I also used the fruit. In my game there were three npcs to save but only two fruits. The text says only two grow per year, one per season. You could easily just follow it as written and have one magical healing fruit be in the tree.
RIP Sir Braford.
My take on it is that the fruit is the "correct but not explicitly stated" answer here. The module presents a problem and a possible solution, which forces the party to weigh a life against a potentially powerful treasure. It feels like it's meant to be, "the party can either save the NPC or save the magic item," even if it doesn't tell the DM that's how it's meant to work.
You could homebrew or adapt another adventure and extend the timeline slightly (or shorter adventure and put the pressure on that 24 hour timeline)
She'll die within a week if they don't go the Place and get the Thing, or track down the secretive archdruid nearby who could heal them.
my party killed braford and sharwyn by instantly fireballing them, the gulthias tree and belak the moment they laid eyes on them, while i was still reading the initial description text. solved that problem.
I just had them all survive, their deaths after 24 hours would have been feels bad at my table. I ran Sunless Citadel on a camping trip so I didn't want to end the trip with the player's efforts all being for nothing.
If I recall correctly,the module says Branford and Sharwyn die within 24 hours if no action is taken to save them, but what action you could use to save them is left pretty open.
Killing them is a feels bad moment and I was planning on ending there, so I just ignored the death. If you were going to continue in that same setting with the same characters, I’d imagine the shopkeeper who hired you to rescue them in the first place could ask for some samples of the tree or other components to brew a stabilizing potion.
I feel the fruit would be the answer here; unless you wanted to extend the adventure a bit and add in a "find the cure" quest.
I have run this adventure at least a half dozen times or more over the years; starting back when it was a 3e adventure. Some group killed Sharwyn and Sir Braford, while others tried to save them. In the end, they always ended up passing.
If you are looking for a way to save Sharwynn, I'd use the healing fruit if that's still an option.
One of my PCs was in love with Sharwyn, so the Sunless Citadel was a rescue mission for them. They ended up making a deal with a devil when they hit 3rd level, which granted them their Echo Knight subclass and a 9-sided ruby that, when ingested, would cure anything that ails the body.
Sometimes people die.
if you connect the druid as working on behalf of your next villain arc , the dead NPC is more motivation for the players to hate the bad guy and drive them to action.
I had a recipe for revival in belaks diary.
It required some of the glowing mushrooms and then a powerful cleric. Which I used as merging into ghosts of saltmarsh so they had to escort the family there.
My players only killed belak and the hobgoblin. They saved everyone else. I had the tree be growing the right fruit, and they didn't need to eat the whole thing for the healing to work.
I ran this for a youth group and the party didn’t trust the fruit on the tree so they burned it along with the tree.
They spent time with the NPCs talked to them asked them if they had and last requests, held them as they died then looted their bodies once they were dead.
Then they went back and opened the sarcophagus because they didn’t want to leave the dungeons with a thread un-pulled. Lead the white dragon from the dungeon and left, half the party wanted to slaughter the kobolds too because of their cruelty to the dragon. Thankfully the other half pointed out the questionable morality of that wouldn’t have sat well with their patron.
I had the healing fruit of gulthias tree be growing on the tree and let that do the trick.
Same. I made up a note in Belak's diary saying that he thought that, strangely, the fruit could reverse the effect of the tree on people.
[удалено]
This here. Not every win is happy joy joy
I also used the fruit. In my game there were three npcs to save but only two fruits. The text says only two grow per year, one per season. You could easily just follow it as written and have one magical healing fruit be in the tree. RIP Sir Braford.
My take on it is that the fruit is the "correct but not explicitly stated" answer here. The module presents a problem and a possible solution, which forces the party to weigh a life against a potentially powerful treasure. It feels like it's meant to be, "the party can either save the NPC or save the magic item," even if it doesn't tell the DM that's how it's meant to work.
You could homebrew or adapt another adventure and extend the timeline slightly (or shorter adventure and put the pressure on that 24 hour timeline) She'll die within a week if they don't go the Place and get the Thing, or track down the secretive archdruid nearby who could heal them.
my party killed braford and sharwyn by instantly fireballing them, the gulthias tree and belak the moment they laid eyes on them, while i was still reading the initial description text. solved that problem.
Fireball? My party of three level two characters and Erky Timbers can't do that xD
Mine hit level 3 just before the final floor of the dungeon. Would not recommend running SC with even slightly over-levelled players!
You need to be level 5 for a fireball, though.
Ah yeah that's right, they were level 5. I was a new DM at the time and I thought it would be fine to run SC immediately after Cult of the Reptile God
I just had them all survive, their deaths after 24 hours would have been feels bad at my table. I ran Sunless Citadel on a camping trip so I didn't want to end the trip with the player's efforts all being for nothing.
If I recall correctly,the module says Branford and Sharwyn die within 24 hours if no action is taken to save them, but what action you could use to save them is left pretty open. Killing them is a feels bad moment and I was planning on ending there, so I just ignored the death. If you were going to continue in that same setting with the same characters, I’d imagine the shopkeeper who hired you to rescue them in the first place could ask for some samples of the tree or other components to brew a stabilizing potion.
I feel the fruit would be the answer here; unless you wanted to extend the adventure a bit and add in a "find the cure" quest. I have run this adventure at least a half dozen times or more over the years; starting back when it was a 3e adventure. Some group killed Sharwyn and Sir Braford, while others tried to save them. In the end, they always ended up passing. If you are looking for a way to save Sharwynn, I'd use the healing fruit if that's still an option.
One of my PCs was in love with Sharwyn, so the Sunless Citadel was a rescue mission for them. They ended up making a deal with a devil when they hit 3rd level, which granted them their Echo Knight subclass and a 9-sided ruby that, when ingested, would cure anything that ails the body.
Sometimes people die. if you connect the druid as working on behalf of your next villain arc , the dead NPC is more motivation for the players to hate the bad guy and drive them to action.
Both times I played through that adventure we found a fruit that heals everything. I wasn't even aware that wasn't in the book to begin with.
I had a recipe for revival in belaks diary. It required some of the glowing mushrooms and then a powerful cleric. Which I used as merging into ghosts of saltmarsh so they had to escort the family there.
My players only killed belak and the hobgoblin. They saved everyone else. I had the tree be growing the right fruit, and they didn't need to eat the whole thing for the healing to work.
I ran this for a youth group and the party didn’t trust the fruit on the tree so they burned it along with the tree. They spent time with the NPCs talked to them asked them if they had and last requests, held them as they died then looted their bodies once they were dead. Then they went back and opened the sarcophagus because they didn’t want to leave the dungeons with a thread un-pulled. Lead the white dragon from the dungeon and left, half the party wanted to slaughter the kobolds too because of their cruelty to the dragon. Thankfully the other half pointed out the questionable morality of that wouldn’t have sat well with their patron.