Sumpfberg was a town settled by gnomes who performed alchemical experiments which mutated animals and people. They are responsible for creating a virus which accidentally killed off most of the horses in Sithicus, as well as turning the Kender into vampires. They also created the giant beetles. Their town was destroyed in a flood although there are rumors that the gnomes may have left behind something called a Chasm Crawler which might allow access to the deepest parts of the Great Chasm.
The party found the remaining gnomes living in a simple village on the ruins of the old town, led by Mayor Gnargle. They have renounced the "Old Ways" i.e. unnatural science. Recently, someone called The Clockwork Gnome came to the village and convinced some of the swamp gnomes to join him and embrace the Old Ways. They followed him to the abandoned swamp temple, an ruin created by the ancient Sithicans.