D&D: Five Ways to Relax on the Sword Coast
It’s mid-spring, and summer is just around the corner. Time for your adventurers to take a vacation to get ready for their vacation.
Faerun is a vast continent full of dangerous locales. Or so they claim. Look on the map and you’ll see places like the Anauroch Desert, Halruaa, or Thay. But look in any D&D book, and, well we can’t be sure those places actually exist. But that’s probably why they call it the Forgotten Realms.
The Sword Coast is full of trials and tribulations. Even the most diehard adventurer is sure to need a break every now and then. We’ve all had those mini-game sessions before. You play a festival or compete in a race. When those sessions roll around, here are five ways your adventurers can relax and unwind on the Sword Coast. Because where else would they be?
Compete in the Day of Wonders
Waterdeep is home to many holidays, feasts, and celebrations. From celebrations of divinities to more tradition-bound celebrations like those honoring the founders of Waterdeep, there’s almost always something to be excited about in the streets of the city. A particularly interesting day can be found on Marpenoth 3, the Day of Wonders.
Tinkerers, inventors, and bored shopkeepers whose business is slow enough to provide time for idle thoughts and harebrained schemes alike gather together to showcase their imaginative inventions. Visitors can find a range of devices on display. And adventurers can find everything from cabinet hinges that open on their own, to massive mechanical constructs that roll about.
But, as every Waterdhavian knows, you’ll come for the inventions, but stay for the inventions-gone-awry. There’s not a single year that goes by without a spectacular disruption of the ceremony caused by a malfunctioning or poorly thought-out invention, often necessitating the intervention of the city’s Griffon Cavalry.
Take a Relaxing Dip in the Neverwinter River
Known to the ancient dwarves as Nethlur, the Neverwinter River is why the city of Neverwinter, and indeed the surrounding Neverwinter Wood as well, bear their names. This magically heated river carries water from the volcanic Mount Hotenow (never let yourself believe you can’t name anything, seriously), which is home to a large population of fire elementals.
Their warmth means that your adventurers can find a convenient magical hot springs episode whenever they need – just, for best results try and get to the river a ways outside the city. We know what people do to rivers in cities and, at no point in history is it ever good.
Get Your Next Summer Read From Candlekeep’s Library
The magical library of Candlekeep is home to all manner of books. You can find many of them at the heart of a collection of adventures–but even if you’re just looking for a way to relax and unwind, Candlekeep’s shelves are home to everything from treatises on the ancient history of Faerun to salacious romance novels or stories about defecting Apparatuses of Kwalish and the captains who pilot them, perfect for reading on the beaches of the Sword Coast.
Take a Trip to Toaridge-at-the-Sun’s-Setting
A collection of islands just off the coast of the Sea of Swords, and home to a nearby kingdom of friendly sea elves called the Nindrol, Toaridge-at-the-Sun’s-Setting is one of the most beautiful parts of the Nelanther chain of islands. The Nindrol claim the waters as their own but are mostly carefree, playful undersea elves who only occasionally visit the surface.
With crystal blue waters and sunsets worthy of painting, the islands are a perfect vacation spot for any adventurer who is willing to brave the aquatic encounter tables to try and get there.
Kick Back at the Friendly Arm
Despite the somewhat imposing exterior, the Friendly Arm, which is housed in a forbidding stone keep that was once the stronghold of an evil cleric of Bhall, the Friendly Arm is one of the most peaceful and welcoming inns you’ll come across in all of the Sword Coast. You won’t find a massive dungeon at the bottom of it. No hotbed of criminal activity thrives in its basement. In fact, there’s no violence really at all, thanks to the cleverness of one Bentley Mirrorshade. Mirrorshade is the industrious gnome illusionist who owns and operates the establishment. And rumors abound about the establishment.
The barmaids are actually iron golems disguised as ordinary women by illusory magic. The tables are magical contraptions. Are these true? None can say–but Bentley encourages it with the occasional display of power.
The result is a peaceful inn where anyone can drink–you won’t find a more cosmopolitan clientele outside of Toril.
Happy adventuring!
