Introduction

The adventure begins with the arrival of the party in the city of Tor Enis located in the far north west of the Westerlands.

Tor Enis is a new city growing up as humans settle the boreal forests of the far north. With the parties arrival as spring matures into early summer it seems a fair and pleasant city to use as a base or to spend a few days relaxing before their next venture.

Tor Enis is a city of some 20,000+ souls, the vast majority of whom are human, although there are small but significant communities of the other free folks; dwarves, elves and halflings.

The Heat Wave
The weather over the previous days has been steadily warming into a pleasant summer. Today the temperate has unexpectedly soared. The party can go about their business but by midday a searing wind howls over the city. The heat is breathless, the pavement blistering underfoot. In search of some respite from the scorching heat, hundreds and thousands of the citizenry can be seen bathing in the overflowing public fountains and swimming in the sewage choked waters of the harbour. Night will bring no relief, the heat is stifling making sleep all but impossible as the characters toss and turn in sweat soaked sheets.

The following day the heat is unrelenting and by the third day the crops are wilting upon the land. The market places filled with farmers desperate to sell their heat damaged produce. Where ever the party is, someone will draw attention to the unnaturalness of the heat. A typical remark overheard by the party might be similar to the following;

"I've lived here all my life, my pappy before me and I tell you we've never had heat such as this. The gods are angry with us, mark my words"

Similar remarks will be heard throughout the day, most of which will be variations of this theme, most blaming the gods. However a few will blame the druids.

Clue 1: At least one person will be heard to say;
"It's the work of the druids I tell you. You know how angry they were before they left."
The speaker is a stout middle aged farmer by the name of Creede, who is otherwise unremarkable. If questioned he will affirm that he believes the unnatural heat wave

Around early afternoon of the 3rd day clouds of smoke billowing envelope the city, drawing curious citizens to the walls. As the curious populace lines the walls, fiery figures are seen to be dancing and leaping from field to field. At this point the party must sally out ... for no one else will.

Guards (12x 1st level fighters, hp 6 ea AC 4 armed with spear, sword and dagger) and led by a 3rd level sergeant (hp 20 AC 4, armed with a long sword and dagger) guard the gates. They refuse to let anyone pass. Inside the bastion a noble born lieutenant (2nd level fighter, hp 12 AC 3) leads a squad of 12 crossbowmen (1st level fighters AC 5 hp 5 ea armed with heavy crossbows, short swords and daggers). Each man has a quiver of 24 bolts, but hundreds more are stored in the bastions armoury. However the party can exit via the smaller side door which will be firmly bolted shut behind them the moment the last character has exited.

Once outside their will be no way back into the city, save for flying, until the fiends are defeated or driven off.

The fields, some of which have been partially harvested are well alight, the flames leaping 20' or more. The heat is enormous, any armour becoming superheated within a minute or two.

Out of the roaring flames consuming the corn fields advance half a dozen enormous fiery figures. They seem to flicker from the form of a leaping bonfires to that of a burning man and back again in the blink of an eye. They're coming from every side obviously seeking to cut off any escape route.

The creatures are fire elementals, they have the following hp 34, 40, 38, 41,28, 33 and attack as 8 hit die monsters.

For weaker parties, there might be as few as three fire elementals. When they have been slain or driven off other fire elementals in neighbouring fields will also beat a retreat. However the scale of the disaster will soon become apparent as reports trickle in during the course of the afternoon and evening and it will soon be realised that upwards of 50 fire elementals (which will have misdentified as fire demons) have attacked the fields around the city and in neighbouring districts with any almost total loss of crops in the areas hit.