Arrow of Missile Attraction
What the F#$%??? - Revolutionary Commander Flint Westbark upon seeing the device for the first time.
History
The Revolution of One Man didn't have a beginning that promised success. Flint Westbark was the commander of an elite fighting force, and while no one would deny the Emperors rule was strict at best, harsh at worst, everyone had pretty much learned that if you kept your head down, you got left alone. No one knows what orders Commander Westbark received that ended his alliance to the Emperor, but he one day announced to his troops that the people's freedom had been stifled long enough, and any men that wanted to restore their freedoms to them were welcome. The entire force joined behind the Commander.
The fighting force Commander Westbark began his revolution with was not impressive. A few hundred infantry, a hundred calvary, and a hundred bowmen. Granted, they were some of the toughest, most skilled fighters in the armed forces, but five hundred men against tens of thousands are not good odds. Commander Westbark had the people behind him, many of the people in fact, swelling his forces to several thousand, but the people were not skilled. Many of them werent even hunters, much less fighters.
It was the insight, almost a mad genius, of Mike Skinner, the artificer of the elite, that turned the war into an overwhelming victory against the superior numbers of the Emperors forces. The didn't have the time or materials to make tens of thousands magical arrows, or several hundred bows of the quality needed for magical enchantment, but many of the men from Grandston joined the Commander when he traveled through their town, and Grandson was renowned for it's magnificent leatherwork. Lacking the materials to make armor for the thousands in his forces, the Artificer Skinner created a quiver for arrows that would turn them into Arrows of Missile Attraction for the length of their flight to their target.
The effect was the supreme accuracy of the elite archers was magnified. The arrows fired by the peasants would follow the Arrows of Missile Attraction fired by the elite, causing a score of arrows to find their targets.
With this force of thousands firing arrows with unmatched accuracy, the Emperor was overthrown and freedom came again to the people.
Full Item Description
The Arrows of Missile Attraction are created by the Quivers. Arrows are stored in the quivers for 24 hours, after which they become Arrows of Missile attraction for a brief time, approximately the time needed for an arrow to complete a flight, although this varies some by the quiver, and also by the length of the arrows flight. Overall, mundane arrows fired simultaneously with an Arrow of Missile Attraction will be drawn towards it, striking close to the arrow rather than following like train cars.
Some Quivers were especially well made and the Arrows continue to Attract Missiles after they have struck their target. This effect was not lost on the Commander, and he used this to great effect during the Siege of Fort Mesa. A lasting Arrow of Missile attraction was fired into the portcullis, then trebuchets were launched, and the stones followed the Arrow. The Elite calvary had no problems entering the fort after this door knocking.
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? Responses (13)
A very useful item to have.
Handy! This is one of the simplest, and possibly most useful magical effects on a battlefield! (Btw, don't forget to link it to the Items of War Codex.)
With just a few good shots, you can turn a crowd of random peasants into a skilled archery unit. (But they still shoot slowly.) If this item exists, it radically changes warfare, showing how much of a deep impact magic can have. And depending on how strong the Attraction is, the arrows can land in similar positions relatively to the "master Arrow" as they have started; or they could concentrate and rain death on a smaller location.
One flavour piece I would add, is to make the arrow feel warm right after it was "charged", and turn again cold with the loss of magic.
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Great submission, Agar! All using this item should watch out... and even more those standing on the other side.
Solid item, good quasi-mythic backstory (a few hundred overthrowing tens of thousands) and the mechanics are nice.
I like the back story. Nice item.
I like this idea. Those arrows can be dangerous.
I missed this one somehow. This oversight has been corrected.
This is the equivalent of "laser painting" a target.
However, if the expert hits one target, should not all the arrows then strike that one target? So it would seem that distributed arrows, in smaller teams, would maximized effect. I am sure this is what they did, it is just something that needs to be pointed out for those that didn't see it.
Now if there was a weaker version that attracted arrows and had them arrive near the target arrow. Thus most would hit the target, some would hit those things next to the target. This would be handy for tagging large forces.
Now, I do have a devious thought. Take a (permanent) arrow and bury it it at a strategic point. Lets say at a great place to be a look out, or on a commanding hill over the suspected battlefield. Let the enemy take that position... and.... thwack.
Ok pretty neat idea. And one that I am sorry I missed. Moon is correct in the most of the arrows would indeed follow that one single arrow set down so most of the arrows would in fact strike almost on the one fired. However if it was a general rea of affect it would work wonders.
Now a devious idea I had in mind. WOuld it also arract the arrows of the enemy archers? Think of the confusion when enemy archers fired their arrows only to watch them turn around in mid flight and strike their own forces. ot onl would it add to the damage but the enemy archers would be less likey to fire again removing them from the fight that much quicker. Devious indeed. I gave this a +.5 for that dea alone.
You do realize how many times it would increase the power of this item? Guiding the arrows of own force one their way, and completely redirecting the arrows of the enemy force coming in the opposite direction are two very different things.
But you have an idea there... with some trickery, or a hidden saboteur in the enemies' ranks, you could indeed misdirect their missiles.
I absolutely love this one.
Aye, its a good one!
Bump for subtle, creative uses of magic that are game-changing.
Interesting... these might see some use in Kingmakers