<div class="floatleft">(https://www.elventower.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Sword-Coast-small2.jpg)</div><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="bbc_u"><strong>The Sword Coast</strong></span></span></div><br/>The Sword Coast, not to be confused with the Sword Coast North, stretches along the Sea of Swords from Waterdeep down to the River Chionthar at Baldur's Gate in the south. The Sword Coast took its name from the white cliffs that rose up sharply for hundreds of miles along the coastline, from Baldur's Gate to the south and up to the River Dessarin in the north.<br/><br/>Officially, the coast line north of Waterdeep up to Icewind Dale was not part of the Sword Coast, though most folk simply used the term Sword Coast for this otherwise unnamed stretch of coast line.<br/><br/>The Sword Coast region comprised the land from the coast to some distance inward, covering what were sometimes called the "Empty Lands". This area stretched from Waterdeep to Amn in the south, and included the cities and towns of Baldur's Gate, Berdusk, Beregost, Daggerford, Elturel, Hill's Edge, Iriaebor, Nashkel, and Scornubel, as well as the Friendly Arm Inn and Candlekeep. It was a strategic location, encompassing the main caravan trade route to the Inner Sea.<br/><br/>It’s a savage land. There are no great kingdoms of humankind in this region. Instead, settlements are city-states or organised into loose confederations. Much of the land is wilderness, inhabited by monsters: orcs, goblinoids, trolls and worse. Settlements that exist need to fight off raiding parties, although the bigger settlements boast too good defenses (walls, men and magic) to be bothered that often.<br/><br/>Despite the dangers, trade routes cross the land. The main route, running most of the length of the coast from Waterdeep southwards to Calimport on the south coast, is known as the Trade Way, while other routes lead inland to the central kingdoms of Cormyr and Sembia. Trading caravans typically gather several merchants together and hire a large number of guards. Smaller wagons occasionally try to get by quickly and unobserved, but most prudent merchants travel in groups.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/165892/Waterdeep.jpg)</div><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="bbc_u"><strong>The City of Waterdeep</strong></span></span></div><br/>Waterdeep itself is one of, if not<em>the</em>largest city on the continent of Faerun, maybe all of Toril. Named for its excellent natural harbor (called Deepwater Harbor. Really creative folks, those Waterdhavians?) it is dominated on the west flank by Waterdeep Mountain, and surrounded on all other sides by the trollwall, a stone edifice that is up to twenty feet thick in some places.<br/><br/>Between the mountain and the wall is a population that nears two hundred thousand permanent residents, with another hundred thousand visitors in the city at any given time. Mostly human, Waterdeep also has a sizable minority of dwarves (roughly 10% of the population) with the remainder mostly being your usual halflings, elves, gnomes and the sort. There are of course more exotic inhabitants; some live openly in the city, such as a frost giant who serves as part of the Grey Hand adventuring company. others are only in rumors, like the guild of wererats said to dwell in dock district. All these people in a relatively small space makes Waterdeep a very urban sort of city - and necessitates a large City Watch to keep the peace.<br/><br/>Waterdeep is divided into seven districts which - in true Waterdhavian fashion - are named for exactly what they are. The Sea Ward takes up the northwest of the city with its sea cliffs and tidal beach. Castle Ward is the governing seat of the city, though is mostly made of Waterdeep Mountain. The dock Ward is where the docks are. The southern ward is in the south as one might assume, and is the point of entry for land-based trade, which then funnels into the aptly named Trades Ward. To the north of that is the North Ward, where most of the city's nobility make their homes. Between the trades Ward and the North Ward is the city of the dead, which is where all the dead people live, including quite a few that don't like staying dead (which is why this Ward is walled off from the rest of the city.) Beneath the city is a complex network of sewers which - naturally - may connect to Undermountain or the Underdark.<br/><br/>As one might expect, a city like Waterdeep is rife with guilds, organizations, factions, and conspiracies. Even it<em>open</em>politics are shadowy and convoluted, being decided as they are by the Masked Lords, an indeterminate number of unnamed men and / or women who are assumed to be of noble lineage, great wealth, or otherwise important. They decide, and the Open Lord of Waterdeep speaks. Besides them though, you have a guild for nearly every industry imaginable, several arcane orders, twelve different<em>open</em>churches, more gangs and thieves' "guilds" than you might think, the military branches, several resident adventuring companies, and even - rumor has it - a number of dragons and<em>their</em>political peccadilloes.<br/><br/>One could never go outside the Trollwall, live their entire life in Waterdeep, and never once lack for adventure.<br/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Locations in Waterdeep</strong></span><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">The Yawning Portal</div><div class="spoiler_body"><div class="floatleft">(http://dungeonsmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/yawning-portal-01.jpg)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>The Yawning Portal</strong> is an inn within the Castle Ward of Waterdeep. That alone makes it stand out; the Castle Ward is the "noble district," the seat of the city's government, full of politics and conspiracy, but here's this bawdy little tavern frequented by wandering <del>murderhobos</del> adventurers and would-be adventurers. The reason is what lies beneath; The expansive dungeon known as Undermountain (the Waterdhavians aren't real creative with names, just go with it.) Originally a dwarven mine thousands of years ago, Undermountain has been built into, expanded by, and altered by a procession of factions and individuals; the most notable is Halaster, called the mad mage, who you <em>might</em> know as "<em>the guy who built a 400-foot tall stone golem of himself that shot green flame from its hand and was totally rad that one time it kicked the Tarresque in the nuts except it stepped on that orphanage and that sucks I guess.</em>" At any rate, Halaster's occupation of Undermountain changed it from "Goblins live here" to "goddamned anything could be down there' and <em>that</em> attracted people with more balls than coin. Men such as Durnaan. After surviving a lucrative foray into Undermountain, Durnaan retired from adventuring, and built a tavern. You're sitting in it right now, talking to a gnome in a funny hat. Weird thing is, that was centuries ago, and Durnaan is still running the place. Which is a pretty good run for a middle-age human.<br/><br/>The inn itself is three stories tall; the taproom on the first floor is centered around the eponymous portal - forty feet across, over a hundred feet deep, with only an irregular lip of worked stone to keep you from tumbling in (not that this stops some especially persistent drunks.) This shaft is what remains of Halaster's tower, and serves as the entryway into the dungeons of Undermountain. For a fee, of one gold piece you can be lowered down into the depths, an adventure that few come back from - but those who do usually have enough wealth in their haversacks to tempt at least a few other s into the plunge. Which is good because there's also a one gold piece fee for coming back up. On occasion traffic comes the other way; stirges, spiders, carnivorous bats, even troglodytes and drow have attacked the tavern from this hole. Durnaan maintains a sign that states "We have been (03) days without incident" on a beam near the mouth of the well. The other two floors are mostly made of balconies and more seating space overlooking the portal, though the second floor as a few rooms for rent (though not cheaply - Durnaan does guarantee their safety and security from other patrons, though.)</div></div></div></div>