Summary
Smithson and Jonathan are taking a break from translating the Keystone, going outside for the first time since the summer. While exploring a canyon, Jonathan trips over a skull belonging to the Teneds. They excitedly unearth it, along with neck vertebrae and a jeweled necklace. Lacking the time for a proper excavation before winter, they set up anti-weathering spells over the site.
Pascal cleans the necklace and warns Smithson about dormant magic inside. While Smithson shows it to him, Jonathan notices that the green gem has turned red, and that the clasp has become undone.
Late one night, Jonathan checks on the artifacts, wondering what the purpose of the necklace is. He tries it on, closing the clasp, and the gem turns green. His body immediately begins transforming into a kind of lizard. He trips and knocks himself out. When he awakens, Jack, Brian, Fox Cutter, and Smithson have tied him up, frightened by his appearance. Magus arrives to place a truth spell on Jon, revealing his shocking identity.
Jonathan wants the necklace off, but he is warned that it is sealed alchemically, and the only one who can remove it, Pascal, is deep in an experiment and can't be disturbed for a week. Jonathan accidentally tears Smithson's arm, and struggles with his new predatory instincts.
Smithson and Jonathan go to the Mess Hall for food. Jonathan devours the raw meat and instantly gets sleepy. Copernicus, Saroth, and Bryan all agree that Jonathan is not a normal lizard, but cannot identify the species, although Bryan realizes his hips are like a bird's.
At weapons training, Jonathan finds himself eager to fight in close combat. The next morning, he is eager for their patrol into the Giantdowns, and doesn't remember ever being an archer or a deer. As they trek through the woods, Jon has strange reservations against his new instincts, until the image of waking in the library with forehooves snaps him out. The Lutins attack at that moment, and after some hesitation, his hunting instincts quickly take out the shocked Lutins.
Though thrilled by battle, Jonathan now wishes his old form back. As the days pass, Smithson suggests that the reason no Tened weapons have been found was perhaps not that they were a peaceful society, but because this transformation was their battle form.
At the end of the week, Pascal simply turns the gem setting, which transforms him back and forth from raptor to deer, but she is unable to undo the clasp. Jonathan decides to accept the amulet as another weapon to use against evil.
Characters
Main Characters:
- Jonathan: A quartermaster and amateur artifact collector. He finds an ancient amulet and is tempted into wearing it, whereupon he transforms into a raptor. No one is able to identify his species or change him back, until the end when Pascal figures it out with one glance.
- Prolonged use of the amulet gives him raptor instincts that he has to fight off. The clasp is magically sealed by his life energy, so he is stuck wearing it from now on.
- By twisting a dial on the amulet, Jon is able to change from his anthro deer form to his raptor form.
- Jon was at the Keep during the Battle, but was in the library.
- Jonathan can still speak in raptor form, but in a tenor voice. He is able to see in color.
Supporting:
- Smithson: Jon's mentor and friend.
- He is a goat morph in his mid-sixties. He has off-white hair and fur, and fairly tall horns that curve backwards
- Jack DeMule: The Keep armourer. He discovers Jon in his new form, and is suspicious until Magus verifies he is Jon. He trains Jon with his new body, and leads him on patrol.
- Bryan: A cobra morph and scout leader. Although he is not able to identify Jon, he helps brings Jon back to his senses during the patrol.
Minor Characters:
- Brian Coe: The Keep medic. He is with Jack and Smithson when Jon awakens.
- Magus: The Keep wizard. He is able to verify Jon's identity with a truth spell.
- Pascal: The Keep alchemist. She is too busy with an experiment initially to help Jon. When she is done, she easily solves the problem.
- Copernicus: A lizard morph. He is unable to identify Jon's form, and suggests visiting Saroth or Cerulean.
- Kwanzaa: A shrew morph who is very talented with a saber.
- Bender: A wolf morph and archer. He nearly gets overwhelmed by Lutins, and gets several wounds in him.
- Moorly: A small equine morph and archer.
Cameo:
- Saroth: A dragon morph. He is also unable to identify Jon's new form.
- Wanderer: A wolf morph, seen in the cafeteria eating lunch.
Referenced:
- Donnie: Bartender of the Deaf Mule.
- Cerulean: A natural-born dragon.
- Nasoj: Enemy of Metamor Keep.
Chronology
* When Jon was 5, his parents were taking a business trip to the Sathmore Empire when their ship sank in a freak squall on the Sea of Stars; Smithson was the family friend watching over him, who became his adoptive father.
Story Connections
- Smithson and Jon have studied the Keystone for over a month by this point, which they discovered in Artificer's Gambit.
Points of Interest
- Together, Kwanzaa, Bender, and Moorly form the patrol Team Six.
Behind the Scenes
- This is the first mention of the Sea of Stars or the Sathmore Empire on the archive.
- They first appeared in Malisa's unfinished story Distant Voices, not on the archive.