The Stone Troll's Lantern - a tavern in the sewers (Patreon)

Once again this month we are under the streets of Waterdeep, exploring the sewers and, in this case, a business connected thereto.

There are no lack of “basement taverns” in Waterdeep – residential and commercial buildings where the basement has been converted into a public house with its own entrance. But the Stone Troll’s Lantern takes this one level further.

This tavern stinks. Instead of just a single basement, it extends down a few floors under the low rent housing above it, intersecting with the city sewers and thus becoming quite popular with a number of thieves as an “escape hatch” at the end of a sewer run, and then by extension as a place to plan the next big heist.

The main floor of the tavern (the “Basement Level”) is all that most visitors see. A small sub-street-level tavern with a few tables and a bar tended by an aging dwarf and a foul smell rising up from the stairway in the corner.

The sewers level below has even more tables and a number of semi-private booths. And open flowing sewers. Each of the three sewer access points to the level have iron grates blocking them, two of which have locked gates built into them. The assumption is that any thief who needs to get in or out from this level will have the basic skills to unlock the gates themselves.

Finally, only accessible through the staff section of the sewers level, the “Dungeon Level” of the Lantern is a damp sub-basement with a bit of extra stock for the tavern, some smuggled and/or stolen goods being stored until they can be moved back to the streets, and a pair of rooms with options to lock the doors from the inside or outside, depending on whether they are being used as bolt-holes and safe rooms, or as a place to hold hostages, trouble makers, or prisoners.

A 1200 dpi version of the map is at the blog - https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/10/10/lantern/