Where do the players start?

[sacrelicious2]

Reading the first part of the book, it's not really clear how far outside of town the players are supposed to start. Given that the section talks about events that happen at different times of day, it sounds like they are supposed to be a significant distance from town, but it's pretty vague. The only thing we know is that we are somewhere east of the river, but it's not clear how far east.

[Deuscane]

According to my experience, this issue seems irrelevant.
The events that are reported, such as the crimson moon and blood rain, are events that happen in the night, they should happen if the PC hit the night, not as sequential events reported as written.

The entire adventure is not linear. You should used to it. There are big sections of the following books and Chapter 3 of the Book 1 which need to be faced as non-sequential events.

Since we want to go deep in all stuffs, I picked up the module and I figured out:

Spoiler:

p.9: "they’ve instead awoken in a clearing east of Willowshore and that a nearby game trail leads west back toward town. If no PC attempts this check, the trail is easy to notice, and the fact that it leads downhill toward the sound of a river is enough to suggest that it likely leads back toward home."

This reveals that PC are east from Willowshore and they are near a river (since they hear the sound of the stream); if you check on the Willowshore and Hinterland maps you can see that this river may be the Duyue River.

p.9: "The weather this morning is typical for Shenmen in the early summer... The main organizer of the ritual this year, the miller Choe Chung-hu, said he would arrive by sunrise with food to “ransom” the PCs and lead them back home. This step isn’t essential; it’s more of a breakfast delivery to thank those who helped with the reenactment. "

Since Choe Chung-hu have not arrived for breakfast, means that is morning and in slightly after the breakfast time. The breakfast should have happen by sunrise, since Choe Chung-hu should have arrived that time.

p.10 "As the PCs continue traveling west down the game trail, the weather grows stranger. Mist rolls in through the trees, growing into a full-fledged fog by the time the PCs step out of the forest and onto a familiar riverside road, a mere 10 minutes after they left the clearing they awoke in."
"Up ahead, the sight of the Duyue River bridge through the unusual fog is a welcome sight, for this bridge confirms that the PCs have arrived at the easternmost edge of Willowshore."

In addition, If we want to be more precise on p.11: "During the day, the town is constantly bathed in a thick fog known as mirage mist." and "The eerie fog is thick enough to obscure visibility beyond a range of 500 feet."

This information confirms that from the clearing to start noticing the Duyue River Bridge (look at the Willowshore Map, below W23) passed 10 minutes (considering the Travel Speed table and assuming that PC have a speed of 25ft) they walked for 2500 feet west down before start noticing the Duyue River Bridge through the fog, which obscures the vision beyond 500 feet. Therefore the distance between the clearing and the Bridge is about 3000 feet (0.57 miles).

p.12 "After crossing the bridge over the Duyue River, the PCs arrive at the eastern entrance to Willowshore. Here, a stone statue of a guardian spider once stood in a shrine next to the road"

I mean, it's a bridge. According to the scale presented on the Willowshore map, is about 500-600 (mean value 550) feet, which if you consult the same Travel Speed table (and the assumptions above) you realize that they should spend 2 minutes to pass through. Then, according to the map and the vision obscured by the mist, reach the guardian spider should be another 500 feet.

p.12 "After traveling about a mile further west from the missing spider statue, the PCs reach Willowshore’s eastern watchtower."

This is clear. About 1 mile from the missing spider statue (area W30). According to the Travel Speed table (and the assumptions above), PC spend about 21 minutes to reach the tower. Then is a matter of several minutes to arrive at the core of Willowshore.

In conclusion:

To total up, 3000 feet (from clearing to Duyue River Bridge) + 550 feet (Length of Duyue River Bridge) + 500 feet (from Bridge to the Guardian Statue) + 1 mile or 5250 feet (from the missing statue to the easter tower) = 9300 feet (less than 2 miles).
As you can see the clearing is pretty near to the city. You can approximate to 2 miles since there are few other steps to make to reach the very center of the city.
Since an hex is 2 miles, you can finally state that the PC start 1 hex (2 miles) east (more precisely northeast) from the Willowshore hex. This distance can be walked with 1 hour of travel.

[Sibelius Eos Owm]

The section titled "Maze of Mist, Rain of Blood" suggests that the PCs reach the riverside road within sight of the bridge around 10 minutes after leaving the clearing (not counting the encounter in the previous header). Given that most characters travel about 2.5 miles per hour, it seems likely that the clearing is close to half a mile into the woods. This goes even less if you consider the game trail "difficult terrain," in which case it might take 10 minutes to go less than a quarter mile.

Personally, I'm worried that my party might push ahead enough to get to the lantern before the end of the first day, so I'm considering padding in some time in places so that I can get at least a little use out of the ambient weather effects at night.

EDIT: oh, goodness, beaten by less time than it takes to walk in to Willowshore XD