Sunless Citadel Walkthrough Part 2

We're diving back in to the Sunless Citadel from Tales from the Yawning Portal. Last time we talked about sinking the plot hooks deep into your player characters, and your players for that matter, but we didn't really talk about the plot! That shows how important I think good hooks are if you're trying to run anything longer than a couple of sessions, but let's talk about what's going on down there now that our PCs have a reason to go.

The Sunless Citadel, which I also called the Sunken Citadel in my home game because names can shift and evolve like that over time in real life and game worlds. They both fit and it adds to the mythic, legendary feel for me, so take it with my blessings if you like it. Anyway, the Sunless Citadel was built by a cult to the ancient red dragon Ahsardalon a long time ago. Then, “something happened” and it sunk, the earth swallowed up the fortress, killing everybody. Eventually, goblins took over the abandoned fortress and found a Gulthias Tree in the basement. The tree is what happened when someone drove a wooden stake into a vampire's heart and the evil blood soaks up into the wood. It's the Gulthias tree that creates the apples the goblins are selling, as well as the twig blights. An unscrupulous druid heard about these apples, went to investigate, and has taken over the lower level and is generally up to no good down there. Also, Kobolds moved into the upper level recently and are warring with the goblins.

So a pretty classic D&D set up, with the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good is that we get layers of history. These guys built this place, then this happened, and now these things are here. This is a great recipe for making your own locations in the future. It gives us variety in what we may encounter to keep a big old place from getting stale and repetitive. We also get a few factions to work with and that's always great. We'll talk about that more later.

Now, the bad is that the players are probably never going to learn some of this stuff. Even if they do it's so convoluted they are unlikely to be able to unravel it because honestly I don't think it quite hangs together. A couple key parts of this story are hand waved as “it was a long time ago and no one remembers.” Now, a lot of tables won't notice or care, and that's fine. I know I have my own preferences and biases here that not everybody shares. But the especially ugly here for me is where the heck did this vampire come from? Was he part of the Dragon Cult? Did he predate it? Or did he come after because this place was sunk and became “sunless?” And who killed him? These feel like big plot points to me, vampires are a big deal in D&D, they make an impact. If a legendary evil creature used to live in the neighborhood, there'd probably be stories. Especially if some heroes went and staked it through the heart, right? We get rumors about the dragon stuff but nothing about the vampire to explain why the Gulthias tree exists here. If that doesn't bother you then don't worry about it. I guess it's high fantasy, anything can happen, roll with it. But I've got some ideas, and it might be good to have answers ready if your players ever start poking at the plot holes..

First, maybe add some rumors about a vampire or even give a local player character a vampire slayer ancestor. The fact that this is the “sunless” citadel will keep reminding the players that there might be a vampire at the end of this one, or maybe it's just a rumor. When I ran this I added the extra twist that defeating the Gulthias Tree at the very end actually releases this vampire. He thanked the player characters with a deep bow, turned into a bat and flew off. They were pretty dumbstruck, as sweet victory became “uh, did we just make things way worse?” and now that vampire is in my world if I ever want to jump start a Curse of Strahd game or do something else with him. He's actually already opened a gate to the Shadowfell off screen..

Now, I thought I was so clever when I came up with that, but it turns out I just reinvented the wheel because Bruce Cordell did the same thing in a follow up adventure called Heart of Nightfang Spire, It's built for level 10 and it turns out Gulthias the vampire was actually the head of this cult to Ashardalon and once he was freed he went back to Nightfang Spire where he takes a leafless tree as his symbol. Cool stuff, but a little disappointing that none of it's in here. Especially the super dramatic moment where Gulthias is released by the party's actions. That's huge, and it's not in the original or the Tales from the Yawning Portal version of this adventure. So there you go, I did the research for you, take it and run with it or forgot about it as you like it.

Enough back story, let's dive in. I like the wilds being wild so I might throw these 4 twig blights at the party, but I might also hold onto them for the next time we travel here. And if we never leave until the very end, sure, maybe I'd trigger them after the finale to drive home that these things are out in the world now. And they might even evolve! You can choose all of the above and use them whenever the party is traveling but that will probably get boring fast. Shameless plug, but at my table I used a proto-version of my integrated forest encounters with this module and oh man, it changed the way I see this game. It helped me stop worrying about party size, balance, people coming and going, it was great. If you use it with the Sunless Citadel you have enough content to hit level four, maybe level five, or just open up a sandbox around this fairly linear adventure..

And that, by the way, is the most common criticism you are likely to find about the Sunless Citadel out there: “it's a linear adventure.” I'm not going to get into a bunch of game theory jargon and acronyms, in this piece at least, but I'm going to acknowledge that this is a valid criticism if you're talking strictly about the map, and I'll also say it probably isn't really a big deal, especially for a newer DM or newer players. There are still meaningful choices in here for the players to make, and honestly the fact that they'll have to progress through the first level before reaching the second is going to make the prep load less because you won't need to worry about the grove the first time you run this. There's a lot of keyed locations here, it's nice that you don't have to worry about half of them at first.

So what you want to focus in on at first is that main approach, locations 1 through 5, and then the kobolds and the goblin sections. I would skim rooms 6-12 because this is D&D and anything can happen, and we'll talk about them in a minute, but odds are no one's getting through the dragon door in your first session..

So first up we get a pretty cinematic entrance to this dungeon, or an entrance to the entrance. I put dragon iconography on these pillars beside the chasm and had the locals call this place Dragon Gate, after a Chinese restaurant from my home town. Inspiration is Everywhere! Among the graffiti from goblins saying “keep out” I also put stuff like “Class of '88” and “Oakhurst Owlbears rule, undefeated” and threw some empty ale casks around to show the local teens came and drank here. It's stupid but fun, and it helps explain all the urban legend aspects of it's a cult, no it's a vampire, no it's plant monsters.

I would definitely highlight the rope that's here if you're using the rescue mission hook. I might just come out and say something like “this stuff is old and weathered but this rope looks new” or even straight up tell the character with the highest insight they think it might be from the lost adventurers..

Next up we get a couple encounters with giant rats. Flex your DM muscles here to make these things scary. Everybody knows what a rat is, and odds are they've seen a pretty big one before, at least if they've lived in a city. So it takes a little effort to elevate these bitey boys from the mundane. In 3E they were called dire rats, which is a little better maybe. I'd just stress that these are Rodents of Unusually Large Size, closer to the size of a dog than a mouse.

I really like the side view map we get here, and there's even a note in 2 hinting that these steps would sure be an interesting place for a combat encounter, while the module puts the enemies in 1 and 3. So, maybe move some rats around, or keep this spot in your back pocket for when your PCs decimate one of these factions and then goes back to town. There could be an ambush here when they get back the next time.

Now the map we're given in the book is a little awful because it is tiny, so please go find a bigger version so you don't go blind. A little googling should get you a few options and as well as player versions. The adventure suggests assigning one player as the mapper, and have them drawing out the things that you describe. In theory I think that is super cool, and is definitely a valid option. In fact, it's a classic way to run a dungeon, where seeing holes in the map you've drawn could help you intuit the location of secret rooms. But in practice, it might be frustrating for the players to have a wrong idea in their head, and for the DM to have to describe the same things over and over. Some of us are better at visualizing things in our minds, especially spatial relationships. And even if the image is crystal clear in my head, getting it through my mouth and your ears to create that same image in your head is a challenge. An interesting challenge maybe, but a challenge none the less. You could experiment and see if you and your players have fun playing this way but I think it might be better to just give them the map room by room, either by taking snips from a screen, drawing it out on a white board or battle mat, or just using a virtual table top.

At 3, we get a courtyard that's actually the roof of a tower. I love that detail and it's easy to miss, we're not entering the front door here because the original ground level of this place is still somewhere below us. Now how you handle this pit trap is going to set the tone for this adventure, and I could make a whole article, maybe a whole series, on trap philosophy. But here I'm just going to say that the point isn't to do damage to the PCs. Someone might get hurt, sure, but the point is to let the players make choices, and maybe roll some dice. That's the game, and it's easy to mess it up with traps. If you just treat this as a gotcha: “oops, you didn't roll an investigation check so now you're taking falling damage and fighting another giant rat alone at the bottom of this hole,” One, that's no fun in the moment at least for the player. And two, even if it is for the other players and the DM in the moment, guess whose game is grinding to halt because the players are now too afraid to advance and will be rolling a hundred checks at every door they come across from here on out?

So consider describing the conspicuous lines in the masonry, or tell the PC with the best passive perception that they notice them, or the PC with survival sees footprints obviously avoiding that patch of floor. I might even have the party see the rat fall into from up the pit trap while they're still up top at one. Something. Give the rogue an opportunity to use their thieves tools, or the players to be clever in general. The problems are there for them to solve, not just to hurt them. There will be plenty of chances to do damage later, I promise.

Assuming we survive the rats and traps, we're finally inside the Sunless Citadel. And 4 is a great lesson in using a room to tell a story. Here there be goblins. Plus, clearly something that's killing the goblins. Useful information indeed. I also like making the door here into room six actually the dragon door. You do you, but I want that door in front of the players right away because I want them to get obsessed with it. Describe the heck out of it and let them bang their heads against it for awhile. Give them an itch they can't scratch so they're going to leave game night wondering what the heck was in there. It keeps them wanting more D&D baby. Everybody loves a mystery box. Plus they'll jump at the chance to get the key later..

Now, the fact that they'll be banging away at this ornate locked door makes it less likely that they'll find the secret entrance into 5. If you describe an arrow slit beside the door in the courtyard, there's a chance they'll remember it here and connect the dots. But odds are they won't look, and that's

OK. You could consider removing the spear pinning the goblin to the wall (another great detail by the way,) reveals a the door or a clue to its existence. Or use any perception or investigation check that's high enough to spot it, even if they were looking somewhere else.

Now 6 through 12 will likely be inaccessible until they deal with the Kobolds, one way or another, but let's go through them real fast. Whether you left the dragon door in room 6 or put it in the lobby that is room 4, when it is opened this is your chance to stress that this place has not been opened for centuries. Humanoids might be running around the rest of this place, but in here it's been as quiet as a tomb..

I like the spooky musical orb in 7, it is really atmospheric. Maybe a frightened character runs out the door to the courtyard and into the pit trap? I don't know. I do suggest getting a little more juice out of this one by asking any character who fails their save what is it they're most afraid of. Or what was the most frightened they've been in their life. That way we get some character development and maybe they feel this one a bit more.

Now for 8. OK, a perfectly featureless hallway in this particular place might be more suspicious than elsewhere. But again, I might signal this pressure plate trap a little. Unless you want to train your players to meticulously check every hallway they travel through, which is a valid way to play this game by the way, that's what the ten foot pole is for in the equipment list. Do what's fun for your table. But keep in mind you should be rooting for the heroes, so be careful when you're rooting against them.

Room 9, talking dragon statue baby, now we're playing Dungeons and Dragons, right? Sorry. I like a good riddle. It always makes me think of reading the Hobbit as a kid and Bilbo and Gollum. If you really like a good riddle, and your players do too, maybe this dragon statue has three before the secret door opens..

Now 10 opens up to 12 in a way that makes 11 unlikely to be found. And since it's pretty easy to pass through this “trap” into 12, all 11 really does is provide information, however cryptic, about what's going on here. As you can probably tell, I like things to mostly make sense and have meaning to the players, so I'd consider taking this secret inscription and putting it on the archway to the sarcophagus, or I'd have this quasit Jot be a little more talkative as he attacks the party. This half troll is a cool mini-boss and there is some pretty great treasure in there with him too, but this little side branch here is also where the story of what this place was originally about gets delivered. History checks or religion checks on the statues also might deliver some information, and the dragon priest troll might also drop some knowledge. But he's coming out monstrous and swinging, play him to the hilt if your players where greedy enough to pull these iron bolts off of here to release him. Trolls are great, definitely narrate the wounds the PCs leave on him stitching themselves closed so they know he's regenerating. Here's a good lesson: you can scale down a tougher monster as easily, or maybe even easier, than you can scale one up to fit your party's level. If the dragon priest does survive, which is unlikely unless he almost wipes the party out and they run away, or if the quasit survives, which is probably more likely, definitely have them come back at some later point to harass or maybe befriend the party. Call backs and recurring characters are dungeon master gold so take them every opportunity you get, because you might not get many.

Before the party comes through here though they'll likely need to obtain the key from Yusdrayl's throne. And there's a couple ways that might happen. In the next one we're going to cover the kobold section of the Sunless Citadel, and talk about everybody's favorite NPC: Meepo!

Some of these articles become scripts for YouTube videos, others start life as transcriptions.  You can view this one here