Tavah stood among the gathered group, the lush hides and furs of his attire standing out amongst the cloth and metal adornments that were quite commonplace among society.  Even the dull metal of the bulky looking sword strapped to his back looked crudely crafted by comparison to the polished steel wielded by some of those around him.  Despite that and several other details that only served to make the barbarian stand out, he looked perfectly comfortable and even non-caring about being out of his element as he listened to the old man speak.  The only fracture in his casual demeanor was a momentary deadpanning of the eyes as their advisor used the term ‘savage wildmen’.<br/><br/>It was one among several dozen slanderous terms that Tavah had slung at him with various degrees of distrust, loathing, or contempt since he had ventured down from his mountainous homeland.  Tavah was never the sort to shy away and always matched such a remark with one of his own.  Depending on the sort of opposition, things had the potential to escalate from there and it wasn’t entirely uncommon for the encounter to turn physical.  Though he typically received a few minor injuries, the point was that he had always been the one to walk away on his own two feet while his opponent was less fortunate.  As familiar as he was with brawling, Tavah knew where the line where excessive force was drawn and always enjoyed toeing that line.  He frequently wondered if that had been the pebble that started the cascade of events that led him to being offered the chance to take part in this mission.  Fortunately for the civility of the occasion, Tavah could discern the difference between a slight against him and the reference to enemies from long ago.  The term passed by him harmlessly save for the flash of recent aggravating memories that had become associated with it.<br/><br/>Once the old man finished the briefing, Tavah found himself without need of further information.  He knew where he needed to go and what he needed to do; the rest of the details were best addressed as they arose.<br/><br/>The woman with the steel shell was the first to introduce herself as Analise.  He was fond of her brevity in doing so; far too often in his travels he had encountered people who talk in a similar manner as her, but do so in vast and unnecessary length.  Intent on setting it as the standard for this particular exchange, Tavah spoke next.  He had an accent that was low and masculine, giving his words a rounded edge to them that still managed to sound a little harsh.  “I am Tavah of the Sunderfist clan, kinsman to the Radimir tribe in the northern mountains.”