afaik Durnan is dust, unlike Old Wolf .....( go read elminster must die)
I have the older "Waterdeep and the North" materials, the third edition CoS, Expedition to Undermountain, and both Undermountain Box Sets. One group has never been to Waterdeep or the Undermountain and the other group have done the first, second, and third edition exposures to the city and it's Undermountain. I've been designing on two separate adventures that work to the same cause of holding some of the Undermountain's wards together.
My issue has been getting some of the newer details together for the city. It was always easy before to let the adventurers get lost in the cities intrigues that I was familar with. Now I am researching so they have the illusion of wandering around without getting too side tracked.
I haven't seen any source anywhere mentioning Durnan's death, if he had any heirs, who runs the Yawning Portal Inn, if the new Rulers (Open Lord, Masked Lords, or Magisters) have any regulation on adventurers using the old well in the Inn.
With the Downshadow, Mistshore, and the Undercliff; I doubted they still turned criminals loose in the Undermountain as a death sentence. But I did notice it was mentioned they were concerned with folks mining their dwellings too deep. The Masked Lord hiring adventuring to patrol the upper level of the Undermountain (talk about a dirty job).
Well, we do know that Durnan was married to a cleric of Lathander, Mhaere Dryndilstann, who hailed from Neverwinter according to 3e's City of Splendors: Waterdeep, and the same book tells us they have a daughter, though I don't recall any official mentions of her name. NWN:HOTU mentioned the name Tamsin, or something like that, for her, but I've no idea if that came from any official sources or not. I seem to recall his being mentioned most in the Ruins of Undermountain boxed set, but sadly I no longer have that particular one, as it got wrecked beyond use a while back, and I never managed to replace it, though I don't recall much ever being said about him beyond a handful of paragraphs all told.
So, with a daughter, he presumably had his line of succession continued into the current campaign year, or at least he could have, so that leaves plenty of room for an interested DM to work with in filling in the vast number of blanks 4e's approach to settings leaves open.
I didn't mind having a few blanks but I also figured the Yawning Portal Inn might be a place of importance that would need some information.
Now I have to wonder what the Amaunator's return events with the Lanthander clergy. I think their was some events that took place in I think it was "The Powers of Faerun" where there was some uprising. I wonder how these events affected her and what her daughter's out look might have been. I didn't see any name for their daughter but she might be the Grandmother of whoever run the Yawning Portal Inn. I'm guessing if she married and had children sometime within the next 26 years that would make her children (Durnan's Grandchildren) around 75 at the latest maybe. So Durnan's Great Grandchildren would possibly run the place now. Maybe one of these Great Grand Children was named after his famous Great Grand Father as was his father, maybe...
Durnan the Second or Third could possibly still run the Inn. I like to keep my games somewhat in cannon so if any new information were to turn up later, the players who follow the realms will feel like the game was as it should be. So there might be a
Durnan the Second or Third unless of course the family bloodline ended in the madness of Spellplague. There is also the chance that it is a Great Grand Daughter, but I like the idea of a strong guy, who looks just like his Great Grand Father with a few new personal intrest in the activities within the cities intrigues.Makes me also wonder if (The Really) Old Wolf, Mirt might ever live to make a visit back to Waterdeep in the future to see how Durnan's family line turned out. The events surrounding Mirt, that I read about in 'Elminster Must Die" makes me wonder if there was was some yet untold story about something that happened with the Masked Lords that I've forgotten or need to read.
So now I am going to research Amaunator's return and the prophetic events within the clergy of Lathander during the 1370's. May need check for any information about The Red Sash group and what may have occured with the Masked Lords. One good simple answer lead to several more questions that may only lead to another dead end. But at least I might be able to give the NPC some personality traits that reflect his or her family history and what type of attitude the have about running The Yawning Portal along with any of the new events going on in Waterdeep.
I made sure to mention the Yawning Portal and its owner in the Halaster's Lost Apprentice adventure (Encounters season 1). The YP is the setting of session 1 and part of session 2, in which its owner is discussed: a "big Chondathan man--Durnan the Sixth, named for his infamous ancestor, an adventurer in Waterdeep and original proprietor of the Yawning Portal" (p12).
The entrance to Downshadow and the winch to lower people down are still there, and the adventure specifies that if the PCs try to climb down themselves without paying the fare, Durnan leans over the well and shouts "I told you so!"
Cheers