Big GrayReport
English：Big Gray · Characters
Leader of the Grayflayers, one of the five gangs of the Swamp, and a Greenlander who keeps to a code of his own — but he holds no diplomatic status, so the player can simply walk up and start swinging.
Big Gray is the leader of the Grayflayers, one of the five criminal gangs of the Swamp, and a male Greenlander. He is permanently stationed in Grayflayer Village, which is named after his own gang, and his base is an unremarkable-looking swamp shack inside it.
A gang boss with a code
Of the Swamp's three major powers the Grayflayers are the smallest and the least ostentatious. They do not swagger the way the Hounds do; they take robbery, theft and jobs that will not bear daylight, and are said to "only steal from bad people" — though that claim comes out of tavern talk to begin with, so it is worth little.
Big Gray himself is given an Honorable personality, and the game's narrative text carries traces of it. Volume five of the Letters From A Swamper series mentions that he angered his own men by refusing to avenge a dead gang member; over on the Hounds' side, someone grumbles that "Big Gray is getting harder and harder to control". A boss with a code does not prosper in a place like the Swamp.
No diplomatic status
For the player, the single most useful thing about Big Gray is this: although he is a faction leader, he has no Diplomatic Status. That means no prerequisites, no special dialogue sequence — walk up and you can start a fight or carry him off on the spot.
His stats sit in the 23–33 band across attack, defence, weapon skills, Strength and Toughness, with a random ±5 on top. By the standards of the Swamp that is a handful; for any mid-game squad it is no threat at all. His Perception and thief-type skills are all close to zero, and he cannot use a crossbow. For gear he wears a Ninja Blade at his hip, Assassin's Rags with a Straw Hat, Samurai Clothpants and Samurai Boots, with armour quality Standard about ninety-five percent of the time (5% chance of High Grade).
After you take him
Whether Big Gray lives or dies rewrites the balance of power in the Swamp:
- Big Gray killed or captured → Grayflayer Village passes to the Swampers.
- Big Gray, Big Grim and Big Darkbrow all dead → Rot loses every defender and is overrun by Blood Spiders.
- If Tora the Fearless is still alive and free while both Big Gray and Big Grim are out of the picture, Grayflayer Village falls to the Band of Bones, and Tora herself moves in to run it.