Thugs are incredibly common on the isle of Java, basically the HQ of the VOC.

Deep in the jungle, surrounded by desolate swamps near Jakarta, the sinister island of "Radu" houses a pagoda like building in which the Thugs hide, a bloodthirsty sect which affiliates of the stranglers, followers of a dead person named Rajamundri. Led by the ex-dragon Suyodhana, the Thugs imprison a young girl named Ada Krisdayanti, a sister of Shanti's half-Balinese dad, the daughter of an Indo officer nicknamed "the Virgin of the Pagoda" by the sect and forced to become the priestess of Rajamundri. Tremalang, a brave ex hunter in love with the girl, will try to save her with the help of her faithful ward, the maharatta Kammamuri, alongside whom he faces a fight to the death against the worshipers of Rajamundri. In the opening pages of the novel, Aghur, another of Tremalang's servants, returns from a hunt and reveals to his master that his companion who went hunting with him is dead. Tremalang and Kammamuri find the body of their unfortunate companion, suffocated by a silk thong and with his head smashed, and everything suggests that it is an execution conducted by the Thugs; in fact, right near the place of the murder, the ex hunter discovers the entrance to the stranglers' hideout. Tremalang sees Ada like this for the first time, and immediately falls in love with her. Coming out into the open, the hunter kills the Thug leader and runs away, but loses track of Kammamuri and finds himself near a large pagoda, where he finds the girl again. The ex dragon Suyodhana, however, sets out on his trail to try to kill him. The snake hunter receives a stab in the heart and is left agonizing in the heart of the forest, but luckily for him Kammamuri finds him and manages to rescue and heal him. The Thugs, however, want to get rid of the three hunters for good, so they try to send a mole, a Betawi named Manjadi; he manages to strangle Aghur, but is later discovered and killed by Kammamuri and Tremalang, now cured after a long convalescence. The duo is finally determined to free Ada, and during a stormy night, together with their trained tiger Darma, they reach the Thug hideout and free her lover. Unfortunately, the small squad gets lost in the tunnels of the dungeon and returns again as a prisoner of the Thugs.