Pathfinder 1e Monster / NPC: Sczarni Thugs

This thuggish Varisian wears black garb and tattered rags that conceal his myriad small blades and reveal runic tattoos.

The notorious ruffians known as the Sczarni constantly prowl the civilized areas of Varisia in search of easily bamboozled merchants, travelers, and aristocrats to prey upon. Countless Sczarni thugs operate throughout Magnimar, their sheer quantity spawning numerous gangs that each possesses its own illicit specialty as well as a clearly defined turf. Indisputably, the most powerful Sczarni gang in the city is the Gallowed, who operate from a caravan of wagons perched directly below Lord-Mayor Grobaras's home, Defiant's Garden. The Gallowed sports a large number of thugs and leg-breakers, as well as its infamous Fish Tank, a 4-foot-tall glass aquarium hidden in one of the caravan's wagons and filled with swamp barracuda used to coax information out of unwilling victims. As a rule, Sczarni thugs are not needlessly violent, and prefer to concentrate their efforts on crimes that will make them the most money rather than spill the most blood. Sczarni tend toward swindles and illicit trade instead of rape or murder, leaving such brutal acts of violence to sociopaths and unscrupulous thieves' guilds.   Though the Gallowed make up the most powerful Sczarni gang in Magnimar, they are far from alone, and numerous other small families constantly vie for turf and wealth throughout the City of Monuments. The Tower Girls specialize in robbery as well as extortion, and are often hired by quarreling nobles to help shame or blackmail rivals with evidence of infidelity, bastard children, or other secret failures. When not ruining lives, the Tower Girls display their impressive acrobatics onstage in the various playhouses and nightclubs of Lowcleft.   Shunned even by other Sczarni gangs, the Creepers seed the streets with drugs and other illicit substances. They concoct many of the drugs in their base near Underbridge, using their runners to keep the whole city stocked with a handful of vices at any time.