Backstory

Shale was a human peasant who stole a chicken from a witch, and the witch cursed her for it. 

"You are nothing but a foolish sly fox to steal from my henhouse!" the witch yelled after the chicken thief. "I curse thee, and I curse your first true love!" 

"Ah, your words are no threat to me, witch, for I shall never love." the young Shale laughed as she trotted away with the chicken. 

Shale grew older and became a skilled swordsman, and eventually earned her position in the royal guard. She all but forgot about that silly witch and her silly curse from way back in her youth...it was nothing but a distant memory to her now. That is, until her first day as the princess' personal guard. 

From the first moment Shale laid eyes on the princess, she was instantly in love, and the curse that had laid dormant for years instantly took effect. Shale was transformed into the very fox that the witch saw her as-- and the princess, into a fowl beastie that immediately fled, leaving only feathers behind. Shale was believed to be a horrid beast who devoured the princess, and she was run out of the kingdom. 

She now wanders about and drinks heavily to ignore her troubles. Shale must find the princess, break the curse that plagues them both, and resist her fox instincts to hunt the feathery princess down. But before Shale can embark on her quest, she has to pick her drunken ass up off the tavern floor…