Del sat in the remains of the ruined fortresses kitchen, which he repurposed into a laboratory. Using a combination of his

remaining equipment and magically constructed replacements, that while imprecise would have to do for now. Malcolm

sitting in the corner hands and feet bound continued to glare at del as he had for the last 3 days. “What are you building

those puppets for mage? Are you lonely?” he mocked. “Or are you building them to fight for you like the coward you

are?” “Very funny” del responded dryly. “I know you are bored but I have to keep you near me since the sleep spells

wear off on you way faster than they should your constitution must be monstrous. The others nearly took two whole days

to wake up. Malcolm’s scowl deepened glare intensifying, “you know I had a run in with another mage years ago, back

when I had first joined this group of idiots.” “That so,” Del chimed back while etching his control runes into his puppets.

“Yea it is. Bastard knocked out the lot of us without a single one of us getting a chance to put up a fight. When I woke up

we were already in custody our leader was strung up for us to see, just swingin’ in the breeze.”

“If you are looking for an apology you won’t get one from me,” Del remarked a scowl now plastered on his face as he continued his work.

“I have no sympathy for murderers or rapists, thieves I can tolerate, to a degree. The bounty on your boss helped put me

through school by the way.”

“Fuck you,” Malcolm spat, chafing at his bindings in another futile attempt to get free.

“There three ought to do for now,” Del exclaimed and started feeding mana into the puppets control circuits. The puppets

convulsed momentarily stuttering to life and finally stood, nearly forty straight hours of work nearly complete.

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Del then coated the puppets in a thick potion ignoring the insults Malcolm threw his way all the while. “Imprint on me,”

Del commanded the three, control runes glowing brightly under what now appeared to be skin, shifting and changing

color until three fairly convincing doppelgangers stood awaiting commands. Malcolms insults finally ceasing as he stared

wide-eyed at the horror before him. Del then placed a harness around the first puppet, “you two lift me up and place me in the harness,”

Del commanded, his partially formed legs hanging over the edge of the workbench. “HAAAHAAAHAHA,” Malcolm began

laughing and wheezing, the sight of a grown man being carried in what was essentially a baby harness overwhelming

the sense of tension. Del couldn’t help but start laughing himself, “you know,” he remarked, “ I won’t apologize but if you

help me get out of here I will pay you.” Malcolm’s laugh began to fade to a chuckle, “how much,” he asked eyes growing

sharper as his chuckle faded into oblivion.” “ Two hundred karethy Kol notes,” Del said his puppet now kneeling so as to

meet Malcolm at eye level. “Six hundred notes,” he shot back. “250” “575” “350,” Del exclaimed throwing up a hand to

stop the bartering, “and I will throw in one of my personal magic items, plus some basic mana training. I can tell your

resistance to my sleep potions is at least partly due to some latent abilities.” “I, I can do magic?” Malcolm muttered

under his breath, staring Del in the eyes. “Yea I think so, some of the stuff I have been dousing you with over the last few

days was to test you. The one that made your skin itch and your eyes burn for two hours was the one that tipped me

off.” “I do hate you-you know that right?” Malcolm said, just before headbutting Del in the nose. Sending him and his

puppet to the ground. “ I deserved that," Del uttered as he straightened his nose and spit out a mouthful of blood. " you

know I am having difficulty healing at the moment, so could you save the violence for later? "I want 400 Notes and two

magic items made specifically for me plus the training you promised and and and." "Quiet," Del interrupted, "deal we

have to go now. three of my elementals connections were just severed." "who gives a shit?" "I give a shit if they had just

been killed my connection would have faded gradually as the mana leaked from their bodies, these connections just

vanished and the guy who is hunting me is very good at making things disappear." "wait who is hunting you," Malcolm

cut in eyes narrowing? "...Nilo," Del muttered under his breath. A terror began to spread across Malcolm's face, but

suddenly he smiled, a big toothy smile,"two thousand notes plus the items and you will teach me until I am satisfied."

"seriously, you are using this situation to up your price, you crook!"

"No shit You said you didn't mind crooks."

"I said I could tolerate them."

"well, how tolerant you feeling right now?"