Dave Wood's

Campaign

Hommlet and Environs

Leauges to the west of the harsh lands of Damara, within the Kron Hills that lie north of the Galena Mountains and just east of the Gnarley Forest, nestles a small settlement with a long and dark history. This unremarkable village, called Hommlet, witnessed the growth of one of the greatest centres of corruption the world would ever know: the Temple of Elemental Evil.

Hommlet is a small town with a population of just under one thousand. Only twelve years ago, it was a hamlet of around one hundred people, although even then most folk referred to it as a village. Since that time, the town has enjoyed unprecedented peace and prosperity.

The town is not ruled by a mayor or a town council as many others are. Instead, two ex-adventurers called Rufus and Burne have been granted control of Hommlet and its lands by the viscount of Mulmaster. Not many people in the town look at it that way, however. Most folks simply see the two men as the town "elders", giving them the respect that they have earned. Few grumble when it comes time to pay their taxes to the two lords. Most everyone appreciates the protection Rufus and Burne's soldiers provide, as well as the role the two played in the downfall of the original Temple of Elemental Evil (and the threats they have overcome to protect the town since then).

History

Once this area was simply a gentle wilderness. Growning out of a small collection of farmhouses and a roadside shelter, Hommlet expanded quickly. Prosperity came naturally to the fertile land, as herders, farmers, hunters, trappers, and woodcutters made the growing hamlet their home. The town was built on a crossroads between the prosperous Barony of Bloodstone, and the wild lands of Thar, so visitors were frequent. Eventually, these visitors brought trouble.

Brigands and other evil humanoids have been a bane to Hommlet for years. Eventually, thieves, cutthroats, orcs and even more sinister forces created a settlement of their own - Nulb. That hamlet was frequented not only by the most evil of people, but also by monsters and beasts as well. A chapel dedicated to vice and damnnation grew nearby, with increasingly vile creatures coming to worship the foul deities there. In time, this chapel became the Temple of Elemental Evil, filled with dark priests and their wicked servants.

While the first temple reigned, the lands around Hommlet grew dark with violence and pestilence. As their power increased, the temple clerics built a small keep, known as the moathouse, not far from Hommlet. From this base, they planned to launch raids and secure their fortunes in the east. Fortuneately for Hommlet, those who commanded the temple were not overly concerned with the village, but with more powerful stongholds beyond the Galena's. When their corruption spread, it drew the attention of armies the temple was not yet prepared to deal with.

Forces from the east attacked the temple, some using Hommlet as a base and a point for resupply and rest. When the temple fell, folk in Hommlet saw ochre-robed priests fleeing northward and rejoiced that the evil was gone.

Two men involved with the fall of the original temple, Rufus and Burne, settled in Hommlet and built a tower. Their connections with the lord of Mulmaster to the west were well known, as well their plans to expand their tower into a large keep. The town prospered once again.

But evil was not done with the Temple of Elemental Evil. Slowly, over years, its creatures and servants returned to the place and brought with them the taint of evil that hung like a shadow over Hommlet a second time. This time, however, the inhabitants of Hommlet chose to get involved. A young man nambed Elmo and his brother Otis worked with Canoness Y'dey of the Church of Tyr to spy on the temple's activities. They helped small bands of adventurers overcome the evil cleric in the moathouse and the more powerful foes in the timple - not the least of which was a demon lord who was eventually banished back to the Abyss. This time, the dungeons beneath the temple were collapsed, and it appeared that the place was finally overcome.

In the years that followed, the town prospered as never before. With the temple and Hommlet on the lips of many throughout the Bloodstone Lands, the former hamlet grew into a village and eventually a small town. Burne and Rufus finished their keep and were granted the town lands around it to protect and nuture. More churches sprang up to serve the needs of the growing population, and some are even talking now of building a wall around the town.