Citadel of the Sun-Kings – Session 12: Yoth-Hul is Dead, Long Live Yoth-Hul

Citadel of the Sun-Kings Campaign Diary

Session 12: The Demigod is Dead, Long Live the Demigod

The Party

Ramu (Ranger 4) – “Green Goblin” aspirant; bow, javelins, and unkillable HP.

Idrusa (Magic-User 4) – Scroll hoarder, lightning bringer, owns a very persuasive bronze mask.

Hasoom (Thief 5) – Goes where the treasure is; lives to tell the tale.

Ardamin (Elf 2) – Promoted to the big-time after the death of Kheperkare.

What Happened

This session started with the party at the top of the Citadel, just having defeated the mummy of the last Chersid Sun-King and a horde of undead Chersid husks. Kheperkare died during the battle, swarmed by the husks, so his player (Zi) opted to take over Ardamin the Elf for this session.

The top of the Citadel is open to the sky. With the dark sorcery of the Sun-King's ritual ended, the party watched as the eclipse slowly lifted and the sun once again loomed high over the desert.

After a short breather, the party headed through the only door on the upper level of the Citadel. Inside was a vast hoard of ancient treasure. The vault contained thousands of square punched gold coins bearing solar iconography and Chersidic script, numerous pieces of ancient jewelry, and several strange artifacts of ancient sorcery: several scrolls, a jade ring, and a large, rune-etched bronze brazier.

The party made a note of the treasure, as they could not carry all of this loot out with them right now. Instead, they decided to investigate the rest of the Citadel, since Nabu-Bal had warned them that his great enemy, Yoth-Hul, was lurking somewhere within.

Descending the steps, the party ventured down various halls, popping their heads into odd rooms, only to back away several times when they spotted lurking bug-man husks in the darkness. Having taken a lot of damage and using most of their spells fighting the Sun-King, the party was not looking for a fight.

The Throne Room of the Sun-Kings

They eventually came to a set of grand double doors in a chamber at the top of a double set of stairs. Beyond the door, Ardamin was able to hear low moaning with his elven hearing. After checking the door for traps, the group entered into the grand throneroom of the ancient Chersid Empire. A hulking, one-eyed giant lie sprawled on the floor, moaning with pain and frustration.

As the group entered, the being asked who they were and if they had come to torment it further. When asked what it was, the entity responded, "We are the herald of the endless cycle of rebirth. All come to us in their own time. We are inevitable, we are Yoth-Hul."

The PCs immediately went into defensive discussions, having been told by Nabu-Bal that the Chaos godling was not to be trusted, and that Nabu-Bal had told them that Yoth-Hul should be contained at all costs.

Into the Depths

The group left the room and searched the lower parts of the Citadel. Traversing several rooms with various monsters, traps and hazards, they eventually descended into the deepest depths of the step pyramid. Using the crown of the sun-king, which they had taken after their battle, they were able to magically unlock a door deep in the lowest depths which led into the ancient burial chamber of the Chersid monarchy: A long chamber with a high, arched ceiling supported by six stone pillars embedded with thousands of ossified carapaces. Rows of sunburst-etched sarcophagi line the walls. A 12’ tall crystalline door stands slightly ajar on the western wall.

Going beyond the crystal door, the party entered into a vast chamber of smooth, flawless crystal. Each wall bears a glowing, arcane sigil. The southwest wall is cracked, leaking black ichor. In the center lie 4 shattered silver chains around a shallow depression. The party recognized this as the ancient prison of the chaos demigod, but also realized that the chamber was irrevocably damaged, and would no longer be able to contain Yoth-Hul, even if the party could manage to drag the giant back down to the chamber.

The Death of Yoth-Hul

Concerned about leaving such a powerful, malevolent entity to its own devices if they left, the party engaged in an extensive debate on their next course of action. Returning to the throne chamber, the party once again conversed with Yoth-Hul, but the conversation took a strange turn.

The Chaos godling did not struggle or attempt to fight them. Instead, it praised them. It stated that they were indeed mighty heroes who had bested its plans to escape its confinement and spread Chaos across the Wastes. Yoth-Hul asked the PCs to regale it with tales of their exploits, their heroic deeds and referred to them repeatedly as "heroes of destiny". While some of the players were a bit flattered, others were immediately suspicious.

Eventually, after a lengthy conversation, Yoth-Hul made a surprising request: "At last it has come to this: As agents of Fate, it seems you are destined to defeat me, and I shall not delay it any further. Strike me down and fulfill what must transpire here."

Some of the group suspected a trap, and felt this was the very thing Nabu-Bal warned against. However, others felt there was little other option. They couldn't just leave this powerful entity of Chaos to its own devices here, even if it was weak and unable to move.

Eventually, Ramu stepped forward, blade drawn, and with a single slash of his sword, beheaded the demigod. The head rolled along the floor, laughing as it went. Yoth-Hul's massive form immediately began to dissolve into a wet, fungal slurry. As it did, the body released a thick cloud of yellow spores which Ramu inhaled before he can react.

Unsure of what to make of this turn of events, the party decided it was time to leave. The only thing they were clear on was that whatever had just happened, it was probably bad.

Return to Najad

The group spent the next several hours hauling the vast treasure hoard out of the Citadel to their mounts. They camped for the night in the desert before making the long trek back to Najad. During the trek, Ramu had come down with a mild illness, and he had begun to suffer from fevered dreams, always of a temple in a distant jungle.

After crossing through the Shalgara Gap once again, they came upon a caravan camp. The drivers and merchants therein excitedly gossip that the Murhadir’s legions were marching toward Najad! They speculated that soon the town would be under siege, as the Murhadir had seemingly had enough of Bulat's rebellious coup.

Fevered Dreams

Hurrying back to Najad, the party collected their XP and decided it was time to move on. Najad and the Red Wastes were devolving further into Chaos with every passing day! However, something was happening to Ramu... He had wrapped himself in a heavy cloak and seemed to shun the midday sun. The ranger seemed to grow ever more detached with each passing day, and small blooms of fungus had secretly begun to grow from cracks in his skin. And with each passing day, Ramu felt the overwhelming urge to head east towards some distant steaming jungle, where an ancient temple of chaos-worshippers awaits.

On the party's last day in Najad, as they were preparing to leave, they realized that their ranger was missing. When they asked around town, the locals had seen him leave in the night, with little more than a cloak and a walking stick. They claimed he mumbled to himself as he staggered off into the desert, heading east...

Referee’s Notes

And with that, we closed out the Citadel of the Sun-Kings campaign. This was a short final session, but no less dramatic for it. The players faced the godling of Chaos in the heart of the pyramid, and instead of an apocalyptic battle, they found something stranger: resignation, inevitability, and perhaps a final manipulation. Was Yoth-Hul truly destroyed, or did the players merely carry its spores out into the world in the body of their ranger? Only another campaign might tell.

Ironically, the players spent the least time in the dungeon that gives the adventure its name. Of the Citadel’s four entrances, they found the most direct route to the summit and engaged only one of the dungeon’s three major factions. That’s emergent play. Sometimes the most sprawling maps get skipped in favor of decisions and shortcuts. And that’s fine. The story that emerged was their story, not mine.

One of my few regrets is that my group never fully engaged with Najad’s internal strife. The city was designed to be a powder keg, and I suspect some tables will lean hard into rebellion, civil war, or full-on political drama. My players? They’ve never been ones to dip into local politics, and this campaign was no exception. Instead, they trekked the deserts, hunted monsters, and pressed ancient gods. That was the game they wanted to play.

This playtest revealed places where I needed to tighten text, clarify encounters, and rebalance treasure. That’s the point of running it, and it was invaluable. The world of the Red Wastes came alive at the table, and now I get to polish it into something ready to share. Citadel of the Sun-Kings is currently in the final stages of revision, and will be coming to Kickstarter by way of Silverarm Press in the near future! Silverarm has published many other amazing adventures such as Secret of the Black Crag (Chance Dudinack), Tide World of Mani (Joel Hines) and this year's Ennie Award winner for best long form adventure, The Shrike (Leo Hunt). I'm very excited to see Citadel join such an illustrious lineup.

Thanks to my players for braving the Red Wastes. And thanks to you, readers, for following along on this diary. Yoth-Hul may be dead (or maybe not!), but the Wastes live on in the stories born from them.

Cover art by the amazing Logan Stahl!