Chimney is a major harbor city that sprawls on the slopes of the Salada Peninsula, which "sticks way out like a thumb" from the western coast of the northern continent into the ocean. It is south of Meadenvil, another significant coastal city, with Tagline, Needle, and Shaker being other less-noteworthy cities found along the coast between them.
In Shadows Linger [1984], few details are recorded about the city itself, as Chimney is mentioned mostly in the context of the arrival and departure of the Black Company. However in the short story "Cranky Bitch" [2021] of the On The Long Run arc, Chimney is the key location and many details about it are revealed.
Croaker the Company Annalist wrote that "poverty was so all-pervasive in Chimney, any broken glass would have been snagged instantly for its miniscule resale value".
Shadows Linger[]
Raven and his young ward Darling flee from Meadenvil to Chimney in Shadows Linger. A select group of veterans of the Black Company – reduced and on the run from the Lady's Empire after the Battle of Juniper – arrives not long afterward. The Lieutenant finds Darling and Raven's ship, and he even observes what appears to be his body in a freshly-lit funeral pyre. But, he had faked his death in a hoax slip-and-fall accident in Chimney's public bath. Even Darling was deceived this time.
The Lieutenant takes employment with the private constabulary of one of Chimney's mercantile factors. He adds his men's names to the roll as soon as they recuperate. Nineteen days after Croaker's arrival in Chimney, there is another warm reunion. Croaker's closest Company friend Elmo and 70 other brothers who were assumed dead surprised the rest of the men by riding into town, having escaped Juniper on horseback.
"Cranky Bitch"[]
- Main article: Cranky Bitch
The Black Company's leader, the Lieutenant, takes a contract with two important organizations of Chimney: the Houses of Istven and the Seamen's Guild. Their mission is to escort the city's merchant vessels in convoy work to protect them against the pirates of the Pocatose archipelago. The first southbound convoy consists of 12 ships; they head back north toward Chimney with 14 merchantmen. On their return to Chimney after their second southbound convoy, there are 19 ships.
Upon the Black Company's final anchorage in Chimney, 6 senior officials from the Houses of Istven and 12 armed bodyguards attempt to order them all to disarm. This was predicted beforehand, however, as Croaker knew their employers would be simply the latest in a long line of arrogant fools who would try to avoid paying their debt to the mercenaries. The Company killed several of the bodyguards and 3 of the officials, to send a clear message to the city. The city leaders then paid their debt in full by procuring a shopping list of items compiled by the Lieutenant.
The Black Company and Darling would leave Chimney shortly afterward and begin their 4-year trek eastward toward the Plain of Fear. They would be accompanied by an unspecified number of "lowlifes from Chimney" would and be pursued by Whisper the entire way. After departing Chimney, their next major adventure in the On The Long Run short story arc would be the events of "Leta of the Thousand Sorrows".