The party, having defeated the dragon, decided to return to Hommlet in order to bask in the adulation of the townsfolk. The road from the Moathouse passed directly in front of the keep where the de facto mayors of the town, the retired adventurers Burne and Rufus, lived. They were invited in to talk.

A celebration was held in the Inn of the Welcome Wench, during which Telnash showed Burne the sketch of the unholy symbol that was found on one of the dead bodies. Burne looked very concerned, and advised that they go and speak with the Canoness immediately.

Slipping out of the Inn quietly, Telnash and The Shadow accompanied Burne to the Church of St Cuthbert, where they woke Canoness Y'dey. She agreed that the signs indicated that the Temple of Elemental Evil was once again awakening. She recruited the party to the cause, but advised that they will need to maintain secrecy because the town may have been infiltrated by spies. She gave them the addresses and locations of several shops in town that may be able to help the party. She also said that they could trust Burne and Rufus, Spugnoir (if they can find him), the captain of the militia Elmo, and the druid Jaroo.

Telnash advised her of the party's suspicions regarding the druid, and while she was concerned, she attributed Jaroo's strange behaviour and the desertion of his animal companion to age and senility.

Y'dey asked them to return to the Moathouse to investigate what was going on. She suspected that the fortress was built in such an inappropriate location because there was something about the site that was important to the Temple of Elemental Evil. She advised aganst going to the actual Temple at this stage, since it had been occupied by a large contingent of hobgoblins.

Meanwhile, back in the Welcome Wench, Larian was having a chat with Old Del, who was in Terrigans, the seedier tavern in the town, when he heard that the party had killed the dragon. He said that he wasn't enjoying himself much there anyway - a character named Xaod was in town. He was apparently a boorish, violent man who had a knack for getting drunk and starting fights. Xaod also spoke a lot about "signs and portents", but Del didn't know what he meant by that.

Telnash and The Shadow returned from their interview with Canoness Y'dey and brought the rest of the party up to speed on what she had said. They decided to return to the moathouse very early in the morning. Chatrilon and Redithidoor were not invited.

The trip to the Moathouse was uneventful - they did not encounter anyone on the way - but once they arrived they saw a number of gnolls moving around in the courtyard. Unfortunately, the gnolls spotted them immediately, and moved into the ruined structure.

Marbo bravely stepped forward, and challenged the gnoll leader to single combat. The gnoll grinned, and gestured for him to enter the courtyard. Prudenly, Telnash cast Protection from Arrows on him before he went. Sure enough, the moment he stepped forward, the other gnolls fired arrows at him through the windows looking onto the courtyard, none of which damaged him in any way.

Telnash attempted a Magic Missile spell, which was absorbed into the Brooch of Shielding that the gnoll happened to be wearing. Her eyes lit up - a defensive item!

Tor also stepped up to assist Marbo, and the gnoll archers turned their attention to him - but they were such poor shots that he also remained safe from their arrows. Just as Larian stepped forward (newly buffed with a Cat's Grace spell), the gnoll ranger fell. The archers thought Larian might be an easier target, but they were wrong. Larian had great sport taunting them in gnollish.

Between Marbo, Tor, Larian, Thyla and The Shadow (who climbed in a window), all of the archers in the structure were killed. Meanwhile Telnash sauntered into the courtyard and appropriated the magical brooch that had been worn by the leader.

It was time to enter the dungeon below the Moathouse. Scouting, The Shadow found that the stairs led down into a large room where a number of unusual items were being guarded by a cleric in ochre robes and her two gnoll guards.

The guards were taken out easily, but the cleric was a little tougher, and she fought to the death. The skeletons she released from an adjacent room very quicly crumbled under Moradin's power. Finally she fell, and the party was free to examine the strange items laid out on a blanket in the middle of the room.

These items were: a black iron torch with three black cones a jeweled sceptre a small black sphere, and an iron tube which contained a parchment written in an indecipherable code. All except the sceptre radiated magic under Telnash's Detect Magic spell. They gathered the items and tied them up in the blanket for closer examination later.

The group has entered the dungeon! Will they find Spugnoir somewhere in its depths? Will they find out the hidden secrets of the mysterious Moathouse? And what is the significance of the strange items the found?

On to Episode 4!