Despite all the clamor to be a part of the Iron DM contest, no one's posted their alternative takes yet. I thought I'd get the ball rolling, and, wow, this is harder than it looks! It's fun too though, so here's the start of an adventure...
Ingredients:
Bones
Earth Elemental
Ghouls
Magic Key
Kuo-toa
Holy Ground
Act I
Dead Silence
In their travels, the PCs chance upon a small fishing village (pop. ~100 adults). In the daylight, from a distance, it's not obvious that the town is deserted. (If the PCs arrive at night or wait until nightfall, no fires are lit, and no smoke flows from chimneys -- even in the early evening, before curfew.)
The streets are full of broken bones and scraps of human "meat". Doors lay torn off their hinges. Scratched shutters sway in the breeze as it brings salt sea air to mix with rotten fish and rotten human.
Any tracker can discern human footprints throughout the town, including bloody footprints, but a closer look (DC 25) reveals webbed footprints as well.
If the PCs examine the small shops and residences, eventually, they'll walk into a Ghoul trap (EL 6, six Ghouls). If the PCs stay together in the open, the Ghouls will stay back, out of sight. If the PCs spread out and explore, they may Spot (vs. Hide +7) a few remaining Ghouls before they ambush.
Aside from the Ghoul threat, the PCs have the run of the dead town and can stock up on whatever goods a small fishing village might have (not much). They find no survivors.
On the opposite side of town, a tracker can discern many, many "human" footprints leaving town. Even a non-tracker can find remnants of bones and "meat" along the dirt road to the next town. If the tracker looks for webbed footprints, he won't find any leaving town down that road. He can find them (DC 20) leaving town toward the shore though -- and coming too, by that same path.
Tracking the Ghouls to the next town proves trivial, as piles of bloody bones dot the dirt road. Although spread by the feasting Ghouls, the "food" obviously appears in regularly spaced intervals.
The Deep Ones of Kuo-Toa, foul fish-men from the stygian depths, have "bred" Kuo-Toa Ghouls (treat as Lacedons) and "herded" them into this small seaside community to wipe out the humans and breed still more Ghouls. Kuo-Toa "Whips" (Clerics) Command recalcitrant Ghouls, while rank-and-file soldiers (Fighters) lead the Ghouls with human "chum" and pull them off of dead foes with Pincer Staves in order to "breed" more Ghouls. The Kuo-Toa are, of course, immune to Ghoul paralysis.
Act II
Kuo-Toa revealed
If the PCs rush to the next town (at night), they arrive in the midst of a grand melee between Ghouls, ghastly white Kuo-Toa (Ghouls, not scared Kuo-Toa), and living Kuo-Toa on one side, and terrified townsfolk on the other.
Although the attacking force should consist of dozens of Kuo-Toa soldiers, dozen of Kuo-Toa Ghouls, and still more human Ghouls, the PCs should not encounter them all in one location, and they should have large numbers of townsfolk on their side -- not enough to win a straight-out victory, but enough to avoid a Total Party Kill as they rally the villagers and lead them to safety.
If the PCs don't rush to the next town, they eventually find an even larger scene like the first fishing town. The shoreline will be swarming with Ghouls "herded" by vile Kuo-Toa (at least by night).
The Kuo-Toa will continue to hit small towns and villages, building their army and building momentum, until they feel secure in attacking The Port City. The PCs may try to ambush them, to prepare town militias for the onslaught (very Seven Samurai), or to inform the Merchant Prince of The Port City.
Edit:
Here's a quick Act III:
Act III
Assault on the Shrine of the Kuo-Toa or
Defense of the Great Port City
After harrying the Kuo-Toa war bands, the PCs should eventually learn the whereabouts of their subterranean aquatic lair (to which they retreat each night). The various entrances to the lair are sealed off by great stone portals that only open in the presence of a Kuo-Toan holy symbol (as carried by any Kuo-Toan "Whip" priest).
Without the magical key -- or without the knowledge of how to use it -- the PCs will either need to wait for a war band to make their egress and rush in before the stone door closes, or they'll need to find a way to move a large stone wall.
The Merchant Prince's advisor has an ancient stone tablet (Scroll of Planar Ally) dating back to the last Kuo-Toan invasion. With it, he can summon an Earth Elemental to aid the PCs in their attack on the Kuo-Toa (perhaps opening a stone door for them) -- or to aid them in defending The Port City from assault, if the PCs don't make a preemptive strike.
