The Ruins of Vargin

[Venico]

Valk looked at the crazy man in disbelief and just shook his head.

[shetef]

Adrias raised an eyebrow at the scholar but remained silent under his cover.

[George Holland]

Hastein shrugged. He'd seem similar things work before, the last time one of the houses went to war with another. He grabbed his axe and went to one of the younger looking trees in the Oasis. He relieved it of a few branches and brought them to Rashidi.

"Will this do? I don't want to remove too much of the tree."

[Treize Dreizehn]

"Not that the plans put forth so far are bad, but given the open area here, it seems prudent to let them arrive and camp before we decide to take them," Shar pointed north towards the fig tree, "That tree is the most likely candidate for their encampment, so we just need to leave a clear path between the southwest corner of the Oasis, and that tree,"

"Valk and Hastein, I wager you could hide in that tree once they approach, I would do well to to hide in the clump of trees to the west. Rashidi... I believe, if you're up to it, it would be a good idea for you to ride out with Hasan, and draw their attention, it won't do us much good for you to get involved in the fighting and Hasan can protect you even in his weakened state. And Dorian, if you were to secrete yourself among one of the trees to the east..." Shar stopped for a moment and looked back at the Scholar.

"Rash, if this incendiary device you describe works, it would be a great signal for us all to move. Hasan and yourself will ride in, and as they begin to move in your direction Valk and Hastein can move about their confused ranks, whilst I shoot them down with my bow, and if they flee east, the only option left to them... away from the assassins, archers, warriors and riders, they'll land in the capable hands of our mage of death..."

[Raxion]

Rashidi nodded at Shar, then walked over to Hastein and looked at the wood, smiling. "Alright, now this needs to burned to turn it to charcoal. If Dorian wants to burn it, remember not to burn too much- otherwise it'll just be ashes."

He walked back to his concoction and mixed it with the pyrite dust until it was turning dark grey. "This is almost finished, all I would need to do after adding the charcoal is light it and throw it." He stared at the bad-smelling half-finished black powder in his hands with a big grin and said "I love chemistry!"

[Charles Cerebella]

"Shar's plan sounds good given there isn't quite enough cover here to hide us and the animals." Looking towards Rashidi, Hasan just said "As long as you don't blow us up in the process I'll be interested to see what that can do."

[Abacathea]

Dorian look at Rashidi, until now young Dorian had been quiet the last leg or two of the journey, his main purpose was recharging for the journey ahead. He would be delighted to let loose a little. The hood still veiling the face it wouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to work out there was a deep happy grin showing beneath the hood.

"But of course Rashidi, I would be delighted to" Said Dorian as he stepped a few paces away from the group and found the nearest solid tree he could. "Hmmm, this should do" he said, pointing a finger at the tree. For a moment, nothing happened bar a weak growl of thunder in the sky, seconds later the thunder bellowed across the air and a bolt of lightning burst forth from Dorian's fingertip, his cape blowing backwards sand spitting fiercely into the air.

Moments later, the tree lay on the ground, split clean from it's trunk and glowly brightly as it burned slowly from the inside out.

"Will this do Rashidi? The slow burn should prevent the ashification"

[Raxion]

Rashidi stared, frozen still, eyes wide open at the now fallen tree, his mouth agape. Seconds passed, his mind empty of thought. The thunder itself was a bit of a spectacle, although he'd witnessed similar magic or even explosions he made in the past. But what had shocked him was how quick the action was done, because for a brief second Rashidi believed that he died. More time went by, before he snapped himself back to reality.

"Y-yes...Dorian, yes, that would work..." The scholar uttered, his heart beat starting to slow down. He realized his manners and muttered a not-sincere sounding "Thank you", then walked over to the charcoal being created. He dropped the wood that Hastein gave him onto the burning tree, to guarantee the right shape. He then walked over to the camels and picked up the manure left as a gift on the desert floor, and he mixed it again with grass and weeds in the lake, before placing his original pile of saltpeter along with the new batch of manure onto the charcoal.

He washed his hands and sat down on a rock, giddily moving side to side until it seemed as if the charcoal was done. Knowing that washing the black powder would make it unusable, he instead used his scarf to take out the fire. Patting it down over and over, the smoke from the fires was the only sign of flames that remained- and what was left was pure black powder- 20 pounds worth. He waited for it to cool down before picking it all up and putting it in the satchel originally used to carry the fool's gold artifacts- the black powder almost filling it.

"Now that's done, all I would need to do is light it and throw it..." suddenly his face lit up and he had a bright idea. He took out some red jewels and broke them into dust on the rock, and mixed the dust with the black powder. "Before, the explosion would be some fire and lots of black smoke. However, with the addition of this dye, now the explosive will make a bigger, larger, red color. This will not only shock the bandits, making them think the explosion is bigger than it actually is, but it is also easier for you all to see so that you know when the attack starts."

"Of course," he thought to himself "Although that's all true, I just wanted to make fireworks. Ones that hurt people."