Well, it really depends how you take the stuff in the magazine.
The characters are suppose to be wanting to get out of Diamond Lake, if you work their backgrounds with this in mind, they will jump at the chance of earning some money to get out of the dirt hole town.
It suggests that one player has the map and invites a friend, who invites a friend, who invites a friend so on and so forth, a cairn that hasn't been mapped for the last fifty years is differently a wonder, if no knowledge of its existance had gotten out since the cairn ran dry then there is a possibility of riches that should still entice them.
However having just started two different age of worms game, the first game had the characters all looking for ways out of Diamond Lake, friends of friends or so forth let them in on the knowledge that someone was looking for capable types for a venture that could earn them so gold, and that the meeting for this was in an old abandoned mining office outside of town at sunrise. (I did throw in a mysterious letter from someone that said they had arranged for these events to be happen, and that things were leading up to troubled times).
The second game, I did well.. the same thing almost, except I had the NPC show them the two maps, and the party was more then happy to explore it, he said he had spoken with the town cartographer, and that a small office ten minutes or so from the cairn was abandoned and between ownership so they could use it for a base. I used the 'mining office' encounter that had been floating around for this game.
I started off completely differently... Originally, I just started a campaign with Mad God's Key, which is based in the Free City. So my group started off as strangers who were mostly just passing through the Free City, uncovered various dodgy goings on, and decided to intervene. When I saw the Age of Worms campaign start up, I originally thought I'd use that with another group some day. In the end, I grafted my Free City campaign into the age of Worms, simply by leading them to Diamond Lake to investigate the cult they uncovered in Mad God's Key - the good old evil guy's notes trick, which seemed to imply that the cult had something to do with a Whispering Cairn in Diamond Lake (not true, but it got the PC's exploring there, which is all I needed to get things going).
It worked a real treat, and only now after some ten adventures (six age of worms, four others) are the PC's starting to understand there is such a thing as an Age of Worms, and that's what's behind all these weird worm things and cultists they have been finding and eliminating (while having no idea how to stop them for good). Definitely a slow reveal, but they have enjoyed the adventures and seem to like that they are finally starting to get some progress towards finding an actual long-term solution rather than just bash what they stumble into.
The party's wizard was Allustan's apprentice. Having heard of the possible existence of ancient antiquities in the Whispering Cairn, Allustan used his contacts (re: his brother the mayor) to assemble a party to escort her into the cairn. He sent for a healer to look after her from the City Barracks (the cleric), and the healer in turn recruited two heavies (the barbarian and the ranger) from the Feral Dog, where they drank often. A nearby patron (the monk, on a walkabout to hone his skills) asked to volunteer as well. En route to the Whispering Cairn, the party became lost and a druid appeared to help them out (having been sent by the Bronzewood Lodge after several divinations linking these people to the Age of Worms).
I plan on starting AoW in a couple months, and also thought the "hook" for the entire party was a little flimsy.
What I'm thinking of doing is having the Seekers adventuring party have only written references to the location of the Whispering Cairn, and they hire a local to help them find the referenced landmarks. During the search process, the guide realizes one of the landmarks (a lammusa statue) has fallen into a ravine during a small landslide years ago. The guide convinces the Khellek and co. that the statue fell from the west side of the ravine, when it was actually the east. So the guide has a better idea of the true location of the Whispering Cairn, and the Seekers are off on a wild goose chase.
The guide shares this info with a friend (a PC), asking him to find some people to explore the cairn with. Have them meet at the abandoned mine office.
Unfortunately, the guide also stole a potion from Khellek, and Khellek kills him without finding out about the guide's bigger betrayal. So the party will be left waiting for him at the office.
The obvious magical nature of the guide's death will cast some suspicions on Allustan.
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I started my AOW with a bar fight, I had all the party members in the free city of Greyhawk staying in the same inn by the docks. In rush about 15 or so Orcs with saps and the barkeep yells pressgang and everyone starts running for the door. My poor PC deciding to be heroes tries to fight back and are quickly captured. I had them regain consciousness in a prison wagon on the road back to Diamond Lake and then imprisoned in Smeak’s mine as slave labor. I had all the PC chained together with an older prisoner who was an old adventurer who told them about the Whispering Cairn. I gave them an opportunity to escape and they took it and managed to steal enough equipment to start out. This starting mad the players really hate Smeak and they are itching for some pay back.