Manby’s Rescue Mortar

Origin
As an inventor, George William Manby felt the need to create when a situation called for action. As witness to the many passengers lost when HMS Snipe grounded and sank so close to shore, Manby started to develop a rescue system. A mortar modified to fire a roped weight would lash an ailing ship to the coastline. Nearly 1000 people were saved in his lifetime with the device. Manby continued developing new safety innovations – the first portable fire extinguisher, a porotype unsinkable ship and advocation for a national fire brigade.

Effects
One shot will send out a lengthy coil of rope. Midair, the threads will split apart and grow to tremendous amounts, each becoming an individual braid. They will cover and surround anything critically broken in danger of collapsing, supporting it for repairs or evacuation. Each strand contorts itself to fill the roles of connective webbing, anchoring lines, even girthy blocks depending on the damage. Whenever the wrapped structure is actively shifting, such as an earthquake splintered church or sinking ship, movement will cause each braid to constrict. Intense torsional shear and pressure will cause the ensorcelled to crumble apart.

Handling
One intrepid Warehouse 12 technician, Horace Naimath, tried adapting it for artillery and field use. The idea was loading with cannon fodder, even pure electrical or heat energy, could be used to siege incumbents and reach the artifact stashes of some notorious recluses. It backfired. As the artifact was created under the rigors of saving lives, it protested the idea of harming some for material gains. So the ropes instead choked out Naimath and crushed its own barrel to ensure no misuse would be possible.