The Heat of the Moment

Chapter VI: What was I made for?

It was safe to say that the young blacksmith was extremely surprised to find Karlach standing in front of him with a very temperamental piece of infernal machinery in her chest. Diana observed the interaction between Karlach and Dammon from a few steps behind, allowing the woman to have space when she explained the delicate matter of her situation.

Dammon leaned in as close as he dared to up to Karlach's chest, closing his eyes to listen intently - but for what, Diana had no idea.

    Dammon winced as he pulled back suddenly, rubbing his singed ear and speaking lowly to Karlach with a grim look on his face that Diana only took as worse news than they were hoping for. The barbarian gestured toward the other party members and nodded as if giving permission to share, her eyes cast to the ground as her shoulders slumped. The blacksmith turned to look beyond the crestfallen tiefling in front of him to address the rest of the party, his demeanor serious.

"The engine was not meant to operate outside of the hells - surely by design as to discourage anyone from getting any funny ideas about escaping. There is hope, however –"

He looked pointedly at Diana, having already acquainted himself with her as the ringleader of their little circus.

"It would have been a very difficult process already before the time constraint that I am about to set on you. Karlach's engine operates in the place of her heart, which in turn gives her the ability to be as she is now." He gestured to Karlach broadly, wordlessly encompassing all that she is and what she is capable of in battle.

"The caveat here is that Karlach was already on borrowed time before she even left the hells. Whoever did this was working with unstable materials and seemingly pulled this off with nothing short of a small miracle - they might as well have pieced everything together with copper twine and a prayer. How she is managing to stand upright and hold a conversation is beyond understanding."

Diana regarded the handsome blacksmith with an intense gaze, stepping closer to him and Karlach to hear what kind of options that they had to work with. She eyed the sizable woman beside her only to find something akin to defeat written across her features; this completely broke something deep within Diana, never had she wished so badly to be able to comfort someone - even just to lay a hand on her shoulder or even just be close enough to whisper words of encouragement into her ear. How ironic was it to stand so close to someone and have shared so much between them already, but not even be able to give them the slightest touch without someone getting hurt. Cruelty - that's what it was: Cruelty and isolation beyond understanding.  Diana bit down on the slowly building flame that ebbed in her chest, the feeling that she came to understand as unbridled rage simmering deep within her and threatening to boil over if she didn't get a handle on herself quickly.

With a deep breath, she inhaled the warmed air of the forge into her lungs and blew it back out slowly, grounding herself to return to the task at hand. There would most certainly be time for revenge later.

"What can we do to help?" her voice came out barely above a whisper, the rage inside of her quelling under her will and solidifying into stone.

At hearing her speak, Karlach turned her gaze up at her instead of the ground, eyes widening in surprise as she searched Diana's facial expression.

Dammon's eyebrows rose as he beheld Diana's shift in attitude, the very air around her seemed to crackle with tension like electricity.

"I need infernal iron, the more the better." he started slowly, reaching behind him to grab a book off of his work bench. He opened the battered tome and leafed through the pages quickly before coming across what he was searching for - turning the book for everyone else to see. Pictured between carefully written paragraphs was a detailed drawing of what Diana assumed was a chunk of infernal iron. There was nothing remarkable about the mineral at first glance, however upon further inspection, she noticed delicately added veins of metallic orange and red that shone between layers of ashen-colored ore.