Xanathar's Thieves' Guild

In the shadows and backrooms of the city, people whisper of the Xanathar Thieves’ Guild. Also called The Eye, this organization is said to control Waterdeep’s criminal underworld. They are known slavers and run many of the street gangs in the city’s slums. They recruit heavily from goblins and monstrous humanoids in the dark tunnels of Undermountain, and are believed to have a stronghold in the underground smuggler’s city of Skullport. Their symbol is a circle with ten spokes, like a ship’s wheel, or a sun, and many loyal members also bear stylistic tattoos of eyes.
The mysterious crime lord known as The Xanathar rules the syndicate from the shadows. No one knows what he looks like, and some whisper that he is a dragon, a fiend, or some inhuman monster.
It’s said that when the Shadow Thieves were broken and driven out of Waterdeep centuries ago, the remnants of the old thieves’ guilds were unified into a single, powerful organization by the strange and charismatic crime lord. The Xanathar deals in slavery, the trade of drugs, extortion, blackmail, gambling, and the acquisition and sale of smuggled magical items.
The Xanathar had a vice grip on the city’s crime after the destruction of the Shadow Thieves, but has seen his control weaken in the last year. The Black Network has recently made in-roads in the city’s organized crime, and some of the street gangs have pledged loyalty to them. Street skirmishes have erupted into a gang war in the Docks as the two crime syndicates battle each other for supremacy. Buoyed by the success of the Black Network, the Plague Rats declared independence, and the Cloven Nine have shifted their support to the Black Network.

Xanathar Street Gangs

• Sea Wolves. Raiders, pirates, and enforcers in the Dock Ward.
• Grambar’s Blades. Assassins and cutthroats for hire in the Dock Ward.
• Kerrigan’s Sons. Bandits and caravan raiders based in the South Ward.
• Marrowsons. Brawlers and street fighters in the Trades Ward.
• The Minotaurs. A gang of street toughs around the White Bull Court.

Outposts

The Xanathar Thieves’ Guild maintains scattered safe houses throughout the Sewers of Waterdeep, small rooms hidden behind secret doors among the warrens of passages. In Undermountain, the Agents of the Eye maintain a base in Skullport, and control much of the upper levels of Undermountain.

The Skewered Dragon. This tavern was once controlled by the Basilisk Boys street gang, until they were massacred by the Sea Wolves. Now the Xanathar-pledged pirate street gang holds the pub.
Sewer Hideout. This dungeon in the sewers lies beneath a warehouse, known as Cedar House, at the south edge of the Scales district. The hideout holds a teleport obelisk to Skullport, used to transfer victims of the slavers.
Terasse Estate. A brokerage firm run by foreign merchants in Highcoin Hall, the Embassy of the nation of Amn. The Xanathar Guild is believed to use the estate to smuggle contraband and prisoners to their hideouts in the sewers.
Orb Confectioners. This sweets shop in The Spine district of the South Ward, believed to be controlled by the Kerrigan’s Sons street gang. It’s rumored the Xanathar Guild has a hideout in the sewers beneath the shop.
Old Xoblob Shop. It’s rumored the eccentric gnome that runs the curiosity shop in the is a fence for the thieves guild.