Hearing talk that the matriarch of an important merchant family is offering a reward for finding her missing son and daughter, the five friends Adran Darknight, Cara de Maza, Fallen Moonshadow, Kyle Stormbreaker and Logen Ninefingers make their way to the village of Oakhurst in search of gold, excitement and renown.
They soon find the distraught Kerowyn Hucrele who tells them that Talgen (a warrior) and his sister Sharwyn (a wizard) have not been seen for a month, after setting out with two others to explore a place named the Sunless Citadel. Kerowyn offers salvage rights to you and your team if you can find and return with the two lost members of her family – or at least return the gold signet rings worn by the missing brother and sister. She also offers a reward of 125 gold pieces per signet ring for each of you; if you bring back the Hucreles in good shape (of good mind and body), she offers to double the reward. That could be 2,500 gold!
This obviously necessitates a trip to the Ol’ Boar Inn where the owner Garon proves to be an excellent source of information once he has provided the newcomers with Guinni. Between him and a few other equally garrulous patrons the following information is gleaned:
- No one knows for sure what the Sunless Citadel once was, but legends hint that it served as the retreat of an ancient dragon cult. Rumours say it is a place that holds promise for those intent on discovery, glory, and treasure.
- It lies some 7 miles from the village along the Old Road, which skirts the Ashen Plain – a lifeless area attributed to the long-ago rampage of a dragon named Ashardalon.
- Cattle herders don’t graze their stock too far afield these days. They’re frightened by stories of new monsters that maraud by night. From time to time, cattle and people who have gone out alone at night have been found dead the next day, bearing dozens of needle-like wounds. No one has seen the creatures that cause this mayhem, nor do they leave a discernible trail.
- Talgen and Sharwyn Hucrele’s companions were a paladin of Pelor called Sir Braford and a ranger named Karakas. Sir Braford was not a local, and he had a magic sword called Shatterspike.
The five set out along the overgrown Old Road and eventually come upon some broken pillars jutting from the ground where it passes a ravine. A knotted rope tied to one of the pillars looks like it has been in place no longer than a few weeks, so Fallen climbs down to investigate. It leads down the side of the ravine and then through an opening and on to a sandy ledge, which overlooks a subterranean gulf of darkness to the west.
As he calls this out to the others Fallen is attacked by three rats the size of small dogs. These are soon dispatched as his companions rush to help but there is clearly danger here.
Descending rough-hewn stairs that zig-zag down the side of the ledge, a fortress emerges from the darkness. The subterranean citadel, though impressive, seems long forgotten, if the lightless windows, cracked crenellations, and leaning towers are any indication. All is quiet, though a cold breeze blows up from below, bringing with it the scent of dust and a faint trace of rot.
The narrow stairs empty into a small courtyard, apparently the top of what was once a crenellated battlement. The buried citadel has sunk so far into the earth that the battlement is now level with the surrounding floor. That floor stretches away to the north and south, composed of a layer of treacherous, crumbled masonry, which reaches to an unknown depth. To the west looms the surviving structure of what must be the Sunless Citadel. A tower stands on the west side of the courtyard.
Cara approaches the tower’s solitary door but before he reaches it a trap opens beneath him; only Adran’s lightning reactions stop him dropping into a 10-foot deep pit. At the bottom are two goblin skeletons and a recently-deceased goblin, upon which a giant rat is nibbling. This is easy to dispatch after which some minor loot is recovered from the goblin corpse.
With their alert level raised considerably some time is spent making sure the door itself isn’t trapped, but eventually it is opened. The inside of the tower is cobbled with cracked granite, upon which sprawl the bodies of four goblins, apparently slain in combat. One corpse stands with its back against the western wall, the spear that killed it still skewering it and holding it upright. Three wooden doors lead from this area. A hollow tower of loose masonry reaches thirty feet into the air, but the intervening floors and stairs are gone, except for a couple of crumbled ledges. When the spear is removed, the body slumps to reveal the word ‘Ashardalon’ in draconic on the wall behind it.
The group takes the western door which opens onto a corridor ending in three more doors: two wooden and one stone, relief-carved with a dragon-like fish swimming. Leaving the stone door, one of the wooden doors has nothing but an empty room behind it but the other reveals a strange sight.
Crudely-executed symbols and glyphs, scribed in bright green dye, decorate this large and irregularly shaped crumbling chamber. A large pit in the centre shows evidence of a recent fire. A metallic cage in the middle of the southern wall contains a gaping hole and stands empty. A small wooden bench draped with green cloth is next to the cage, and several small objects rest on it. A bedroll lies near the wooden bench, and the sound of whimpering comes from inside it.
The whimpering comes from a miserable kobold who says his name is Meepo. It’s somewhat painful to extract his story but he reveals that he is distraught because goblins stole the kobold clan’s dragon, Calcryx. He knows nothing of the missing Hucrele party but says that the clan’s leader Yusdrayl does; if the group offer to help find the dragon, he will introduce them to Yusdrayl.
An agreement is reached and everyone is led to the throne room. This ‘throne’ is constructed of fallen bits of masonry stacked against an old altar. On the top of the altar sit a variety of small items. The portion of the altar that serves as the throne’s back features a carving of a rearing dragon. A metallic key is held firmly in the dragon’s open jaws.
Thanks to Meepo’s introduction Yusdrayl appears unperturbed by non-kobolds in her court. Flanked by guards, she tells that the lost adventurers were last seen going to fight the goblins who live to the north. After some negotiation she agrees that she will offer the key in the throne’s jaws – which she believes opens a door somewhere to the south, although she’s not sure where – if the dragon Calcryx is returned. With her guards as escort, the party are led to a trapped passageway that separates the kobolds’ area from the goblins’.
With Meepo showing how to circumvent the trap, the adventurers approach a door behind which goblinish voices can be heard. Kicking in the door the group surprises three goblins crouched around a fire and quickly dispatches them.
Another door leads to a large torch-lit hall filled with hazy smoke. A double row of marble columns carved with entwining dragons runs its length but it seems empty, so the party picks one of the doors on the opposite side and heads into a corridor. Listening at two doors at the end, many loud goblin voices can be heard behind one and fewer, deeper voices behind the other.
The vote is that fewer is better than many, so that door is flung open to reveal a forty-foot-diameter domed chamber with a circular shaft piercing the floor. Dim violet light shines out of the shaft, revealing sickly white and grey vines that coat the walls of the shaft. The light is supplemented by four lit wall torches set equidistant around the periphery of the chamber. A crudely fashioned stone throne sits against the curve of the northwestern wall. A large iron chest serves as the throne’s footstool. A sapling grows in a wide stone pot next to the throne.
More importantly, the room is filled with hobgoblins: the one on the throne, larger than the rest, appears to be the chief and is flanked by three guards; all are heavily armoured. A goblin also in the room looks like some kind of shaman.
With shouts of alarm battle ensues. Within a few moments the three hobgoblin guards are killed – one falling down the shaft with a dagger in his eye – but Cara and Adran are both hurt. Logen is afflicted with a hex from the shaman, but she is badly injured and flees towards another door. Adran frightens Meepo into going after her but the hobgoblin chief cuts the kobold down with his longsword, leaving him dying on the floor.
Only the hobgoblin chief remains, but aid is coming …
You receive 131 experience points (xp) each.