Alcander ran his hand over his head, moving the fringe out of his face. He gave Teajay a look and gestured for her to follow. 

The alleyway was dirty, as one might expect. The afterbirth of yesterday's rain still clung in small puddles where the rancid liquids of whatever trash had been tossed casually away accumulated in a thick soup. Al idly kicked aside an old can of beer as they approached the dumpsters. He had not expected the heavy objects to be on wheels, but it would have been a welcome sight. Still, he stopped at the first one and leaned left to get a better view inside. Black trashbags and the occasional loose refuse were piled together, but no sign of the black sludge. He sniffed a small, sardonic laugh and rolled up his sleeves. 

Alcander set his feet firmly on dry ground, planting his hands against the aluminum siding. The dumpster was not entirely full, so he had confidence he could move it himself. Alcander was wiry, but he had a lean strength to him. A moment passed, and then the deep scraping of metal on concrete screeched, and Alcander grunted as he pushed forward, until he nearly slipped. His foot slid along an strange substance and his knee almost struck the ground, but he caught himself. Al fully expected to look down and see a trail of wet chicken grease, but instead his eyes caught something unexpected. 

A small stream of black sludge leading just under the dumpster. But its path stopped right at a small pool of the stuff, staining the hilt of a strange dagger. Alcander stepped away, waving Teajay over. 

"Hey, come look at this." He bade her, wiping his lip with the back of his hand. "Ever seen a blade like this before?" 

The dagger was a around a foot in length, the steel of the blade almost bluish in coloration. It looked incredibly sharp, wrought in a single edge that smoothly transitioned into a keen stabbing point. The hilt was abyssal black, so dark it was almost impossible to tell where it ended and the sludge began. A small fuller ran down the length of the blade, but it did not look like a modern KABAR or Bowie knife. Alcander was not a medievalist, but it had the look of a thick bladed, single edged rondel dagger.