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A careful hand grazed the symbols etched into the stone wall, fingertips taking in the sensation of the sandy texture with wonderment. "Early Second Era. K'therian pictographs, depictin' what appears ta be a sort of sacrificial ritual." Blue eyes peered closer at a particular etching, and he held his breath calmly as he brought his face closer to the wall. "I canna read this symbol, the one in the middle o' the sun. It... almost looks like the symbol for River, but that canna be right." He took a step back, crossing his arms about his chest as he shook his head, heaving a deep sigh. "Morik said the hall was already clear, aye? There were no traps of any kind?"
"Yes, not even so much as a trip wire. Very odd for a K'therian temple, don't you think?"
"Aye, very. Meanin' either the tribe who used this temple..." He leaned closer to the wall again, hand slipping into a bag that hung at his side and pulling out a horse-hair brush, with which he began to lightly sweep the access dust from inside the lines of the etchings, "...decided not ta' leave the typical tributes of precious stones ta' their gods for some reason. Or..." He took another step back, eyes scanning over the whole of the wall now.
"We're not the first ones here." The elder fellow ran a hand over his bald head with a groan.
"Aye." Atamus shook his head, turning to the table that stood against the opposite wall and striding forward, taking a handful of papers in hand and skimming through them.

The old temple ruin had been discovered just outside of Badon, cut right into a cliff face. The sheer size of it was a wonder to behold, but once inside, Atamus and his team had found little more than disappointment. The K'therian jungles stretched out for miles to the West and South of them, and to the East the emerald canopy faded into the sandy deserts of Sadr. Which meant that it was highly likely the temple had already been looted by Sadri bandits, or Gods knew who else. He breathed a mumbled curse as he tossed the papers back to the table, foot tapping as he thought quietly for a moment.
"Danus, gathere e'ryone up." He finally stated with slumped shoulders. "We've been here fer almost a week and havna found nothin'. S'time to let these folks go home ta their families." He sighed as he walked passed the old man, blue eyes set sternly forward and fingers wringing in frustration, and headed towards the sunlit steps that led outside.

Out of nowhere a green flash collided with said steps, letting out a pained groan on contact with the stone. On closer inspection, the pile of dark green would turn out to actually be a man in a cloak! Dressed in clothing that was way too thick for the kind of weather he found himself in now "Ugh...note to self: lock up Fleeter next time you try dangerous magic." And with that, the man slowly started to rise to his feet, still clearly disoriented and for the moment, quite unaware of not being home anymore.

He ran a hand through his blonde hair, deeply breathing in the humid jungle air and cursing lightly in his native Noethran. A week wasted. A week! They'd managed to find a few burial earns and some etched tablets that might fetch a passable price at a museum to make up part of the money he'd spent putting this trip together, but to have gone to all that work and found nothing of any real historic value was just... infuriating!

Suddenly, a bright flash blinded him, his arms flying up in front of his face defensively, and he hissed as the pain of the light collided with his retinas. As it faded, the hair on the back of his neck settled, and he knew before he even opened his eyes again that magic had been at work- not that it hadn't been fairly obvious to begin with. Bright blue eyes settled to look down at this new face, who seemed a bit lost. "Er... 'scuse me."

Ulrin straightened out his cloak before taking in his surroundings, jaw wide open as he realized just where he was, or more likely, where he was no longer. Attention snapped to the stranger that spoke up and Ulrin shook his head for a moment "Hail and well met, stranger! Could you perhaps tell me where....and when we are?" the sorcerer inquired whilst he stroked his beard "I seem to have misplaced myself. Hate when that happens."

Atamus looked the man up and down for a long moment, the relatively young enchanter at a loss for words. "I, uh..." He finally shook his head as he tried to make sense of what just happened. He'd seen many things in his short time, but this? It wasn't necessarily the magic itself that had dumbfounded him, but the sheer absurdity of the situation. "Uh, K'theria. Jus' outside o' Badon. Mid-Spring, Year 465 of the Fourth Era." He scratched his head as he responded.

"Ah, K'whatchamacallit in the year...what." the sorcerer scratched his head as well, eyes wide with confusion "I seem to have misplaced myself quite well." Ulrin let out a sigh and shrugged "Oh well, better make the best of it while I'm at it. This place looks marvelous; plenty of new things to discover!" He exclaimed as he waved around "Oh, but where are my manners! Forgive me my insolence!" the sorcerer made a polite bow "The name is Ulrin Lightbringer, sorcerer, librarian and...quite lost."

"Aye, apparently ye' are." He chuckled with the sheer absurdity of what had just occured and offered out his arm to clasp. "Atamus Wolfheart." He paused for a moment. "Er... Wizard, Archaeologist, and Healer." By now, a few members of his research team were beginning to step out of the temple, and were now quirking brows of their own at the sight of this rather out of place newcomer. "Yeah, er, where exactly did ye' come from, Master Ulrin?"

Ulrin had noted the other people and was eying all of them in turn before returning attention to Atamus "Well, pleasure to meet you, Master Atamus, despite the circumstances." Ulrin wiped the sweat of his forehead and proceeded to unclasp his cloak "From somewhere a lot colder than this place, I can assure you. Then again, I get around. Traveler you see, apparently between worlds from time to time with the right accidents." the sorcerer laughed quietly to himself for a moment "Oh, but where was I? Oh, yes, what is this place?" he asked, hopping up and down a bit "Stone steps, old looking thingymabob. A tomb? I love myself some tombs. Full of dead people, usually, and oftentimes dead people can tell you more than live ones!"

Atamus caught Ulrin's change of gaze for a moment, and glanced over his shoulder to see most of his research team had gathered just outside the main doorway to the temple. "Er, no, not exactly. It's a temple. The K'therians used buildin's like these fer sacrificial rituals o' worship to their gods up until the middle of the Third Era or so. Unfortunately, looks like a few raiders beat us to the punch."

"Ah, yes, actually, speaking of tombs..." The bald-headed Danus chimed in from behind and he scurried up to the pair of sorcerers while digging about in his knapsack. His hand withdrew from the leather bag with a wrinkled envelope in it's grasp, and he handed it to the golden-haired archaeologist quickly. "A messenger delivered this two days ago. It must have slipped my mind, Atamus, I'm dreadfully sorry."
"Slipped yer-- och, must be where all your hair went. Slipped yer mind." He managed to suppress the smile that threatened to crack his false persona of anger, unconvincing as it probably was, and opened the envelope quickly, eyes skimming through it. "S'from Gauldur, in Sadr. He..." He paused for a moment, re-reading a sentence in disbelief, "...he thinks he's found Thaarik's tomb!"
"Thaarik? Thaarik the Silvertongued? He thinks his tomb is in Sadr?"
"Aye, he does. Says he wants us to meet him in Zaphyer."
"Well, are we going?" Danus seemed suddenly very excited.
"Maybe. I just drug all these men and women out 'ere fer nothin', I'd hate to do it twice." Atamus rubbed his chin, then looked back to Ulrin for a moment. "Gods, sorry, I've been ignorin' ye'. S'rude o' me, I apologize. If yer needin' to find some civilization, yer welcome to at least ride along wi' us as far as Badon."

"Ooooooh, a temple, just as good! You can learn a lot about people through their faith. Too bad about the raiders, damn bastards have no respect for knowledge!" Ulrin crossed his arms and stared angrily at the temple whilst following the conversation that followed.

"Oh, that's alright. The news sounded important enough!" Ulrin nodded "Thank you for your offer, but I'd rather offer my company on this expedition. This tomb sounds deliciously dangerous and fun, which is just my kind of thing! I assure you I won't get in your way. In fact, I can probably be helpful one way or another."

Atamus stood for a moment, still holding the letter in hand, and his eyes passed back and forth between Danus and Ulrin for a moment before he shifted on his feet to better face the newcomer. "Do ye' have any experience in field study? In handlin' very important, very fragile, historical artifacts?" He peered at the man as he handed the letter back to Danus, , jaw set sternly.

Ulrin straightened out his back and suddenly put on a very serious face, although still with his ever-present smile "As if I've ever done anything else in my life. I was probably born with a set of ancient tomes in my lap. I've been a librarian for most of my working years and I can guarantee you I severely punished anyone who did as much as turning a page in a manner that I found improper. Of course, all you have is my word, for I am nothing but a stranger that just popped out of thin air from your point of view. If you'd like, I can keep a safe distance from anything valuable until I've earned your trust."

A new challenger appears! Though not via fancy green flashes, she arrives via foot. Followed by what remains of her ragtag group of gentlemen o' fortune she aproaches Atamus' team hailing them with a loud "BANG!" by shooting her flintlock pistol upwards. "Ahoy, landlubbers! o'w ye be findin' yerselves today? Ye be findin' lots o' booty, eh?!" Laughing out loud she fumbles with her pistol to reload it but abruptly stops and peers around with an awkward look on her fluffy face. "..Any o' ye be havin' some spare bullets? I be all out!"

Atamus looked to the man with a quirked brow, but his lips upturned into the very slightest of grins. "Well, I s'pose we'll see." Then, what silence there had been left in the jungle was torn asunder by the roar of a firearm, and the entire group of researchers whipped their head about to see this new figure approaching.

"...Land...lubbers?" One whispered.
"Booty?" Muttered another.
"Bullets?" Atamus asked, a bit more loudly. "I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with the term, lass. Who exactly are ye'?"

Ulrin jumped up at the sound of a firearm. Great, only there for a few moments and already in trouble? The sorcerer turned around to look at the source of the noise, only to find "...A pirate? You're a long way from the ocean, lass." Ulrin replied as he took a step back "I'd be careful, Atamus. They're armed and probably looking for treasure."

Looks energetic as ever as she walks around, examining the other group. "Aye, lad, bullets! They's be lil' tiny pieces o' metal that I can put in me pistol, so I can be shootin' ye." At the question of who she was she spun around to the man that dared ask the question and drew her sword, raising it high up in the air, the blade shining like silver. "Who I be?! I be Capt'n Sil'erblade! Greatest capt'n ye'll e'er see, lad!"

The fluffy pirate would then turn to the green robed mage, making his step backwards futile by taking SEVERAL steps in his direction! "Ach lad, pirate be so nasty a word. 'ow bout ye call me gentlelass o' fortune, eh? But aye! Me waters be far away! It be by turtle that we be endin' 'ere! Let me tell ye!" The pirate-woman spins around and wraps her arm around the person unlucky enough to stand withing her range.

"We be findin' this big ship! Full o' precious booty! O t'was a fine day, lad! But alas! The sea she not be so 'appy with me, aye! An' outa nowhere a giant turtle just be appearin'! Took a bite out o' me furner! crew an' booty down its belly! Och the bastard!" A pause, for dramatic effect. "But 'e don't be knowin' me, aye?!" A big "Aye!" comes from her fellow pirates. "I shoot 'im right in the eye! The bastard hurtin' from me shot an' me booty dies right there! With me furner sinkin' we leg it on that turtles bleedin' body an' sail it to land! Now 'ere we be, lookin' fer booty to fund me new furner!" Done with her story she'd let said unlucky person go free with a big swing.