A heavy sigh slipped from Mazerine's lips as she set an empty stone cup down on the wooden tabletop in front of her.  She had just finished her third class of whiskey, a rosy flush in her normally pale cheeks giving way to its warming effects.  The keeper of the particular tavern she sat in had given her permission to post on the board outside of his establishment, seeking an adventurer to aid her.  She had found a blocked off section in the Ancense Ruins near Adeluna with some traps she had never seen the likes of before guarding the entrance.  She had tried to find someone in Adeluna who would be willing to assist her in undertaking the task of attempting to disarm them.  She found it to be good practice, but those in Adeluna did not seem up to the challenge.  

This made Mazerine decide to travel to Egjora, in hopes that she would come across a different group of adventurers, some willing or able to undertake the task that she presented them with.  So far, however, no one had shown save greenhorn explorers who she would not trust if her life depended upon it.  The tavern keep had informed her she could use his space for as long as she wished, so long as she continued renting one of the rooms above the tavern.  It seemed an okay deal for her, as she needed a place to stay anyway, so she had taken him up on it.

The weather outside had begun to take a turn for the worse, and she was sure that was going to deter people from responding to her posting if anyone had been planning on it in the first place.  She flagged down the barkeep, indicating that she would like a refill on her drink, and unfurled a map that had been stored in her side satchel.  The map was of the ruins, and she spread it out on the table in front of her, focusing her vision on the map, waiting a bit longer on the off chance that someone would answer her call for help.

What a time for a storm to roll in. Its warning of winds were strong, but not enough to deter anyone into safety. However, the building downpour that followed was enough to work on clearing the roads into resting camps. For Douken, the walls of Egjora was enough reason for him to come running for the city. Not that it did anything to stop him from turning into a wet dog before getting through the walls.

"Where is the inn?" he muttered to himself as the rain kept picking up, thunder echoing in the clouds. The streets were nearly barren from the weather, as the noise f the bazaar had been all but drowned out by the rain. The only people out may as well been the guards, the homeless, and Douken himself. Lucky for him, though, they were kind enough to guide Douken to the nearest tavern to get him out of the weather. However, before heading straight inside, a flyer waved outside as the wind worked to remove it from its grasp. Taking it off the board, he figured he should bring it in to ensure it would not get lost.

The warmth of the tavern was very much welcoming when he stepped inside, hair drenched, skin soaked, and leather gear flooded. It was enough for one of the bar maids to welcome him in with a cloth to help dry himself off. "Thank you very much," he stated, accepting the offer and working it around his head and neck as he looked over the advertisement he collected. Silver was getting low, so maybe it was time to pick up another simple job.

Taking a seat at a nearby table to the one looking over a map, he looked over the job description, taking to himself as he read it over. "Ancense Ruins, eh? Lots of tales with the Ancients in there. Wonder what they are after?" Was it a new village spot there? Tales of an older deity? It was not going to be a Resource job, so he expected the employer being some type of scholar…

A gust of wind rustled Mazerine's hair as the tavern doors opened to let in a new patron, though she did not raise her eyes to examine the new entrant.  She had all but given up hope that anyone entering the tavern would be there in response to her advertisement for hiring someone, and the whiskey she had been consuming had helped to further that lack of optimism.  Once again, she drained her cup and set it down with an obviously loud clunk on the table top to draw the attention of the barmaid.

Fortunately for Mazerine, the barmaid had been paying close attention and was only moments away - after all, the elf had been tipping her rather well and she figured that keeping her happy was a good way to make sure her coin purse was full at the end of the evening.  "Thank you," Mazerine said to her as she set it down, and she immediately took another gulp.  As she tipped her head back, her eyes scanned the room, and she took in the soaking wet man that had entered not long ago.  She didn't look at him long, only long enough to have a pang of sympathy for him as the rain did not look very forgiving outside.

She turned her attention back to the cup on her table, until she heard the new patron speaking.  He was clearly reading the parchment that she had posted outside.  Rather ungracefully, when she had managed to put two and two together, she slid from her chair and wandered over to his table, sitting down in the chair opposite him rather awkwardly and setting her cup on the table.  "You familiar with ruins?" she asked, an unnecessary amount of brightness to her words.  "Please tell me that's why you took my posting down from out there… I mean, it would have blown away with the wind and rain anyway… but I'm really looking for a win here," she added, and took another drink of her whiskey.

Without waiting for him to answer, she threw the map onto the table in front of him.  There was a large circle scribbled across an area in the rear-center of the ruins.  "Traps there… never done 'em before.  Wanna' test some new spells, but I can't go alone."  She took pause again, and eyed him up and down in a scrutinizing manner, though one eye seemed to be closed a bit more than the other.  It was clear, that in normal circumstances, she was rather well to do.  Her attire spoke money, her hair well kept (though a few strands fell to the sides here and there thanks to the humidity from the rainstorm) - she looked as though she could have been of noble descent from Endapano (which she was). 

The pub was not all that crowded, meaning that, outside of the rain hammering against its walls with the occasional sound of thunder echoing through, the main room was a quiet area. Then again, the sun was only now getting ready to drop before the storm hit, meaning business would once again pick up… at least for those who rested in the tavern and who dared braved the storm to reach here safely. He doubted the latter, meaning he was willing to bet a slow business day. Then again, nothing wrong with a slow day if the ones before were more chaotic (not that he actually knew).

However, it was that quietness that made it easy to capture the quick echo of a dragging chair nearby before he found himself being confronted by a decently sized woman with sharp ears… elf maybe? In that case, that would place her on the shorter end of things, right? That thought did not really matter, considering her green eyes were staring him down before she asked about his familiarity with the ruins and the job posting. "This is yours then?" he asked to confirm before waving down the barmaid for a drink. "Some say pulling the job off the board before the winds took it away would be killing two birds with one stone. The faithful would more or less call it fate. Does not change the detail that my wallet has been getting light with my travels."

When presented with the map, Douken was quick to catch the circled area on where she wanted to go. As she explained the aspects of the job, Douken's finger went over to the circled area before tracing backwards, as if plotting a route for himself to take, pausing when he heard her say "I can't go alone." Not words he often heard.

"Yeah, that part of the ruins can be dangerous, and not just in terms of traps inside," he replied, the bar maid coming over to offer him his drink before returning a thanks and a tip before continuing, "You chose a place in a pretty dense portion of woodlands, meaning you got some natural threats to deal with before we can even see what items the Ancients have set up to protect their ancient legacy and treasure." What Douken was always interested were how such old traps were still able to function after so many centuries…

"Yes, that's mine…" she responded, flapping her hand at him in a dismissive manner as though she was appalled at the fact that he had even asked her.  She tilted her head slightly at his next words, as though attempting to process them a bit before responding.  "Well, regardless of the reason behind it, if you've got the skills I've got the coin to pay you," she said, playing off of his comment regarding a light wallet. 

Mazerine watched him rather closely as he traced an area on the map with his finger, before taking another quick drink and setting her cup back down.  "It's not that I can't defend myself," she said, her words coming off as rather defensive themselves.  "The beasts, the elements, hell, even the other 'treasure hunters' out there… They don't scare me.  I can hold my own.  However, the company would be nice on the way there, and it would certainly make things easier - but the thing I'm most concerned with is having someone to watch my back while I'm disarming traps.  I'm left pretty vulnerable with some of them," she said, seeming as though she were going to get straight to the point.

"Oh, you should see the beautiful things they've got in there," she said, her voice drifting off slightly as she remembered exactly what it was that she had come across on her last trek there.  "I can't even begin to imagine what hides behind these wards and traps," she said.  "They're so incredibly intricate - they've got to be guarding something wholly wonderful… or terrible, I suppose," she said, shrugging slightly.

"I'm Mazerine, by the way," she said and extended her hand towards the person that she was now hoping would become her partner in this expedition.  "Tell you what - if you take this job, I'll put you up in the inn for the evening, pay for a hot breakfast in the morning and I can make sure you're well equipped before we head out - and I'll pay you.  You got a going rate?" she asked.  Money was clearly not an object to her, or at least not as important as finding out what was hiding in the ruins.

He was not sure why she was being so protective of her own ability as she tried to explain her own personal skill. After all, if she wanted to jump into a room full of traps just to disarm them, then she clearly was sturdy enough to be able to handle herself in some regard. If anything, he would bet the extra hand would be to help get her out if something went wrong and she found herself trap atop of her other reasonings on why she was looking for another aid. After all, the worst fate anyone could suffer is dying, and he was pretty sure no one ever felt ready meeting the Queen of Death for any reason.

However, it was after she went off on her small tangent did Douken find himself chuckling at her whims before finding herself back  to normal on a bit of a darker note. "It sounds to me, at the very least, you have already taken the time to scout out what you could and got a decent grasp on what's inside," he complimented her. "Most of the time, I am often sent on mere rumor and told to seek an answer from that. Times like those where I question my profession," he chuckled before taking a bit of a chug from his drink. It felt so good warming up his body with it after having to cross that storm.

When it was time for introductions to be made, he made sure to at least do another over with the cloth on his arms and hands before accepting it, replaying with, "The name is Douken. A pleasure to be within your company," before dealing with the business talk of things. Which, in this case, was a difficult one. "Most jobs I am sent on are typically cases of  'seek this for me' with the aforementioned rumors, so its not often it gets mixed in with what people would normally call a bodyguard duty, meaning I don't exactly have a going rate for that. Still, I am willing to see how the dice roll with this little adventure and will gladly take that room and meal as an early pay." HOlding up his mug, he offered her a bit of a cheer. "Here's to a successful journey."

"Yes, that I have," she said, leaning slightly across the table at him when he mentioned that she must have already done some investigating at the site.  "I made it fairly far, but I could tell the next bit I had come across was going to take a fair amount of time to get through," she explained, taking another swig of her drink.  She listened rather intently to his next phrasing, furrowing her brow as she focused on his words, thanks in part to the amount of alcohol she had already consumed.  "You can't dislike your profession too much if you're still looking to pick up work," she said, giving him a bit of a crooked smile.  "And lucky for me!  You found my posting and are here to help me out!" 

She laughed softly as he wiped his hands before shaking hers, introducing himself.  "Nice to make your acquaintance as well," she said, shifting and leaning back in the seat. "So this is gonna' be something slightly out of your wheelhouse - same for me, I don't normally need help," she added.  She accepted his cheers, knocking her glass against his own before draining it.  "I'll be back," she said, and got up from the table, stumbling slightly as she made her way to the bar.

She seemed to be having a lively discussion with the barkeep, waving her arms around a bit and gesturing back towards Douken at the table.  The barkeep didn't seem nearly as amused as Mazerine did, but she did end up walking away with a refill for each of them.  When she made her way back to the table, she set the two cups down, Douken's in front of him and her own in front of herself, plopping back down into her chair.

"Well, bad news.  They're out of rooms.  But, a promise is a promise, so you'll use my room.  Don't argue!  I'll figure something else out," she said, and took a quick drink.  "But I figured that we could at least have another round before you head up there!  After all, you can celebrate finding a job for some more coin and I can celebrate finding someone to take that very job!" she added.  She went to grab her cup and bumped it slightly, sloshing some over the edges.  "Whoops," she said, scooping the cup up and taking a bit of a sip, moving to wipe the spillage with the sleeve of her dress.

After using the handshake to finalize their plan, he watched her struggle to head over to  the barkeep, most likely to work out details for his own room. After all, it was a part of her deal, so he made no question to it. All he hoped was that she was sober enough to get something set up. At the very least, with business end of things coming to an end, he folded up the map for her, setting it aside next to her seat before returned with two more mugs. It turned out like this: Good news was he had a room. Bad news was it was at the expense of her own. Better news was that she got them more ale to enjoy before the pair called it a night. Still, he could not question the two, considering how much it seemed she struggled holding it up.

However, it seemed that she was already near the tipping point, as she found herself laying on the table after hardly tackling half of her mug. With a bit of a sigh, he called the bar maid over to get the table cleaned for the next guest before pulling her arm over her shoulder, holding her waist to keep her balanced. "Also, may I get some laundry service done, and some medicine in the morning for her." With a nod from the maid, he offered his tanks to her before taking Mazerine to her… his… their room thanks to the guide of the barkeep himself.

Once the door was popped open, he moved the elf over to the bed before laying her down, making sure she was comfortable before slowly removing the leather gear from his body, leaving himself in simpler undergarments. A crack of lightning was only a simple distraction to him, looking over at the window and stating, "The storm is only getting worse," questioning how long it would really be before they can safety leave. Let's worry about that in the morning, was a simple thought was he threw over a loose, plain shirt over his body and some shorts as he waited for the maid to collect his soaked gear.

As Douken gently got Mazerine situated on the bed, she let out a small inaudible noise, shifting slightly as if attempting to get more comfortable.  Her hair, which had once been set rather neatly, was now in a disheveled mess sprawled around her head, a result thanks in combination to the miserable weather outside and her inebriation. As the thunderous crash of lightning sounded outside the window, her eyes snapped open, the sound having startled her even in her drunken state.  

The room was mostly dark and she couldn't make out much at first, her vision already blurry.  She squinted, and things began to come a bit more into focus.  The slight pounding in her head gave way to the fact that she had certainly had far too much to drink while sitting down in the tavern, though her memories were still there (albeit a tad bit fuzzy).  She could see Douken through the shadows, the here and there flashes of lightning illuminating his form as he disrobed.  Propping herself up with her hands behind her, she sat up slightly, watching him with a slightly furrowed brow as she pieced together what had become of her evening.  She found herself slightly concerned that there was essentially a stranger disrobing in her room while she lay in bed, but it came back to her that she had offered her room to him and then passed out on the table in the tavern.  She concluded that he must have helped her up to the room and got her situated on the bed.  A glance down at herself revealed that none of her clothing - not even her boots - had been removed, and she found herself convinced that he must have been a proper gentleman, not taking advantage of her in the state she had been in.

She cleared her throat after he had somewhat reclothed himself and slung her legs over to the edge of the bed, moving to unlace her boots and remove them.  "Guessing you brought me up here… thanks for not just leaving me down there," she said, her words a bit slurred but nowhere near as bad as they had been previously.  She brought a hand to rest at her forehead, rubbing slightly.  Just then, a knock at the door caused her to wince - it was the maid to collect Douken's things.  She also dropped off a tray for them with a pitcher of water and two stone cups, as well as a small vial of a concoction meant to help with hangovers.  "Thanks!" Mazerine called out to her, just as she was shutting the door.

She got up, her bare feet padding across the wooden floor as she walked towards the table where the maid had left the water, and poured some into both cups, in case Douken wanted some.  She took a long drink and turned back to him.  "I must look like a fantastic person to have as your employer," she said with a laugh, clearly laughing at herself and her behavior.  "I don't normally drink this much.  I think it was a combination of frustration from lack of fruition on my posting, and the weather," she said.  "But if I didn't say it before, thanks for accepting the offer," she added.  She took another drink of the water and set the cup down, walking back over to the bed where she sat on the edge of it. 

"I'm sorry they didn't have another room available.  I know I promised you board for the night, but having to share is better than being stuck out in this storm," she said, gesturing towards the window where the raindrops had begun to splash against the glass panes even harder than they had before, little pinging sounds indicating that hail had come into the mix as well.  "I hope this lets up before morning… it may delay us some if it does not," she added. 

SIlence filled the room for a moment before she stretched out on the bed, staying towards the edge on her side, her back towards the unoccupied half of it.  "At least I don't take up a lot of room, you should have plenty," she said, gesturing over her shoulder as an indication that she would be comfortable with him using the other half of it.  If the two were going to venture out into the wilderness together to explore an ancient room, chances were it would not be the last time they would have to share a sleeping area - may as well get used to it now.  She reached down and drew the blanket up to about her waist, covering her bare feet which had become a bit cold from walking across the floor.  Her eyes closed fairly quickly, the alcohol she had consumed not long ago still mixed with her blood, and found herself hoping she would feel much better come morning as she once again drifted off to sleep.

The clearing of her throat amongst the clattering window was enough to draw Douken's attention back to the bed, seeing the half-elf back in the realm of consciousness (though from he saw, he doubted it would last too long). However, before he could greet her back to this world, the door knocked, another maid opening the room up to the pair. "I do hope I am not interrupting anything," she teased before handing over the tray, and in return, was given the wet gear and a bit of tip silver for the sudden call to duty this late at night.

"Don't worry, there is worse out there," he replied on her performance and presentation, "I have seen it, and they can be on a much more stable on being terrible. You got yourself an excuse." He ended the last bit a chuckle, hoping his poor example of a joke would relax her for a bit as he took a drink himself. As for the lack of rooms, while it was inconvenient, it was nothing of a surprise. After all, who would want to sleep under such conditions?

Though he watched her take up only half the bed, he did not question what she was doing until she spoke up. If she was not comfortable sleeping so close to a man she hardly knew, he would have simply asked for more sheets and a spare pillow. However, it seemed she was fine in this way at least. Probably the best way to handle the awkwardness through the night while the both stayed warm. Giving a nod to her offer (even if she couldn't see it), he got up from his seat and into the bed as well, preferring to sleep more on his back throughout the night, joined by the rain, hail, occasional thunder, and the rare conflict in the bar below. It was through sleep that time sped up, almost making morning seem like a mere moment away.

However, the rain did not let up over the night.