I really like this idea. Another option I've been thinking about is Durnan is actually a Djinn. He is bound to the Inn and needs 7 artifacts to be able to leave. This way he can also reward the players with a wish upon completion of the last dungeon and maybe give the players the Inn, a home...
I'm running my group through Tales from the Yawning Portal. Its sort of an alt-campaign so I want to make it as streamlined as possible, basically getting the group from dungeon to dungeon without any of the world building in between.
To this end I was thinking Durnan, (the barkeep of the...