Metalwork

You can hear the sounds of Naia being ‘handled’ as you head out the door. You chuckle at the insatiable raptor girl, and make your way to the workshop. When you arrive, you find all four girls working frantically. Helja beckons you over. “Greg! No time for playing around today! We just found out that the Forgefather himself wants to look at our plans and progress. Help Hayley set up, we’re going to start building my magical ballista today.”

You nod, and head over to where the redhead is laying out long strips of metal, while Marin hefts a large crystal into place inside a seemingly flimsy frame. Hayley grins at you. “Hey sexy man. We need these metal strips to bind the crystal to the frame. Can your power do that?”

You nod. “Is there anything special I need to know?”

She shakes her head. “No, just don’t break the crystal, they’re hard to make.”

You rub your hands together, and lay them on a strip. Exerting your power, you’re able to **** the metal to wrap the crystal tightly onto the frame, and after a moment, the seam disappears, locking it in place. Marin laughs. “That just feels like cheating. You’re a walking forge, Greg.”

You hear a sultry voice from behind you. “Because he’s hot and he can shape metal. Very funny, Marin.”

You jump in surprise, and Sanni laughs as she slithers up beside you. Smiling, she rests a hand on your arm. “My apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you, Greg. I felt you using your powers, and I wanted to see if the metal is changed in more than physical ways.”

Hayley looks at the lamia questioningly. “What do you mean?”

Sanni leans over the transformed metal as she explains. “Sometimes it’s harder to enchant metal if certain kinds of magic are used on it beforehand. That doesn’t seem to be the case here though.”

She looks back to you. “How fine is your control? Could you engrave the metal as well?”

You shrug. “I’ve never tried. It’s all pretty new to me.”

Sanni nods. “Just a moment, I’ll get a sample.”

As she heads into her office, Marin chuckles. “Oh, she’s REALLY interested in you now, Greg. If you can carve the runes for her, she might jump you right now.”

Sanni rolls her eyes as she comes back. “I most certainly would not!”

She leans in closer and smiles. “I’d wait until we’re alone…”

You blink, surprised. All three girls laugh, and Sanni hands you a block of metal and a sheet of paper with some arcane runes on it. “I’d like to see if you can recreate these runes on this block, to start.”

You nod, and concentrate. It takes some time, and a bit of a strain, but soon you have it done. Sanni nods thoughtfully. “So it’s a little bit faster than doing it by hand, but I see you’re straining to do it.”

You wipe some sweat off your forehead. “I imagine it’ll get easier with practice.”

She smiles. “Most likely. One more thing…can you change the blocks shape without distorting the runes? If you can, we may be able to do some interesting things.”

Hayley giggles, and Sanni rolls her eyes. Marin laughs. “Phrasing is important around us, you know that!”

Chuckling at the byplay, you concentrate, and the metal flows, almost like liquid. With some effort, you’re able to keep the runes intact as you change the block into a disc. Sanni smiles, taking it from you when you’re done. You can see excitement in her green eyes as she speaks. “This is wonderful! I need to go talk to Helja about this. I’ll leave you three to get back to it for now.”

As she slithers off, Marin elbows you playfully, nearly knocking you over. “She’s SO into you right now!”

You hear Sanni’s voice as she closes the door. “I can still hear you, Marin!”