The Sunless Citadel

By Bruce R. Cordell.

As always; if you are a Dungeon Master, there is no such thing as a spoiler. If you are a player, stop reading now and mark this review "very helpful."

The Sunless Citadel was written to be the introductory module to the Third Edition Adventure Path. This module was designed for ease of play and to teach novice players some important lessons about the game. In this, it succeeded masterfully.

The Sunless Citadel is a site based adventure. Rumors in Oakhurst lead the adventurers to explore the sunken fortress. Below they discover warring tribes of kobolds and goblins, and below them, they must defeat the vicious Belak the Outcast, and the mysterious Gulthias Tree to end the horror of the twig blights.

The Introduction gives the Dungeon Master (DM) an overview of what is to come, and what he will need. The Preparation section explains this succinctly. The Adventure Background sets the stage, and the Adventure Synopsis gives a plan for how things should go. Then there is a section outlining Character Hooks, to draw the players into the adventure. Rumors heard in Oakhurst details the information inquisitive characters can pick up. Finally, the Time of Year covers seasonal choices for the adventure (it plays a part due to the nature of the Gulthias Tree.) and the effects of darkness, the strength of various light sources, notes on mapping, and rules for marching order. Thus armed, even a novice DM will look competent.

The Citadel and Environs is the main body of the dungeon. Starting with the Dark Ravine, characters head down. This site can teach them the climbing rules and gives them their first taste of combat versus some dire rats. Within the citadel there are mazes of rooms and corridors, littered with traps to teach caution, and inhabitants to teach the value of stealth. There is something for all the four major categories of characters to shine. There are traps and locked doors for Rogues to over come, undead for Clerics to turn, Monsters for Fighters to kill, and puzzles for Wizards to solve.

There are two warring factions within the Citadel; The Goblins, allied with Belak the Outcast, and the Kobolds. This gives the characters chances for using diplomacy instead of muscle. The Kobolds, the more reasonable group, have two outstanding characters. The first is Calacryx, their pet baby white dragon and tribal totem. Calacryx has been stolen by the Goblins, and the Kobolds are willing to ally with anyone who can get him back. The second is Meepo, the kobold in charge of taking care of Calacryx. This scarred and pathetic little creature can build sympathy in characters and teach them to look beyond race. (My group ended up allied with the Kobolds, kept Calacryx as a pet/ watchdog, and Meepo became their butler.)

There are a few other instructive features; a fountain that produces a potion of fire breath, which teaches them that not all treasure is found in a chest in a 10' X 10' room guarded by an orc, and a sarcophagus containing a troll that teaches them the value of knowing what you are getting into.

On the lower level they face greater challenges. (Hopefully, they have raised a level by this point.) There are also greater rewards, including a site based treasure; a red tile that when stood upon can increase a persons charisma for 24 hours. It works for one person, once per day, and can not be removed. You would not believe the creative uses players will come up with to exploit something like this.

On the lower level they encounter the Twilight grove where the twig blights grow and face the villain of the piece, Belak, a deranged Druid. He is here to study the Gulthias Tree, a powerful entity created when an ancient and powerful vampire was staked with a green applewood stake. It took root, and now produces two fruits a year, one, ruby red, is a powerful healing tool. It is produced at the summer solstice. The other is white, and horribly poisonous. It ripens on the winter solstice. The seeds of either fruit are the source of the Twig Blights, humanoid mobile brambles that have been terrorizing Oakhurst.

My players retained the Citadel as a base of operations and used the resources mercilessly. They ever used a winter apple to poison a dragon many levels later!

The Conclusion discusses what will happen if the heroes fail, or if they succeed. It sets up the next portion of the adventure path, "The Forge of Fury."

The Appendix is incredibly useful, including Statistics for all monsters, an explanation of certain nonstandard magic items, and Statistics for the new monster, Twig Blights.

The inside covers include maps for the area, Oakhurst, and the Sunless Citadel. The back inside cover shows the lower level where the Twilight Grove grows around the Gulthias Tree.

The most excellent Cover Art was done by Todd Lockwood, the interior illustrations by Dennis Cramer, and the Cartography by Todd Gamble.

At $9.95 for 32 pages, this was well worth the investment. They characters retained the property through their entire careers, escaping to the bucolic life of Oakhurst whenever they needed to recharge their batteries. Also, I have used the maps for other dungeons, (I got caught on that one the third time.) and use the Statistics in the appendix when I need low level monsters for a random encounter.

This was designed to be easy for novices to use, but I have to say, I liked it too.