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