Amid the bustle of Waterdeep, within the Castle Ward where barristers, nobles, and emissaries battle with word and contract, stands an inn not quite like any other. Before there was a Castle Ward or even what could be recognized as an ancestor of the City of Splendors, there was a dungeon, and in that dungeon begins the tale of the Yawning Portal.
In ages past, the mighty wizard Halaster built his tower at the foot of Mount Waterdeep and delved deep into tunnels first built by dwarves and drow in search of ever greater magical power. Halaster and his apprentices expanded the tunnels they found, worming out new lairs under the surface for reasons of their own. In time, their excavations grew into the vast labyrinth known today as Undermountain, the largest dungeon in all of the Forgotten Realms. Halaster eventually disappeared, as have all his apprentices, but the massive complex he built remains to this day.
For untold years, the secrets of Undermountain remained hidden from the surface world. Everyone who entered its halls failed to return. Its reputation as a death trap grew to the point that criminals in Waterdeep who were sentenced to die were forcibly escorted into the dungeon and left to fend for themselves.
All of that changed with the arrival of two men, a warrior named Durnan and a ne'er-do-well named Mirt. The duo were the first adventurers to return from Undermountain, laden with riches and magic treasures. While Mirt used his wealth to buy a mansion, Durnan had different plans. Durnan retired from adventuring and purchased the land on which sat the deep, broad well that was the only known entrance to the dungeon. Around this well he built a tavern and inn that caters to adventurers and those who seek their services, and he called it the Yawning Portal.
Some of the magic Durnan looted on his successful foray into Undermountain granted him a life span that exceeds even that of an elf. And for decades Durnan left delving into Undermountain to younger folk. Yet one day, something drew him back. Days of waiting for his triumphant return from the dungeon turned to months and then years. For nearly a century, citizens of Waterdeep thought him dead. But one night, a voice called up from the well. Few at first believed it could be Durnan, but folk as long-lived as he vouched it so. The Yawning Portal had passed into the hands of his ancestors, but Durnan returned with enough riches for them to quietly retire. Durnan took his customary place behind the bar, raised a toast to his own safe return, and then began serving customers as if he'd never left.
Adventurers from across Faerûn, and even from elsewhere in the great span of the multiverse, visit the Yawning Portal to exchange knowledge about Undermountain and other dungeons. Most visitors are content to swap stories by the hearth, but sometimes a group driven by greed, ambition, or desperation pays the toll for entry and descends the well. Most don't survive to make the return trip, but enough come back with riches and tales of adventure to tempt other groups into trying their luck.
The Yawning Portal's 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, and 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.
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 action below.
On quiet nights, guests in the Yawning Portal gather around a large fireplace in the taproom and swap tales of distant places, strange monsters, and valuable treasures. On busier nights, the place is loud and crowded. The balconies overflow 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 crowd's encouragement induces some folk to pay for a brief trip down into 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 such ill-prepared parties ever return.
Groups seeking to enter Undermountain for a specific reason generally come to the tavern during its quiet hours. Even at such times, there are still a few prying eyes in the taproom, lurkers who carry news of the comings and goings from Undermountain to the Zhentarim, dark cults, criminal gangs, and other interested parties.
PC creation rules:
Use whatever you want!
lvl 1!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My top 3 answers: "You can try to do that." "No, that does not mean I like pans." "Yes, I am pansexual."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Placeholder
Ability scores: 14149131512
Name: Perry
Class: Ranger
Background: Guide
Backstory: The forest had always been Perry's sanctuary. Raised on the edge of the whispering pines, he learned to track animals before he could walk and identify every bird call by the time he was two. He joined the Ranger Corps at 5, eager to protect the wilderness that had shaped him. Now, years later, Perry patrols his beloved woods, a watchful guardian against poachers and bandits. Perry still doesn't care for the walls of the city, but he is devoted to the people living in it. He recently tracked some illegal hunters to Waterdeep, and intends to make them pay.
Backstory: Voraxian Sathor was born in a quiet, sleepy farming community not too far from Waterdeep. It was obvious from his birth that some latent celestial blood in his family had risen to the top, as in moments of high emotion his eyes glowed golden with the splendour of the gods.
However, his family were not particularly religious and so neither was he. As a child, his divine heritage was set aside in favour of a good, solid upbringing and a hard days' labour. He learned the skills of the land and nature, with the expectation he would one day take over the family farm.
But Voraxian wanted more for himself, growing more and more bored of the country pace, and believing that with the celestial power in his blood he was owed more out of life. He made out for Waterdeep and the wonders that surely awaited him in the City of Splendour.
The son of healers, Tyr had a comfortable childhood learning a little of his parents' art. Until the day they were murdered. Tyr was forced into the street and quickly had to learn to fend for himself or die. He knew just enough about the body to hold his own in the street and eventually found his way into mercenary soldier training. One short, brutal, and bloody mission left his team dead and Tyr hemorrhaging in a pool of his own blood. Refusing to die, he found a spark of healing magic inside himself. He now seeks to prove his strength and find his own path.
Backstory: Fayez was raised as a Knight of Holy Judgement. The life of a knight was not for him. Being told what to do every moment of every day drove him crazy. Waking up at the same time every morning, training until lunch followed by copying ancient texts for the rest of the day. All Fayez wanted was the life of adventure that his parents told him about when he was a child. Fayez was driven by his dream to fight evil and save the innocent but he found his life was as far from that as possible.
On his 23 birthday Fayez decided to run away and start a true life of adventure. Fayez traveled around Faerun searching for his place in the world. That search led him to Waterdeep.
Amid the bustle of Waterdeep, within the Castle Ward where barristers, nobles, and emissaries battle with word and contract, stands an inn not quite like any other. Before there was a Castle Ward or even what could be recognized as an ancestor of the City of Splendors, there was a dungeon, and in that dungeon begins the tale of the Yawning Portal.
In ages past, the mighty wizard Halaster built his tower at the foot of Mount Waterdeep and delved deep into tunnels first built by dwarves and drow in search of ever greater magical power. Halaster and his apprentices expanded the tunnels they found, worming out new lairs under the surface for reasons of their own. In time, their excavations grew into the vast labyrinth known today as Undermountain, the largest dungeon in all of the Forgotten Realms. Halaster eventually disappeared, as have all his apprentices, but the massive complex he built remains to this day.
For untold years, the secrets of Undermountain remained hidden from the surface world. Everyone who entered its halls failed to return. Its reputation as a death trap grew to the point that criminals in Waterdeep who were sentenced to die were forcibly escorted into the dungeon and left to fend for themselves.
All of that changed with the arrival of two men, a warrior named Durnan and a ne'er-do-well named Mirt. The duo were the first adventurers to return from Undermountain, laden with riches and magic treasures. While Mirt used his wealth to buy a mansion, Durnan had different plans. Durnan retired from adventuring and purchased the land on which sat the deep, broad well that was the only known entrance to the dungeon. Around this well he built a tavern and inn that caters to adventurers and those who seek their services, and he called it the Yawning Portal.
Some of the magic Durnan looted on his successful foray into Undermountain granted him a life span that exceeds even that of an elf. And for decades Durnan left delving into Undermountain to younger folk. Yet one day, something drew him back. Days of waiting for his triumphant return from the dungeon turned to months and then years. For nearly a century, citizens of Waterdeep thought him dead. But one night, a voice called up from the well. Few at first believed it could be Durnan, but folk as long-lived as he vouched it so. The Yawning Portal had passed into the hands of his ancestors, but Durnan returned with enough riches for them to quietly retire. Durnan took his customary place behind the bar, raised a toast to his own safe return, and then began serving customers as if he'd never left.
Adventurers from across Faerûn, and even from elsewhere in the great span of the multiverse, visit the Yawning Portal to exchange knowledge about Undermountain and other dungeons. Most visitors are content to swap stories by the hearth, but sometimes a group driven by greed, ambition, or desperation pays the toll for entry and descends the well. Most don't survive to make the return trip, but enough come back with riches and tales of adventure to tempt other groups into trying their luck.
The Yawning Portal's 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, and 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.
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 action below.
On quiet nights, guests in the Yawning Portal gather around a large fireplace in the taproom and swap tales of distant places, strange monsters, and valuable treasures. On busier nights, the place is loud and crowded. The balconies overflow 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 crowd's encouragement induces some folk to pay for a brief trip down into 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 such ill-prepared parties ever return.
Groups seeking to enter Undermountain for a specific reason generally come to the tavern during its quiet hours. Even at such times, there are still a few prying eyes in the taproom, lurkers who carry news of the comings and goings from Undermountain to the Zhentarim, dark cults, criminal gangs, and other interested parties.
PC creation rules:
My top 3 answers: "You can try to do that." "No, that does not mean I like pans." "Yes, I am pansexual."
Rubik's PR: 18.05 Ao5: 21.49 Ao12: 24.35 Ao100: 27.97
Placeholder
Ability scores: 15 12 14 12 18 15
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Ability scores: 17 14 14 13 14 12
Keen!
Ability scores: 14 15 10 10 14 15
Only one more player spot is available...
The next person to put in dice rolls or other method desired is in. No more after that...
My top 3 answers: "You can try to do that." "No, that does not mean I like pans." "Yes, I am pansexual."
Rubik's PR: 18.05 Ao5: 21.49 Ao12: 24.35 Ao100: 27.97
Ability scores: 9 8 10 16 17 13
Oops. I'll show myself out
Name: Perry
Class: Ranger
Background: Guide
Backstory: The forest had always been Perry's sanctuary. Raised on the edge of the whispering pines, he learned to track animals before he could walk and identify every bird call by the time he was two. He joined the Ranger Corps at 5, eager to protect the wilderness that had shaped him. Now, years later, Perry patrols his beloved woods, a watchful guardian against poachers and bandits. Perry still doesn't care for the walls of the city, but he is devoted to the people living in it. He recently tracked some illegal hunters to Waterdeep, and intends to make them pay.
www.dndbeyond.com/characters/143822580/1v025x
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/143821877/zeePMK
Name: Voraxian Sathor
Species: Aasimar
Class: Sorcerer
Background: 2024 Custom
Backstory: Voraxian Sathor was born in a quiet, sleepy farming community not too far from Waterdeep. It was obvious from his birth that some latent celestial blood in his family had risen to the top, as in moments of high emotion his eyes glowed golden with the splendour of the gods.
However, his family were not particularly religious and so neither was he. As a child, his divine heritage was set aside in favour of a good, solid upbringing and a hard days' labour. He learned the skills of the land and nature, with the expectation he would one day take over the family farm.
But Voraxian wanted more for himself, growing more and more bored of the country pace, and believing that with the celestial power in his blood he was owed more out of life. He made out for Waterdeep and the wonders that surely awaited him in the City of Splendour.
Name: Tyr
Species: Human
Class: Fighter
The son of healers, Tyr had a comfortable childhood learning a little of his parents' art. Until the day they were murdered. Tyr was forced into the street and quickly had to learn to fend for himself or die. He knew just enough about the body to hold his own in the street and eventually found his way into mercenary soldier training. One short, brutal, and bloody mission left his team dead and Tyr hemorrhaging in a pool of his own blood. Refusing to die, he found a spark of healing magic inside himself. He now seeks to prove his strength and find his own path.
Tyr's Character Sheet - D&D Beyond
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/143651168
Name: Fayez
Species: Human
Class: Paladin
Background: 2024 Noble
Backstory: Fayez was raised as a Knight of Holy Judgement. The life of a knight was not for him. Being told what to do every moment of every day drove him crazy. Waking up at the same time every morning, training until lunch followed by copying ancient texts for the rest of the day. All Fayez wanted was the life of adventure that his parents told him about when he was a child. Fayez was driven by his dream to fight evil and save the innocent but he found his life was as far from that as possible.
On his 23 birthday Fayez decided to run away and start a true life of adventure. Fayez traveled around Faerun searching for his place in the world. That search led him to Waterdeep.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/143820883/QxXwcI
Join me in my tavern, The Yawning Portal: https://www.dndbeyond.com/campaigns/join/65482792759528449
My top 3 answers: "You can try to do that." "No, that does not mean I like pans." "Yes, I am pansexual."
Rubik's PR: 18.05 Ao5: 21.49 Ao12: 24.35 Ao100: 27.97