Item: Red Breastplate of Beastly Forms:

In areas with many enchanters, some stylized items may actually hold more power and purpose than what they originally appear to have.  One example is the Red Breastplate of Beastly Forms.

Item: Red Breastplate of Beastly Forms (15 lbs) (Rare) (Excellent) (21 GP, 186 CP) (2 Toughness) (4 EP) (Shape Change, Animal Tongue, Speech Retention): This steel breastplate has been passed through the bluing process to be black, but engraved runes and animal depictions of a fox, phoenix, and squid, have been put into the breastplate in a copper and iron mixture to give it a more noticeable red percentage of the surface.  It is said that the creator of this and other enchanted armor pieces created it, there were other colored sets and other types of armor belonging to each set, though none have publicly displayed more than two pieces at a time per colored set.  Perhaps the rumors are just that, or perhaps the pieces are too scattered to have a full set.  When one wears the breastplate it does offer a fair amount of use simply as armor, but in addition it allows the wearer to use an activation phrase to morph into one of the three animals, as well as retain not only their own language to speak in, but that of the animal they have morphed into.  In order to resume their natural form, however, they need to speak a different phrase to change back.  While in animal form they must not lose the breastplate, now reshaped to fit their new form, or they will be unable to speak their normal form or return back until they get it back or have assistance from other means.  These limitations have been used by shifty individuals in the past to not only get rid of enemies or prey, but also to gain byproducts from those creatures to sell.  Let the buyer beware, should they fail to ensure they have the proper phrase to change back...