When on the way to save your Tsar, would you stop to pick up a stranger you never met?
That's exactly what Roberto does. He enters the Haunt and hijacks Opal Burnet, the Androgunous guide, to serve his dubious purposes.
Unwilling to admit he's out of his depth, Opal makes a stand only to find himself faltering.
The two of them start a duel that will make them company through years to come but for now there is a whore house they need to enter.