The entirety of the game is played in the town of Strangle, the surrounding grassy lands and forests, and Long Term Storage. The town is totally sufficient, as far as player's needs go: there is a regular market, a black market, and anything you may want is available in stock or for order.

REGULAR MARKET

Nothing is regular in Strangle. The regular market is run by Long Term Storage, the people you STEAL from. They can provide nearly anything a thief, swordsman or spellcaster could want, within reason. All non-magical equipment found in the 1st Edition Player's Handbook, Unearthed Arcana, Adventurer's Guide and Wilderness Guide is available at book price. They have a limited selection of low-level magic items, which changes daily, and pricing for those is also at book price.
EXCEPTION: Anyone shopping at the Storage store is checked for capture brands. For each brand your body carries, you pay an extra 10%.
The Storage Store buys all non-magical items stolen from Storage or elsewhere, at 50% of book price, including some magical items. Again, those who bear brands are docked a 10% fee for each brand they carry. Example: a thief with two brands is selling a dagger to the Storage Store. He receives 30% of book price for the item: 50% raw value, less 10% for each of his two brands.

BLACK MARKET

There are several black market vendors and one black market store in Strangle. The vendors are secretive and not encountered until characters are at a higher level. The store is Rocky's, which operates openly and sees clients day and night, one group at a time. Rocky is a stone golem, who serves as both bouncer at the store and bodyguard to the proprietor, Mace. There is only one black market store in town because Rocky destroys any competitors, literally.

Rocky's offers poisons, magic items, unique or exceptional non-magical items, maps of Storage and other helpful gear. Prices for any book items are at 20% above list. Generally speaking, if they sell it at the Storage Store, they do NOT sell it at Rocky's, and vice versa. There are no penalties for having capture brands at Rocky's. There is no guarantee Rocky's will have any item in stock at any given time. Special orders for unique items can be placed at Rocky's. It is commonly known that Mace does not bargain, and those attempting to do so will be dumped outside Rocky's front door.

Although metal armor is not common among thieves, specialized leathers are available within the city of Strangle. They are expensive and take time to have fitted, but thieves who have some success can expect to have options available for them. So too, specialized thieving tools and assassin gear.

OTHER SOURCES OF EQUIPMENT

Waitresses at taverns can be bribed to tell you which bar patron is down on their luck and may want to sell adventure gear at discount prices. People get ambushed in the dark corners of the night in Strangle, sometimes stripped of everything they own. Cat burglars manage to work their way into hotel rooms and merchant offices at night. Wealthy citizens in Strangle have large homes. Local officials can be bribed. Everything there is in Storage and Strangle was brought in through the two holes in the wall by caravan and mule train, and that cargo is stored in a warehouse prior to distribution. And, of course, there is gambling.

THE LAW

There is a law and some semblance of order in Strangle. They're called The Drop. Storage pays for a police force in the city, one with patrols and jail cells but not one with courts. If the Drop get you, it's a tall fine to get you out. There is no pleading your case or appealing to the masses. The Drop decides your guilt, and that is final. If they decide you're a killer, they can kill you on the spot and your body gets dropped into the river. Note: The Drop is as corrupt as most everything else in the city. They can be bribed on the spot to let you go, based on the severity of the offense you're caught doing. Theft without assault, less severe; muggings bring harsh penalties; assassins caught in the act often end up in the river.

Most of the guards and officials working in Storage have homes in the rich sector of Strangle, as do the more successful thieves and merchants. You'll find The Drop spends a lot of time in this area, less so in the rough parts where Rocky's and the taverns are located.

Storage is the premiere employer in Strangle, and every ruffhouse in the Drop hopes to be hired into Storage work. The Drop tries very hard to catch criminals in the act- they'll let an assault happen just to catch the criminal with blood on their hands, watch a catburglar enter a home and wait for the thief to exit. The bigger the bust, the more likely they are to get work at Storage. They try very hard to catch thieves and killers.

Killing The Drop is not unheard of, but there will always be an investigation. Every on-duty member of The Drop carries with them an amulet on a leather thong around their neck, which serves as proof they are Drop and not imposters. Certain citizens of Strangle like to collect these amulets from the dead bodies of Drop members. They will pay handsomely for them, if adventurers are bold enough to try and collect.

THE GODS

Within a smaller section of Strangle is the Temple District, wherein an altar of small size can be found for nearly every God in the pantheons, and those whose followers include thieves have temple buildings. There are few holy men and women here (and none of druidic faith) so these clerics often act as priests for several Gods. These particular people of the cloth are always in need of someone to accomplish tasks on their behalf around town.

GUILDS

There are both Thieves and Assassins Guilds active in Strangle. To adventure in Long Term Storage, one need not apply for membership. If one chooses to burgle or kidnap or ambush in Strangle proper, they should apply to the appropriate Guild after one or two attempts. Until then, an adventurer might escape notice, but after...

THE MANORS

Off past the far eastern edge of Strangle are The Manors, a set of six large homes (with a seventh currently under construction). The city's wealthiest and most high-ranking managers of the Storage Company facility reside here. They have a market, shoppes and services which allow them to live comfortably and never have to go into Strangle proper. The Drop certainly patrols the East heavily, but each Manor has its own guard force and anti-theft measures. Two have moats!

THE RIVER

A river bisects the walled-in area surrounding Strangle and Storage. It runs between the two, crossed by a bridge, and has several smaller streams empty into it. The river enters from underground and exits the same, with a small pond marking the place where each end passes beneath The Wall. The River is always fresh, remains unfouled by the waste from Strangle, and promotes a variety of wildlife in and around it.

THE NORTH WOODS

North of Storage is the North Woods, which run right up to the edge of The Wall's north side. Many expeditions targeting Storage's northern outbuildings are launched from here. A Thief Camp is permanent and a short distance inside the forest, with a big central fire, food for sale and tents to rent short-term. Many seasoned thieves stay in the Thief Camp instead of Strangle, for reasons unique to each of them. There is no need to hide; the cart path to the camp is easily seen for most of its length and Storage doesn't care, anyway.

THE OVERLOOK COMPANY

Between Strangle and Storage is the river, and on the south side of the river is a tavern called The Overlook Company. They are not allowed to rent rooms nor are they allowed to sell or buy items of value, with a few exceptions. They are quite famous for overlooking. The tavern has a large elevated platform, on which are mounted several spyglasses, as pirates use them. A core group of ten Overlook Company people take rotating shifts and observe the Storage building, night and day. They watch when packages are loaded into the exterior buildings, and they watch when thieves try to steal from them. For a fee they can tell you which buildings are loaded with what size things. They can share insights into how the Storage infiltrators are successful. One spyglass is aimed away from the Storage building, and instead points toward the foot of the hill upon which Storage sits. That is the entrance to the underground caves beneath Storage. If you can find it, there's a few fine routes into the underbelly of the Storage itself. Otherwise there are bullywugs and other creatures brought in by Storage to help police the darkness.

THE WITCH

Healing potions can be found at Rocky's, and on the occasional waylaid adventurer, but for specialty brews you'll need to see The Witch. Several skulky characters make poisons in the city, of varying potency, but  The Witch (and her staff) have the good stuff. The north woods are larger than the east forest, and the east forest is less likely to have food animals to live on, but the east forest has several notable reasons to visit- or to stay away.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:20, Sun 26 Dec 2021.

THE LOCK PICK

All characters will be 'guided' toward the town of Strangle's most famous sleazeball tavern, The Lock Pick. The Pick offers everything an adventurer needs in an Inn- food, a place to eat it, rooms for rent, open all day and all night, lots of people coming and going. The Pick has a sand floor in the bar area, which remarkably stays warm all year round. Tables in the Pick come in all varieties- round, oval, square, extra-long, extra-tall. Seats are composed of benches, chairs, stools and wooden stumps. The Inn's serving floor has a no weapons policy- if you get in a fight, you can't use weapons.

The Pick is both tall and deep- two floors down, three floors up. Rooms are available with a window or without. Without are the basement rooms, preferable to those who have something to hide or who do not want thieves trying to break in through the shutters. The bottom floor is the cooking, storage and service area. It is accessed by a long ramp which runs up to the first floor.

The Pick is the least unsafe place to stay in Strangle, for low-level characters. Rooms containing two bunk beds (four mattresses) rent for 15 silvers a night and a brazier is an extra 5 silvers, for an even one gp per day. Common room sleeping (not recommended) is 5sp per night, which includes a cold meal at night (bread and cheese) and a hot meal in the morning (gruel).

An alley runs along three sides of The Pick, with the fourth being open to the Noose. That is Strangle's main road, which has a large loop at one end. The Pick has one exterior door in the back and the main door in the front, but there is a wooden stairwell extending from the ground to a second floor landing and a wooden door there. The back door goes to the kitchen, and that is controlled by the Ifrit waitstaff. There are numerous windows on the second and third floors.

The Underground

Storage is a single, massive building and a collection of lesser buildings atop a hill, bordered in some places by a fence, in others by a wall. The complex sits atop a honeycomb of underground tunnels, caverns and seams in the rock.

The site chosen for Storage has a long history of connection to ancient civilizations, supernatural events, unexplainable weather patterns and questionable religious practices. Years before Strangle was Strangle the city was called another name, now forbidden to repeat. Undead swarmed the city and killed all the inhabitants. It was not the first time that had happened. The Dutchy was more than happy to wall off the area, sink the rivers below the wall and sell the land to the Storage founders.

Where the hillside falls onto the river, on the west side of Storage, many holes in the ground can be found, and some are used by creatures as dens. Others are entrances to the underground. There are two well-known entrances framed in stonework. One entrance, commonly used. The other, a more ancient working of stone, is framed by vines and is more seldom used. Both entrances lie at the end of footpaths, which snake around the hillside and are dangerous to travel. Some assassins waylay travelers on the path.

It is known that there are places within the Storage complex which can be accessed through openings to the Underground. It is also true that Storage imports creatures to inhabit those tunnels and give adventurers a difficult time Underground. There are rumored to be communities of cave dwelling beasts in the Underground; it is said that they can be bribed to let thieves pass, but that seems impossible to believe.

One of the most common maps sold to adventurers in Strangle is a layout of the first level of the Underground. Although many rough copies and 'recollection maps' exist, there are actually a few maps on the market with correct specifications. A wise adventurer would find someone who has been in the Underground and get them to point out the lairs of unfriendly creatures and the places where ambush is likely to happen. Information always comes at a price.

STORAGE BRANDS

If one is caught thieving in Storage they are branded. It is painful, reduces your strength by ten for a full day (minimum strength is 3), and is permanent. Every time a thief is caught they receive a brand; the first is on the right back shoulder, the second on the left back shoulder, the third on the right front and the fourth, on the left front, over the heart. There are no fifth brands; if you get caught with four, your life is forfeit.

In Strangle, the number of brands you have is a measure of how experienced a thief you are. Having one brand is not a status symbol at all; it is easy to get your first, and after they get one, most thieves either leave Strangle or become victim to escapist pursuits, like drugs and gambling.

Having two brands or more is a proof statement of your prowess in Strangle. Often, men with two brands go about wearing backless tunics or no shirt at all, to illustrate their status. Female thieves will wear revealing clothes, showing off their brands. Whores will have brand scars done in temporary henna on their chests, just to make them appear more attractive to their clients.

When caught by Storage, a thief is first stripped of everything they have- down to the bare skin. All their gear is lost to Storage. They are marched as a group, naked, from Storage to Strangle, where their brands are applied in public. Storage's biggest bullies oversee the branding, with rude commentary for the townsfolk who bother to stop and watch the daily spectacle. Once branded thieves are turned out to town, naked and penniless. Some have friends who cover them and tend to their weakness; others find shelter with the few clerics dwelling in the city; others find the discomforting embrace of exploitative pimps and labor-sergeants, and they disappear forever.

Thieves can do well in Strangle without ever attempting to steal from Storage. They can catburgle middle-class and wealthy homes and make a good career out of it. In Strangle, to have no brands is a sign of inexperience, it implies one is of a lesser class of thief, and to have no brands can be viewed as a sign of cowardice. Everyone expects a person with no brands to be weak and easy.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:35, Mon 27 Dec 2021.