I thought...

[aaa]

(should have been posted in reply to that "hellfire storyline" post but I hit a wrong button along the line)

Mage flees, dies; where he falls an organic "hive" develops

I thought it was a comet or something *checks*

According to the manual "...Splattered with a thick, glowing substance, the Dark Mage ran to the..." blah blah "...To [the townspeople's] dismay, they found an unclean, alien growth near the spot where the Dark Mage fell. A hard, dome-like..." blah blah "...Since a small meteorite had fallen and exploded at this same location years earlier."

Ok, so a meteor hits and then the mage dies almost in the exact same spot, and then the 'pod thing' grows. It can be assumed that the Dark Mage's magic 'awoke' or jump started the alien organisms or whatever, but why was the Mage covered with a "thick, glowing substance"??

So the crypt was the Dark Mage's playground, and the Hive is the result of a meteor and the Dark Mage dying.

[SteinHerz]

Lousy scriptwriters...

I looked for the story. It is indeed very sad. And your supposition absolutely makes sense.

Shortly before the Hero came and descended into the depths below the Monastery, the ground began smoldering again in the cemetery. A passing traveler told of spying a cloaked figure fleeing from the smoky site. Splattered with a thick, glowing substance, the Dark Mage ran to the river and crossed the bridge, where he collapsed. To the traveler's unbelieving eyes, the stained, glowing body of the mage seemed to dissolve and melt into the earth, the soil greedily soaking up the remains.

"Thick, glowing substance". Hmm U-235 radiation effects due to the summon of Na-Krul and his minions? Well, after the conjuration he quickly went off the crypt, ran into town and "collapsed" after the bridge near Farnham.

"Collapsed" dissolving his own flesh into the land. That way, just like Chernobil, the soil was now poisoned. So far, understandable...

Alarmed, some of the townspeople investigated the area by the river. To their dismay, they found an unclean, alien growth near the spot where the Dark Mage fell. A hard, dome-like shell sat in the center of the large atrocity, impenetrable and bizarre.Since a small meteorite had fallen and exploded at this same location years earlier, it was now a place not only to be avoided, but also to be feared. The people pitied the poor Farmer whose land was affected, and many were concerned for his sanity, as he had taken to talking to his cattle for hours.

Ah, what a strange fate the Dark Necromancer had. He had to fell exactly on the spot a meteorite had crashed years before! By the way - meteorites? What if... They carried extraterrestial life forms? Insectoids and fungi which had a colony organization?

Well, if that is so, why didn't the aliens represent an imediate menace to the town?

Like viruses in crystal form, the alien life forms inside the small metor were asleep and couldn't set free from this frozen state. What could awake them?

Radiation is the key! The radioactive remains of the summoner increased dramatically the metabolical function of the frozen life forms. And, after a series of quick mutations the creatures evolved and spawned their own colony in the deeps of Tristram!