In A Stygian Gambit, the Afterlife was robbed during the Grand Minauros Invitational, a Three-Dragon Ante tournament featuring many of the region's great players. Duplicity Kye coordinated a heist through Golden Vault agents to rob the casino during the event. While gambling unfolded on the floor, the thieves infiltrated staff areas, stole back her original earnings, and swapped the golden Erinyes statuette prize with a decoy Gnome dildo. The Invitational ended in panic and confusion as the theft was discovered, and the thieves escaped down the casino falls to the sea, leaving Quentin humiliated as the tournament collapsed around him.
Designed by Gildur Draak and financed by Quentin Togglepocket Whee Quickweasel Witt, the Afterlife Casino was based themed after the Mythological concept of the Nine Hells. Its cobble lot was located a few miles from Cliffsunder near the terminus of the Helefir River, and visitors arrived to the casino by boat. An all-Devilborn staff would take them to a brightly-lit row of docks, where silent ferriers played the part of navigators on the River Styx. Carved out of a cliffside hill, the Afterlife typically opened from the morning until midnight, where all staff would be on-hand to ferry the remaining patrons back to the lot.
The casino functioned under strict supervision, with security measures in place to prevent rule violations. Every area had assigned staff, including cashiers, dealers, and attendants. Some rooms were protected by abjuration magic that could only be accessed by employees holding specific keycards, and public areas were patrolled by security guards and watched via short-range Magic Mirrors. These modified divinatory mirrors were connected to a back room, allowing surveillance of nearly the entire Casino. There were only two ways in or out of the Afterlife: the welcoming southern docks, and a northern open eighty-foot drop into the Shifting Blue.
Upon docking, visitors were checked for magic items then escorted into the establishment, which was dug around of a natural hillside cave fed by the river. The Afterlife had nine sections dedicated to gambling and entertainment. Its first section, "Avernus" contained Three-Dragon Ante tables, Tricky Devils, a small lounge, and cashier booths, where a minimum of 20gp could be exchanged into tokens at one time. "Dis" featured more slot machines and five tables of Life And Death, each with different betting amounts. "Minauros" had a Rat-racing track where patrons placed wagers on nine racers, each themed after a Lord of Hell.
For entertainment, the Bar "Malbolge" provided fiend-themed spirits, wines, and ales, and also had cigars for purchase. The "Phlegethosian" spa and "Stygian" bathhouse offered massages, saunas, and heated pools for a small fee. Every four hours, a show by the "Cirque Maldomini" featuring acrobats and trained animals was performed at a dedicated ring of seats. The final section of the floor, "Cania", catered to high-stakes gambling with seven three-dragon ante tables, and was used to hold tournaments. 20 feet below the casino was "Nessus", a restaurant that was open all day, with an open view of the rushing waterfall created from the above drop.
Unseen by patrons, the employees-only sections included a staging area, break rooms, holding cells, laundry rooms, and offices. This section also contained the casino's magic vault; chests in the vault were connected to the cashier booths by conjuration magic, preventing robbery at the booths themselves. This vault was said to be guarded by a Minotaur Skeleton, controlled only by the proprietor of the establishment.