Crawling Spider

The Crawling Spider

Tavern & Festhall

Southern Street of the Sword, Castle Ward

Rankings

Provender

• Meal: (meat, soup, bread, greens) 1sp • Ale: 2cp/tankard • Stout: 4cp/tankard • Zzar or Wine: 5cp/tallglass • Whiskey: 1sp/flagon

Services

• Companionship: 5sp to 2gp/hour • Key to Private Room: 5sp

Staff

• Welvreene Thalmit, proprietress (hf) • Dark Lords & Ladies, drow-masquerading waitstaff and companions • Teshura and Dainar, waitlasses & companions (df) • Durn One-Eye(dm) and Dagg Tuskson (hom), bouncers

Map

Layout

• Viewing Gallery: The entrance off of the Street of the Sword, it is paneled in dark woods with bronze fixtures. This entry is a full eight or so feet above the rest of the tavern, with a railed balcony that looks down on the main taproom. A favorite area for customers who want to enjoy the decor without actually getting "down in it."
• Taproom: Featuring a massive "dwarven-sized" hearth (some fifteen feet wide by ten feet high) and a circular bar built around a faux stone column (as formations where stalactites and stalagmites grow together are called), the taproom is all done up in a cavern motif, using liberally applied plaster with stone dust mixed into it.
  • Rock rubble makes the floor uneven, and slightly luminous mosses and lichens hang from ceilings and walls. Netted glowing globes help illuminate particularly dark corners, and decorative stuffed spiders are everywhere. Where most are the size of a hand or so, the tavern takes great pride in Old Wooly, a massive stuffed spider the literal size of a man, clinging to the ceiling at the top of the bar-column.
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Staff

• Welvreene Thalmit: Proprietress. Alluringly dark-eyed and dusky-skinned, with a smoky voice, Welvreene owns the Crawling Spider and is quite enamored of dungeon- and Underdark-delving and those who do it. She can listen endlessly to stories of such, and has been known to sit with adventurers and buy their drinks through the night in exchange for their stories. She is also well-known for taking mostly such adventurers for her occasional lovers.
• The Dark Lords and Ladies: The majority of the Crawling Spider's waitstaff are slender men and women (human and half-elf, mostly) who dress in black stocking bodysuits and leather, with veiled masks that are meant to make them look like drow; frequently, the women also bear coiled leather whips at their hips. They are all sensuous and can be hired for an hour's or an evening's companionship. Dwarves who come here chortle at the idea of being served by drow, and many humans show up here to ogle or outright hire the athletic, slim "dark ones" of the Crawling Spider. They do not use their real names, but instead dabble in playful and sometimes silly versions of real drown names, such as Xilicha and Vaenia for women, and Parnael and Wilithis for men.
• Teshura & Dainar: Two dwarven women on the waitstaff, these dwarf-ladies are both robust and very curvy. Teshura bears a light beard of red hue, trimmed neatly in dwarf-maid fashion, while Dainar is smooth-cheeked and tall enough that she might almost be mistaken for a very short human.
• The Bouncers: There are two bouncers who work the evenings here. Durn One-Eye is a short, gruff gold dwarf in an eyepatch who splits his work time between the harbor and the tavern. Dagg Tuskson is a half-orc who usually works the nights that Durn does not. The two pretend to a fierce rivalry, but in truth they are good friends.

Clientele

The Crawling Spider draws a variety of clientele. Very nearly the only thing that draws them together is their nearly-fanatical devotion to the Spider. Most of the customers are in most nights of the week, and will traverse the entire city's length, ignoring other establishments, to stop in at the Spider.

• Dwarves: The Crawling Spider is a favorite place for many of Waterdeep's dwarves, who find the playfully themed decor hilarious rather than tacky. They are also said to be frequently drawn here by the charms of Teshura and Dainar.
• Half-orcs: One of the few places that doesn't cast a jaundiced eye on half-orcs, the Crawling Spider has more than a few loyal half-orc customers. They can be rowdy and are very fond of strong drink, but they are no more responsible for the frequent bar fights than the dwarves who frequently egg them on.
• Priests: Humorously, there are many priests of Waterdhavian temples that make the Crawling Spider their preferred evening. Many of them tend to take tables in the Viewing Gallery, where it's not uncommon to see priests of many different creeds sitting together and laughing uproarously over their pints. They also tend to be willing to wade in and help break up bar fights and heal those in need of it after.
• Adventurers: Welvreene's affection for adventurers stands her tavern in good stead, and there are a good handful of adventurers - both current and retired - who frequent her establishment.
• Sightseers: Lastly - and in a minority - are those who've heard of the exciting rumors about the Crawling Spider, and come to see for themselves.