The Lamplighters

The Lamplighters are a thieves guild operating across Kerebos, though the bulk of their operations are based upon Frostide. First established within the city of Sanctum in retaliation of The Grasp's founding. Though their operations are decentralized, with each branch responsible for their own practices and membership, the Lamplighters often take firm roots in their community, protecting its vulnerable from exploitation by the ruling class.

The current leader of the Lamplighters is Tandys Koltir, a prideful but honourable thief hoping to recapture the faction's former glory. Lore

According to The Redgrave Legacy: A Bloodied History by Isildur Carrow, the Lamplighters were first founded by Harold Perenolde, a master thief who had formed a relationship with Owen Redgrave. The duo established the city of Sanctum together, growing it from a small cabin along The Ring Road to a fully blossomed city. As they aged, their relationship fractured. Redgrave's children took after their father's line of work, establishing The Grasp, an assassin's guild. As contracts were taken out on Perenolde's men, he established The Lamplighters to provide security for the city's thieves, allowing them to elude the Grasp.

The game of cat-and-mouse continued, with the thieves guild's reputation growing as its members left to find fortune across Frostide and, eventually, the rest of Kerebos. Their history beyond their origins are secretive by design, with those in the know typically knowing that keeping that knowledge close to the chest is the safer option.

The Lamplighters first came to the party's attention when Grace, while preparing his coup of The Broken Blade, warned Kirmat to leave the city alongside The Wild Hunt. Supplying the dragonkin with some gold and a pin belonging to the Lamplighters, he instructed Kirmat to seek them out should they need aid.

Their journey next took them to Perilous, a dying city in midst of a power struggle. Some time before the events of the campaign, the local Lamplighters had assassinated the city's leader, Jotun Ironhammer, due to their dislike of the city's policies, then simply allowed the town to fall deeper into ruin. Sparrow made an enemy of Naeran, one of a set of twins who had led the rebellion. Naeran refused to cooperate, but his brother Fenlan assured the party they would assume proper leadership of the city they had liberated.

Finally arriving in Sanctum, the party established an early connection with Tandys Koltir, taking keen interest in Vespera and warning them to be more careful speaking freely in front of the statue of The Harlequin in the Rowdy Raccoon. Kirmat was tested to determine if they possessed the skills required to pull of a job the leader needed assistance with. According to Tandys, a local noble had died and had in his possession property belonging to the guild. His son refused to deal with them, and was seeking a deal with the Grasp to assassinate Tandys in order to get access to the vault keys already in Lamplighter possession. They could not move against him, but as outsiders, the party could move freely.

Infiltrating the bank vault brought the party some treasure and an old photo album that showed Tandys being raised by the Baron. Though Tandys had been close to Ivan's siblings, he and the would-be assassin never got along. Though he was sad to see a father figure pass, that was not the motivation for Tandys' request: a treasure map was hidden on the back of several photos, and he was keen to get his hands on that.

Having passed the test, Kirmat was invited to join the Lamplighters, but brokered a deal for the rest of the party to attain membership as well. With a connection established, they came to rely on Tandys for information and secret dealings. Kirmat had hoped to use their resources to rescue Grace following his partially successful gambit, and while that help was promised, the contingent of Lamplighters sent to rescue him had also been captured by The Stormcallers, and Tandys went to ground in his desperate bid to rescue them.

Even without his help, the party succeeded in retrieving Grace and one surviving Lamplighter. Endebted to them, Tandys offered apologies and a tome on the mathematical symbolism and importance of the Reach's forests, promising to aid them again when they returned from the Hunt's mission in the Alderwood, should they require him.

• Tandys Koltir — Tandys can be a frustrating person to deal with at the best of times, trying his best to sound coy and detached, often muddling issues and creating problems where one does not need to exist. His position as leader happened abruptly, but he has quickly moved in to establishing order and dominance over the faction. He spends his free time at Sandy's, a bar within Sanctum's grimy back alleys.
• Revel and Glory — Twin tiefling bartenders at Sandy's who serve as Tandys' eyes and ears. Though their easy-going attitude can be disarming and charming, they are quite shrewd at distraction and sleight of hand, as well as adept with illusion magic. One has a tongue ring, the other doesn't. Otherwise, they are entirely identical.
• Grace — Though he has not confirmed it outright, it can be inferred that Grace was previously a member of the Lamplighters, and seems to share a strained connection with Tandys himself.

• Much like The Dungeon Scouts, the Lamplighters have been a fixture of Hershey's campaigns since he first started DMing. They appear across universes in various contexts, serving as an easy introduction to a setting's underworld and criminal activity.