The Den

The Den is a dangerous place and is a safe haven for drug and slave trading. You'll be able to 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 anarchies with 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.

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 an 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, drugs, and slavery 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 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 tatooing its symbol on the foreheads of all members. It sells slaves to New Reno and Vault City. Although Metzger 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.