Something is terribly wrong in Tumbledown, one of Baldur's Gate's most notorious districts. This dreary, fog-shrouded neighborhood already has a reputation for being haunted, but now it is facing an even graver problem. The sewer system is hopelessly blocked, and the city's authorities have taken a 'we'll fix it later' approach, simply locking up the problematic section. As a result, street drains overflow with refuse, and rats roam in brazen packs, leaving the locals to suffer. Complaints are met with brutal beatings from the Flaming Fist, who ensure anyone daring to speak out quickly learns to 'shove off.'
But there is more going on than meets the casual eye. Doris Stonefield, the wife of a missing sewer worker, seeks out the hero with a desperate tale to tell. Her husband, Algar, disappeared weeks ago after venturing into the sewer network beneath Tumbledown to locate the source of the blockage. He hasn not been seen since. Doris brings something to show the hero: a jar of strange mucus that her husband claimed to have collected down there before his disappearance. Even more unsettling, her mastiff, Shelly, licked the mucus and went stone-cold still for nearly a minute! What could be lurking in the depths? What has happened to Algar, and why are the authorities so disinterested in investigating?
- from the publisher's blurb