The Blacklake district, named after the lake located here, was where most nobles of Neverwinter used to live. Pretty much all of them died in the fires of the cataclysm, but their very sturdy and well-built residences remained standing. They sheltered many of the city’s survivors during the following decades, even though the lake became a fetid, ash-choked pool.

Today, Blacklake is a rough-and-tumble place still largely outside of Neverember’s control. His forces have begun moving in and attempting to extend the Enclave to the district, but so far they have not met much success. This is, after all, where everyone who can’t stand his harsh rule lives.

Castle Never is located in Blacklake, and we will cover it in its own post.

The Driftwood Tavern

The place where everybody knows your name. The Driftwood tavern has been open since before the Cataclysm. Its owner, Madame Rosene, opened the tavern’s doors to shelter refugees in the event’s immediate aftermath, and it became a kind of makeshift city hall for the survivor community in the following years.

Today, the Madame is in her fifties and the tavern is filled with mementos and relics of Neverwinter That Was, making it a sort of museum. Both the place’s somber atmosphere and its high prices keep the Mintarn mercs at bay - the only customers are long-time regulars and old friends.

This suits Madame Rosene just fine, because the Driftwood Tavern is also the main headquarters of the Greycloaks faction of the Sons of Alagondar, which she leads.

A text box says that Madame Rosene would react positively to PCs who can recognize the historical and sentimental value of the Neverwinter relics that decorate her tavern, and that she might test their patience and resolve by sending them on seemingly pointless quests to recover more.

The Beached Leviathan

This tavern is actually built out of an old pirate ship that ran aground decades ago. Its owner Harrag was also the boat’s former captain. He presents himself as an adventuresome scallywag but the truth is Neverember owns him. Anything people say within earshot of him eventually makes its way to the lord.

The tavern also acts as the current residence of Len-Jes, a watersoul genasi who works as Neverember’s harbormaster. Her job includes keeping track of (and taxing) every ship at port, and also dredging the bay to open more berths for trade ships.

Len-Jes only took this job because if facilitates her second, much shadier source of income. The exact nature of that is up to the GM. Is she a spy for an Abeir trade house or pirate crew? Does she have buried treasure somewhere? Does she actually work for some other faction like the Harpers or the Ashmadai?

Vellgard Manor

Mordai Vell’s family home. They used to be a prominent Neverwinter noble family but they all died in the Cataclysm. Mordai Vell was the only survivor because, as a tiefling, he was a source of shame and was sent away from town. As the sole heir, he came back to reclaim his home shortly before Neverember arrived… and he brought his Ashmadai buddies with him.

Vell’s charisma and wealth soon secured him an informal community leadership role in the district, and there are those who think he’d make a fine lord of the city. I don’t think he ever made overt claims to the throne, but perhaps he will when his cult is in a strong enough position.

Vellgard Manor is very well fortified, and guarded by a small army of cultists and summoned devils. A direct assault would be difficult… but Vell likes to party, so the PCs might get in by arranging invitations to his latest social function. The devils are kept hidden during these. Of course, Vell is no fool, so he might allow the PCs to get in and spring a trap on them if they’re not subtle in their maneuvering.

House of a Thousand Faces

This tavern used to be a fancy boutique, and it’s still decorated with mannequins in old-fashioned clothing. It closed after the cataclysm and reopened as a tavern when the city’s population began to recover.

Its owner, the elf Theryis, is a member of the Harpers. Her brother Toram took over as the leader of the group once Cymril died. As mentioned elsewhere, these two are the sole remaining full Harpers in the city, and they aren’t predisposed to trust the PCs just because they’re PCs. Their default stance is to watch and test them until they prove themselves properly heroic, or until they bring evidence of the larger factions.

Toram, however, will attack the Harper Agent on sight because he’s convinced they were responsible for Cymril’s death. He was in love with her, you see… or, as the book puts it, she was seducing him before her supposed death. Make of that what you will.

Impressions

All those secret society HQs gathered up in one convenient neighborhood! In most campaigns the PCs are guaranteed to end up visiting one or more of them, either to talk to its owners or to raid them.

Blacklake is not quite the “bad” part of town, but it definitely has a different atmosphere from the Enclave. I’d portray it with a more “frontier” feeling - it’s a bit more dangerous and run-down, but also more free, and the residents’ opinion of Neverember is significantly worse even when they aren’t involved in organized resistance against him.