Incautious tourists make easy prey for pickpockets and similar petty pilferers, and so the influx of newcomers through Newbridge has attracted or spawned a number of such ne'erdowells. For the most part, the attention of the authorities, while it hasn't managed to put a stop to these crimes, has at least discouraged the formation of any large-scale criminal organizations; most of Newbridge's thieves work alone or in small groups. There are, however, some small-scale criminal organizations, and one of those is the gang of children headed by Cherotina Loder—"Mama Loder" to her young associates.

Loder's criminal crew comprises mostly runaways and orphans, whom she entices into her services with promises of good food and lodging. Those promises are kept—Loder is a good enough cook that she could probably make a living at it had she chosen a different path—but in return she charges her wards with stealing valuables and bringing them back to her to fence—she is adamant that they prey only on visitors to the city on not on Newbridge residents, partly because these visitors are likely to have more money on them, partly because they're likely to be easier marks, and partly to avoid bringing down the wrath of the community. While she trained her first batch of child thieves herself, since then the new additions to her gang have been trained by the older; usually a child runs with Mama Loder's gang for only a few years before either striking out on their own, or finding some other (perhaps more lawful) line of work, but there are always plenty of potential new recruits. In any case, Mama Loder treats her confederates well enough that thus far even after leaving her gang none of them have betrayed her to the authorities—although she's ready to move quickly if one does, and bribes loyal "graduates" planted among Newbridge's law enforcement organizations to warn her of any incipient trouble.

"Mama Loder" is a short, stout, grandmotherly woman in her late fifties, almost as wide as she is tall. She has curly gray hair and a broad smile with two missing teeth. She has a high-pitched voice and affects a lower-class accent to try to make her gang feel more at home. Loder often wears coarse gray or pastel-colored dresses with floral patterns and sensible leather shoes, and usually has a wooden spoon in her hand, which she uses for cooking but also for gesturing and for swatting at annoyances.