Quillwright Manor

Quillwright Manor was once the private residence and operational hub of one of Waterdeep’s most influential journalistic families. Situated in the Sea Ward, the estate now carries the stain of terror and shame. Though the manor remains structurally intact, it is spiritually gutted—hollowed by grief, betrayal, and a legacy twisted by infernal deceit.

The Grounds

The manor’s estate was expansive but oddly sparse, its landscaping left largely undeveloped beyond the perimeter paths and the few key features maintained by the staff. On the eastern edge, a statue garden slumbers in eerie disrepair—stone figures of philosophers, poets, and unnamed muses now choked by creeping ivy and shadow. Nestled at the garden’s rear is the family mausoleum.
The western side of the estate is dominated by a single, dying tree—brittle, leafless, and clawing at the sky. Affixed to its upper limbs is a weathered treehouse, once used by the Quillwright children. Its rope ladder still hangs, slowly swaying when the wind shifts. The whole scene is desolate, like a memory the estate itself cannot let go of.

First Floor: Public and Service Wings

The manor is strikingly long and narrow, stretching north to south with a strange rigidity in its design. Visitors enter through a tall, arched foyer, the ceiling of which extends to the second floor, creating a vertical sense of grandeur that belies the house’s grim air. A single, elegant staircase runs unbroken up the center of this vertical shaft, terminating on the third floor at the entrance to Horace Quillwright’s private chambers.
The west wing of the ground floor served the family. A receiving room, stately and draped in aging finery, opens near the front, with a family room farther to the rear where the family once gathered for private meals, games, or debates.
The east wing was utilitarian: a formal dining room, kitchen, and servants’ quarters kept the household running. Though these rooms are furnished, the quiet that lingers in them is not peaceful—it is patient, watchful.

Second Floor: Legacy and Labor

The second floor splits along the foyer void, with twin spiral staircases branching from the main stair to reach both sides. The west wing was devoted to the children: multiple bedrooms, a shared classroom, and subtle signs of once-vibrant life—chalkboards, scattered toys, and drawings now faded by dust and time.
Across the gap on the east side lies the manor’s heart of intellect and publication. A lone assistant’s desk greets visitors outside Gideon Quillwright’s office, where the younger Quillwright labored over stories of corruption and resistance. The library, cramped but rich in history, connects to Horace’s office, a colder, more calculating space where the family’s reputation was controlled as fiercely as its assets.

Third Floor: Shadows at the Summit

The third floor serves as a vault of memory and finality. At its center, directly opposite the top of the staircase, stand the double doors to Horace’s private bedroom. Sparsely decorated but imposing, it offers a commanding view of the estate and once hosted clandestine meetings cloaked in power.
The west chamber houses the shared bedroom of Gideon and his wife, a personal space marred by loss. To the east, an expansive storage room overflows with unused furniture, sealed crates, and relics of lives paused mid-sentence. A trunk of Quentin Quillwright’s childhood belongings rests near the center—dust-covered and untouched, like an unopened letter.

The Mausoleum and Lair Below

Beneath Quentin Quillwright’s empty sarcophagus lies a secret staircase leading into the hidden lair of Erasmus Kallor, the infernal doppelganger who masqueraded as a Harper leader while orchestrating the downfall of noble families. The underground chambers are a grotesque web of secrets, winding corridors lined with flesh-stitched constructs, half-formed and fully wrong, each echoing some failed attempt at replication or control.
One chamber, magically warded on all sides, houses a trove of blackmail documents, forged correspondence, surveillance records, and infernal treaties—evidence of Erasmus’s decades-long manipulation of Waterdhavian society. At the far end of the lair, a narrow stairwell rises to a concealed entrance within the manor itself—the very path Erasmus used on the night of the Quillwright family’s slaughter.

Parent Location

Sea Ward

Owner

Gideon Quillwright