Grayflayer VillageReport
English：Grayflayer Village · Locations
A Swamp village that belongs to the Swampers on paper and to the Grayflayers in practice. Big Gray's headquarters is hidden in one unremarkable shack here, and ownership of the village changes hands with the fortunes of the gang bosses.
Grayflayer Village sits in the Swamp and is controlled, on paper, by the Swampers — but as the name says out loud, the people actually running it are the Grayflayers. The gang's headquarters is here, and its leader Big Gray is stationed here permanently.
That split between nominal ownership and real control is the basic model for the whole Swamp: the Swampers are a shopfront assembled out of five gangs, and behind every settlement stands one of them.
Who the Grayflayers are
The Swamp is divided between five gangs — the Twinblades, the Grayflayers, the Stone Rats, the Blackshifters and the Hounds — each led by one of the "Big Bosses". They specialise: some smuggle, some extort, some kidnap. The Grayflayers are in a different line of work.
The Grayflayers tend to keep to themselves. They mainly do raids, heists, and covert missions for big payin' customers. Apparently they only steal from the 'bad', so I hear, but no one knows too much about their activities. — Swamper Barman
Two things in that are worth noticing. First, they are the only one of the five gangs anyone describes as having principles — although the claim arrives as hearsay and stays there. Second, "no one knows too much about their activities" is itself an achievement in a wetland where everybody watches everybody.
Beyond that they do what the other four do: hashish. Grayflayer smugglers turn up not only here but at the Smugglers Bar and out in the Grey Desert.
By size, measured against the Hounds and the Blackshifters, the Grayflayers are reckoned the smallest of the five. In the Letters From A Swamper series they are called the Grayflayer Clan.
Finding it
Two routes. Either trudge through the swamp on foot until you stumble into it, or acquire and read the Map of the Swamps, which marks it for you.
What the village lives on
The economy here is stated plainly by what is standing in it: two hemp farms, three riceweed farms, one swamp store selling fish and drugs, and a makeshift gate around the edge.
Put together, that is the Swamp in miniature. Hemp is one of the few crops this wetland grows reliably, and it is also the raw material for contraband; riceweed feeds people; the rest gets sold. That the store advertises "fish and drugs" in the same breath tells you the revenue structure without further comment.
Big Gray's base is an unremarkable-looking swamp shack inside the village, indistinguishable from the houses beside it. The gang headquarters has no sign and no honour guard — the exact opposite of the Hounds' headquarters in Shark.
The village has one makeshift gate, no walls, and no formal guard roster. To understand its defensive logic you have to look at where it sits: the swamp itself is the moat.
Who lives here
The permanent residents are the Grayflayers themselves. Their kit is remarkably uniform, and it says a good deal about the gang's character:
| Slot | Item |
|---|---|
| Weapon | Desert Sabre (Ancient manufacture) |
| Head | Rattan Hat or Straw Hat |
| Body | Ninja Rags or Ninja Gi |
| Legs | Samurai Clothpants |
| Feet | Wooden Sandals |
| Armour grade | Standard (5% chance of High) |
| Personality | Honorable |
Two details are worth pausing on. The Honorable personality — on a gang whose trade is raids and heists — means they will not finish off a downed opponent and will not chase someone who has already run. And there is a 55% chance any given Grayflayer is female, an unusually strong skew for a faction in this game.
Their leader, Big Gray, is a male Greenlander with the same Honorable personality. One data point about him matters enormously to the player: he has no Diplomatic Status.
Changing hands
Grayflayer Village is affected by several world states and can end up under two different owners. The conditions are stated plainly:
| Successor | Trigger | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Swampers | Big Gray killed or kidnapped | The village reverts to its nominal owners and becomes one of the Swamp Villages |
| Band of Bones | Big Gray and Big Grim both killed or imprisoned, while Tora the Fearless is alive and free | The Shek bandit faction moves in, the location type changes to Outpost, and it may become their new headquarters |
The first outcome has a practical side effect: once the village is folded into the Swamp Village system, a travelling shop moves in — the Deadcat Big Shop listed in the vendor table below. In other words, killing Big Gray leaves the village better supplied than it was.
The second outcome is one step in a much larger reshuffle of Swamp power: with Big Gray and Big Grim both down, the top two layers of the five-gang structure are empty, and outside Shek bandits are waiting at the door.
Why it matters to the player
- This is one of the easiest gang strongholds in the Swamp to hit. The leader has no diplomatic standing and low stats; the village has no walls and no guard roster.
- Think first, though. Kill Big Gray and the village changes owner and changes shops. If you were running hemp through here, redraw the route.
- If you want to work with the Swamp, the door is in Shark, not here. This village is a production site, not a negotiating table.
- One Swamp House (16,000 Cats) and three Swamp Shacks (4,000 Cats each) are for sale, making it one of the cheapest footholds in the Swamp.
See also
Buildings and shops
Swamp Store (Fish and Drugs Seller), Makeshift gate, Hemp farms x2, Riceweed farms x3
Buildings for sale
| Building | Price |
|---|---|
| Swamp House x1 | 16,000 Cats |
| Swamp Shack x3 | 4,000 Cats |
| Swamp Shack (Grayflayer Hideout) | — |
Sells
Vendors here stock 50 items in total, grouped by category — every entry links.
Items
Advanced First Aid Kit, Authentic Skeleton Repair Kit, Basic First Aid Kit, Bloodrum, Cactus Rum, Cotton, Fuel, Greenfruit, Grog, Hemp, Iron Plates, Riceweed, Sake, Skeleton Repair Kit, Sleeping Bag, Splint Kit, Standard First Aid Kit, Tools, Water Jug, Water, Wheatstraw
Nutrition
Bread, Chewsticks, Cooked Vegetables, Dried Fish, Dried Meat, Dustwich, Foodcube, Gohan, Meatwrap, Ration Pack, Rice Bowl
Light Armour
Bandana, Black Bandana, Hachigane, Rattan Hat, Side-Angle Hachigane, Tagelmust, Tricorn Hat
Backpacks
Bull Backpack, Garru Backpack, Scavenger's Basket, Trader's Wooden Backpack, Wooden Backpack
Medium Armour
Armoured Hood, Iron Hat, Masked Helmet, Visored Helmet
Headgear
Heavy Armour
Vendors and stock here
Compiled automatically from the wiki's vendor data: shops that can appear in this settlement and what they may carry. Actual stock varies with world state and randomisation.
Advanced First Aid Kit, Armoured Hood, Authentic Skeleton Repair Kit, Bandana, Basic First Aid Kit, Black Bandana, Bloodrum, Bread, Bull Backpack, Cactus Rum, Chewsticks, Cooked Vegetables, Cotton, Dried Fish, Dried Meat, Dustwich, Foodcube, Fuel, … (50 items in all at this shop)