Sunless Citadel
A once-proud fortress that fell into the earth in an age long past. Now known as the Sunless Citadel, its echoing, broken halls house malign creatures. Evil has taken root at the citadel’s core, which is deep within a subterranean garden of blighted foliage. Here a terrible tree and its dark shepherd plot in darkness.
The tree, called the Gulthias Tree, is shepherded by a twisted druid, Belak the Outcast. He was drawn to the buried citadel twelve years ago, following stories of oddly enchanted fruit to their source. The druid found an old fortress that had been swallowed up by the earth in some sort of magically invoked devastation. With the previous inhabitants long dispersed, vile and opportunistic creatures common to lightless dungeons infested the subterranean ruins. At the core of the old fortress, Belak stumbled upon the Twilight Grove. He discovered at the grove’s heart the Gulthias Tree, which sprouted from the shat of a giant's axe in a green dragon's dead body.
A perfect, ruby-red apple ripens on the Gulthias Tree at the summer solstice, and the tree produces a single albino apple at the winter solstice. The midsummer fruit grants vigor, health, and life, while the midwinter fruit steals the same. In the years since Belak’s arrival, the enchanted fruit has been widely dispersed through the surrounding lands, promoting good and ill. The seeds of either fruit, if allowed to sprout, grow into small plant monsters known as twig blights.
More detail: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/tftyp/a1/the-sunless-citadel#TheSunlessCitadel
The goblins, which belong to the Durbuluk tribe (“Dominator” in Goblin), once patrolled the area around the ravine to rob passersby. But now, with the Old Road having fallen out of use, the goblins rarely pay much attention to this entrance anymore. Also, a tribe of kobolds has recently moved in to challenge the goblins’ ownership of the fortress. Both groups are skirmishing as they vie for control, and they’re not overly concerned about the possibility of intruders. Thus, the cleft offers the characters a good opportunity to gain entry to the dungeon without attracting attention. (The missing party that came here before did much the same; the rope left tied to the pillar near the ravine is theirs.)
Though the kobolds and the goblins claim the Sunless Citadel as their property, they’ve never visited all its chambers. They avoid entering the most secluded parts of the grove level. In the past, they feared that the hidden grove was haunted. With the arrival of Belak the Outcast twelve years ago, that belief is vindicated. He orders the goblins to distribute the midsummer fruit each year, and the goblins obey him out of fear.
Random Treasure. Each regular kobold and goblin is likely to have 2d10 sp, perhaps in the form of various coins and crude jewelry.
The tree, called the Gulthias Tree, is shepherded by a twisted druid, Belak the Outcast. He was drawn to the buried citadel twelve years ago, following stories of oddly enchanted fruit to their source. The druid found an old fortress that had been swallowed up by the earth in some sort of magically invoked devastation. With the previous inhabitants long dispersed, vile and opportunistic creatures common to lightless dungeons infested the subterranean ruins. At the core of the old fortress, Belak stumbled upon the Twilight Grove. He discovered at the grove’s heart the Gulthias Tree, which sprouted from the shat of a giant's axe in a green dragon's dead body.
A perfect, ruby-red apple ripens on the Gulthias Tree at the summer solstice, and the tree produces a single albino apple at the winter solstice. The midsummer fruit grants vigor, health, and life, while the midwinter fruit steals the same. In the years since Belak’s arrival, the enchanted fruit has been widely dispersed through the surrounding lands, promoting good and ill. The seeds of either fruit, if allowed to sprout, grow into small plant monsters known as twig blights.
More detail: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/tftyp/a1/the-sunless-citadel#TheSunlessCitadel
Map
History
The Cult of Dragon that valued privacy and defense built the Sunless Citadel on the surface long ago, as many fortress and cities during the Orrin Empire, the citadel was floatting in the sky, closer to the master of the sky venerated by the cultists. The records of the cult name back in those day, or the specific branch set in this location has vanished, though various sources believe that it was associated with the green dragon Ashardalon. The Great Extinction that killed the cult members sank the fortress at the same time. Because of residual enchantments, much of the structure survived its descent into the earth. With the cultists dead, goblins and other creatures moved in, and they have survived here for hundreds of years.The goblins, which belong to the Durbuluk tribe (“Dominator” in Goblin), once patrolled the area around the ravine to rob passersby. But now, with the Old Road having fallen out of use, the goblins rarely pay much attention to this entrance anymore. Also, a tribe of kobolds has recently moved in to challenge the goblins’ ownership of the fortress. Both groups are skirmishing as they vie for control, and they’re not overly concerned about the possibility of intruders. Thus, the cleft offers the characters a good opportunity to gain entry to the dungeon without attracting attention. (The missing party that came here before did much the same; the rope left tied to the pillar near the ravine is theirs.)
Though the kobolds and the goblins claim the Sunless Citadel as their property, they’ve never visited all its chambers. They avoid entering the most secluded parts of the grove level. In the past, they feared that the hidden grove was haunted. With the arrival of Belak the Outcast twelve years ago, that belief is vindicated. He orders the goblins to distribute the midsummer fruit each year, and the goblins obey him out of fear.
Random Treasure. Each regular kobold and goblin is likely to have 2d10 sp, perhaps in the form of various coins and crude jewelry.
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