The Night Masks’ most potent threats have come from other secret guilds as well armed and funded as they are and equally likely to sidestep the law when necessary. As has been noted on many occasions, the Masks came closest to extinction at the hands of a small group of adventurers led by the legendary Alias of the Magic Arm. Less well known is that Alias’ band was closely allied with the Harpers, a highly-secretive group with inscrutable motives operating along the entire Sword Coast and well into the Heartlands. The Harpers are known to harbor a deep hatred for the Night Masks, and they certainly have the resources to pose a credible threat, but recent advances by their nemesis, the Zhentarim, have meant that their operations against the Guild of Westgate have had to be curtailed, much to the detriment of the city’s more honorable citizens.

Recently, however, the Masks have had to face down a new kind of threat, one much less benign than those that came before. The Ebon Claws have willingly matched the Night Masks’ brutality and penchant for grandiose displays designed to provoke terror and in some cases have even exceeded them. For many months, the two groups have openly warred against each other, and hundreds of operatives from both sides have been slaughtered and left in the streets and alleyways to be found by dazed merchants and workers. Even with the significant number of thieves, assassins, and other operatives the Masks have at their disposal, it is obvious that attrition is beginning to set in. Whereas collectors at one time could be counted on to arrive at a merchant’s door promptly the first of every month, they are now often days late, and have even missed entire months on occasion. In some parts of the city, the Night Masks have been entirely uprooted and supplanted by their rivals, and the followers of the Faceless obviously do not possess the resources to retake the ground they have lost.