Midmorning, a party of adventurers entered the town of Hommlet, a place with a dark and dangerous history.

Tor Ironforge is a dwarf cleric of Moradin; Marbo Tormlek, a human fighter. Telnash Wildermeet, a human abjurer; Thyla Rhiallanyng, an elf ranger; and Larian Whyath, a half-elf bard. All had been adventuring together for some time, accompanied by a halfling rogue known only as The Shadow. The Shadow had entered the town some days ago, but she did not come to meet them when they arrived.

They easily found the Inn of the Welcome Wench, but the barmaid Maridosen was not at all welcoming - in fact, she was somewhat surly and untalkative. The place was clean and well-kept.

There was a minstrel playing - not very well - and Larian sat with him and started accompanying him. The minstrel's name was Redithidoor Halfmoon. Meanwhile the others ordered food.

The food was very good, if a little expensive. During their meal, a human woman came up, introduced herself as Telna, and started asking about them and where they came from. It soon became clear that Telna was the town gossip, and the party declined to give her too much information. She did, however, tell them the history of the town.

Twenty-five years ago, the forces of evil and darkness gathered north and east of Hommlet and constructed a huge temple. This was a bastion for their armies of gnolls, bugbears, ogres, trolls and giants - not to mention the evil human masters the place and the demons and other foul creatures that served them. From this awful place, the malevolent denizens unleashed earthquakes, storms, fires, and floods upon the countryside. Monsters were drawn to the area like steel to a lodestone. The Temple of Elemental Evil took three years to complete, but even in that short time, the forces of good knew that they could not abide such a place. The lands of Furyondy and Veluna rallied their forces and sacked the temple twenty-two years ago at a battle called Emridy Meadows (named for the largest confrontation). Most of the evil forces were destroyed or driven off. The temple itself was greatly damaged, but the underground levels were extensive and dangerous even for those heroic folk. So the Temple of Elemental Evil was sealed with great magic, imprisoning a powerful demon within its confines. Nine years later, bandits began troubling the areas around Hommlet. Evil humanoids and strangely garbed priests were seen on the road. Within the following year, it became clear that the Temple of Elemental Evil was rising again. This time, the folk of Hommlet and the surrounding areas coordinated and fostered attacks by bands of adventurers against the ruined but still-occupied temple. Eventually, the evil was once again overthrown, and this time the temple's dangerous lower levels were destroyed. Since then, the territory has prospered in the peace that has settled in, apparenly for a long stay. Common wisdom has it that no more adventures can be had in Hommlet.

Telna invited all of them for a meal at her place that evening. As she left, she suggested that the group check out the shop called Potions and Elixirs if they wanted do do something interesting.

Larian left the group to mingle with the townsfolk while the other four headed to the shop across town. The shop was being run by a ten-year old girl named Renne, who told them that her father, Spugnoir, has been missing for six days. Marbo realised that Spugnoir was a distant relative, and the party offered to help.

Renne didn't know where her father had gone. He left the shop as he often did, telling her that he was going exploring. No-one has seen him since. She did tell the group that her father was involved with the adventuring group that did for the original Temple of Elemental Evil fifteen years ago, a group that also included Burne and Rufus (the de facto joint mayors of the town) and the local druid Jaroo Ashstaff, who was an old friend of the ranger Thyla.

Marbo was all for heading straight to the Keep to meet with Burne and Rufus, but Thyla and Telnash convinced him to stop off at the druid grove first. When they got there, something appeared very wrong.

The grove was not as verdant as Thyla would have expected. When she knocked on the door of the druid's hut, it was answered by a doddering old man who identified himself as Jaroo. He recognised her and offered her a cup of tea. He appeared to know nothing at all about Spugnoir - not even the fact that he was missing - but he did appear to be somewhat senile. Leaving the old druid, Thyla encountered the druid's assistant, Yundi, who told her that he was very worried about Jaroo. He had heard that Spugnoir was missing, but didn't know where he might be. He was not the only one missing though. Jaroo's animal companion, a bear, has also disappeared. Both Thyla and Telnash knew that it was highly unusual for a druid's animal companion to wander off while the druid himself was still living. There were a very few circumstances where it might happen, but they were highly unlikely. Yundi was doing his best to maintain the grove, but it was fast overwhelming him.

The meeting with Burne and Rufus was not very productive. The two retired adventurers made it clear that while they supported any efforts by the party to find Spugnoir or investigate the old Temple, they would not contribute material resources to the task. They were able to tell the party where the nearby ruins were - the old Moathouse was quite close (about ten miles), but the ruins of the old Temple of Elemental Evil was considerably further away, near the town of Nulb. They discouraged the party from going to Nulb - it was never a particularly nice town (being so near to the evil temple), and the rumours suggested that the place is haunted.

Larian, mingling around town, missed the meetings with Jaroo and with Burne and Rufus, but he arranged with the wainwright in the village to hire a cart at a very reasonable rate. However, the teamster across the road was a bigot who hated elves, and would only loan him a pair of old donkeys to pull the cart.

By now, the afternoon was getting late, so they prepared for their dinner with Telna. Larian had not found himself somewhere to spend the night - although many people had suggested the old abandoned Town Hall, this was deemed unclean. Moreover, Marbo had already paid for a double suite at the Welcome Wench.

During dinner, Telna confided to the party that Spugnoir had been investigating the ruined Moathouse nearby during the last few weeks. In return, Larian spun heroic tales of the party's exploits that were almost, but not quite, entirely untrue. After the meal, Telna accompanied them back to the Welcome Wench, where Marbo spent the evening getting drunk with a slightly shifty-looking gent named Chatrilon Unosh, who told them that the Moathouse was an empty ruin and not worth investigating. Not having Marbo's capacity for drink, Chatrilon passed out and was escorted to the watch house by Elmo, the captain of the local militia.

Elmo was generally considered around town to be trustworthy. The townsfolk had told Larian to go to Elmo instead of Burne and Rufus if they needed any help on anything. Elmo himself had been thinking about the Moathouse for some time, but was perfectly happy for someone else to go there and investigate - since it meant that he would not have to.

Our potential heroes retired to bed, intending to set forth for the Moathouse (about half a day's walk) in the morning.

On to Episode 2!