The petrified victims seem to be some sort of weird hybrid of "not completely an object, but not a creature either".

Will "Shrink Item" work on them ?

Arguements against:
They're not an object, they are a petrified creature (not a valid target for shrink item).
They were petrified by magic and therefore count as a magic item (not a valid target for shrink item).

Arguements for:
"Flesh to Stone" states that they become "a mindless, inert statue" and therefore an item for most purposes.

Will the spell "Break Enchantment" suffice, or must it be "Stone to Flesh" ?

Arguements for:
A cockatrice is a five hit die creater. Its petrification is a Supernatural Ability, not a Spell-like Ability, mimicing "Flesh to Stone" only in the effects, not in being a 6th level spell. Thus a "Break Enchantment" will suffice, and needs to succeed on a caster level check vs a DC 16.

Arguements against:
A cockatrice's petrification is EXACTLY like "Flesh to Stone". Being a 6th level spell, thus needs "Stone to Flesh" to reverse.

Assuming "Stone to Flesh" is required, is there a way to help the saves of those being unpetrified ? (DC15 Fort)

Arguements against:
No, because you need to boost the saves before "Stone to Flesh" is cast. Since they're objects until "Stone to Flesh" is cast, they're not valid targets for "Resistance" or "Diviner's Fortune" or other save buffing spells.

Arguements for:
An object wouldn't need a fort save, so if the save booster is cast at the same time as the "Stone to Flesh" it should work.

[Nightskies]

1. The argument for seems solid to me. They're an inert statue, so Shrink Item should work. Its imaginative and plausible, kudo points from me.

2. No, it is mimicking a 6th level spell. Caster level argument is null.

3. Lets look at the condition.

Petrified:

A petrified character has been turned to stone and is considered unconscious. If a petrified character cracks or breaks, but the broken pieces are joined with the body as he returns to flesh, he is unharmed. If the character's petrified body is incomplete when it returns to flesh, the body is likewise incomplete and there is some amount of permanent hit point loss and/or debilitation.

Like you said, being petrified makes the subject in a sort of hybrid. Hybrids, to my memory, are always considered both, and thus should be targeted by buffs.

[Matthew Morris]

1) Well there's precident.

2) As above, Break Enchantment won't cut it. Cockatrice blood however will, IIRC.

[SlimGauge]

If you go with the victims being both object and (petrified) creature at the same time, casting "resistance" and using "Diviner's Fortune" seem like they'd work for boosting the required fort save, but "Heroism" probably wouldn't, as it's mind-affecting and Flesh to Stone is pretty explicit about the petrified creature being mindless.

Any other ways to help these poor unfortunates survive the revivification process ?