About an hour after meeting the two brothers, I found myself back at Mr. Black Market Dealer's place.

"I could only get four of the things you requested." Mr. BMD said and handed me the mortar and pestle, a large sack of charcoal, and two smaller sacks filled with the brimstone and saltpeter.

I paid the man and then left.

As soon as I got back to my room I began. I had never made gunpowder before and only knew a rough estimate of what went in it so I began to experiment.

Nothing I did worked. I got some sparks and crackling but never the explosive flash that I was trying to emulate. Thankfully, what I had planned did not require perfect gunpowder. I was not planning on blowing anything up so I just needed noise and sparks.

By the time it was time for me to leave I had made enough faux gunpowder to fill a medium-sized sack. I then filled some water flasks with oil and grabbed a few rags before finally grabbing my bow and sword.

I already had a spot picked out to set my trap. It was in one of the more run-down sections of Eto and only the occasional drifter or evildoer strayed down the road. I also knew that some soldiers had come down this street once or twice the night before and hoped they would again.

I worked quickly. I put down a heavy dusting of my black powder in a rectangle that stretched across the street. I then took out my oil and soaked the perimeter of the rectangle, hoping it would ignite the powder. I also soaked some rags with the oil and placed them over the oil border and gunpowder in hopes it might also help light the powder. I then made a trail that led behind one of the run-down buildings.

Upon my hiding place on the roof of the building, I waited. The night was quieter than it was when I had first arrived but I could still hear the occasional laughter, yelling, animal, scream, etc…

I saw the torches of the patrol of soldiers coming my way. I immediately pulled out two candles and lit them. It only took a few minutes for them to arrive and soon they were almost on top of my trap.

"Do you smell somthin'?" One soldier said and stopped right on the edge of the trap.

"Oil maybe?" The other said.

The soldiers took another few steps forward.

I was then that I dropped my candle onto a pool of oil at the end of the oil trail that led to the trap. The oil immediately lit and the flame spread quickly down the trail until it reached the trap.

A pitifully weak rectangle of fire soon surrounded the soldiers that would only scare a child or prevent a baby from crawling over it.

"What!" said one soldier.

They both drew their swords and pulled shields off of their backs.

"Is this some sort of joke?" The second soldier said when he saw the fire.

Yes, it is. I thought to myself. It's just not working the way it was supposed to.

"Come out and we will spare you." The first soldier said, looking towards the trail of fire.

I readied an arrow. Instead of aiming at the soldiers I aimed at the powder near their feet as the arrow I was aiming had a small rag soaked in oil on its tip. I lit the arrow, aimed and then fired.

The arrow struck the powder and soon I heard crackling and saw flashes coming from the soldiers' feet. It only lasted for an instant. Only the powder near where the arrow had hit had gone off.

I heard what sounded like laughter next to me. I looked and saw that Kitten had appeared next to me.

"Magic!" I heard one soldier yell from a place on the opposite side of the road where they had taken cover.

"I do not think so." I barely heard the other soldier say. "Probably some sort of trick."

I didn't wait to see what the soldiers would do next and grabbed the bag that contained the last of my gunpowder. I then lit the top of the partially oil-soaked bag on fire and tossed it at the soldiers.

The bag hit the closer of the two soldiers. Immediately the same popping and flashes as earlier happened as the powder that burst from the bag caught on fire. The soldier began screaming as sparks and burning powder entered his armor.

"Better?" I said, turning to Kitten.

Kitten yawned.

I then took advantage of the distraction I had given to the soldiers and returned to the inn.

The next day I took a more measured approach to my gun powder. I bought some measuring equipment. I then spent the rest of the day refining my mixture of gunpowder. I still had not quite gotten my recipe to the point that it exploded the way I knew it should, but it ignited much more easily.

My tests later that night were much more successful. I had forgone the oil perimeter and just fired straight into the powder. The result was still not what I had hoped for, but I didn't get laughed at by Kitten again.

The next day I was so close to the gunpowder that I was aiming for that I even bought several small jars. I had then packed the jars full of gunpowder hoping I could use them as bombs. I had even attempted to make fuses but didn't have time to do much about that so used strips of rags instead.

I then made some Molotov cocktails with some extra jars. I had plenty of lamp oil left so I figured it was the best use for it.

For the remaining time until I would go on my night patrol, I continued to experiment with making fuses. I wouldn't get the results until the next day because I often soaked the cord I was using in water and oil, but I hoped to find which ways made the fuse burn quickly or slowly.

Tonight when I left I stayed on the rooftops as much as possible. The houses and other buildings were close enough together that, other than when I needed to cross a street, I could easily jump the gaps between them.

I had also decided that it would not be good to stay too close to the inn I was staying at. All it would take was one observant person and the next thing I would know some soldiers would begin searching the area around my inn.