The Den

 is a safe haven for drug and slave trading. The player can bust a slaver ring and a small gang here. In some ways, the Den might be considered a "mini-New Reno." They are both semi-stable, but have no central authority: while the Den is more focused on slaving, and New Reno is more focused on prostitution, they both share an economy dependent on gambling, prostitution, drugs, and slavery. By the time of New Vegas, it has been annexed by the NCR.

Location
The Den can be found six squares east and three squares south of Arroyo.

Inhabitants
Gambling is under the control of Rebecca Dyer, who also sells the cheapest alcohol in the Den, as she has her own still, rather than importing it from New Reno. Uncharacteristically given both her location and her business, she is a scrupulous and decent woman, and a passionate opponent of the slave trade that underpins the Den's economy. Her craps tables are unique in the game in that they are truly (pseudo)-random like an honest game of craps (although, unlike a real game of craps, there are ways of playing it that allow the player to beat the house on average). Her tables do not check the player's gambling skill.

For those residents of the Den who tire of the booze, whores, theft, slavery, and drugs that are so widespread in most of the Den, Mom's restaurant provides a welcome respite. Mom ensures that the atmosphere is respectful and bans fighting, cursing, and unlike most Den businesses (but like the Slaver's Guild), no orphan children stand outside her doors stealing from those who enter or leave. Mom specializes in rat dishes, offering rat-loaf, rat-pie, and spaghetti with rat sauce.

Smitty, also one of the more respectable people in the Den, is a local mechanic. He has a Chrysalis Highwayman in near-perfect condition, but it lacks a Fuel Cell Controller. He also occasionally sells other things, such as microfusion cells and super tool kits.

There are two shops in the Den: Tubby and Flick. Tubby's is mostly focused on selling drugs, whereas Flick's sells a wider variety of goods. Both merchants' shops are supplied, at least in part, by orphaned children who stand beside the doorways of shops and steal from passersby, but Flick's in particular depends on this.

Prostitution is primarily under the control of Frankie, proprietor of the Hole. He also sells drinks imported from New Reno, and is amazed and angry that Becky can sell her drinks so cheaply.

Another businessman of the Den styles himself "The Great Ananias". He claims to have found a great "jan-u-wine" (genuine) mummy and to have a haunted house next door. In fact, the "mummy" is a sleeping, comatose ghoul named Woody. The haunted house has more basis in fact: Anna Winslow's ghost recently has become restless because her locket was stolen from the haunted house by Joey, a local thug and jet dealer.

Finally, the richest and most powerful business in the Den is the Slaver's Guild. Headed by Metzger, this heavily-fortified guild prevents casual infiltration and ensures member loyalty by tattooing its symbol on the foreheads of all members. It sells slaves to New Reno and Vault City. Even though Wallace in Vault City acknowledges that they buy their servants there, it is only Thomas Moore who discusses the irony of such transactions. He tells the Chosen One how Vault City looks down on the Den for their links to slavery and for calling people slaves, but Metzger is nonetheless their primary provider of serveants. Although Metzger's primary investments are in the slave trade, he also is looking for a way into the drug business as well. In the current arrangement, raw chemicals from Vault City are exported to New Reno, where the families, especially the Mordinos, synthesize them into drugs. Metzger seeks to short-cut this chain by synthesizing the chemicals in the Den, but his teams have made little headway in deciphering the manufacturing process. The children around the town may also try to pickpocket you.

Layout
The is divided into two districts, with an additional unimplemented location accessible through an exploit or the main menu Recording feature.

West Side
The West Side is where most of the shops are. It is home to Becky's casino and a Brotherhood of Steel outpost. In the lower area of the west side is Smitty's Workshop where he has a working car that needs a battery.

East Side
The East Side is where the Slaver's Guild has its headquarters. There is also an old church, a graveyard, Mom's Diner, and the Hole Bar. Digging up any grave besides Anna's will cause you to lose a bunch of Karma. The graves in the graveyard, starting with the one in the upper right, can be dug up for:

Appearances in games
The Den appears only in Fallout 2 but is mentioned in Fallout: New Vegas as being part of the NCR.