Inferno Shepherd’s Sling

Aura Strong evocation; CL 11th
Slot —; Price 54,000 gp; Weight 2 lbs.

DESCRIPTION

This weathered leather sling bears braided cords of blackened ramhide threaded through with tiny copper beads that remain perpetually warm to the touch. The firing pouch is reinforced with crimson dragonhide, and faint ash stains seem permanently embedded within its seams no matter how thoroughly it is cleaned. When swung, the sling emits a low whistling hum reminiscent of distant furnace winds, and sparks occasionally trail from the projectile even before release.

Any mundane bullet or stone loaded into the Inferno Shepherd’s Sling becomes infused with volatile elemental force. Ammunition fired from the sling is treated as magical for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Upon striking a target or solid surface, the projectile detonates in a roaring burst of flame identical to the effects of a fireball spell centered upon the point of impact.

The explosion deals 6d6 points of fire damage in a 20-foot-radius spread (Reflex DC 14 half). The projectile itself deals its normal sling damage in addition to the explosive effect. Creatures directly struck by the sling bullet suffer a –2 circumstance penalty on their Reflex save against the resulting explosion due to proximity to the blast center.

The sling may produce up to three explosive shots per day. Additional ammunition fired from the sling beyond this limit functions as ordinary magical sling ammunition without explosive properties. If the wielder possesses the sneak attack class feature, any creature damaged by a sneak attack delivered through the sling catches fire for 1d6 points of fire damage on the following round unless extinguished as a full-round action.

Once per day, the wielder may intentionally overcharge a single shot. Doing so increases the explosive effect to 10d6 fire damage and enlarges the radius to 30 feet, though the wielder must immediately succeed on a DC 16 Fortitude save or become deafened for 1d4 rounds from the concussive detonation.

LORE

Among caravan guards, marsh wardens, and goblin-hunters of the southern river territories, tales persist of solitary figures standing against overwhelming numbers armed with nothing more than a sling and impossible nerve. The Inferno Shepherd’s Sling is said to descend from those desperate traditions - not the weapons of conquering armies, but tools of survival wielded by individuals too poor to afford enchanted bows and too stubborn to flee. In villages where black powder was scarce and proper siege engines unimaginable luxuries, these slings became instruments of terrifying equalization.

The oldest surviving accounts describe a wandering shepherd-priest named Talveth Marr, who defended isolated hill communities during the Ashen Raids nearly two centuries ago. According to fragmented monastery records, Marr wandered from settlement to settlement carrying little beyond a wool cloak, a satchel of polished stones, and a sling that “cast the wrath of the heavens from a shepherd’s hand.” Witnesses described entire shield formations scattering after the first fiery detonation among their ranks. Whether Talveth truly created the first of these weapons or merely wielded one remains uncertain, though many modern examples still bear tiny, embossed shepherd hooks hidden within their leatherwork.

Curiously, the sling has earned an uneasy reputation among professional soldiers. Veterans often describe its explosions as emotionally unsettling in ways difficult to articulate. Arrows and swords possess a certain expected brutality, but the sight of a simple stone erupting into a battlefield-consuming inferno seems to violate some ancient instinct regarding what humble things ought to be capable of accomplishing. Military journals from several nations refer to such weapons as “peasant catastrophes” - inexpensive-looking instruments whose destructive capacity arrives psychologically unannounced.

CONSTRUCTION

Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, fireball, creator must possess at least 5 ranks in Craft (leatherworking); Cost 27,000 gp, 2,160 XP, one flask of ash collected from the aftermath of a structure destroyed by magical fire.

Kelwyn’s Notes

There exists a peculiar horror in witnessing innocence become indistinguishable from devastation. One expects catastrophe to arrive clothed in iron, roaring from dragon throats, or descending beneath banners soaked in imperial arrogance. One does not expect annihilation to emerge from a shepherd’s tool. That, I suspect, is what lingers longest within the mind after observing this device employed in earnest - the terrible realization that civilization’s most fragile objects may, under the proper hand, become mechanisms of profound ruin.

I once observed a marsh-born youth defend an entire ferry crossing with one such sling while raiders attempted passage beneath heavy fog. The explosions themselves were dreadful enough, certainly, but what unsettled me most was the silence between them. A sling requires patience. Rhythm. Intimacy. One must load each stone by hand. There is no elegant detachment to the process. The wielder feels every shot leave their fingers personally, almost lovingly, before the world erupts into flame. The weapon does not encourage bloodlust so much as grim acceptance.

And yet, despite all of this, I cannot wholly condemn it. Humanity has forever crafted miracles from desperation. The sling was among the first weapons by which the weak defied the strong, and perhaps there is something tragically inevitable about its eventual evolution into this. A reminder, perhaps, that survival itself is often merely destruction wearing the mask of necessity.