[WARNING: these are some frightening ideas, so the more delicate had best steer for... less disturbing waters.]
These are different ideas of assaults using cobha. Most of them came to me in one string, and nearly all the rest, I think, came to me later when I was typing them in.
Critique, I pray you, as always!
A man looses an arrow on someone from above, and the victim is pinned to the ground by a hand on his throat. This would be strange if the man is seen to be shot by the archer, but when they come to his body the only wound is his throat crushed by fingers.
Archers firing arrows into an enemy army, and after they strike they rise as birds, returning to the archers to be fired again as arrows: so there is a continuous volley of arrows in one direction, and a continuous flock of birds flying back through the arrows the other direction.
Many birds skimming low and swiftly over the heads of an enemy army; whenever they see a vulnerable place they dip and strike down the enemy as an arrow, then rise as a bird again and continue with the rest.
A man with a bird of prey on his glove. The bird rises, and plunges, and becomes an arrow as it strikes its target, then rises into the clouds again as a bird.
Similar to the first idea, a man fires an arrow into an army: the first man is thrown aside by a hand, the arm of another is struck by a head, another is beheaded by a kick in the throat, another is stabbed through the face by a hand, another is shouldered aside, another kicked aside, and a man deep in the army is pierced by an arrow.
A man shoots an arrow at an enemy, another man tries to step in the way of the arrow, but is thrown aside by a hand, and the arrow reaches its goal.
An army with their shields above their heads to guard against a rain of arrows, find their shields ripped away by powerful hands, and they fall, pierced by the arrows.
A man has a gun raised, but his victim (a man without hands?) embraces his arm and kicks him in the chest. Or he jumps, and there is no gun. But when the kick lands, the man he kicks staggers, with a sword through his chest. The man who kicks him is gone, but when the dead man falls he reappears with his foot on the dead man’s chest. The sword wound could either remain, or the dead man is unwounded, or he has died from a heart attack.
A man grasps hands with another man, and the one becomes a sword in the other man’s hand.
A volley of arrows becomes a flock of birds over the enemy army, then falls like a meteor shower, each perfectly aimed instead of falling randomly.
An entire volley of arrows is shot by the archers at the back of an army, every arrow directed at the same point in the sky. When they converge they become a single bird, which flies forward over the army, and rest of the archers fire into it as it passes over them, so that it grows larger, until it is gigantic (if the army is spread wide it would fly to and fro rather than forward). The gigantic bird flies high over the enemy army, until it stoops on a champion or captain, and after tearing him, it explodes outward in arrows destroying all enemies in a wide circle around it. I believe these arrows do not become many separate birds, but are gathered by the archers after the battle.
A man hurls a stone and it strikes as an arrow. A man hurls a shoe, and it strikes as a knife.
A flock of birds or bats fly into a small, stoneware vase. A man points the mouth of the vase and says a sign, and an arrow flies out silently, and whistles through the air to the target, returning into the vase as a small bird or bat.
A man opens his mouth and an arrow or a javelin flies out.
A man thrusts a sword towards a man at a distance, and the man falls with a replica of the sword driven through him, and the man who thrust the sword still has it in his hand.
A man who goes always with his eyelids closed. When an enemy approaches him, he lifts an eyelid, and out of an empty eye hole a sword blade darts out like a tongue, piercing the enemy, then the blade withdraws behind the closed eye again. Perhaps the blade turns flat, and the eyelids pinch on it, wiping the blood from it as it is drawn in, and the blood runs down from the eye like tears.
A man stretches out his hands in front of him, a javelin flies from within each sleeve, and the sleeves drop, empty. A smaller javelin flies from under his hood, and his hood flies back: his head is vanished. Then the largest javelin shoots out through his clothes at his chest, and his empty clothes are jerked forward, and fall along the ground.
A man stamps with his foot, and his clothes fall empty on or around a spear, driven into the ground through the sole of his shoe.
A man points a wand, or thrusts an open hand, and his enemy feels a pressure on his chest, and a blade breaks out behind him, and then withdraws. There is no wound in front, only in his back. A man lays a finger on his enemy’s face, or plants his hand on his chest, and an arrow shoots out behind his head or back, or a blade breaks out behind his head or back. Perhaps he falls on his face or side, and the blade withdraws slowly into him. Or a flame bursts out, and in front he seems untouched, but he is burned out inside, and his back, or the back of his head, is gone.
A man rolls his coat together and whips his foe once, and when the coat is taken away there is a knife thrust into his foe.
A man is shot at by an arrow, but he raises his hand, and clutches the arrow, but in his hand it is a bird of prey fiercely struggling. He crushes its throat, and lets it fall, and it hits the ground as a broken arrow.
A man makes thick smoke in some way (by throwing an arrow into a fire?), and arrows fly from within the smoke. Smoke pours from a broken pipe, and soldiers with advanced equipment: camouflage and guns, are killed by arrows flying from the smoke. The sky above an army becomes overcast, and arrows begin dropping from the clouds.
A man opens his mouth and smoke pours out. A man shoots an arrow at him, and it vanishes into the smoke. A ditch of combustibles is lighted and an arrow is cast into the flame: a curtain of smoke is raised from the ditch, and arrows shot into it vanish in it.
An archer draws a single arrow from his quiver, and when he looses it, it divides into many arrows which strike multiple targets with accuracy.
Quote:
These two ideas I forgot about when typing up the post:
A band of men enter a fog. There is silence, but when the fog lifts they all lie dead, pierced by arrows.
A man becomes a cloud of arrows shooting outwards, shredding his clothes from the inside.
These are some more ideas that came to me afterwards:
A flight of arrows is shot into the water, and becomes a shoal of fish swimming fast. When porpoises or seals come to eat them they transform into a cloud of arrows underwater, piercing the attacker, and becoming fish again. They rise from the water as a flock of birds, and fly over a ship, becoming arrows and raining down.
A man tries to escape his foes by swimming or diving. Arrows are shot into the water next to the bank, becoming small fish. The fish hunt the man, charge him, and pierce him as arrows. When his body floats, pierced by arrows, the arrows become carrion birds and fly back to the army.
A man wearing a brown cloak with a peaked hood, whose voice is the sounds of a lion, is chasing a man in a metal corridor. The fleeing man closes blast doors in front of the pursuer. The lion man looses an arrow, which pierces the blast doors, and protrudes on the other side.
A man looses an empty bow at his foe, and the victim flies into the wall as an arrow.
At a touch, or thrust towards, of a hand or wand, a man is destroyed by being made into a flock of birds.
At a touch, or thrust towards, of a hand or wand, a blade shoots out of a man’s back and through the chair or post his back is against.
Two sword blades come out exactly opposite each other from within a person’s body. Two knife blades come out opposite each other from within a person’s limb, head, hand, or foot.
What do you think of these ideas? What are your favorite ideas? Do you have any similar ideas? Have you seen similar ideas anywhere? Have you seen similar ideas in other authors stories?
Does anything confuse you? Do you have any questions? Do you have any suggestions?
Critique, I pray you!
I made a Pinterest board for pictures that would be inspiration for shape shifters, so here is a link to it:
http://www.pinterest.com/tsahraf/the-shapeshifters/Tell me what you think of the board here, or you can comment on the pictures on the board itself.
I have a parallel thread to this in the sub-forum for my Otherworld, here:
http://www.holyworlds.org/fantasy/viewtopic.php?f=108&t=8244
kidding! Well, I really liked the one where the two guys held hands and the one turned into a sword. That was a really cool visual in my brain. I liked the bird and arrow stuff, too... 
it was all pretty cool, actually. A little graphic, disturbing, and gross, but really cool.
How can I not die over that?
That was long and drawn out, but you asked, so...XD What did you see?
*shudders* that's just... 
I'm imagining the man standing in an elaborately decorated, very plush hall; all palefaced like he's never been outside, with a black hood. A man enters, and all of a sudden these swords come out of the creepy guy's eyeless face and stab him, then they retract, blood running down his face like tears. ...EW!!!
thanks!
no, there's no more. I didn't steal the idea to make a story around it, I saw the idea, know that I'm terrible at summarizing, so posted what I saw as a story. That is all. 
