Mangled Leg
Lot’s Lane, Hive Ward
In the darkest quarter of Sigil’s streets, the Hive holds some of the nastiest conditions outside the Lower Planes. Only the foolish, desperate and barmy individuals would willingly come to this part of town. But some do come for the pure excitement and danger of the locals. Others come to make a quick buck and walk away with enough jink to live forever. And still others come to gamble. With either their lives, safety or jink. Those wanting the latter usually find them selves on Lot’s Lane near the Night Market. Here there is an “abandoned” warehouse that has an interesting marker over the door, the rotting, broken and twisted leg of a humanoid creature nailed to the wall.
A single guard stands at the door, a dark elf in chain mail (prime drow fighter [he/him]/ CE). There are five other drow warriors here hiding in the shadows and using their invisibility ability. Once the doorman is paid his bribe, the visitors are escorted into the abandoned warehouse where a large dark cloaked figure escorts them to a door that leads to a set of stairs leading down. The bottom of the stairs opens into a huge room that is dimly lit. But the air is filled with the smells and sounds of many creatures engaged in gambling. This is the Hive’s most notorious casino, The Mangled Leg. Here, a human can rub elbows with a fiends and worse as they wager against one another. The games range from knuckles, numerous dice games, to wheel games. Female tieflings and half-orcs make up the dealers and game bosses. The atmosphere is always violent as numerous fights break out. The gambling tables, wheels and other devices are made from steel so they can take the abuse.
The place is run by a stunningly beautiful woman (a disguised erinyes baatezu) named Tish [planar erinyes baatezu [she/her / Fated / LE]. Don’t let her appearance fool you into thinking she is kind; she’s anything but. Her rules are simple. The house (a.k.a. Tish) is always right. You can’t miss the rule because it is posted behind every table and wheel. (Oh, and “the house always wins in the end” — this second rule is not really known by the public at large.) And to enforce these simple rules, she has a squad of nine barbazu and their squad commander, a cornugon called Certain Death [planar cornugon baatezu [he/him] / Mercykillers / LE]. When trouble breaks out (and believe me, it invariably does), the guards are more than happy to flay the offenders and even a few not involved in the situation. (They shouldn’t have been there in the first place is the guards’ attitudes.) Those creatures are then “subdued” and taken into a back room with an iron door.
But jink isn’t the only thing sought after here. Hence, the second rule comes into play. The real mission of this casino is to get more “volunteers” for the Blood War. So, when a berk runs out of funds, (which seems to happen a lot) Tish invites them into her office. Here she uses her wiles and offers the poor creature a line of credit from the house, which they sign for, promising to return the money and interest within a specific time period. Now, most berks don’t read the small print, since Tish is very persuasive and encourages quick signatures, but they’ve just signed themselves up for a permanent tour of duty in the Blood War and their immortal souls to Tish. (That is after they lose the line of credit or default on the terms of course. Which, by the way, always occurs rather quickly as well.) These “contract breakers” are taken to a small room in the back of the casino with an iron door that has a portal to Avernus, the first layer of Baator. These bobbed berks are sent there, where a “representative” from one of the pit fiends await the new arrivals. Money won at the casino is also sent along to Baator where it is used to buy supplies for the Blood War.
Source: Jachyras
