In the Halls of Undermountain: House Urmbrusk

House Urmbrusk is a noble family in In the Halls of Undermountain.

Description

For centuries, House Urmbrusk has financed merchants in Waterdeep and worked in land-buying deals for both the city and the various churches. The hard work and business acumen of the heads of the house have made House Urmbrusk one of the wealthiest families in Waterdeep.

That is not what House Urmbrusk is famous for.

Instead, House Urmbrusk is famous for the fact that the heirs to the family have a tendency to look at a future of counting coins and brokering real estate deals and decide that they'd much rather buy some weapons and armor, outfit a group of friends or mercenaries, and march down into Undermountain, generally never to return again. It is rumored that the House members tend to put large amounts of pressure on the current head of the House to produce multiple heirs, in the hopes that at least one of them will decide to not get eaten by monsters.

Locally, the phrase, "To pull an Urmbrusk" is used to mean "To abandon your familial duties and get killed in Undermountain." Most big noble houses have had an heir at some point in their history do this, but no noble house in Waterdeep has quite the sheer number of incidents like Urmbrusk does.

House Members

• Lady Lestra is the current acting head of the House, a duty she took on when she was a teenage girl when her older brother announced he had decided to become an adventurer, leaving both the House and his young son in her care. Generally the opinion on the street is that Lestra has done well in managing the House - impressive since she has only just turned twenty this year.
• Lord Quarren was declared dead this year. Three years ago, he and the companions he hired went down into Undermountain in search of adventure, and they haven't been seen since.
• Lord Rutherford is Lord Quarren's son. His mother died when he was young, and when his father went down into Undermountain, he was left in his aunt Lestra's care. With his father being legally declared dead, the position of head of the House was passed to him, but he again made Lady Lestra acting head of the house while he gathered a group of adventurers. He descended into Undermountain through the Yawning Portal's entrance, following in his father's footsteps, and neither he nor his companions have been seen since.