Barker's Menagerie
The Menagerie was the euphemistic term for a petshop/slavemarket run by gnolls and owned by the elf, Thaddeus Barker, before it was burned to the ground. It sold sapient beastfolk as if they were pets, and was revealed to also be selling mongrelfolk as chattel slaves to the House Carterhold.
Inside the Menagerie, the animalfolk captives were kept in cramped cages and treated as objects rather than living beings. The gnolls who ran the operation were cruel and sadistic, and they delighted in tormenting their prisoners, who they subjected to various forms of torture, including branding and other physical abuses. Some of the animalfolk were also forced to compete in the cage fights organised by Tyl'rr Do'urden for the amusement of the gnolls and their customers, including a gang of noble kids led by Katib Cody Bakerstreet.
History
Mapday, Beggarmoon, 1311
Katib Hugo Dargent was sent by his father, Vizier Richard Dargent, to balance the Menagerie's accounts. While he was scratching out some of the numbers on the Menagerie ledger, making the sums add up to hide some of the more nefarious dealings and even out the Gnolls' skimming taxes off the top (and the middle and the bottom) of the income, he could see out the window a couple of Gnolls dragging a tiny adolescent Bunbun (Connie Furr) by the ears and tossing her into a hutch. Although Hugo tried to ignore Connie's silent crying as he finished balancing the highly unbalanced books, he eventually couldn't bear it any longer, and enquired about her situation.
Needleday, Tinkermoon, 1313
The downfall of the Menagerie began with the gnolls' rebellion against Thaddeus Barker, after Subvizier Victor Dargent botched his diplomatic attempts to limit their activities in the upper regions of the city. The gnolls turned on Barker and a bloody and chaotic battle ensued. Barker was killed by Blazegut's bomb, and the leader of the gnoll rebellion, Roughpelt, was taken out by Lindie Asklepa. Lindie and Connie Furr used the chaos of the battle to reach the cages and unlock them, freeing the captive animalfolk, including the minotaur Boulder Buttercream and the bunbuns Bugsby Cottontail, Echo Bunnyman and Fnifs. Connie discovered cages filled with mongrelfolk, who were to be sold as chattel slaves to House Carterhold. One of the mongrelfolk, Beozar, gave her a pamphlet for the Patchwork Empire. While Connie and Lindie were busy freeing the menagerie's captives, Hugo kept Victor distracted, preventing him from finding out about or interfering with their mission. As they were leaving, they ran into Cody's Gang, and Hugo cautioned the group not to attend the menagerie that evening (because stuff had gone down and Barker was dead). Surprisingly (given their fraught history), Hugo was best able to get Rouge Carterhold on side, given her greater experience with the menagerie through her father's Mongrelfolk slavery trade.Mapday, Tinkermoon, 1313
Connie, Lindie and Hugo were sent back to the Menagerie by Princess to fight in Tyl'rr Do'urden's cage fight and try to win some Angel Dust that it had been rumoured would be up for grabs. Unsurprisingly, the cage fight turned out to be a form of gambling entertainment for Cody's gang of dumb rich kids, and Grimoire Brasseyes offered Angel Dust as an incentive for Hugo and his companions to make things interesting, and summoned a pair of Edimmu from her magical book.
RUINED STRUCTURE
Mapday, Tinkermoon, 1313
Mapday, Tinkermoon, 1313
