Temple of Elemental Evil, part 1

Harvester 579 CY

It was Harvester, 24th 579 CY when a some adventurers arrived separately in the small village of Hommlet in the Kron Hills. The village seemed to be experiencing a growth spurt, a series of hills to the southeast sported a newly constructed tower and the signs of a larger castle construction. North of the local inn, The Welcome Wench was a new village hall.
As they were unsaddling, the village alarm bell rang out, the Innkeeper ran out, goblins were attacking the new village hall. As the innkeep began to organize a bucket brigade, the adventurers headed to confront the goblins. The goblins, expecting villagers and maybe a few militiamen, fell quickly to the adventurers.
After defeating the goblins, the six adventurers enjoyed the fruits of their labor, free room and board at the Welcome Wench. Sitting around the table, they told a bit of their backgrounds.
Four of the adventurers were from the lands of the Viscounty. Abebane Morrel was a young noble alfar cleric. He was asked to deliver some official decrees from the Viscount to the local lords, the mage Burne and the warrior Rufus. Gynmo was a gold dragonborn sorcerer from a nearby village who had heard of the bandit troubles around Hommlet and was looking for a challenge. Crasock was a rageborn raised by the dwarves of Kron Hills, his adopted father and mentor, the dwarf Nomad, was ritually sacrificed by a tielfling. He had tracked that tielfing to the Hommlet area. Finally, Elyot was a quiet young woman who worked at the library in Neldath University in the city of Verbobonc. A renegade mage named Selvar had stolen a collection of books concerning the elemental planes and attempted to burn down the library to cover his crimes. She was tasked with bringing the books back and making sure Selvar paid for him crimes.
The other two were from further afield, both from the southern Sheldomar Valley. Brannon was a dusky-skinned alfar, the youngest son of a merchant family from the town of Woodsbridge in the Kingdom of Keoland. His family sent him north to expand the family's connections. He made his way to the Viscounty when he heard of bandit and humanoid raids around Hommlet. Thinking that helping stop the raids would give him the clout he needed to expand his family business, he headed to Hommlet. Balan was a bronze dragonborn paladin from the Grand Duchy of Geoff. His clan had made their way south from Furyondy long ago. Stationed at Keelar Keep, his commander uncovered rumors of a great evil recruiting the local humanoids and giants. This evil was located in the relatively tamed lands of Verbobonc. Being the youngest of the champions assigned to the keep, Balan was sent to investigate.
And so the six of them, strangers to each other, found themselves sharing drinks and discussing their battle with the goblin raiders.
The next morning they were visited by the mayor and sheriff of Hommlet, Burne the mage and Rufus the warrior. They had revived a goblin for interrogation and discovered that another band was heading to the local ferry, Brannagan's. The six of them headed out to confront this new threat. At the ferry, two rival groups of hobgoblins were at a standoff, one inside the home and holding the ferryman and his family, one outside. Finally something triggered the confrontation and the companions found themselves in the middle of the wider skirmish. Eventually defeating the goblins and hobgoblins, they discovered a bodyguard tied in the stables. His name was Connal and he was caught while giving his employers enough time to escape. Elyot, Balan, and Brannon agreed to escort the ferryman's wife and children back to Hommlet, while the others, with Connal, tracked the goblins back to their base.
Crasock was an adept tracker and soon led them to the goblin lair in the Dymrak Forest northeast of Hommlet. There they entered and defeated the goblin tribe lairing there. Speaking with the goblin witch doctor, they were told a tale who said they received a full sack of coin from a pretty human blonde to firebomb the village and the ferry. The pretty blonde laired in an old outpost east of Hommlet. In exchange for his freedom, he would go back to the larger tribe and let them know not to trust the pretty blonde human, and to spread that news to the other tribes. They tried to catch him, but it's hard to catch an invisible goblin witchdoctor running away.
They found two prisoners, and orc and an elf. The elf was elated with his rescuers and asked to be freed and the "beast" killed. Annoyed with the elf, the companions freed the orc. On further questioning, the orc also said a blonde human approached the orcs with the same deal to join them at the moathouse, but the orc tribes didn't trust the honeyed words of this human and refused. Once they felt the orc was far enough away, they released the elf who said he was looking for an elven maiden who disappeared in the area with her bodyguard weeks ago.
After fully exploring the goblin cave and some deeper ruins inhabited by undead below it, they returned to Hommlet, and found the inn full, and their things packed. The owner, Landon, brought them to a closed inn, the Black Quartz, that he obtained from a failed mine owner. They would be able to stay here, not taking up any of the Welcome Wenches valuable rooms. Joining them was another adventurer, a stern woman named Adria, cleric of Celestian of the night sky.
Connal asked about treasure, and Brannon was elected (or elected himself) treasurer.
That night they headed to the Welcome Wench, where Burne and Rufus asked of their trials in the goblin caves. Hearing of the Moathouse, they called over the local druid who told them the moathouse was an old outpost of the cult of the elementals, which turned out to be the Cult of Elemental Evil. If someone was inhabiting the moathouse, they needed to be routed.
The next morning, Crasock, Adrea, Elyot, and Balan headed out to the moathouse, easily defeating the bandits inside and clearing the upper ruins. Delving into the dungeons below, they found an outpost gearing up for war. Armories being filled with weapons and gnolls, bugbears, even an ogre. The eastern rooms were filled with bandits who answered to their commander, Lareth the Beautiful. Lareth was indeed a very attractive blonde male who invited the companions into his chambers by name, although he thought Balan was Gynmo. He proposed that they return to Hommlet, saying that they had cleared out the bandits. He said "we" would fund restoring the outpost for the "heroes" and he would stay out of sight.
Elyot asked who his use of "us" and "we" referred to, to which Lareth responded that they would need to earn his trust before more secrets could be revealed. Their "missions" would come from the village of Nulb, and they would focus on wiping out humanoid and bandits who weren't cooperative. He seemed giddy with the idea that Hommlet's "heroes" would be responsible for its downfall.
Adrea asked if they could speak in private, and all agreed to reject the deal. Lareth wasn't surprised by their attack and actually came close to defeating the until Elyot managed to hurt him enough for Crasock to take him down.
It took some time and coordination to get everything they found back to the Black Quartz, and to let the powers that be in Hommlet know of the threat.
While half of the companions were clearing out the Moathouse, the others were approached by Tostig Moonstone a former adventurer who settled down in Hommlet after a short career. Tostig was a dwarven cleric and had many connections to the dwarves of the Kron Hills. He hadn't had contact with his friends at the Ironspike Mines in days, so he asked them to investigate. They found a small clan of kobolds, including winged ones had taken the mines and the dwarves. As they were freeing the dwarves, the kobolds attacked. Together with the captives, they were able to defeat the kobolds.

Patchwall 579 CY

As the month of Patchwall began, other people arrived at the Black Quartz. Balan's retainers finally finished their journey, his manservant Rathkar, healer and cook Draxan, and his squire Buruna. In addition an elven male named Virion, wearing the robes of a monk, joined the companions. Virion was from the Suss Forest on the southern Wild Coast. A dark wood, Virion had some run-ins with a local drow family, his experiences eventually led to him hating the drow, but also having visions of elemental destruction. His visions had led him to Hommlet.
A team of assassins in the middle of the night proved to the companions that Hommlet was not as safe as they thought. Traipsing the bodies of the assassins through town, they made their way to Byrne's tower, and sent a message to any spies in the village that they were not to be trifled with. Speaking with Byrne, Rufus, and the druid Jaroo, they actually agreed with Lareth's plan, in part. They would move into and begin rebuilding the moathouse as a way to stop it from being used as a base by the evil forces they were combatting. Jaroo recognized the symbol on the cloaks of the assassins as belonging to the old Temple of Elemental Evil, which was supposedly defeated nearly forty years ago.
Soon the companions left Hommlet and moved into the Moathouse ruins, Crasock laid some false trails to make it look like they went their separate ways, so confuse their enemies for a bit. Tostig brought in a dwarven architect who gave them an extensive breakdown on repairs to the ground floor, repurposing the dungeon level, and eventually rebuilding the upper levels. Byrne and Rufus agreed to put up some of the initial costs of the ground floor construction in payment for the companion's heroics so far, but the companions would need to pay 1,000 gold to finish the ground floor work, anything after that would be up to the companions.
As all of this was playing out the cleric Terjon of the church of St. Cuthbert, approached the companions to investigate rumors of a cult of Orcus springing up nearby. Connal, Abebane, Gynmo, and Brannon agreed to investigate. Making their way through goblins, and then undead, they freed a large group of captives heading for the sacrificial altar before finally confronting a cleric of Orcus trying to open a rift to the Shadowfell. Defeating the cleric, they collapse the dungeon levels, imploding the dungeon on itself.
Investigating the escape tunnel near Lareth's old chambers, which Brannon had adopted as his own. Crasock found a path through Frogger's Moor. The cultists were even kind enough to place markers showing the direction when the path grew unclear. It was time to learn where these cultists came from.

Ready'reat 579 CY

While Abebane, Gynmo, Brannon, and Connal stayed back at the Moathouse, which was abuzz with activity, Crasock led Balan, Elyot, Adrea, and Virion through Frogger's Moor to follow the cultists' tracks. Crossing the Emridys, they followed the trail another mile or so when the sounds of nature receded, and the trees started looking sickly, then dead. The dirt became ask-like, and Crasock easily identified the prints of bugbears, gnolls, ogres, and even a giant footprint or two.
About three miles into the devastation they came upon the collapsed walls of the Temple, looking through the crumbled areas of the walls, and the gate, they caught their first glimpse of the ominous cathedral. Atop the walls rested vultures, hundreds of them. A small flight broke off and flew at the companions. Once they were far enough away from the temple, the image around them shimmered, revealing giant-sized versions of the vultures.
As they began scouting the temple grounds, a large guard detail attacked. This was no bandit troupe, they used military tactics and their leaders were good at what they did, but the companions were better. Tracking them back to their base, they came upon a tower in the northeast of the ruined walls. Though the tower looked ruined, its lower level was clearly intact. Virion opened the doors, letting the others race inside, but the remaining guards were readied and defensive barricades made the fight difficult. Elyot attacked their minds with her magic as Adrea called on the spirits of the night, soon Balan and Virion faced the guard commander while the others finished the soldiers. The battle was bloody, and the companions were gravely injured, but they had won.
As some of the companions settled in and used the ruined tower as their base of operations against the temple, the others at the Moathouse received a new visitor. Landryn Caldett, of House Caldett, brought news from Viscount Langard. The Viscount had heard of their successes against the bandit activity and would grant them a charter for the lands around the Moathouse. He was pleased with Byrne and Rufus' protection of Hommlet, but disappointed that they didn't seem interested in expanding their influence into the surrounding lands. While he seemed to understand that the companions were a team, every fief needed a lord, and Abebane Morrell was the only noble of the Viscounty among them. They were not to infringe on Hommlet or other fiefs, but were free to increase the stability of the Viscounty in the lands surrounding the Moathouse. Calling themselves the Gnarled Council, with respect to the nearby Gnarley Forest, they agreed to these terms, though Abebane would truly come to dislike Landryn.
Under the tower, they found an escape tunnel under a throw rug, it was latched from above, but easily opened from this side. Bronze rungs were hammered into the sides of the hole, forming a ladder down. At the bottom of the shaft was a bag of holding containing what must have been escape supplies. The tunnel came out in a small hillock in the devastation, some older tracks led north to Nulb.
The Temple's main door was sealed with magic and symbols of protection and abjuration, but the side doors, made of darkwood gave way to Balan and Adrea's attempts to force it open. The interior of the temple was massive, with four altars defining the areas around them, gray stone represented air, brown stone around the earth altar, red stone certainly meant first and green stone for water. The far north was dominated by a huge throne on a marbled dais. The square tiles of the dais were the same colors as the altars, behind the massive throne ecthed into the black stone wall was the following message.

THE POWER OF ELEMENTAL DEATH BRINGS MORTALS LOW BUT RAISES THE NAMELESS ONE HIGH

The infiltrators eventually found two staircases heading down into the dungeons of the Temple of Elemental Evil.