In another Story, The Baron Of Sacrobless, a passing mention was made of a certain incident that Karen suffered as she was still learning how to handle the use of Azuchroma properly, and while she didn't want to talk about it, here's the story of that incident.

This story was commissioned from  Gawayne from his recent writing stream. Since Paul Revere gave me permission to use his character, Karen for this story.

Karen is © -  PaulRevere1991

Story is © -  Gawayne

Image that this story is based off of is here.





It was late autumn in the countryside, following a warm and windy summer. It was that very same summer Karen had initially gotten her cursed necklace, the one the raccoon thief had stolen and given to her. She was growing used to it by now, but still had the zeal and desire to lift the curse.

So far she had subsisted well off the Azuchroma flowers, rare light-blue flowers that had pollen that glowed faintly in the dark. Karen had to consume them in order to keep the curse at bay.

It had been weeks since she escaped foreign spies and enemies of state that hid out at an old barn, but she still had to focus on finding the mage who had cursed the necklace. Though she was not the thief, she had been hexed for his crime and she needed to be back to normal.

She avidly stocked the flowers any time she came across them, soon having a veritable bouquet she idly plucked flowers from every so often. The fantastical flora was safe to eat and sustained Karen’s form, but she had no idea that the longer she waited to eat them, the more dried out they became.

Up until that time, she had eaten them during the summer when they were preserved well and somewhat plentiful, but now in the face of the October gale and first breezes of cold, she could see them slowly turning brown, crisper and more brittle.

Each one she ate held less and less power as time passed. It was the same effect as taking watered down cold medicine. It very barely abated her changes, as some days Karen noticed her rich brown locks was looking more like a mane and that her fingernails were blackening and growing harder, the tips of her fingers feeling stiffer.

Though she could collect them and try to stave off her changes, each of the dried flowers only gave her a day’s relief, and it often took her two days to find even one flower now.

She remembered her old days of travel back when she had her own horse, Hilda. She was a strong mare, the cream white colored morgan always swift and able to keep up with Karen’s needs. The sense of nostalgia filled her heart as she reminisced on those lovely days. It had been so long since she had had a horse of her own, and now of all times was when she needed one the least, and yet… Something within her made her think it was a good idea.

Resolving to get another horse, at least on a trial basis, she tugged on a concealing robe she had bought. With it she could hide her altered features since the driest of dried flowers only stopped her changes, not reversed them.

It was the next day, as she was down to her last three flowers that she sauntered into Bahamlet, a relatively large village with, according to the sign, 255 residents. It was larger than her own hometown of Revere, with its 91 inhabitants.

Though she enjoyed her time in the town, she couldn’t tarry long as she had to find a horse and then some Azuchroma. Hopefully with its assistance she could find more flowers.

After searching for a while, she eventually found a gray quarterhorse, one that looked tame enough. Its owner was even willing to throw in a free saddle and reins.

Intrigued by this offer, and the low price, Karen decided to buy him and named him Chester. It was a simple name for a simple horse.

With him, she dashed off out of Bahamlet and onward to the Beige fields, named so due to the color of the rich earth beneath. It was said a paladin had discovered a trove of azuchroma there during the spring.

If Karen was lucky, she would find a few spares.

The search through the field was more or less a glorified camping trip for her. She spent part of the time training Chester, part of the time searching for azuchroma, and the last part of the time trying to ration out her last three flowers.

She tried to make it stretch as much as possible, but all that did was barely even delay her changes. The moment she ran out, she would change, and rapidly as opposed to her usual gradual way. If she wasn’t careful, she would be lucky if she didn’t end up in the stables with Chester when someone finally did come along.

After a while, she decided to give up. If there were azuchroma in the field, they were either long gone or plucked.

That was when Karen noticed a sign in the middle of the field.

‘Looking for the rumored and legendary Azuchroma? Find it at Ron Dodar Fath’s magical hut, we have ingredients galore!’

Reading the sign, Karen grew giddy. She had heard Fath’s hut was a town away, and if she got Chester to hurry she could make it in one day.

Running to her horse after packing away the robe she had worn, Karen urged Chester forth. The entire time she had been chewing the last bud of the Azuchroma in her mouth, feeling it’s journey into a muzzle slow to a halt as the magic took effect, just looking like a swollen nose for the moment. Soon however, she found that all the magic had left the dehydrated plant, and she could feel the changes coming.

She looked at her hands and saw her fingers begin to shift, the middle two fingers swelling rapidly, while the others began to dwindle. Her feet had begun to do the same, only faster. Her boots bursting as her feet grew longer and her toes grew and hardened. The remains of her boots sliding off after only 5 minutes, full-fledged hooves in their place. As her legs slipped out of the stirrups as they began to change, straining her pants, she was now precariously sitting in the saddle, her hands nearly hooves as well by this point, she was just able to wrap some of the reins around them to help her maintain control, but it was very little as her arms were getting harder and harder to move side to side to control Chester’s path, and he hadn’t learned to obey her by voice in such a short time.

With her horse-like ears down, Karen gulped, just as her face began to change as well, her nose swelling and pushing out into a small muzzle, the white patch of fur growing over her forehead before the rest of the chestnut colored coat grew over her body. She felt a slight pain as her tailbone elongated too, fine horse hairs growing and forming a tail that ripped through the seat of her tightening pants.

Karen was starting to panic now, as was Chester as they began to come upon a cliff.

She tried her best to tell him to stop, but the change to her mouth, which was nearly half horse, had also affected her vocal cords as she already gave off a loud neigh. Her clothing was starting to rip as well, her body gaining mass rapidly. Already her pauldron had fallen away, the straps securing it broken by her growing arms. The rest of her outfit wasn’t in much better shape, the laces on her vest snapped, her belt and pants button had burst off a while back, and a loud tear was head as the seams on the side of her pants split by her expanding and changing body.

Chester was looking back at her in fear now, he had no idea why his new owner was suddenly so heavy and smelling different, as small tear of pain fell from his eye as Karen's leather vest split open as her chest barrelled out.

Within another 10 minutes, Karen’s highly advanced and delayed transformation began to end, her remaining clothing falling off in tatters and her growing size making it impossible to stay on as she entered into her horse form just as Chester was going down the cliff, swiftly and with reckless abandon in a blind panic.

Rolling off of the poor horse’s back, Karen by some miracle, managed to land on all fours, her hooves and strong legs withstanding the impact as she landed on solid ground, thanking her lucky stars.

To her chagrin, however, she noticed Chester was running off, now in a deep panic and acting wild. Unless she wanted her money and possessions to be gone in addition to her humanity, she had to chase after him.

Pushing her equine form, Karen bounded off, surprising herself with her own speed as she closed in on her own steed. She needed some effort and time, as she had to chase him past a dirt path and bridge to another field, but soon she had done it, she was close now, watching his reins flap wildly.

She took them in her mouth, biting then and tugging hard, straining her neck to get him to stop.

Within her mind, she shouted the phrase ‘whoa’ and she managed to calm him, though both he and she were out of breath, and less than a mile away from the hut.

Karen had no idea whether she should be glad or annoyed that she arrived so fast, but she knew no matter what, the conversation with the ingredient salesman would be an interesting one.