The Sunless Citadel

The Sunless Citadel is the first published module for the 3rd edition game. It's for 1st-level characters, with a suggested party of four. It has a good reputation in the past quarter-century, and from what I understand, it was redone for the 5th edition of the game (which I have never seen, nor will I look for it). The introduction says that a copy of the Monster Manual would be useful...but it hasn't been released yet. Fortunately, there aren't a lot of different monsters in the module, and they are all statted out in the back of this 32-page book.

The inside covers contain the two maps of the dungeon, as well as a trio of smaller maps that give the important locations for the adventure. Which are the town of Oakhurst and the titular citadel. There's also a cutaway map that shows how the levels of the dungeon are stacked, which is useful and something that wasn't often presented in earlier editions.

So, the premise is that this citadel used to be above ground but sank after a cataclysm of some sort. Now there's a nasty, evil tree deep in a subterranean garden within the citadel, and it is now being tended by a renegade druid with some goblin hirelings. The Gulthias Tree, as it is called, is a piece of work. It produces exactly two distinct fruits, one each year. One is a healing apple, the other is deadly.

How do the PCs get involved? There are several options given; they're paid to go after another group of adventurers who disappeared a month ago, they're trying to figure out the mystery of the fruits, or they're just looking for adventure. You can use any or all of these hooks if you want.

Oakhurst, the base town for the adventure, is a small town with a population of about 900, mostly humans (but every race is present to a degree). The most significant townsfolk include the mayor (7th-level aristocrat), Kerowyn Hucrele, a merchant (6th-level commoner), and a gnome cleric of...Pelor. Well, I guess the D&D gods are fairly ecumenical in scope in this version. Hucrele is the one who will hire the PCs to find the other adventuring party, since two of them were her younger relatives.

The bulk of the adventure takes place within the citadel's two levels. The first level is inhabited by two opposing tribes: The kobolds and the goblins. The kobolds, while sneaky and eager to fight from ambush, are receptive to negotiation and can be reasoned with; they want the party to recover their totem, which happens to be a baby dragon. Turns out the goblins came and took it, and the kobolds aren't strong enough to get it back on their own. If the PCs can avoid slaughtering the kobolds and work out a deal with them, they will be unmolested in kobold territory and will be granted a reward by the kobold leader, the sorceress Yusdrayl. Oh, and Meepo the Keeper of Dragons will accompany them. He's just a normal, 2-hp kobold, but he'll do his best. The kobolds can also offer some information about the druid Belak and his evil tree.

The rest of the level is the goblin territory. There are also some skeletons, dire rats, and traps around to make life interesting (or short) for the PCs. The goblins are a bit tougher than the kobolds, and have a gnome fighter/cleric captive who will divulge what information he has and will happily join the party if equipped to get revenge on the goblins. The PCs can also find the captive wyrmling...only to find out that it would rather hang out with the goblins, and will fight for its right to do so. If Meepo is present, not only does he fail to talk the dragon down, but it targets him first. And even for a baby dragon, it's tough, with 31 hit points. Yikes.

As for the goblins themselves, there are enough to provide a tough fight, including three hobgoblins. These goblins are the ones that work for the druid, and some of their number can be found in the next level. The final boss fight against the goblins includes a shaft that leads down to the second level of the dungeon, aka the Grove Level.

Down here the challenges are a bit tougher, including a bugbear hunter, a couple of thoqquas (worm-like creature of elemental fire that can burrow through solid rock), and more bugbears and goblins. Eventually, the party will encounter Belak, who has several goblins as well as a new monster called a 'twig blight', which is basically an animate collection of sticks. There are a few of these scattered around the Grove, as well as two...survivors (sort of but not really) of the original adventuring party. These two have been taken by the tree and turned into its 'supplicants'. One is a wizard, the other a (ex-)paladin with a cool magical weapon named Shatterspike. There's a big fight at the end, and if the PCs win and cut down the tree, everything falls apart for Belak.

As for the supplicants, if the tree dies, so do they. And there is no way to turn them back to normal; they are forever lost, either as the tree's servants or dead along with the Gulthias. I actually like this; not every situation the adventurers face will have a happy ending.

So, my opinion of the adventure? It's a good starting module for the 3rd edition. It's also the third starting adventure we've had so far (The Burning Plague and Unearthing the Past were also 1st-level adventures), and there's a Dungeon Magazine coming up that will have at least one 1st-level adventure as well. So, there are plenty of options for starting a new game without rehashing the same adventure with the next group.

The strengths of the adventure are the kobolds and the possibility of negotiation, the druid's willingness to talk it out with the PCs before fighting, and the three-dimensional nature of the dungeon. It's not a flat plane, nor should it be. The challenges aren't overwhelming, and there are plenty of opportunities for the PCs to retreat and/or regroup if they need to. Getting the kobolds as allies, or at least neutral, is helpful, since they can use the kobold territory as a temporary base for incursions against the goblins.

Weaknesses? To be honest, I can't really think of any. Sure, the starting town is barely defined, but that just leaves more room for the DM to customize it to his campaign. Other than that, though, the adventure is pretty solid.

So, that's going to do it for this adventure. Tomorrow I'll review the last product for the month, that being Dungeon Magazine 82, the first 3rd edition issue of the magazine. It should be good.