The Hostile Takeover

Westfall Needs its Crime Under Control… Of New Management

The Premise: Westfall has always had crime. Despite what it may look like, most of it is all done by one syndicate, The Vermin. Recently, there has been an upset in the ranks as the way business has been done has been shifting, becoming more violent and even dipping into assassinations. You all are thieves or associated with one or more of them who wish to bring back the way things used to be done. It’s still criminal, but no one used to get hurt and it needs to go back to that way. Answering the call of a man using the name ‘Jackson Corbet’, you are here to hear him out and see if you can make a plan to take out the current leadership.
As if to upset the balance even more, a White Hat has stolen from the leader of The Vermin and gotten away with it. Most members don’t know who it is, but they have been calling this person Mad Hat, for few would ever think to cross the syndicate.

The Vermin

Made up of three groups, each one performs different elements of your craft.
Sewer Rats: The least suspecting of the groups, the Sewer Rats are mostly orphan pickpockets and beggars. They are the streetears, ignored and easily forgotten. Gathering information and stealing small things from unsuspecting people to sell to those that would pay for a lost key or what valuables a noble just hid in a lockbox. They are led by a man known only as The Caretaker, a name given to him by the abandoned children of Westfall that he shelters and teaches the thieves’ way to for their survival.
Alley Cats: Led by a tiefling that goes by the name Tom, this facet of The Vermin is mostly made up of young adults that lack the stealth skills to become full fledged thieves. They are responsible for most breaking and entering crimes, be it to steal or to send a message. Tom has thrived on the new direction The Vermin have taken, eagerly turning his young men and women into hired thugs and spreading fear and intimidation through violence. Bodies have started piling up and promote a particularly bad image for half-orcs, half-elves and tieflings in Westfall.
White Hats: Gentlemen and lady thieves who only steal from the wealthiest nobles in Westfall. They are considered the elite of The Vermin and thus their leader, a Kenku named White Feather, is the leader of all three groups. They will steal an item of supreme value and then bring it to their fabricators and forgers to create a duplicate to replace it with, returning a ‘lost’ item or placing the fake before anyone realizes the original is missing. Of late, White Feather has started demanding assassinations be made by members of the White Hats, causing tension as some obey while others quietly disapprove.

Contacts

Each of you has been contacted by one of these three people, either as a friend or an associate, to help Jackson Corbet overthrow White Feather and restore The Vermin to what they were and what they’re supposed to be.
The Caretaker: There are few in a thief’s line of work in Westfall that were not raised by the Caretaker. As an information broker, he has established a working relationship with The House of Mungus, an information and spy network frequently employed by the king. Those that are old enough know that the name is passed down from person to person and not the same man. The Caretaker has been man, woman, human, half-breed and others throughout time, but every street urchin, all the way up to the most sophisticated White Hat knows that the Caretaker is someone to be trusted and will always put the children before the job.
Talwyn: A young, half-elf girl that works with the Alley Cats. She has a bit of a chip on her shoulder and can be a bit brash, but her loyalty is unquestioned. She vouches for Jackson, stating that he saved her life twice on a job they happened to work together and even put her safety above the job.
Click-Clack: A kenku forger that works specifically for the White Hats. He is one of the best crafters of fake jewelry in the city. Currently overworked because of a higher demand than ever from White Feather, he seems to be in high distress, but it’s hard to tell since he can only speak in Mimicry. He seems to be a close friend to Jackson and is well liked by most that work with him.

Executing the Plan

With the information provided by the three contacts, there are three main focal points of The Vermin. One is the hidden lair called The Warren, where The Caretaker houses the orphans, beggars and street urchins. As a trusted ally and protector of these people, he has tried to keep his part of the syndicate as neutral as possible and will request to remain so.
The next is Tom's Hideout, a place for all of the Alley Cats in the slums where they inhabit abandoned buildings. Tom has been leading an increasingly violent operation and will need to be taken out of the picture one way or another. White Feather has been treating him like his right hand man and Tom has used this to increase loyalty from his gang. Talwyn will point out that these wayward teens and young adults are more attached to the feeling of importance than their leader and the Alley Cats would likely fall apart if Tom were to disappear or be killed.
Perhaps the most important to the syndicate is the Mirror Room. All of The Vermin's funds and their forgery operations are run out of there. Click-Clack will do his best to relay that he has been run ragged there, with Alley Cat guards being assigned there and body searches on all employees before leaving every night. Losing either the forgery stations or the finances in the vaults would be disasterous to all three parts of the organization.

Complications

While going about business, if the team can find White Feather's personal office, searching it can yeild a corresponence letter. Within it is the implication that there is someone who has made a deal with White Feather to cause discourse within the city of Westfall. Between assassinations and promoting the violence of the Alley Cats, it appears the goal is to incite a civil war between the classes of Westfall. White Feather has even begun to have other members of the crime syndicate killed as well, supposedly because they oppose him or his new policies.

Conclusion

Once Tom has been dealt with and White Feather is confronted, there is the possibility of him either trying to flee, fighting to the death, or being rescued by his benefactor, a rakshasa posing as a noble. The Vermin in shambles and leadersless, it can be rebuilt by the party, or dismantled entirely. If they walk away it'll begin to rebuild itself as members begin to vie for the spots left in the vaccuum.