How Excellia got Her Horns

Finally, the goblin seemed satisfied with her dryness. "Alright, then, let's get down to business." She smiled as she marched over to a closet clearly designed for one of her stature and opened the door. Sh grabbed a long, white jacket from a closet and pulled it on, draping it over her shoulders, letting it hang open to show a deep valley of emerald cleavage. That seemed to be all she needed to get into the appropriate mindset, and headed over behind a counter, stepping up a hidden staircase to take a seat on a tall stool, tall enough to barely have to look up to the amazon, her plump rear squishing underneath her. "Okay, then. So, what EXACTLY do you want the potion to do?" She asked.

The amazon threw her crimson waterfall of wavy locks forward over one shoulder, letting it hang, heavy with water as she toweled at her brilliant mane. She gave a shrug. "Well, I said I wanted to be stronger. What do you have for that?" She inquired.

The goblin shook her head. "No, I got that, but I'm betting there's more to it than 'stronger'. Do you want to look stronger, or do you just wanna be supernaturally powerful? Do you want to be bigger? Does it have to be permanent? Does it have to be instant, or can it take effect over time?" She listed off possibilities. "You've gotta be specific."

"Ahh. Well... I'd want to be bigger, definitely. More muscular, and taller, too. It's definitely got to be permanent, I won't be able to get refills once I return home... And it's got to be fast. I'm sick of waiting." She returned, then paused for a moment. "Can it make my breasts bigger, too?"

The goblin listened, chewing softly on her lower lip as ideas flowed through her mind and were dismissed one by one. "That's a lot of stuff all at once..." She admitted, pondering for a long moment. "I can make some of those happen, but there's usually a sacrifice somewhere... I could make it all happen at once, but it'd only last a couple of minutes. I could make you taller for good, but it would stretch out all your muscles, you'd have to build them up yourself. I could do something to make you grow bigger and more muscular, but you'd have to take it regularly over several months. I could give you the biggest tits this side of the Dragon Peaks right here, but you'd end up kinda chubby." She clarified, listing off the options as they occurred to her. "To get them all at once..." she began, then paused, a look of realization hitting her. She considered it for a long moment, looking searchingly over the amazon. "...This might seem like a strange question, but how important it staying human?" She inquired carefully.

The amazon paused for a moment, letting her damp crimson mane fall back behind her as she thought about the options. "...Hmm. Well... I think I'd have to stay human. I mean, it wouldn't do me any good to get stronger if I had to turn into a gorilla to do it." She replied, giving a shrug.

Villeta nodded. "Alright... but what about human with a little extra?" she probed.

The amazon considered. "...I'd still have to look like myself, so it couldn't be anything too drastic." She answered finally.

Villeta's lips parted into an eager smile. She hopped off the stool and disappeared into the back of the lab, the heart-shaped tip of her tail following her, swaying restlessly before it too vanished around a corner. There was the sound of clinking bottles and creaking doors. The amazon looked somewhat concerned, peering after the vanished alchemist. But just as quickly and mysteriously as she'd disappeared, she returned, delicately cradling a tiny black box, barely larger than a ring box, in her small green hands.

"...What's that?" Excellia asked, looking somewhat cautiously at the black box.

Villeta grinned as she climbed back up onto the stool and set the box on the counter before her. She took hold of the lid and pulled it open, the hinge lifting the lid off the box to reveal a tiny vial, as big as the amazon's thumb. The featureless vial was sealed carefully, the corked end dipped in red wax to keep it air-tight. Inside the glass swirled a crimson liquid, blood-red, with little blue filaments floating throughout. It looked almost like it was alive, the way it swirled and flowed within the glass container. "This, my amazonian friend, is masterpiece of alchemical engineering." She smiled. "See, the fluid is a transformation catalyst. It's a transmutation serum, modified by removing the target-entity agent and stabilized with a distillation of Witchbane. The blue filaments are entirely original work, not to brag, but it's actually made with denatured unicorn hair, which I then infused with Chaos Wort extract and a little bit of human blood, allowing them to attach to organic material and absorb a wide variety of essences, then transmit that essence to catalyze the transformation, while still ensuring the subject's base functions aren't interrupted!" she Explained, talking faster and faster as she explained the process gleefully.

Excellia looked blankly at the goblin.

Villeta's cheeks turned forest green. "...Right. Layman's terms. When you drink this, it sticks to your throat. Then you find a creature with traits that you want. For you, something big and strong. Then you just get a little bit of its essence, and swallow it. You're probably wanna go with blood, there are other options but it's gotta be liquid or the filaments won't... Just... Go with blood. Anyways. The potion will absorb the essence of the creature and transfer some of its traits to you. Not all of them, just a handful, and only things that don't directly interfere with your body's functions. But keep in mind, it's a mindless potion. It can't tell the difference between something you want to swallow and something you swallow accidentally. If you drink this, then eat a particularly juicy steak, you'll end up with cow traits. But if you choose well and move carefully... This has the potential to give you everything you want in spades." Villeta explained.

Excellia still looked somewhat puzzled.

Villeta sighed. "Hold onto the potion. Find a creature you want traits from. Drink the potion, then drink their blood. Consume nothing between the potion and the blood. Whatever essence you drink next, you'll get some traits from them, but won't turn into a half-monster. Choose well, and you'll end up with everything you want and more." She explained in the simplest terms.

Understanding finally dawned on her face, but still she looked a little concerned. If she messed this up, she would never be able to return to the jungles. But the potential reward were so very tempting. Everything she asked for and more... She could be the strongest amazon in history. She could be truly legendary.

Seeing the amazon wavering, the goblinbus made one final comment. "Have I mentioned a dragon just happens to have set up a roost about a day's ride to the west?"

Excellia's eyes widened for a moment, then her lips curled into a smile. Now THAT would be a feat worthy of legend...

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Excellia's muscles strained as she gripped at the nearly-sheer cliff face, her fingertips scraping over the unyielding stone in search of a hand-hold. Her skin gleamed with sweat, despite the swift wind that scoured across the cliff, making her long mane of ruby hair blow behind her. Finally, her fingers found a grip on a crag in the rock and seized tight, the ragged point of the protrusion biting into her palm as she pulled herself up by it to seek another hold. She gritted her teeth and pushed the pain and the exhaustion down inside herself as she looked up. The ledge of the plateau was barely a yard away. Just a few more holds, and she'd be there. Her mighty axe was heavy on her back, the leather straps holding it in place biting into her shoulders. She let out a growl as she called upon her final reserves of strength, pushing with her leg to lunge upward, fingers questing for the edge. When they found it they gripped hard, raking at the stone. Every muscle in her body flexed and strained as she pulled herself to the edge, throwing a leg onto the plateau. She rolled her body over the edge and finally came to a rest just inches from the void, laying on her back as she panted to regain her breath.

She'd known dragons roosted in difficult to reach places. In hindsight, she'd always known that. It was mentioned in all the stories she'd heard as a child. But nobody mentioned how tiring it truly was. The journey to the dragon's lair was always an aside, getting only the briefest mention before the story got to the exciting part, the battle. If the dragon slayers of legend always ended up this tired before facing the dragon, she had a whole new respect for them. She lay there on the stone for a few moments to catch her breath before she realized she had to find herself some cover or she'd risk losing her chance. The dragon had been seen coming and going from this plateau for some months now, but none had dared to scale the cliffs and lay eyes upon the beast itself, and she didn't want to be discovered by the beast before she could make her approach.

Thankfully, cover was not hard to find. The plateau was wide and flat, a dull, gray stone polished smooth by rain and winds, not the greatest place to hide. But thankfully, it seemed fate was on her side, as the plateau was littered with rocks of darker stone, ranging in size from pebbles to great boulders, scattered all across the stony surface. As she slipped behind one, she surveyed the scenery cautiously. The locals called this peak the Pierced Plateau, naming it for an enormous, monolithic granite spike that thrust through the flat plane of the plateau, like the tip of an enormous spear. But as she surveyed the scene she saw no such spike. The only thing breaking the monotony of the plateau was a second, smaller plateau of the same dark stone as the boulders, in the center of the gray expanse. It barely rose more than ten feet from the main surface, and couldn't have measured more than thirty feet across at the top. Then, Excellia saw the jagged edges of the plateau and it all came together in her mind. The plateau had been the spike, but the great dragon had shattered the monolith and torn at the living stone with its mighty claws, until all that remained was a ragged bowl-shape for it to nest within. It had carved the ancient stone to suit its need and left the remains scattered across the plateau.

Excellia shivered at the potent illustration of a dragons' immense strength. This dragon was certainly everything she'd grown up dreaming about, hearing tales about. This would be a legendary confrontation, to be certain. She slid back behind the cover provided by a particularly large boulder, and took a deep breath. If she could take the merest fraction that beast's strength as her own... The very thought was intoxicating. She could almost see her future self, looming tall and powerful, her skin tough as dragon scales, her hands turned into tearing claws, her muscles pulsing with primal power... She reached into her bag, retrieving the little black box. She looked nervously to the tiny, dark shape, its size belying its power. This was the moment she'd been waiting for. She knew she wouldn't have time to down the elixir once the battle was joined. All she had to do was draw the mighty creature's blood, lick her weapon, and make her escape. Her hands trembled as she lifted the box's lid, revealing the tiny, sealed vial of swirling red liquid. A moaning gust of wind swirled around the boulder to her back, and she shivered again, not with chill, but anticipation. Her fate was so very close...

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Kargon Rage-Hoof allowed the wind to flow over his immovable form without challenge, without struggle. His mind was distant, deep in meditation, but something on the wind made his pulse quicken. The mighty minotaur was called "The Ebon Mountain" in his homeland, and he certainly seemed to fit the appellation. When he stood, he loomed tall even among his hulking brethren, a full eight feet, and seemed even taller thanks to the black horns jutting out from his temples, carefully polished to a shine as they curved up and up, the tips just barely beginning to point toward one-another at the ends. He was covered in coal-black fur, from the top of his bullish head to the shaggy locks just above his steel-shod hooves. Every inch of fur but the locks over his hooves was kept neatly trimmed, short enough to emphasize the thick, powerful slabs of granite muscle that were layered on his broad-shouldered frame.

Unlike many of his brethren, he took care in his appearance. Many of the other bulls called it 'womanly', but considering how many cows eagerly awaited the news of his successful vision quest, and by extension, his eligibility for mating, he had to question their logic. Nothing else about Kargon could be called womanly, even by his most envious rivals. He was a mighty warrior who wielded twin hammers as large as a human's head in battle, one massive sledge in each hand. He was a patient and skillful hunter, who never returned to camp empty-handed. He was a calm and competent leader, who had led the clan through many dangerous mountain passes without issue. Since he'd begun his coming of age, he'd proven his strength, his skill, his leadership. Now, he was facing his final rite of passage, his greatest challenge, a vision quest. If he could complete this task, he would be a fully-fledged adult, earn the last portion of his name, and officially become the heir to his father's seat as chief.

It had been nearly six moons since his father Kargonrath had sent him out on the traditional vision quest, the Grand Journey. He'd left his homeland in the Dragon Peaks the very day he came of age, eager to earn his place in the clan. He longed to return to his homeland, finding these eastern lands inhospitable to his people, but undergoing the Grand Journey was a sacred oath. He'd sworn on his blood to walk the lands until he'd received a vision from the spirits, until he had been granted the wisdom needed to lead his people into the future. But with each passing moon that the vision did not come, his homecoming seemed all the more distant.

After failing to receive a vision on his own for some moons, he had ultimately decided that he would need the wisdom of a mentor to open himself to the spirits. Hearing tales of a dragon in the region, he knew he'd found what he needed. There were no beings older or wiser than the immortal dragons, after all. The mountain had proved no challenge to the bull, accustomed to the ragged stone slopes of the Dragon Peaks, and he supplicated himself to the ancient one in hopes of finally finding his vision. The ruby ancient known in the tongue of dragons as 'She Who Has Seen Truth, Keeper Of The Candle Of Knowledge, Guardian Of One Thousand Secrets, Teacher Of Kings, Font of Endless Wisdom', or more simply, She Who Has Seen Truth, had taken him under her wing as a student.

She had been exceptionally patient with the young bull as she taught him the art of meditation, despite his sometimes slow progress. He often found himself distracted by his more primal drives. As hard as he tried to clear his mind of thought and open himself the to the spirit realm, to allow the divine into his mind to share their wisdom, the truth of the matter was simple. He was a young adult, the equivalent of a teenager at the end of the long, arduous process known as puberty. His blood swam with oceans of hormones, his every heartbeat flooding his mind with the primal urge to mate. By tradition, as the chief's son, he'd been kept from release his entire life thus far. The intent was to ensure the future leader would be able to focus his mind on learning the tasks of leading his people. But now he struggled with his meditations as his every instinct screamed at him to mate.

A new gust of wind washed over him, running through his dark fur, over his sculpted muscles. His golden eyes snapped open wide, his trance broken. All through the day, his meditations had been growing shallower and shallower with each breath of wind. He tried to force through the distractions, to clear his mind of all thought. But then a fresh breeze would roll over him, and something borne on that wind would make his body respond, his pulse quicken, his urges return, even stronger than before. He could scarcely make out a smell at all first, but his body responded nonetheless. But as time wore on, a mysterious odor began to accompany the response. Each time it grew stronger, but still he could not place it. The timing of this distraction was particularly unfortunate, as his teacher had departed early in the day to descend to the lowlands to hunt and return with supplies to refill their stockpile, and he couldn't turn to her wisdom for aid. And this time, the smell was overpoweringly strong.

The scent lingered, and at first he tried to force his response down as he had before, but a new thought arose, a temptation that he found himself rationalizing. Perhaps it would be wise to investigate the smell. He knew, logically, that this would not help, but the rationalization continued. If the smell grew stronger, there would be no way to concentrate at all, and if he found the source, he could just... remove it. He knew he was lying to himself about his intentions, but he couldn't muster the willpower to stop himself as he pushed himself up this steel-shod hooves. He moved to the edge of the smaller plateau and looked out at the wider expanse, sniffing curiously.

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Excellia slid from her cover behind the dark boulder and darted across the gray stone to dive behind the next, moving closer, step by step, toward the central plateau. She had to move carefully, lest she be seen by the dragon and have it take off, flying away to deny her her destiny. All she had to do was make the approach, get one good strike on the dragon, lick her blade and swallow, and make her escape. It sounded simple, but she could feel her pulse quickening with anticipation of the conflict to come. She reached over a shoulder, unhooking the straps keeping her weapon in place and bringing it out. She twisted her hands on the red leather of the handle,the friction tightening her grasp as she looked at the gleaming steel blade. Her fate awaited on that rise...

Kargon crept among the boulders scattered across the plateau, sniffing at the air as he moved as stealthily as such an enormous minotaur could. the smell was so close now, he could practically taste it on the air. The scent was oddly pleasant, an alluring fragrance that filled him with a new, unfamiliar desire. He felt a strange haze filling his mind as the smell permeated his mind, making his thoughts sluggish. He soon came to a particularly large boulder, and craned his head around it, eyes falling upon a stranger. For an instant he blinked, confused, then his face contorted into a furious snarl. He let out a booming, thunderous voice as he bellowed forth an accusation of "INTRUDER!"

The sudden bellow made Excellia's train of thought derail as she glanced to the source of it, the sheer force of the cry resonating in her chest. Her body froze with fear as she looked up the the figure that loomed over her. It was enormous, its dark color and the sun behind it making it into little more than an almost-demonic silhouette, it's massive, muscular frame and tall, curved horns serving to complete the image. She felt her heart thundering in her chest with surprise and fear as she found herself momentarily marveling at the titanic muscles of the fearsome figure. She brought her axe up between them instinctively.

As Kargon's eyes fell upon the blade, his rage redoubled, and he snarled. "No, ASSASSIN!" He corrected his previous accusation. He could smell that unexpected scent on this woman, she was clearly the source, but his desire was almost quenched by the realization of what she was. A would-be dragon-slayer. Some to slay his teacher, no doubt, to end a life that has lasted for thousands of years, all for the sake of some pathetic material trophy! All the invaluable wisdom of the ancient ones, she would destroy it all, for the sake of some meager trophy to prove her 'honor' and satisfy her greed. Adrenaline rushed into his bloodstream, the battle-fury of his ancestors blending with his hormones, his primal drives, and swiftly pushing him past the edge of reason.