Things that go boom

"Come on, much as you like to laze about all day, we do have things to do you know." Remi chided playfully, though they both knew full-well it had been his idea to stay in bed for most of the day and night...and the next day as well. As much fun as sleeping in a rapidly growing pile of blankets with a baby and a dragon and a guildmaster was, at some point the two men did have to face reality. And the reality was that there was a good chance they were both going to die soon if they did not begin to plan their assault. "So explain this to me again? It is a rag shoved in a bottle...lit on fire? And thrown?" Remi asked, holding the door open so that Ronin and Aoife could make their way into his shop. Яemi I'm holding on to all the pieces of my heart's debris, until it's time I'll pull it together and fix myself eventually & know it's mine

what. "Hey, give me a break. I painted a house the other day, you know." Ronin's protests would fall on deaf ears, he knew, though the guildmaster was looking glad to be out and about, in fact. He still seemed not long out of bed, it was true, though sleep wasn't the easiest thing to come back, but there was a little less... heaviness about him than before. Aoife was cuddled against his shoulder, starlight eyes blinking around at everything as they stepped into the shop, and Sugar soared in not long behind them to find a beam to perch upon. "That's right, yes." He nodded. "They aren't a military thing, I assure you - I saw them more in particularly riotous tavern brawls than anywhere else. The bottle needs to be filled with a potent alcohol, and obviously it needs to be glass. Make sure one end of the rag is fully submerged in the alcohol. That way, when you throw it and it shatters, kaboom! Fire. Lots of it. I feel Edrei would like this."

Remi gave his friend a skeptical look as they made their way into the back of his shop. "This sounds horrifically barbaric, I will have you know." He began, putting on his best affectatious attitude of being offended. "I do understand the general idea ... but surely we can improve upon it? What if..." Getting out his sketch book, Remi began making quick and sweeping lines on the page with a stick of charcoal. He indeed draw something which was glass, but it was round instead of bottle shaped. "Easier to throw." He murmured as he went. Instead of a clothe, he drew a wick, and instead of merely cramming it in, he put a small stopper at the top. 'What do you think??" He asked, sliding the pad over. "My thinking was that it would be easier to light and a cotton wick would better soak up the alcohol I think. The shape would be easier to aim as well. Although...The creature, did it have hair? I assume part of the point of the alcohol is to coat whatever it is thrown at and light that on fire?" Яemi I'm holding on to all the pieces of my heart's debris, until it's time I'll pull it together and fix myself eventually & know it's mine

what. "Horrifically barbaric, says the man who regularly turns into a lion." Ronin grinned and rolled his eyes, following Remi into the back room and sinking down into one of the chairs to watch as the alchemist began to sketch. He nuzzled his cheek absently against Aoife as he watched the design come to life, his blue eyes widening a fraction as he noted down the improvements. "That seems good, yes. Though I'd be worried, potentially, that the thing might catch before you get a chance to throw it. And we'd want to make sure the wick doesn't burn out easily, or burn too slowly." He nodded as Remi spoke of the creature. "It did, if you can call it hair. And you're right, but I'm trying to account for the members of the group that might not be as lucky or coordinated too. Whatever happens, these will make it easier to pen the creature in and to lure it out from the shadow of the Spire - and keep it there."

"How dare you. That is an impressive feat of magic and I will not hear otherwise." Remi snorted back in response. Nodding his head as Ronin spoke, Remi bit the inside of his lip thoughtfully as he tried to mentally diagnose other things which might be wrong with this design. "Perhaps if I soak the wicks in the alcohol first so that they are easy to light, but make them long? Or if I leave a cylinder shape at the top of the bottle, we could wind the wick around it to determine the fuse length even in the midst of battle. After all, you wouldn't want it to be too long so that it just fizzles out when thrown either." Humming under his breath, Remi tapped his chin with his stick of charcoal leaving smudges amidst the hair grown there. "Speaking of...I can move a good deal of earth. I wondered if we might literally try and force it into a pit so that we can direct our attacks, and limit its range of motion?" Яemi I'm holding on to all the pieces of my heart's debris, until it's time I'll pull it together and fix myself eventually & know it's mine

what. "Then don't listen, because I'm not going to stop saying it," Ronin quipped to his friend, thoroughly relaxed in the chair cuddling his daughter while they discussed the finer points of explosives. "Mm, too long a wick or too short and we're up shit creek all over again... I suppose, though, as long as there's no chance that it will go out when thrown, the impact of the glass shattering might be enough to spread the fire. And what if we were able to throw other things, too? flaming torches, perhaps, to make sure the alcohol catches where the wick does go out?" He shrugged his shoulders, smirking as he noticed the streaks of charcoal but saying nothing. "You could always make those fireworks again, that you gave me for my capture the flag training. They're still explosive, no? Just replace the bright colours with fire."

This was why the pair should have worked together long before they actually had, back in Northaven. Remi could be as creative and clever as he liked, but without someone like Ronin to offer practical knowledge, it was all a bit for naught. "So what I think I hear you saying...is your bar-created design is still best?" The mention of the fireworks made Remi smile fondly. "That is true, I could. Although I had more raw ingredients then." Looking at his fingers, Remi wondered ... would his creation magic and his earth magic allow him to create the potassium nitrate he needed? Tapping his fingers, Remi rose and moved to one of his work benches. Focusing before him, slowly a small pile of yellowish dust began to appear. With a wry grin, he glanced over his shoulder proudly at Ronin, though the former captain of training probably wouldn't realize what an accomplishment this small act was. "Yes. I can definitely do that." And that was how Remi and Ronin had gone from making Molotov cocktails to grenades. Яemi I'm holding on to all the pieces of my heart's debris, until it's time I'll pull it together and fix myself eventually & know it's mine