The pleasant and seemingly peaceful village
of Hommlet turned out to be filled
with intrigue, with agents of Chaotic
Evil
hiding within the hamlet. The supposedly
deserted and ruined moathouse nearby
held a new champion of the nearby Temple
of Elemental Evil. All of this brought danger
and difficulty to the members of your
group, but it also offered adventure, experience,
and wealth.
You have either slain or driven off the
evil men and creatures, and the able
guardians of Hommlet— Jaroo, Terjon,
Elmo, and the rest of the sturdy
militiamen — can surely see to it that their
AREA remains clean of the taint of Evil
hereafter. Having accomplished most of
your goals, you must now look elsewhere
for yet greater challenges (and
commensurate rewards). If agents of the
Temple were still active in Hommlet,
then there must certainly be work for
you at that fountainhead of wickedness.
Just a half-day's journey afoot (only
about two hours' ride), east along the
High Road, lies the disreputable community
of Nulb, and the Temple hidden in
the hills nearby. This vile place spawned
much suffering, ruin and death before
the hosts of Good brought it low and
bound its power. It is evident that the
place was wounded but not slain, for
dark things crept into Hommlet under
direction of someone or some thing still
lurking in the shunned edifice of Evil.
T5:
One of the big ones in the distance from Hommlet
to Nulb. Described as being but 6 miles
distant in T1, it
ended up about 30 miles away on the T1-4 map. Using the greater distance
works better with
the
Flanaess map, and it prompts more action in Nulb. As presented, Nulb
is
basically superfluous.
It needs a lot of development to use. Use the shorter distance if you’d
prefer less work.
The upper works of the Temple were
thrown down and destroyed in the final
siege of the war against its hordes.
Because of its great power and evil, however,
the conquerors did not actually
raze the Temple proper, instead sealing
its great doors and placing mighty wards
of all sorts upon the place and the black
labyrinth beneath. Even as great a force
as overthrew the Temple could not
cleanly deal with what lurked below.
Since that great battle, the Temple area
has been shunned, its ruins deserted. The
nearby village of Nulb has returned to a
semblance of normal activity —
questionable at best, for the place has
always been rumored to house thieves,
brigands, smugglers and pirates.
But as
Nulb stinks of garbage and filth, the
Temple area reeks of the foul corruption
and pervading Evil from whence it was
spawned. No wonder that both places
have again been left to their own devices.
When the Temple of Elemental Evil
flourished, earthquakes, storms
of all
sorts, great fires, and flash floods
struck
areas nearby with seeming capriciousness.
All that ceased when the Temple was
assaulted and sealed. You have been
advised of all this, and urged to go elsewhere
to seek your fame and fortunes. The
unease which prevails upon those merely
passing near the ruins shows that some
wickedness still haunts the place. There are
many bad folk in Nulb, and still greater
perils amidst the fallen Temple.
Yet the lure of such adventure beckons
to you, drawing your party as surely as a
lodestone draws iron. Warnings against
loss of life — or even worse fates — cannot
counter the irresistable pull of treasures
secreted deep underground, of monsters
still unbeaten, of mysteries to be unraveled.
There are whispers of occult places
beneath the interdicted Temple, where
mighty Evil is yet wrought and noble
folk are imprisoned. With care and cunning,
luck and great deeds, caution
mixed with boldness and daring, you
and your associates can win through to
achieve exploits of the stuff of legend!
The journey of a hundred leagues begins
with the first pace, and the time for your
sojourn has come.
How you and your fellow adventurers
plan to overcome the perils of the Temple
is a matter that you must decide for
yourselves. Is it best to reconnoiter from
Hommlet? Base your activities from the
village of Nulb? Try to make a secure
wilderness camp somewhere near the
ruin? Or perhaps lodge somewhere
within the foreboding Temple itself? The
decision is now. It is certain that both
vast treasure and horrible death await,
so you must gain the one while cheating
the other. Fortune and the gods must
smile upon such an undertaking. |