Society Campus Metalworking Workshop

Bolten leaves shortly after Shandara, silently proud about his design being accepted and yet... the whole thing has kind of an anticlimactic feel to it. The Society made a very fair offer for his design and even allowed him in on the work, but the pleasant transaction felt so dry and clinical. Bolten normally prefers that sort of quiet tone and air of agreement, but the workshop is the one place that he feels comfortable in. Alive, even! In his imagination, he had expected a real back-and-forth and sense of excitement. He shakes his head, scoffing at his own ridiculous doubts on the matter. Just as he does not operate at the same energy as others, the reverse is also true. Besides, tomorrow morning would come soon enough and they would be on their way to making his plans a reality. In the spirit of celebration, Bolten even treats himself to a bit of wine that night with a toast to future successes.

The dwarf normally hates rising before the sun, but he does not dare miss the deadline to sign the contract. At this point, not even a flight of dragons would be able to stop him from getting to the workshop! After the contract is signed, Bolten offers to start helping by creating enlarged schematics of the design to make it easier to manufacture the parts. After all, with such a large machine, so many parts of different sizes were required that it would be a headache to keep track of them all. By splitting up the schematic itself into distinct components that could be separately manufactured, that might make it easier on the metalworkers to shape the cogs. It would take time for them to gather the materials and he could make himself useful in the meantime.

It is such an involved process that the work takes up all day and well into the next when Shandara enters the metalworking workshop. Bolten gives her a shy wave and a smile before going back to his sketching. He tires to mind his own business, but the sound of mild metallic scraping and Shandara's grunts of frustration catch his attention. Setting aside his quill for a moment, Bolten turns on his tool and asks the young drow, "Please don't take this the wrong way, but do you need help? Even just a second pair of hands?" His question is hesitant, worried that he might offend her.