Day 20 - Setting the Scene

The two (three) of you sit at a table at the back of the Yawning Portal. After coming in from the Sword Coast road, you've been here for several days. This is your fourth day as residents of the inn. Your intent is twofold: get a bit of rest and recovery and learn more about the Yawning Portal, which you’ve concluded to be the massive 40-foot pit that takes centre stage on the bottom floor of the inn.

Looking about the room, you’re impressed by what you see; the tales and renown of the tavern that set such high expectations have been met, and more. In the days you’ve been here, you’ve toured the city, offloading the treasures and artefacts from your adventures so far, trading them in for more portable currency: platinum coins, diamonds, and gems.

Beyond these mercantile pursuits, you’ve also been making enquiries about the Yawning Portal, and more pointedly, the talk of the dungeons beneath the establishment. What you’ve learnt is that the dungeon, known as the Undermountain, pre-dates the city of Waterdeep. The tavern itself predates the city, and even more bewilderingly, so does Durnan, the barkeep.

Looking in his direction, you clock his full head of hair, only partly receding, giving him a high forehead, and keen hawkish eyes, with his nose underlined by a full moustache. Dressed in a fine white linen shirt and burgundy doublet, buttons neatly fastened, he cuts the figure of a well-to-do gentleman keeping his audience. The story goes that he is older than the elves themselves, a retired adventurer who quested below the very bar in the depths of the Undermountain for years.

Although he’s not one to tell you any of this, all interactions you’ve had with him have been congenial, jovial even. When pressed on himself, he goes silent. Enquire about his well, and he advises you that for a single gold piece each, you’re free to descend.

Durnan, though, is not the only person of interest. In the brief time you’ve been here, you’ve been able to discern a breadth of things, from tensions between the Zhentarim (the Black Network) and the Xanathar’s Guild to a few interesting characters, like Mirt the Moneylender, a long-time friend and compatriot of Durnan, rumoured to be as old as the bartender himself.

Then, of course, there’s Volothamp Geddarm, the famous adventurer-turned-book-writer, who right this moment is making his way towards you, weaving between the tables and through the crowd. A quad of goblets in one hand and a fine bottle of red in the other. “Gentlefolk, dare I ask, would you partake in this mighty fine wine with me?”