The Yawning Portal Inn, located on Rainrun Street in Castle Ward, between Castle Waterdeep and Snail Street, is perhaps the most famous tavern in all the Sword Coast. The establishment is named after the large well in its common room - the tip of a sunken stone tower - which descends into the mazelike dungeon of Undermountain. Treasure seekers from across the Faerûn meet in the inn’s taproom to plan their own delves.
The Inn[]
A stone building with a slate roof, with a signboard that simply reads “The Yawning Portal,” hanging on chains from a black iron pole above the front door, announces the entry to the inn.
The Yawning Portal offers guest rooms on the three upper floors, with well-worn boards cover the floors and the main impression being one of comfort. Rich blue tapestries decorate the wood-paneled walls of the common room, which consist of a bar and tables of stout wood. The room is dominated by the Entry Well, measuring 40 feet in diameter and descending 140 feet into Halaster's Hold in the Undermountain.
History[]
The Yawning Portal was built in 1306 DR by the notorious adventurer Durnan, who founded the inn using treasure looted from his own expedition into Undermountain. Durnan later returned into the mad wizard’s maze, leaving the business to his family, but returned almost a century later to reclaim his property. The Yawning Portal first featured in FR1: Waterdeep and the North (1987).
Regular Patrons[]
- Floon Blagmaar - A socialite simpleton who enjoys drinking and carousing
- Renaer Neverember - A noble son of the Neverember and Brandarth families
- Volothamp Geddarm - A traveler and storyteller, most famous for his series of guidebooks