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"Massster..." this came from a disembodied head floating in front of Raistlin's desk. The archmagus didn't look up immediately, busy scratching writing onto a piece of flattened parchment, the quill in his thin golden fingers practically vibrating with the speed of his notes.

Genessia was a land of fascinating marvels. He'd be sure not to forget a single one.

"Masssster pleasssse," the head tried a second time.

Finally, Raistlin glanced up, impatient at the interruption. "What?"

"Therrrre is an intruderrr in the Grrove."

That. That was interesting, and Raistlin's hand finally stilled. "In the Grove, you say?"

"Yesssss. The defenderrrssss have not been able to kill it..."

Extremely interesting. Something from Genessia, no doubt, nothing else would make sense. The blackrobe dabbed the last of the ink off the feather quill onto a pad and set the instrument aside, and then took the time to carefully close up the inkwell. This could take a while.

And so it was that whatever this stranger was doing, he suddenly wasn't the only living creature in the dark, ancient grove. Raistlin lurked in the deepest shadows, silently watching.

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That wasn't the first joke he'd gotten, but certainly the first he'd played along with!

"In the main lab. This way," BACK TO THE STAIRCASE OF DOOM.

Down, this time, though only one full rotation so that the next room Raistlin opened was directly below the one they'd just been inside. And with enough distance between them that the ceiling in this room was just as massive as the last; way, way up there.

Mostly bare stone in here, a great deal of it scorched already. A few heavy stone tables, stone cabinetry; nothing flammable exposed. The only windows were high up on the outer wall, and barred, which probably didn't help Wade's heebie-jeebies about labs in general.

Oh it's his favorite, the endless fuck you staircase, he's so excited.

He keeps fairly close, once again not far away from the wall the entire way down. And yes he'd assess the room before he just strode inside, the move disguised as a quick equipment check. High, high up windows, thick walls, he could tell that. Not exactly easy to get out of should he somehow need to.

Regardless, after a moment, in he went, popping open the putty box first.

"Alright, so this shit's pretty neat."

The bars were structural, so that the windows weren't weak points in the outer wall of the tower -- in a room that saw its fair share of explosions and fireballs and demons.

"I should suppose so. Is there a purpose to making it a putty?" Surely there had to be, otherwise why bother.

"Well, you can stick it to things, unlike your average bomb. Stick it to walls, stick to machinery, stick it to the back of someone's head, you know. Where ever it sticks. Pretty fucking useful if you ask me. It's also a lot more powerful than your average explosive.

Graaaanted, you have to run a charge to it, so if you do stick it on the back of someone's head, you kind of have to make sure they're not gonna... you know, pull it off or anything." Judging by his tone alone, it sounds like he might have... done this to some poor bastard before.

He's shaping the semtex he brought with him as he spoke, cutting and molding before setting it down and inserting that aforementioned wire into it.

"They use this shit in demolitions, so I'm not going to use that much of it here."

"Perhaps someone wearing a helm," Raistlin saw nothing wrong with blowing someone up head-first, that was for sure. And he definitely didn't have any individuals in mind there, of course not. Certainly not his sister. Why would you even think that.

"How far back shall we stand?"

Edited 2019-07-22 02:16 (UTC)

"Admit it, watching someone's head pop is hilarious." There we go, charge set, and he's making a quick get away to about a distance of twenty feet from the charge.

"It's not that much over there, this should be good. Uh, cover your ears though, this is a little louder than a lightning bolt. You ready?"

"Depending upon the head, I might very well agree," Raistlin, of course, drew up alongside Wade and then, after a moment of hesitation, let go of his staff to cover his ears with both hands. May as well, right?

Wade isn't going to worry about his own ears. No matter what damage might occur, it's nothing that's going to be permanent here. As soon as he's sure that Raistlin has his covered, it's only a matter of pressing a button.

BLAM.

Covered ears or not, that's still going to be incredibly loud, the resounding shock wave from the explosion sending a sharp, powerful vibration through the stone. There's definitely going to be a dent in that stone, smoke and dust slowly clearing out to reveal the small, smoldering crater left behind.

Raistlin had expected the shockwave, but not the strength of it. With his hands on his head instead of on the staff standing upright beside him, he lost his balance and pitched off-kilter, the blast of smoke and dust immediately seizing up his lungs to boot.

Casually, without really even looking at the mage, Wade's hand snapped out to snag him, careful to ensure that he didn't manage to make things worse. He knew how skinny his new friend was after all.

"Alright, so next time! I'll bring ear plugs."

Very skinny! And currently hacking up a lung, barely managing enough inhale in between fits to not end up passing out.

He didn't bitch at being snagged, at least. Not that he could have. One hand actually latched onto Wade's arm, grip much harder than one might expect from the sickly mage.

And Wade... said nothing. Only glanced at him for a moment as he coughed. Commentary to himself, he'd keep hold on Raistlin as the mage gripped him back, waiting and listening, but little else.

Good. Other hand snatching up a pouch of foul-smelling herbs from inside his robes, Raist held it to his face and did his damndest to try to breathe through it.

Didn't stop Raistlin from looking absolutely murderous, fully expecting a shitty comment, or a patronizing comment, and barring that, at least angry that he'd inhaled smoke like a moron.

A few long moments went by, and his chest slowly unclenched as each abortive inhale through the pouch started to work its charm on his lungs.

More moments.

Eventually, Raistlin let go of Wade's arm in favor of grabbing onto his staff again, still wheezing through the pouch. The look he was giving Wade was just daring him to say shit.

He'd continue to just stand there, only letting go when Raistlin did. In fact, as soon as he was sure that the mage was going to be able to fully keep himself standing... He'd be over there to check out the crater.

You know, like nothing here was weird or uncomfortable or anything.

"Yeah this shit kicks up a real mess, doesn't it? I'll probably have to find a further place back to stand if we ever want a part two." Because it is his fault, he did tell Raistlin to stand that close. "Sorry about that, buddy."

Airway finally clear enough to put the pouch away, Raistlin dabbed the blood from his lips onto a folded piece of cloth and then returned it to its secret pocket inside his robes, too. May as well make use of Wade's apparent distraction, right? Right.

The lack of shittyness, though, was noted.

"...I underestimated your 'putty'." That's as close to a 'not your fault' as you're gonna get, Wade, delivered in the usual raspy whisper he spoke in... maybe a little raspier at the moment.

Raistlin might never actually know for sure if Wade saw that blood. He'd certainly not act like it, scuffing around a few pieces of broken stone.

"Well, we're not going to underestimate the frag grenade." Fine then, it's a 'we' thing now! "This shit's not as strong as the C4 putty, but it is messier. You still wanna blow this one up or are we gonna take a rain check?"

Leaning heavily against his staff with both hands gripping it, Raistlin looked like a stiff wind could topple him over. But it was nothing he wasn't used to.

Something he was starting to suspect Wade actually understood, to at least some degree. The man seemed hale and hearty enough, but.

"I wish to see it." Gonna go ahead with the grenade, then!

"Sweet, alright. So this one actually works on a timer, so I have to pull the pin and throw it." He gestured towards the door.

"Probably gonna want to stand over there, this shoots shit fucking everywhere." Frag grenade and all.

He wouldn't be making a move until Raistlin was far enough away.

"I will create a barrier with a spell," Raistlin stayed put, because he was nothing if not confident in his magic!

"A moment of warning is all I will need." Shit was already primed, just in case.

"Alright, well-" Clink. The pin had been pulled.

"Five seconds it is." Warning out there! His arm cocked back and the grenade was hurled towards a wall, Wade actually taking care to book it back towards the mage the second the explosive left his hand.

One, two, three, four, fi--

A sharp, single gesture from Raistlin was all it took for a barrier of pure energy to shoot up from the floor in between the two of them and the grenade. Strong enough to stop most bullets; Raist wasn't taking chances this time.

Excellent timing. The ensuing explosion wasn't nearly as sharp as the last one was, but it was still called a frag grenade for a reason. Shrapnel everywhere, embedded in the stone all around it, the crater wider, but shallower than the C4 had been.

"Oh man, is there anything you can't do?" With a nod towards the shields here. Usually mutants only specialized in one super power.

Not like... all of them.

The shimmering barrier looked no thicker than a silk veil, but the shrapnel that struck it stuck and stayed there, nothing managing to get more than a few millimeters through. It didn't even ripple at all the force it had just absorbed, and it stayed up until Raistlin reversed the gesture of his hand, barrier dissipating and shrapnel raining to the floor in a neat line.

"Breathe freely?"

Oh my god was that a joke.

There's a chuckle, Wade kicking around the bits of shrapnel that had fallen when the shield dissipated.

"Hey man, breathing's over rated.

But how'd you like those fireworks, huh? Pretty cool, right? That C4 can take down buildings if you use enough of it.

Frag grenades can turn a dude into steak chutney. It's fuckin' great."

Raistlin also picked around the shrapnel, although he stepped over the line his barrier had made in favor of examining the blast pattern.

"I can see the advantage, particularly against multiple targets."

Of course Raistlin could AoE with the best bombs but that was magic. Not everyone had magic, the poor bastards.

"These smaller pieces in particular would find the gaps in armor or pierce through chainmail, I should think. The eye slits of helmets..."