The Pits

Back to Harbour City

Just outside the Northeastern Sally Port is the fighting pits -- a popular attraction -- from which this neighborhood derives its name. If anywhere can be worse than the Squalids, this is it.

Places of Interest

• Arena: The Pits
• Market

The Jail: The Iron Gauntlet

The jail in the Pits, ominously known as The Iron Gauntlet, is more than just a holding cell for criminals—it’s a grueling detention center where the condemned face brutal conditions and sometimes even forced labor. The Iron Gauntlet serves both as a temporary lock-up for brawlers, petty criminals, and other undesirables, and as a final destination for those who cross the wrong people or fail to pay their debts. In the Pits, the jail's reputation is harsh; inmates can expect cold stone cells, minimal food, and constant intimidation from guards who are just as dangerous as the criminals they oversee.

The Iron Gauntlet is used strategically to maintain order—or, rather, the appearance of it—in this lawless district. While a few are placed here for genuine infractions, most inmates are sent to the Gauntlet to disappear quietly or are extorted for bribes and favors to secure their release. It’s not uncommon for a night in the Gauntlet to result in "accidents," with few inquiries into how prisoners fared once inside. The Gauntlet also hosts informal fights among inmates, sometimes wagered upon by the guards themselves.

Corruption in the Judicial System

The judicial system in the Pits is deeply corrupt, operating more as an instrument of control for the local crime lord and officials than as a genuine force for justice. Sentences are often decided based on bribes and favors, and those with the right connections or enough coin can walk free regardless of their crimes. For the rest, being thrown into the Gauntlet is a punishment of misery and degradation. The jail often “overlooks” the crimes of well-connected criminals who funnel payments to the warden or the magistrate. Likewise, any inmate who proves valuable in terms of connections or information might receive “preferential” treatment, while the rest are simply left to rot or fight for survival.

Warden of the Iron Gauntlet: Borin Thalrack

The Iron Gauntlet is run by Warden Borin Thalrack, a brutish dwarf with a reputation for cruelty and indifference. Borin rose through the ranks by making himself indispensable to the Beholder and other criminal elements, turning the jail into a useful tool for underworld operations. Known for his love of intimidation, Warden Thalrack often makes examples of unruly prisoners, turning their punishment into public spectacles that both entertain and instill fear. His primary motivation is personal gain, and he openly accepts bribes to ease sentences or provide certain privileges, making him one of the wealthiest figures in the Pits. However, Borin keeps his allegiance fluid, switching support as needed to retain his power.

Magistrate: Loria Serave

The magistrate who works with Warden Thalrack is Loria Serave, a cunning and calculating human woman whose reputation is as treacherous as it is refined. She handles the sentencing of prisoners in the Pits and has a knack for finding the most profitable angle in every case. Loria works hand-in-glove with Borin to maintain the flow of bribery, and she’s not above inventing false charges if it means gaining leverage or payment. With her extensive knowledge of Harbour City’s influential figures, she also acts as an intermediary between the Beholder's interests and the city’s nominal authorities.

Magistrate Serave, motivated by power and the illusion of respectability, uses her role to keep both criminals and guards indebted to her. While she projects an aura of integrity when required, those who know her true nature are well aware that every sentence and every pardon has a price. She often entertains bribes and secret deals within her office, making her as complicit in the criminal underworld as the prisoners she convicts.

Adventure Hook

The party is tasked with freeing a high-value prisoner from the Iron Gauntlet. However, to succeed, they must navigate the treacherous power dynamics between Warden Thalrack, Magistrate Serave, and the inmates who control the jail’s inner workings. The party could attempt to bribe the warden or strike a bargain with Loria Serave, but each favor comes with hidden strings—and crossing either of them might turn the Gauntlet’s guards into deadly adversaries.

Brothel: The Lordlings Teat

The Lordling’s Teat serves the rougher and more brutal crowd of the Pits. This establishment caters to fighters, gamblers, and the disreputable patrons of the fighting pits. The ambiance is one of raw indulgence, with a more unrestrained atmosphere than The Gilded Abyss. Here, patrons can find rooms for private brawls and little in the way of elegance or secrecy; instead, it’s a place of overt pleasures and dangerous company.

Proprietor of The Lordling's Teat: Tormin "Steelhead" Voss

The Lordling’s Teat is operated by Tormin "Steelhead" Voss, a grizzled former pit fighter turned entrepreneur. He earned his nickname after Mad Doc Pindle patched an especially bad head wound he suffered in the Pits, despite winning the fight, with a steel plate. Tormin’s motivations are primarily profit and power. Having fought in the pits himself, Tormin knows the neighborhood's gritty heartbeat and uses his establishment to channel the ferocity of the arena into his business. While he doesn’t formally work under the Beholder, Tormin pays a hefty cut of his profits for protection and freedom to operate as he wishes.

Tormin’s motivations are driven by his personal creed: survival and dominance. He sees his brothel not only as a business but also as an extension of his reputation. His main goal is to gain control over the Pits by becoming indispensable, eventually leveraging his influence to break free from the Beholder's shadow. Despite his brash exterior, he’s careful not to challenge the Beholder directly, preferring instead to build allies among the more independent-minded mercenaries and brawlers of Harbour City.

Adventure Hook

The party is hired to investigate a series of disappearances linked to The Lordling’s Teat. The missing individuals are promising fighters who vanished after visiting Tormin’s establishment. Upon entering, the party quickly realizes they’ve stepped into a trap, as Tormin intends to use them in a brutal “last-man-standing” spectacle for his most exclusive patrons. The only way out is through a gauntlet of brawlers—and possibly to uncover what Tormin is really doing with his patrons.

Mad Doctor: Crassus "Doc" Pindle

The mad doctor responsible for patching up Tormin "Steelhead" Voss is known as Crassus "Doc" Pindle, a notorious figure among Harbour City’s underground healers. Doc Pindle is a former alchemist and surgeon, expelled from the city’s official medical guild for conducting unsanctioned experiments on his patients. Now, he offers his services to those desperate enough to seek him out, often leaving his clients with as many scars as fixes.

Crassus Pindle earned his nickname "Doc" from his brutal, unorthodox methods. He’s fascinated by mixing alchemical solutions with surgical interventions, and his workspace is rumored to resemble a cross between an apothecary and a butcher’s shop. It was Doc Pindle who “repaired” Tormin’s skull after a particularly savage match in the pits. Using a custom-made steel plate to reconstruct the fighter’s fractured skull, Doc left Tormin with a new moniker—“Steelhead”—and a new outlook on life, both of which boosted his reputation in the Pits. Some say the steel plate has a strange glint to it, hinting that Pindle may have added a few experimental enhancements as well.

Doc Pindle operates out of an abandoned apothecary near the Pits, known as the Bloodwell. Here, he treats the wounded fighters who stagger in from the arena, as well as any criminals, vagrants, or outcasts who need quick, albeit questionable, medical care. His motivations are less about money than they are about his bizarre passion for experimenting on the human body.

Adventure Hook

Doc Pindle has gone missing, leaving Harbour City’s most hardened fighters suddenly in need of urgent care. The party is hired by a fearful underground figure to find him. As they search, they uncover traces of blood magic and strange alchemical compounds, leading them to question whether Doc Pindle has been taken—or has willingly disappeared to pursue his darkest experiment yet. The party must track him down, but the closer they get, the more they realize they may be stepping into a trap that could make them his next patients.