The Sunless Citadel - (Chapter One)

[DM Spiral]

---Everyone---




The Yawning Portal Taproom fills the first floor of the building. The 40-foot diameter well that provides access to Undermountain dominates the space. The "Well" is all that remains of Halaster's tower, though now, devoid of the stairways and floors that formed subterranean levels, it drops as an open shaft for 140 feet. Stirges, spiders, and worse have been known to invade the Yawning Portal from below.  Oddly enough this doesn't dissuade the taproom's many patrons as luckily there are usually more than enough adventurers about to sort out the troubles that rise from below. Balconies on the tavern's second and third floors overlook the well, with those floors accessed by way of wooden stairs that rise up from the taproom. Guests sitting at the tables on the balconies have an excellent view of the well and the potential action below.

It's a typical weekend night at the Yawning Portal. It's loud and crowded. The balconies are overflowing with merchants and nobles, while the tables on the ground floor are filled with adventurers and their associates. Invariably, the combination of a few drinks and the crowds encouragement induce a few folk to pay for a brief trip down the well into the infamous dungeon Undermountain.  Most folk pay in advance for a ride down and immediately back up, though a few ambitious souls might launch impromptu expeditions into the dungeon.  Few ill-prepared parties ever return.  

Experienced adventuring groups seeking to explore the dungeon usually show up at less busy hours. So on nights like tonight it's usually thrill-seekers and fools who descend into the well. 

There are few regulars that all of you have come to recognize over the various times that you have visited the taproom. 




Of course there is the aloof proprietor Durnan who for all intensive proposes most people believe to be blessed, cursed or a little bit of both. Regardless he is polite enough, but not overly sociable. He is from what anyone can tell a human, but it is known that he is well over two hundred years old and seems to have completely stopped aging. 




There is a young halfling girl named Melissa, who is a devote of Tymora. She generally will bless various adventurers or patrons who ask for it and almost always has news from the church of Tymora. Such news comes from all over the realms and many an adventurer or hero has often gone off on a quest of some sort or another on the the bits of news she provides.  




There is an old adventurer named Ben Gallows who claims to have explored most of the dungeons in Faerun, though most people who spend more than a few nights drinking with him get the idea that he is likely full of shit. 




There is also some guy named Hemp who likes to heckle everyone descending into the well and makes bets on wether or not they will return. He usually makes decent coin from it as lots of locals like a bit of gambling. He's a bit of an ass though and anyone who is around him for any amount of time realize this. 




There is a shady fellow named Rork who sells treasure maps above. None of you have tried purchasing anything from him as of yet, but he sells quite a few maps, mostly to the poor sods trying to explore undermountain on a drunken whim. Still, no one can really judge the authenticity of a treasure map, so his business remains thriving.   




There is also young girl who sits at a table and makes sketches of any odd objects that any adventurers bring back up from the Undermountain.  She usually a fixture in the taproom and Her name is Julia. Most people think she is an apprentice of some wizard as sketching strange objects is an odd choice of hobbies. 

One of the oddest patrons however, is a magically preserved corpse leaning in a coffin near the bar. None of you have inquired as to why the corpse is there and from what everyone says, he doesn't seem to be all that talkative. 

There are several others who are recognizable on a busy night, but all in all, those are the most memorable.  Of course, you all recognize each other from the weekends, but none of you have spoken to each other more than just in passing.

All of you for one reason or another, find yourselves wandering into the tavern on one of it's busiest nights.

[Kriv Turnuroth]

Kriv happily blows the foam off his ale. He has as seat near the fire because the seats there are larger and designed to accommodate someone of his bulk. It doesn't hurt that he has a great view of the entrance as well as the well from there so he can see who enters as well as what passes for entertainment in the tavern. While the table he occupies is empty Kriv enjoys the sound of commotion around him. He has learned from his long travels to get here that he enjoys the company of others, but not the direct interaction always. Observing humans, and the other races is always entertaining of course and he does so openly and without reservation. Occasionally the large golden scaled dragonborn does write down some notes in a large journal he keeps near him all the time. His robes are odd and not of the local custom at all, they seem designed for warmer climates, which are probably why he seems to be bundled up in many of them.

[Nightingale]

A lithe figure dressed in clean black and brown travelling clothes enters the tavern from outside. A face mask obscures the bottom of her face and a short half-cloak with a faded light blue trim is draped over one shoulder. Her long brown hair is braided to one side and her green eyes peer over her mask at the bustling inn. 

Nightingale finds the change in atmosphere hits her immediately. Outside the streets were mostly quiet, a few people going here and there but the day was mostly done. In the Yawning Portal however, it was only just getting started.

Squeezing nimbly through the crowd she gets to the bar and asks just for some water, keeping her mask up. While she had been instructed to keep her identity to herself, she also looked rather young, and she didn't want to be kicked out of the Inn. She still wasn't sure exactly what her plan was here in Waterdeep, but this place was probably a good place to start. Knowing that someone was bound to have a trip down the well tonight at some point, Nightingale was a little eager to see it happen.

The entire place was overflowing and crowded, so a table to herself was probably out of the question. Scanning the room she spies a dragonborn sitting alone near the fire that she remembered exchanging pleasantries with when she first took a room at the inn.

Navigating the crowd once again, she finally gets to the fire. "Do you mind if I take a seat?" she inquires to Kriv, her soft feminine voice is slightly muffled by her mask, but clear enough to understand.

[Athos Blackwind]

Athos meandered through the gates and down the streets of Waterdeep to his favorite inn the Yawning Portal. He strolled into as he sounds of laughter and conversation filled his ears with a low hum which was followed by the strong smells of roast, mead and pipe weed. Oddly enough it was a pleasant sensation for him. Most people at first glance would place him as an elf of the forest and stereotypically assume he would find such a place distasteful.  

Well, they could fuck off.  He liked a good beer and a good meal as much as the next average person.  Those other vegetarian druid weirdos could fuck right off with everyone else who thought it was strange. 

Before he even bothered looking around to see if there was anyone he recognized or anyone new that might provide some pleasant or interesting conversation for the night, He waved at serving girl. "Might I have an Ale, and a plate of roast with a large hunk of that delicious bread I can still manage to smell drifting from the kitchen?"

[Leloth]

As Leloth descends from the 2nd floor, preparing to have what is basically her "breakfast". She looks around the room looking for new faces, spotting the elf whom she talked to once or twice, what seems to be a dragon-esk person and a girl with half of her face covered. Leloth makes for the bar gliding past a grabby drunk and over a passed out girl. She sits next to the elf asking "Hello again... sir, having breakfast?" Completely forgetting his name, Anthros?, and asking a nearby barmaid for her usual.

[Kriv Turnuroth]

Kriv looks up from his ale as he was preparing to take a large gulp of it. Pausing the Dragonborn looks the lithe female half=elf up and down a bit. He blinks a bit and slowly puts his ale down careful not to spill any. Kriv remembered talking to her before but not her name so he felt a bit awkward. "Of course you can I do not mind at all." His voice boomed out a bit louder than he would would like but he was still working on speaking quieter. His words were thickly accented and had a very foreign sound to them although his common was extremely well practiced. There was a pause before he spoke again slowly, "Lovely night we having are tonight yes?"

[Nightingale]

Nightingale takes a seat next to the large gold dragonborn, splashing a bit of water as her mug hits the table.

"It's busy, that's for sure." the half-elf starts, her voice calm and measured. "I hope we see some people go down the well." she follows up, a hint of excitement bleeding through this time as she adjusts herself so she can have as clean a view as possible.

"Did you travel far to get to Waterdeep?" Nightingale asks Kriv as his clothes and speech weren't from around here to say the least.

[Athos Blackwind]

Athos gave whoever was speaking to him a cursory side eye to see who it was. He nodded when he noticed it was the young ... tiefling ... was the polite term he thought.  He figured he should refrain from referring to her as demon spawn or some other colorful phrase often used to describe her people.  Granted most of the tieflings he had meet were weird and either full of themselves or dangerous.  She seemed quite pleasant however even though he had only meet her a few times. 

He smirked, "Well, - it's evening for me. But yes, I'm having a bit of supper.  Are you going to finally grace us with a song or two tonight?  Last we spoke, I think you mentioned you were something of a bard."  Athos had a solid love of music and some of the patrons had spoken highly of her talent during his last visit to the Inn.

[Kriv Turnuroth]

Kriv, nodded at the half-elfs words. He took a large drink of his Ale before he responded to her though. For those unused to Dragonborn it was sure to be a sight, which was usually why he ate in his room alone. He was not worried about it but he found the fact he disturbed others annoying. He placed his tankard down on the table again and answered. "I am sure we will. Are you here to go down the well? I ask because many of the peoples seem to be here for just that reasoning. As for myself yes I traveled a long way to get to Waterdeep. There are many things here I wish to see and learn that my homeland does not have."

[Leloth]

Yawning Leloth replied "Yes a bard I am, and after breakfast I shall grace all with my voice!" She giggles at her remark and takes a sip of the mead she ordered. As Leloth plans out a route to the stage she notices the golden dragon-esk person talking to the girl and wonders aloud "Hmm... What are their stories?"