Tales from the Yawning Portal: The Sunless Citadel

Click the image to see more art from out contributing artists. You can read the story of the adventure with Lyrie, Zylena, and Hops.

I’m usually the DM in my D&D group, so I had the unique experience of being a player in this 5e Dungeons & Dragons adventure. My wife wanted to allow me to play, and she wanted to try being the DM. We had a sort of impromptu session zero and create a small group made up of an elven ranger, firbolg cleric, and harengon wizard. My wife gave suggestions to tie our characters to the town of Oakhurst and the adventure, and off we went.

 This is a dungeon crawl with layers. The citadel was built by a dragon cult, but they are long dead and gone, but evidence of their existence lingers. Goblins have called the place home for many years. A tribe of kobolds has recently moved in and the two groups vie for control of the fortress. In the lowest level of the dungeon is Belak the Outcast and his minions.

 There are several hooks to get the characters interested in going to the sunless citadel. The DM had changed one of the hooks so that the adventures that had gone before us were one of the character’s cousins. This required a bit of re-skinning Oakhurst to be run by elves instead of being a human settlement. Not a big change, but this is one way you can change an adventure to match your party.

 There are plenty of twists and turns to keep it from being one combat encounter after another. Three factions are vying for control and smart players can use them against each other. The wild card is the undead and traps left behind by the dragon cult that built the citadel. The big bad, Belak the Outcast, is buried deep in the ground and has a gulthias tree. Talking first and swinging swords second can help the characters learn about Belak. Taking prisoners and asking them questions will further the party’s knowledge. A hack and slash approach will wear out the characters and lead to their certain death.

 This is a great adventure and will give both the players and the DM a challenge. There are enough traps and different enemies to keep the players on their toes. The DM will need to stay on their toes as the party comes into contact with the different factions that live in the citadel.

 What to Prepare

 Learn all the major NPCs and what drives them. Know who will duck and run and who will stand and fight. Don’t just have the bad guys lead with their weapons, but give opportunities for the players to talk to them. Given the monstrous nature of most of the denizens of the citadel, players will be quick to roll initiative. Let them know that combat is not the only answer. Our party used the white dragon wyrmling to clear out the kobolds, while we took care of the goblins and Belak.

 The changes our DM made were to make the connection to the previous party a personal one and to reduce the number of redundant rooms. I like it when players have a personal connection to the central story and I would strongly suggest you do the same for your session. As far as reducing the size of the dungeon, I can’t say that I disagree with that call. We as a party left plenty of doors unopened and I feel the dungeon was plenty big enough.

 At the end of the adventure, the author suggests giving a cure for those under the thrall of the gulthias tree. This is something our DM did, and it gave a nice resolution to the adventure. We were able to bring one of the cousins home alive, although one of the thralls died during the big throw down at the end.