A man in search of his past [open]

[Argroww]

In hindsight Therrin realised that he should have allowed her to deal with her own arm, but he'd experienced being without an arm himself...without 2 arms in fact, but even so it could be awkward handling oneself with just one arm although he'd never had to re-attach a limb.

There were few moment in his solitary life that Therrin wished he was more inclined to keeping himself in a cleaner state, and having what appeared to be a young lady pressed up against him was certainly one of those moment, nonetheless his powerful arms automatically went to take Avarella's weight as she suddenly seemed to go faint as the process of the arm re-attaching itself seemed to drain her of energy.

Therrin felt the warmth of a living body under his hands, magic had a lot to answer for as this woman seemed to be filled with sand, and yet as far his hands could tell that fact would not be discovered by touch alone, at least she was somewhat more decently dressed now thanks to the other woman...not that it made much difference, it wasn't often Therrin found himself with his hands on any part of woman, and thus he had to fight the urge to let go to save her modesty because if he did, he'd surely drop her and he wasn't about to allow that either.

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Still dizzy, Averella remained propped against his form, and if she was offended by his smell, she made no remark. Truthfully, it was the last thing on her mind, and she was just thankful the limb could be reattached, for the situation could have proved much worse.

And though she was somewhat more modest now, she had yet to actually put on the garb offered. It, however, was still pressed to her front, as more of the decayed fabric flaked away. It was then she could see Zaramay, and recalling she too, was a new friend to be concerned for, Averella found herself asking, "Those men.... they hadn't injured you, had they?"

Though it seemed, even if she was concerned, she was still in no place to seemingly be any help, as she still leaned against Therrin for support.

[Argroww]

Therrin started slightly as he realised that what he though was a worn long tunic was merely being held to the young lady and the slip of fabric was ll that was between her and his own clothes, the fact that he was fully dressed at this point didn't matter to his fingers that now touched bare skin and the occasional scrap of well aged cloth that even as he touched it crumbled away even more.

The archaeologist in him wondered just how long she'd been in there to be wearing cloth so aged, in an environment like this the cloth should last fairly well, it was dry, and little evidence of the usual causes of decay, thus time was the main factor.

"Beg my pardon lady, but perhaps it would be an idea to put the tunic on?"

Therrin suggested, looking down at Averella whilst she waited for a response from the other woman.

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"Oh!" she blushed and stepped away from the man. "Oh, yes! Please excuse me," she went on, and moved to hide behind the coffin, and as she squatted down behind it, she hastily worked atbrushing off theitchy decaying wraps."I apologize for the inconvenience" she went on with a sigh. Such was the life of a cursed woman. And as the last bits of wraps were shed, she timidly peeked over the coffin before crouching down again as she stumbled a bit to slipthe tunic on.

"So neither of you know those men in this... In my tomb?" she asked, trying to distract herself from her own flusteredness.

[Argroww]

"Never met them before that's for sure, but I recognise the type." Therrin said, now with his back to Averella.

"They're bandits, or rather were bandits, which I guess is obvious.  My guess is they were hoping to reap the benefits of the treasure in these ruins, benefits that the people who got killed in the traps didn't properly explain to them.  The treasures here is knowledge, very little in the way of trinkets and such judging by the age and condition of the stuff I've seen so far."

Therrin studied the wall quite carefully as he waited for Averella to finish dressing.

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"I do apologize for the traps, they've been there for countless years. I just have left them well enough alone when I travel. Though, I suppose now that I think of it, it was probably bound to happen that someone should stumble upon them. Oh, perhaps I should have considered finding a way to disarm them,"she went on thoughtfully as she stepped out, now dressed in the other woman's tunic, her dark, curly hair cascading off her shoulders and framing her face with a bit of choppy layers that probably were due for a brushing.

[Argroww]

Therrin considered the now dressed and apparently young woman.

"I would not worry about the traps Lady, they make my time interesting and give me a challenge on the way in and often the way out too."

Now the bandits were dealt with and Therrin no longer had any blatant visual distractions he studied the room more carefully, but what he was looking for was not in this room.

"If I may be so bold, this place, do you know it well.  Not just this room, but the whole complex?"

He asked, hoping Avarella may know more of what he might find within this underground complex.

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Averella looked up at him and gave a mousy blink.
"Lady? Oh! Please, just call me A.." And she hesitated a moment before sighing through a smile and saying her name, "Averella. And you are?" But then she recalled he had given to to the woman so she could curse him when she died.  "Wait.. Therrin, is that right?" she asked, peering up at him curiously. "And about this place.. well yes, you could call it my home. I know it rather well." And she gave him a rosy cheeked grin.

[Argroww]

"Oh good, Averella.  I'm seeking artifacts, or murals."

Therrin began.

"They'd be very ancient, thousands of years and depicting beasts that stand like men and resemble wolves or dogs in some fashion, they're usually depicted as being red in colour, the art style is fairly simplistic, but the canine features to stand out.  Maybe there's a big wall somewhere with a mural on, or even just a pot....does any of this sound familiar?"

Therrin's demeanor had changed fairly drastically from that of some savage warrior to an excitable scholar.  He was almost dancing on the spot as he spoke and pinged questions at the diminutive female in front of him.

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"Oh? That's strange you ask," she went on with a blink. "There's a wall two chambers over, with a painting that I believe fits your description." ANd with some realization she found herself asking, "Oh! Are you some sort of antiquities expert.. an archaeologist, or some such?"
It would make sense why he wasn't traveling with thugs.

[Argroww]

"Of sorts yes, I spend a lot of time tracking down treasures and artifacts, sometimes I do this for someone else, sometimes for myself."

Therrin hefted the backpack that appeared to be his sole possession, although clearly full of...something.  This was now far more exciting that fighting off random thugs, although they'd been quite well prepared and an awful lot more capable that the usual raiders he might come across.  Therrin considered though that usually his adventures into underground caverns and temples were very lonely affairs, most feared to enter due to the possibility of ghosts, undead, mummies and other such creatures.  His adventures had found such things to be merely myth, not that such creatures didn't exist, just not as commonly as most believed.

"Okay then Avarella, please lead the way unless there's anything else you need from this room?"

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"Well I.." she blinked, realizing only then how dark it was inside and she began to wonder...
"I wonder what became of the woman with the lights?"
There was no evidence she was still around,a nd she could only hope she hadn't been harmed during the attack.

"Can you.. do you see her at all?" Averella asked, worried.

[Argroww]

"Why no I cannot, she must have left after the fight."

Therrin walked out of the entrance, his fine sense of smell following her trail which seemed to lead back the way he'd entered the temple himself.  She had however left the glow orb behind which he didn't need, but Averella was likely to.

Walking back into the room he took the orb from where it rest and he gave it to Averella.

"Here, why don't you lead the way to the painting and hopefully it'll be something I'm looking for."

Therrin said with a bright grin, entirely ignoring the dead bodies around them.

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She lifted up the orb with a thankful, nodding gesture before lifting it up and feeling the magic blossom. Now able to see, she looked around, and spotted the doorway that would lead to the mural.

"This way, through the door with the lotus flower above it."
And forward she went, leading the way down this hallway and the next before making a turn and gesturing for him to see.

"Is this the mural you seek?" She inquired, the paint, though old, was still preserved quite well, flaking in only some places and fading and cracked in others. But just as he had described, there were a series of red looking dogs painted across it as Averella sighed through a smile to observe it alongside him.

"My mother used to tell me some stories about them. She wasn't much for one liking stories that sounded like nightmares,a nd even though I knew the more popular stories spoke of these kind in a darker light, she always had a way to turn it around and make these beings heroes. Although the truth behind them has even yet to be proven to this day. It's said this being of red-dog like creatures were long extinct, even before my days, I'd guess."

[Argroww]

"Hmm, yes that's interesting.  You mother wasn't far wrong from what I've learned.  They were not dogs at all, but higher beings.  I think they were like demons, but the opposite if you consider demons evil at all.  Such things are often relative though and I think perhaps their view of the world and the life in it was simply different."

Therrin stepped closer to the mural to study some of it's detail in more depth, the design was simple in execution, older than some images he's found, but there was complexity in the paint used and little tell-tale details that revealed interesting features.

"Whoever was responsible for painting this was purposely trying to mislead Averella, see these lines here and here, and how that curve is done?  It all points towards a painting style that is fairly advanced, this mural was drawn with the intention of making the view think they were looking at something more simplistic.  It's almost like having a fort made of rough stone blocks, but finding that the stone blocks were purposely made to look rough and crude, but have been held together with mortar.  It is a most remarkable piece."

Therrin stood close to her, allowing the glow orb to give the image colour for him instead of relying on his greyscale night vision.  Although interesting the mural unfortunately did not really give him much in the way of new information.  As he thought his body did something his conscious mind did not consider, he stood in the typical position of a waiting guard...one who spent many hours trying to 'part of the furniture' when standing around nobility.

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"Interesting.. I haven't thought much on it, truthfully. From time to time, when I get lonely, yes, I do like coming here to reminisce but.." she shrugged and looked his way, but upon seeing him standing in a familiar way, made her giggle. Hadn't her guards used to stand that way in this very room?

[Argroww]

Therrin heard the giggle, he had to admit he quite liked it, there was something familiar and warming about it. 

"Oh, now that's an interesting piece!" Therrin suddenly said dropping his backpack to the ground.

He opened it and pulled out a piece of papyrus and a finely pointed piece of dark chalk.  Therrin then set to copying a part of the mural which on close inspection appeared to either a landmark, or possibly even a map of some kind.  However whatever it was had been carefully hidden within the image.

Averella would be able to see that Therrin's abiltiy to copy an image was uncannily accurate.

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Peering over his shoulder, her eyes sparkled at the sight.
"Oh wow! You're quite an artist!"

[Argroww]

"Not really, I cannot do people.  It's weird, even copying a picture of a person is beyond me unless it's a simple or stylised person, but copying a map, or this mural, easy."

Therrin could feel Averella at his shoulder which was intensely distracting, some of her hair was tickling at his ear and yet he also felt an excitement he couldn't quite explain.  Sure she was attractive, that much was clear to him, but there was something more to how he suddenly felt, as though he'd been waiting for this moment all his life.  Therrin was hardly the sort of guy to be chasing women or be chased by them, but he wasn't unused to spending time with women and for all the hundreds of years he'd been alive he'd never felt this way.

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Oblivious to what Therrin was feeling, Averella insisted,

"Oh? Surely you could learn it if you were to try. Have you ever been given the chance to try to draw a person? I am limited in my own drawing abilities, but if anything, I can assure you, practice makes perfect. And your ability to copy this sort of thing can only prove that if given the chance, I'm sure you'd make a lovely drawing."

She was still quite close to him, not realizing it might be this close proximity having some sort of an effect. Though perhaps it wasn't just that, but the environment for him, as well.