It was. Lemm was starting to fall into - well, not so much old patterns as the old expectations of them. This broke the spiral quite nicely. Although, for a second here-?

- He gives them a sardonic look as they 'recover' from their totally convincing death scene, and his hand drifts loose of theirs once he's sure their feet are touching the bottom.

"I haven't done anything like that in a good while," he announces, and only barely manages to sound huffy about it. "Do you think you're clever, making a fool of a Relic Seeker? I should write into the record that you're a nuisance, and then everyone would know. That's the power I have, Shade Lord."

Lemm catches himself in the very obvious and awkward mid-way of reaching out to pat them on the head. His hand falters, then switches direction and pretends it was always just going to sweep his silly, intrusive drifting beard out of the way again. The action is rather unconvincing.

He's feeling comfortable enough to say something from the heart, though.

"This went very well, for a test run... I thought. All spiky, bitey tunneling things considered. I'm not sure what your thoughts are. Maybe you'll tell me when you've paper and dry hands."