The Yawning Portal

The Yawning Portal is a famous inn and tavern located in the Castle Ward of Waterdeep. Adventurers can meet all sorts of colorful characters here. The place is a stone building with a slate roof and several chimneys. Most of the ground floor is taken up by the tavern's common room, which contains a 40-foot-diameter open well (actually the outershell ofa sunken stone tower) that descends 140 feet to the first level of Undermountain, the sprawling dungeon under Waterdeep. A rope-and-pulley mechanism is used to lower adventurers into the well and hoist them out. The upper floors of the Yawning Portal contain comfortable, nicely appointed rooms for guests. Durnan, the proprietor, charges standard prices for food, drink, and lodging.

The proprietor of the Yawning Portal is a retired adventurer and a man of few words. He keeps a magic greatsword hidden behind the bar just in case something monstrous crawls up out of the entry well.