Really, if you read about IRL mafias and organized crime syndicates, you'll often see that many of them actually did have a sort of community protection spirit attached to the racket (some legitimate some more extortive), and some members of those communities did in fact benefit. The Guild also maintains its own banking system apart from the counting houses of the Partriars and larger merchants. If factions within the guild get stabby with each other or non members, investigations and enforcement/consequences can happen (though even these are usually negotiated between the guild and the more streetsmart members of the Fist). Flaming Fist, the official law and order tool in the Patriar's employ largely looks the other way since if everyone's getting paid things are stable. Most establishments and businesses in the lower and outer cities keep two sets of books, one for the 'legitimate' Baluder's Gate economy and one for the open secret economy. In my Baldur's Gate, the Thieves Guild frankly, controls an 'unofficial' economy that provides common and lower class folk with greater opportunity for prosperity than the structures imposed by the Patriars and the larger merchants who cater to them. 'We are everywhere' they like to say 'you don't find us, we find you.' Their 'guild hall' is the back room of taverns, dark alleyways, crowded markets, maybe a few wealthy drawing rooms, as befits a shadowy organization. You don't need the entire town council or whatever.just one or two.Дoes a thieve's guild need an HQ? Maybe they're more of a network spread throughout the city, no one member knows all the others except by certain hand signs or signals, taking jobs from certain contacts and such. The corrupt city guard is always good too but I tend to play it so that only SOME are on the take because if they ALL are, someone talks and they all get busted.

You don't even have to stretch the imagination to see this happening. I have always like the 'if you let us use your basement, we'll see to it that you don't get robbed' idea. The goods are transported in barrels that are sold and taken by wagon to deliver.ДЄs for a thieves guild contact, I have always favored a merchant (for fencing items) or an alchemist (for making potions that thieves would find very helpful). Another good companion front for a business is a cooper (barrel maker). The goods are kept in a barn if they become voluminous. The stable could be operated nominally as a legitimate business, but the thieves meet in the loft where the hay is stored. The tunnel leads into the basement of one or two craftsmen that allow the thieves access for protection from thievery.ДЄ third option might be in a barn outside of town, or a stable. I still think the Warehouse is the best because the owners could be simply agreeing to let the Thieves have some space in exchange for letting their products be safe from looting.ДЄ second option I would explore is an abandoned tunnel or tunnel network. The government buildings (with or without the government's knowledge) She's been a vampire, a servant of a lich aspirant, and, in my Saltmarsh campaign that takes place pre-Phandalin, a young Zentarim zealot looking to recruit the characters and eventually run a business in 'that new town east of here'. HALIA!!!!!!! I love Halia!!! She's become a sort of running joke for my friends and I- every campaign I've played in/run she's ended up being involved with some crazy scheme. Another good one may be the city guard, maybe the entire guard or an entire sect of the guard is corrupt and answering to the local thieves guild leader who may or may not also be a member of the guard.' Operating out of businesses that control the flow of cash and influence into town. I bring it up because I like the idea of the guild hiding in plain site. The miners guild also serves as the bank for the are so they offer the heroes a safety deposit box for a fee. She works in the miners guild cataloging claims for the area.

'So in the starter adventure theres a character who is a member of the zentarim that I always use as the thieves guild contact.

Thieves guild extra items