Fall 69, 511 AV
The venue was not fancy, hardly what anyone would call a respectable dive. Cobwebs clung to the rafters like the pallid phantoms of smoke, long hanging without a pipe to trail to. The barkeep was old, a wizened man with failing business and lower prospects. He had no kin and like most in Sunberth, was far too paranoid to bequeath his business to any who might fix it.
This was the sort of place that would not survive many more seasons.
It made the location perfect.
Dhalvasha trailed a black claw through dust caked to a forlorn table near the edge of the room. His red eyes studied the residue, built by years of sporadic patronage and poor cleaning, but he made no comment. This was a place hallowed by its antiquity, its throwback altar to another time in Sunberth itself. History was here, and warm hands had laid upon this table that may now be cold in alley streets or in shallow graves.
So many wasted lives...such struggling creatures.
Dhalvasha resisted the urge to ask for a drink, casting a wary eye at the bartender who stared back placidly. The heavy axe mounted above him seemed to suggest a stout ale was not the only talent the old fellow had possessed...and Symenestra bones were brittle.
Eridanus had hatched a plan with some street urchin archer about rescuing some slaves...a fool's errand of course, few who wore the yoke of slavery ever escaped it. Even those surrogates crafty enough to escape the Nest carried the marks of their servitude.
They always found their way back.
For the operation, Dhalvasha would be leading a spearhead into the slavers themselves, a favor he would have never agreed to had not the reward promised been favorable. Live subjects perhaps, if the men were not too rough...and the possibility of extra funding for his research was a further incentive for his participation. Honestly the plight of the slaves echoed hollowly in his head. The death of his surrogate had hardened the fate of such unfortunate creatures in his mind. No matter how far one went to save them, each and every one ended up a victim in the end.
They were prey...and once labeled would always be hunted.
He was to meet a woman here, someone who he would be taking with him. Her skills were more akin to murder, the brutal art supposedly no stranger. Dhalvasha was pleased that Eridanus was not foolish enough to believe him capable of infiltration and sabotage alone, but questioned his logic in using a woman.
In Sunberth, women stood out...especially pretty ones.
They bought unwanted attention and uncomfortable scrutiny. Better to be a man and invite only the half threatening gaze of other so-called alpha males strutting their own mongrel pack.
Although with his thin frame and delicate features, who was he to talk?
The thought was comical, if in a dark sense, and it brought the hint of a grin to the doctor's face. Well, no matter. It wouldn't be long before he met her now...and with that first meeting would all opinions be met, would her worth be weighed.
He hoped Eridanus had the sense to choose someone Dhalvasha might like...otherwise things could become...tense.