HORROR ON THE HILL - SESSION 2

With the distraught, yet determined Neanderthal @ the lead, waving them on, the party continues SW until they start descending, & as they do, to the west, a pond of water can be seen through the trees. They continue on path & come to a crossroads, the Neanderthal waves them westward & after a bit they see a path that cuts north, but they keep on westward...

They eventually step into a clearing where sits a white-washed cottage w/ bright green shutters. Gravel walkways connect the cottage to each passage out of the clearing & pleasant gardens of flowers surround the home. White curtains hang over each window. The Neanderthal quickly moves to the SW passage & urges them on, the party however, intrigued by the house, waits around in the opening, contemplating what may be inside, perhaps it is the witch's house? Two ladies scramble out of the front door & happily invite the party in for some tea & cake. The party declines, the Neanderthal still grunting @ them from the SW, they exchange pleasantries w/ the ladies & move on...

Entering the SW trail, the party travels for a bit before it gets dark & Guido turns on his lantern. About 30 mins later, 7:30 PM, the party sees 4 Giant Bats swooping down from the west... Before they know it the Bats are on them & battle ensues. It's a nasty one. The weakened Neanderthal gets killed & Howel takes substantial damage. Otherwise, they kill the Bats. Devedos who had dropped the dead Neanderthal he was carrying before the bats, moves both of the bodies off trail, & Gilleegan, along w/ Guido, finds a spot for them to camp for the night... Gilleegan grills Howel, who is hurting, what spell he has available...  "Protection from Evil," says Howel, "If tonight you find it necessary, just let me know," he falls asleep. Devedos decides he will stay on watch all night. The night passes uneventfully & they wake & ready themselves for the day. Given his state, Howel decides to wander off & commune w/ Kushdar for a while, replacing his mind w/ a Cure Light Wounds spell, casting it upon himself in the wilderness & replacing 2 of his HP. He returns to the party, feeling a bit better, ready to move on...

Curious as to exactly where the Neanderthal has been leading them, the party keeps on down the W trail, eventually coming to a 240’ drop that proves to be the end of the hill. They look down on the trees below.  They do not notice anything out of the ordinary. Around them, to the N & S, the elevation drops more gradually than the dead drop to the W. The party decides to head back to the cottage in the clearing.

They attempt to be sneaky about entering the clearing, but within minutes, the two ladies are out the door & greeting them once more. This time the party is more receptive & agree to enter the cottage & visit w/ the women. Their names are Rosabella & Rosalinda. They are sisters, & each is a plump, gray-haired old lady exuding vitality & a rather pleasant manner. Rosalinda has a rolling pin poking from the strings of her apron & Rosabella is empty-handed. The party is cordial to the ladies & take them up on their offer, Gilleegan being particularly “nice”. The party is led into the cottage where they notice the inside to be quite a bit larger than would be expected, about 40’ square. Two hallways lead off the first room & the ladies lead to party down the N hallway, past a sweeping stairway, into a large parlor where they partake of tea & spice cake. Many fine paintings, gold & silver ornaments, & bejeweled knick-knacks are displayed throughout the home. As the party gobbles up their refreshments, the ladies gab about their garden, the weather, & the woods around the Hill. As the party joins in the conversation, the ladies offer to divulge information about the Hill, but say this information cannot be given freely. As the party seems interested in what they may learn, the ladies say that for 100 gp they will tell the party all about the monsters that lurk atop the Hill. Devedos is particularly disgusted by this high price. Gilleegan on the other hand decides to haggle w/ them. Finally, Gilleegan hands over 50 gp from the ogre bag for the information. Pleased, counting the gold, the ladies take turns informing the party of what they can expect to find about the hill: a hobgoblin camp is to the E, beside a pond, the ogres’ cave is to the W, a cave of steam weevils is also to the W, the neanderthals’ cave is to the NW & also, a graveyard w/ ghouls is further to the NW. Devedos seems a bit irritated by this information, feeling that it wasn’t worth the price. The meeting remains civil, however. Gilleegan asks if they know anything else of interest, as Guido & Howel munch another slice of cake. Rosalinda cracks a smile, “I do, but it will not be free.” “How much?” asks Gilleegan. “For 150 more gold I will tell you where you will find the ruined monastery.” Devedos is once again disgusted. “150 gold? Are you kidding me?!” Gilleegan calms him down & tries to haggle again, but ultimately, the ladies will not divulge any more info for any less than 75 gp. The party politely declines the offer, & says farewell. Though disappointed to see Gilleegan hoist the ogre bag back w/ his belongings, the ladies lead the party back to the door where they wave goodbye.

It is 11:30 AM.

HORROR ON THE HILL - SESSION 1

Gilleegan, a hobbit thief, & Devedos, human monk of the Guiding Star, visit Guido's Fort, on the wide, Mad River, where they've heard possible adventure awaits.  At the fort, they enter the Lion's Den, a mellow establishment, it's 10 AM...  The party is greeted by Guido himself, a happy, go-lucky chap w/ a Charlie Chaplin-esque mustache.  Guido proves to be a rather strong & charismatic fellow.  Gilleegan & Devedos ask him about the sinister looking Hill across the river & a Kushdarian cleric, named Howel, pipes up from a nearby table that man-eating ghouls are known to hunt the hill.  G & D walk up to the bar & are directed toward the Old Timer in a corner who tells them a few other tales as they buy him a drink, a double.  1. An evil witch lives on the hill, etc. 2. many centuries ago, an old monastery was located on top of the hill, & 3. repeats the same info about ghouls.  G & D enlist both Guido & Howel & begin to make plans to cross the river.  Amazed by price of hiring a fisherman to boat them across, Gilleegan decides to drop 60 gp & just buy a boat for the party.  Before long, the party finds themselves moving west across the Mad River.

As they cross the river, they spot two "landing" spaces, north & south, they move toward the north space, a narrow clearing along the riverbank, the ground is muddy, lots of marshy plants, buzz of mosquitoes, the party pulls their boat up, moves it well onto land & covers it as much as they can.  Noticing trail heads to the NW & SW, they take the SW & after a bit, Gilleegan scouting ahead, comes upon a Killer Bee hovering over the path a ways ahead...  The party drops back a bit to figure it out, but Gilleegan is noticed, the Bee hovers down a bit & Devedos gets the aim on it w/ his bow & fires, hitting w/ precision, the bee, about a foot long, drops dead in the trail...  They continue down the path to the SW & enter a lush glen, shady on the edges, beautiful, quiet, peaceful, wildflowers everywhere among the grass...  The party notices a trail to the NW & another to the SW, they decide on the NW & after just a bit, though the path continues, they see a path that turns SW & they see that it has a sharper incline up the hill.  They decide to head up hill & just as Gilleegan, who is still scouting a bit ahead (about 10' ahead), comes upon the steepest part, he sees an Ogre sitting to the side of the passage.  Slipping back to the party, a plan is made.  Missile shot to lure the ogre down the passage where a trip rope is rigged to trip the ogre & Gilleegan will jump out for a backstab...  Devedos sends off an arrow that hits the ogre in the arm for a bit of damage.  Pissed, & as planned, the ogre he rises & runs down the trail toward the party, but as he gets to the trip rope held by both Guido & Howel, his stride totally misses the rope...  Gilleegan jumps out anyway & plants his sword backstab-style for nice damage, then, whiled rattled a bit, the ogre is surprised by both Guido & Howel jumping out & attacking, chipping away @ the ogre, they both do a bit of damage, the Ogre, totters, about to retaliate, but then Gilleegan, gaining initiative on the next round, slashes his the short sword, bringing an end to the Ogre...  The party is pleased to find a large pouch hanging from the ogre's belt that holds 300 gold pieces.

The collect themselves & continues down the trail to the SW, passing another trail head that turns SE.  They keep SW for some time, finally meeting up w/ another trail that runs NE & SW, they take it to the SW which takes them higher up the hill, to about 160' elevation above the river.  Continuing W down the trail, after a short bit they come into an opening that reveals a cave-mouth between two large boulders where the contour of the hill elevates sharply.  Thick bushes choke the entrance to a height of about 2'.  The party moves a bit of brush out of the way & Gilleegan goes in a bit just to get an idea of what's inside...  From just the sunlight, he is only able to gauge about 20' inside, seeing that the cave expands rapidly, many boulders on the floor, stalactites & stalagmites in the distance.  The party decides to go further in & Guido takes the lead w/ his lantern...  It is slow going, but they move west into the cavern to find that it opens up a bit & heads N-S.  They first go south, but ultimately come to a dead end sidechamber choked w/ rocks & stalactites & doesnt look to be passable.  Turning back, the party then heads N & down a NE passage bringing them to a small side passage containing a pool of stagnant, brown water.  The party is still & Devedos listens for anything that may be in the water.  They then probe it a bit, but nothing happens.  They turn back & moving SW, coming around some boulders, are surprised to see 2 Neanderthals, who are also surprised.  The Neanderthals do not seem hostile, however, & quickly go about trying to communicate w/ the party.  They signal for the party to follow them out of the cave, which the party does.  Back out in the opening the neanderthals try to communicate, but it is rough going, at times they find the party humorous.  One of them acts angry @ the other & does a stabbing motion.  The neanderthals then lead the party up a stepping incline that leads to a clearing up over the cave.  In this clearing is ancient statue, a hideous idol, carved from granite, by some forgotten race.  The statue depicts a fat, squatting, vaguely humanoid figure, whose face is twisted into a hideous leer.  The party does not recognize what race this creature may be.  Standing near the idol, the neanderthals begin doing the same "skit" as before.  One of them acts angry & does a stabbing motion @ the other, who then acts injured & sad.

Next, the neanderthals signal for the party to follow them, entering a trail head @ the S of the clearing that heads SW.  The party follows them down the trail which climbs higher still...  Once the trail seems to level out, the party comes upon 6 Stirges that are hovering in the road...  Seeing the party, the stirges attack...  Both of the neaderthals soon find stirges attached to their necks, & one of them dies before the rest of the party can kill the stirges.  The only member of the party affected, is Guido, who takes 4 damage in blood loss, but ultimately, the party bests the stirges, Gilleegan w/ an impressive showing, as well as Devedos destroying one of the striges w/ only his hands...  The neanderthal that lives is beside himself in regard to his friend, he begins dragging the body, but then stops in crying fits...  Devedos lifts the body onto his shoulder & the wounded neanderthal begins back down the path, to the SW, once more.  The party follows...

It is 5:30 PM