Chapter 33: Divine surgery and a taste of trauma
The forge bursts with a bellow of heat.
Sparks leap from anvils, tools clank and clatter, boiling oils hisses in steaming trays.
In the center of the chaos, Vuvi looms over Pip's frame as he lays on a thick, rune-encrusted workbench.
His limbs completely disassembled and his pelvis neatly separated and catalogued on a nearby table while Vuvi works on his torso, her head halfway into his chest as she leans into his open backplate.
She fiddles with his coolant matrix while his core crystal hums quietly on a nearby bench, safely held in a magical containment lattice.
Vuvi pokes her head out of his torso, goggles down, sleeves rolled up, arms deep in his glowing internals.
"Size 3 crystal camp!" she barks.
One of the orcs scrambles through a draw before running over and handing her a strange, arcane vice.
"Wipe!" she snaps.
Penelo hops forward, dabbing Vuvi's forehead with a sweat-stained rag, her face pale and hands trembling. "I'm wiping! I'm wiping!"
In the back of the room, Veena sits calmly at a small table, sipping a cup of tea while she scratches quill to parchment, drawing up a non-disclosure agreement that would prevent the blacksmiths from revealing anything regarding Pip's construction, or face terrible consequences.