Updated: 2023-10-30, game master commentary at the bottom. I'll also include source files later in the week for those who enjoy tabletop design hacking.

The Timeline

This adventure assumes the actual events of the Sunless Citadel happened one generation ago, and Oakhurst has now grown from a mere village into a bustling town.

If you’ve never read or know anything about The Sunless Citadel, don’t fret; it’s unimportant; all anyone remembers was the Citadel was once full of feuding Goblins and Kobolds and something about an evil tree. That’s all you need.

This adventure takes direct inspiration from The Lost Boys: vampire teenagers causing local havoc before returning to sleep during the day. Who is the head vampire, and how do we stop this? Creative solutions are needed when your opponents are slippery, blood-sucking, angsty teenagers.

Kick-Off

This game assumes the players are capable adventurers who arrive at Oakhurst for a private meeting with Mayor Lory. She suspects something is wrong with her community but doesn’t want to freak her citizens out with her suspicions—the outsiders are vampires, and this town is in serious trouble!

Core Clues

Mayor Lory's daughter has been spotted with these delinquents, and she just wants her to come home. She cannot think of any reason WHY she would be acting this way.
Rowyn Hucrele says one of her caravans was attacked and robbed just outside of town by a bunch of flying teenagers.
Dem Nackle’s shrines to a local god have been turned over or vandalized.
Oakhurst’s watch captain, Erky Timbers, and his men cornered them in an alleyway, but they ambushed and beat them up.
Robard says they showed up with Lamina at his tavern and started to cause problems after he asked them to leave. Then they trashed the place.
Her Scouts spotted them in the forest outside town before being ambushed and beaten up.

Once the players have free rein, follow their lead. Despite whatever happens, Mayor Lory will want all leads investigated before any reward is issued.

Rewards: Cheese wheels, ale, local wine, matching knitted scarves, and a gold bar from the treasury. Don’t bother with actual sums if you’re running this as a convention game; keep things moving.

CHARACTERS

Mayor Lory: Her economics mastery has expanded Oakhurst from a small crossroads village into a township within ten years. She has summoned the players to Oakhurst.

Rowyn Hucrele: Operates the town’s leading source of supplies and merchandise with the help of the Martel Corporation. Her merchants are being harassed on the roads, delaying shipments.

Dem Nackle: Maintains shrines to the gods of the sun and agriculture all over Oakhurst. She is a busy gnome. Crop advice, information, and healing are among her services. Her shrines have been fouled, and the spiritual wards protecting the city are corrupted.

Erky Timbers: Oakhurst’s Watch Captain. He commands a handful of guards and scouts who keep the village safe. Erky was rescued from goblins within the Sunless Citadel nearly a generation ago. Unfortunately, he only remembers a few sparse details.

Rurik Lutgehr: Dwarf Smith. Runs The Hammered Edge, a proper Dwarf blacksmith featured in Oakhurst since it was a small crossroads marketplace.

Robard: The new owner and barkeep of the Old Boar Inn.

Cornelious Blunderbuss: An old hunter who lives in the area. Invoke your best Christopher Lloyd impression and mannerisms for Cornelius. Drop him into the story anytime, as he’s the best lead to the Sunless Citadel.

THE DARK FOREST

The Hunter

Cornelius lives in a lodge out here all by himself. He likes it that way but will travel into town regularly for supplies. He’s recently spotted the Vampiric teenagers heading to the Underdark Fissier just outside town. He knows an old dragon temple or ruins that angered the gods so much they sunk it into the earth, but that’s all he knows.

He can show the players what he saw and offers them a place to rest if they’re in trouble. He will stick around for a fight unless he fails a morale check and may tell them to flee to his lodge.

The Black Wolves

While investigating the dark forest, note to the players that a pack of Black Wolves is following them—be downright creepy; these are the Vampire Lords’ sentries. They watch and wait, only attacking once the players get too close to the fissure and dangerously close to the edge.

The Fissure

The Citadel’s entrance is a wound in the earth; the surface is marked by druidic obelisks riddled with graffiti: Meet here for a good time, dare you to go in, Gulthias Was Here, and Meepo rules! Foreshadow doom with a few unholy symbols etched into the stone. This place is cursed.

It would be best to climb the fissure to the Citadel’s entrance. Below that is a pit to the Underdark. Do not fall. Only the gamemaster knows what’s down there.
Simple climbing tools make it safe to climb down. Then things get dark—Light your torches. Start the timer.
The sun cannot reach the Citadel’s entrance. Even in the middle of the day, it’s covered in shadow.

THE SUNLESS CITADEL

This two-level dungeon loosely uses the five-room dungeon outline for each floor. By design, this adventure provides half of what’s needed to run the game, leaving the other half to the creative energy that arises in play.

Entrance

Fallen rocks and debris from the ceiling.
The walls show motifs of a tyrannical red dragon bringing terror and subjugation to human peasants: looking closer, you can see that many of the faces have fangs or googly eyes drawn on them.
Goblin skeleton with a spear pinning it to the wall. There is a fashionable hat that would look good on one of the players; the hat seems new.
High Intelligence characters notice more shadows than people in this room.

The Shadows Pick on the quietest player. They’ll notice between the torchlight, everyone’s Shadows are mimicking their movements as if conscious—they are; this isn’t an illusion. The shadows will try to feint if discovered.

Should the players push the matter, the Shadows may incorporate from the walls, ambush the players, and then “absorb” into them after dealing damage. Their shadow is now cursed and will cause them as much mischief as possible. Worse than any cat.

Secret Door

On the wall is a relief of an elvish guard in plate armor making a sign with its hands—cross your thumbs and spread your hands like wings—it is definitely a secret door.

Detect Magic: The elvish guard is waiting for the same secret sign. Other things around the Citadel are activated with this same hand sign.

Inside, you will find a utility-sized room that observes the entrance, a lever that locks all the doors in that room, and treasure: Red Elvish Bow +1 and a Quiver of Arrows +1 (Rd6).

Ashardalon’s Shrine

This spacious pillared hall features a large tapestry at the north end with a giant statue of the Red Tyrant on the other end.

On the tapestry is a giant Dragon Eye that observes the room and follows you if you glance back at it.

Trap: Neutral or lawfully aligned creatures find their movement and actions are Disadvantaged while the eye observes them. You can bypass this effect by removing the tapestry or nullifying its gaze.

The tapestry has some minor wards against damage and fire woven into its fabric. Give this information freely to any Wizard that glances at it.

The Dragon Statue: The neck will animate and blast tapestry-offending players with Dragon Fire (DC 15 CON or 2d4 damage). Before it does, though, tell the players it gives off that laser-eye meme effect before blasting them.

Sanctuary (Locked)

Six ancient Skeletons in ceremonial robes stand in this silent chamber, each placed inside an open stone coffin standing upright. An altar carved from black obsidian shaped like a dragon’s head is set in the center of the east wall. A single candle burns brightly on the altar. Next to the candle is a crystal flask.

The candle has a continual flame spell cast on it. Crossing the threshold extinguishes the flame (along with nearby torches). If this happens, the skeletons animate and attack.

The flask contains an ounce of Hadron’s Blood that he leaves for his children. The candle is mundane; only the fire is magic.

I DRINK THE VIAL OF BLOOD! It's not a bad call; you get some vampiric powers—give them the handout: You Are Vampire! for details on this foolish choice.

Dragon Fountain

This fountain has a visage of Ashardlon carved into the wall. Around the fountain are the words LET THERE BE FIRE written in Draconic, a rare language. If spoken aloud and the correct hand gesture is given, red blood will pour from the visage’s mouth into the basin. This can be collected into Cure Wounds potions (6d6, split any way you like).

Shadowed Hallway

Shadows project everywhere from your torchlight between the pillars. The walls show pictures of a Red Tyrant blasting the countryside with fire and other dragon-level apocalyptic events.

Painted Hallway

This hallway is full of candlelight. The walls have been primed with paint, and it looks like a meticulous fresco of the creation myth of Shadowdark’s pantheon. It is gorgeous.

Kitchen & Wine Cellar

This neglected kitchen holds a few dead rats on a plate (drained of their blood) and messy countertops. The Wine Cellar below is dusty and stores various wine bottles—some uncorked and some empty. The Wine Cellar is a safe place to hide and rest for 8 hours. The vampires don’t come here but might come to the kitchen.

Treasure: A thief can identify one of the wine bottles a rare (Faeries Delight) is worth a reasonable sum to any merchant.

Feast Hall

An ancient skeleton of an Undead Troll—ape-like, with large tusks and a maw—guards this feast hall and access to the lower level, where Lord Hadron resides in his Underdark garden of treasures.

The troll cannot be bargained with; its core duty is to stop intruders.

Collapsed Spiral Staircase

This stairwell leads down a bit before it stops, leaving the rest crumbled long ago. You can see fungal bioluminescence at the bottom. It looks like a garden is down there.

Convenient cave vines make this climbable but less reliable than rope. Make an Easy check to get down. Failure means you have a rough landing (lose a hitpoint) and make noise.

VAMPIRE CHAMBERS

These rooms are designed to reinforce that these vampires are teenagers with sordid backgrounds, not merely monsters to squash. It’s OK to move quickly through these rooms.

Mason

Wardrobe: A spacious wardrobe with edgy, on-purpose clothing and accessories. There is a full-length mirror in a corner.
Expensive clothing is scattered all over the floor.
If he’s here, Mason sleeps upside down like a bat, hanging from the ceiling—Spider-Man style.

Charlotte

Coffin Bed: A cozy coffin-shaped bed with a plush velvet lining and black satin sheets. Charlotte may be sleeping here.
Victorian sewing machine with a slew of half-finished sewing projects.
Reems of valuable cloth and a mannequin wearing a ruby dress that could impress nobility.

Logan

Gothic Decor: Dark and eerie decor with black and red color schemes, dragon-themed candelabras, and bizarre portraits.
Goth graffiti art and lifelike paintings are all over this room.
Stunning sketchbook of people (victims?) that would sell quickly to the right person.
If he’s here, Logan sleeps like a Renaissance figure draped on a fainting couch.

Ethan

Bookshelves: Stacked with vampire literature and fiction. The right bookhound would break the bank to obtain this collection.
Bottle of red wine (not blood), rare vintage.
Ethan sleeps in a plush reading chair surrounded by books. There is a book on Necromancy on the chair (or his lap, if he’s sleeping here), specifically on animating skeletons.

Lamina

Gothic Vanity: A vanity table with a round mirror. The table is filled with makeup, perfumes, and grooming tools.
She has a backpack of loose clothing, some food, and a journal about her being found by Hedron, being taken in by her “new family,” and finding a home. Her journal mentions remembering some woman vital to her, but she cannot remember her face anymore. Hedron has commanded her to “forget” her mother, Mayor Lorence.
She sleeps on a bedroll on the floor, but she makes it pretty comfortable looking.
The room has a small vial of Hedron’s Blood in it. Drinking it will give you some vampiric powers but won’t turn you into a full vampire.

THE UNDERDARK

Hadron’s lair is easier to complete and an interesting one for a Vampire Lord, as he’s a gardener of Underdark flora and a relic collector. He was an explorer, after all.

Collapsed Spiral Staircase (Bottom)

The only way down is by a rope. This will open up to an Underdark garden full of dark life and an Elder Tree that spirals up from the ground.

The Elder Tree

The foundational walls of the Sunless Citadel sunk into the Underdark ages ago, and at its heart is a baleful white Elder Tree. Its origins can be anything the gamemaster wishes or left a mystery for later. Its branches produce white apples that, if consumed, will turn you into a Vampire. Luckily, you revert to your usual self at the next dawn unless you drink the blood of a sentient creature. The thurst is damningly real, forcing you to make Hard CON checks in the presence of worthy victims.

Underdark Garden

This area does not need torches as all kinds of Underdark flora and fungi illuminate it. It’s beautiful. And dangerous. A few twig blights help Hedron tend this illustrious garden of Underdark flora. They will fight intruders, but sadly to the death, they don’t have a choice.

Luminescent Moss: Grows on just about everything down here.
Phantom Fungi: Tiny, translucent, a good spell component for a Wizard.
Abyssal Lichen: Light filaments have a hypnotic amber glow, highly combustible.
Subterranean Ferns: Complex leaf patterns that glow.
Deeprooted Ivy: Grows on and into the walls, climbable,

This area feels heady.

Droll Bones

Oh, hello; I didn't think anyone visited anymore. My best friends are all rats now.

Cobwebs, spiders, a dimly glowing pentagram on the floor, and a bored skeleton relaxing on a chair in the middle. Its eyes have the tell it’s animated with Necromancy, but they glow white instead.

Invoke your best René Auberjonois impersonation. If anyone gets the bit, give them a thumbs up and keep going.

Ethan summoned Droll Bones to answer questions about the Sunless Citadel. The ritual worked! But Droll Bones cannot leave the pentagram; destroying it ends his existence (false).

Droll Bones knows all the juicy gossip, and the GM is encouraged to spill as much backstory about this adventure as they like.
Droll Brones was once a prisoner of this Citadel, it was a stronghold to Ashardalon, the Red Tyrant, but that’s old news now.
His backstory: Makeup up something about being a captured thief.
Ashardalon’s hubris and god complex angered the gods, so the Citadel was struck down into the Underdark. Its influence essentially ended there.
Droll Bones wants to be a free-range skeleton. And he has yet to learn why he has a personality or is otherwise different. He does know the book Ethan animated him with might hold the key to both.
The Vampire teens named him Droll Bones and kept him around because they thought he was funny. He’s also against killing them; they have a messed up family, and the real problem is their undead patriarch, Lord Hadron.

Detect Magic: Breaking the pentagram frees Droll Bones; Ethan lied to him. The pentagram is just a cage. The players could run him as a companion character or backup PC if free. Droll Bones is a magical enigma with no answer to his personality. He just is.

LORD HEDRON’S MANOR

Courtyard

Open air and surrounded by pillars. Nothing of interest here.

Stables

There is a black horse here, and someone is caring for it. There is feed here and grooming brushes. The horse’s placard says Sagefire.

Servant’s Quarters

This is a room of rooms separated by thin sheets. Hedron’s servant, Percival, lives here, caring for the manor while his lord is on adventures. This is a lie; he knows his patron has become a Vampire but hopes things will improve.

Percival: Kindly, elderly, and will try to stop the heroes with guile if he can. He’s sorry to do it, Vampire’s charm and all.

Bathroom

Spotless and ultimately unused. Do you need to go to the bathroom?

Secret (Chapel)

This small shrine or chapel has had its statue toppled over. A staircase heads down into a crypt, where Hedron sleeps and hides from the daylight.

Secret Door: There is a statue of a woman with a blindfold over her eyes. Removing the blindfold dispels the illusionary door on the opposite side (see map).

Bedroom

Clean bedroom, completely unused. You can see a proud explorer’s suit, a corner, and a few history books.

Dining

Dinner is set for one. The north windows are painted black. Nothing else is in this room.

Kitchen

Ghastly. Mayor Lory is here, slowly drained of her blood and bottled by Percival. Hedron makes them forget the encounter, and they re-appear back in town, none the wiser, with a short story to back up their disappearance.

Greenhouse

This room has been converted into a greenhouse of Underdark flora. The windows have been painted over, and the air is cave-cold here with some lesser enchantment. Fungus has

Sitting Room

This area is filled with books, sketches, paintings of caverns, whole underground cities, and strange-looking underground races.

Relics

Sinister black elvish sword with a spider motif.
A spherical compass that points up as well as north.
Display case of strange coins and led lumps.
Terrarium of Phase Scorpions. Some notes state if the poison mixes with blood, it glows brightly.
Maps show the Veins of the Earth, all the way from the Sunless Citadel and lower.

The Crypts Below

Below is a small crypt devoted to Hedron’s fellow explorers who died traveling with him. He holds them in high regard. His tomb is down there, and a plush coffin fit for a Vampire Lord.

Confrontation

Lord Hadron will realize their activities have been less than clandestine at the adventurers’ arrival. His children have been too rambunctious. I keep telling them to stop showing up here—Teenagers, you can’t tell them anything.

After a knowing smirk, Hedron will fight, charm, or escape back to the Sunless Citadel if he can. If destroyed, the teenagers will revert to their usual selves—they’re still punks.

Commentary

I've run this adventure five times, and the best ending was Mayor Lory adopting all of the delinquent (no longer vampire) teenagers and raising them as her own. I consider this "The Best" ending. The players leave in a wagon of Oakhurst's finest food, matching scarves, and a stamped bar of gold.
The worst was the players killed all of the teenagers, the head vampire, and traumatized (but saved) Lamina, the mayor’s daughter.
Players liked how kind and helpful Cornelious Blunderbuss was. He nearly died in the third run to some wolves, and the players took insane lengths to save him. "Don't you die on me!"
Droll Bones gets almost no airtime, but he's a "spell it out for you NPC" if the players get stuck in the plot.
Having the players roll up their characters did wonders for investment.
I also got some feedback that the sandbox-open world feel was a good one.
I want to thank Stalwarts, Ben, Alex, Ian, and Carlos for helping me playtest this and bringing so much fun to other people.

Release v2.0

I re-wrote the beginning and end with playtest feedback.
Added Full Maps.
Added Lord Hadron’s Manor.
Added Monster Stats.

Release v1.0

High-resolution maps will come out after the playtest.
Missing: Wrap-Up Chapter
Missing: Creature Stats in PDF.
Add: Actual Play Audio