Lamplighters' Guild

With a heavy clunk and the whirling of a chain, a thunderous echo resounded from the flaming rooftops of the docks. A heavy ballista bolt fell like thunder, but as the chain-clad watchman began to crank the device back to load it, he gasped and collapsed. Stepping onto the scaffold platform, a young woman emerged, wiping her cutlass off on her forearm bracer. Backlit by the embers and the dim orange smog, she brushed her choppy black hair out of her eyes with a bloody hand and yelled out, down to the bustling crowds. Spurring her fellow Thieves on against the tide of the watch.'We're outnumbered two by ten, but we can do this! Press on!'- An unknown thief spurs on her fellows during the opening night of the Waterdeep riots in 1502. Valeria would later claim it was her, but this was dubious. Either way, this very event inspired the Two by Ten symbol. 
The Lamplighter's Guild, known by countless other names including the Thieves or Painter's Guild, was a thieves' group of Waterdeep and later Halcyon. They were the rulers of the underworld, and knew the sewers and catacombs like none else. 
== Under Archie ==
Waterdeep as a city always had a notable thieving underworld, manifesting as the Eye Thieves around 1500, and later the Thavians in the 1520s. After the 'Red Hawk Down' incident, Archie Grimes took his opportunity to subsume the Thavians into his up-and-coming guild. The group rose to prominence in the 1530s under the leadership of Archie, and persisted for many years more.
Concurrent with the Convocation of Waterdeep, Archie led the thieves with a seat on the council under the guise of a guild leader of assorted, fairly unremarkable guilds. These guilds, which doubled as undercover names for the thieves, included the following list. These assorted mundane craft guild names allowed the thieves to reap the benefits of official companies and have their own fronts.
== Under Valeria ==
After Archie's death in the 1560s at a play, Valeria Grimes was next to grasp control of her predecessor's criminal empire. She controlled the guild tightly but was well respected. The Thieves could be anywhere and anyone, which made them scary (as seen when one was able to murder Yalaméda by masquerading as a trusted city guard).
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