<div class="floatright">(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/c5/fc/54/c5fc543d5a308650fef6cf746fea570c.jpg)</div><br/><br/>The journey north from Waterdeep was uneventful. The City Guard maintained the roads and kept brigands from them for most of the first three days of travel. It wasn't odd for a woman to be traveling alone near the city, but as Syla traveled past Amphail, she would get a bit of a buzz as she moved through town. A young and attractive woman with fiery red hair was definitely an eye turner, much to the chagrin of the local ladies who would have a word or two for their men in private. Her demeanor and clothing marked Syla for who she was, a sorceress, someone not to be trifled with, especially if that someone didn't want to be turned into a toad or a chicken. It didn't stop some men and a couple other adventuring women from offering to escort her or team up as far as Red Larch or Ironford and then again from others up to Westbridge. Most of them were altruistic with intent, it wasn't becoming of proper men to at least offer assistance a woman. The others... they got what they deserved whether it was a swift boot to the arse when no one was looking, or a suddenly uncinched belt left them tripping over their feet into the mud with their leggings around their ankles.<br/><br/>Soon though, Syla's journey took her off the well worn road to the northwest, towards the Kryptgarden Forest at the feet of the Sword Mountains. Searching for this flattened hill wasn't going to be easy, so close to the mountains since hills tended to *be* around mountains before turning into them. Still, the black cairn stones would mark the hill for what it was. Most of the geology of the Sword Mountains yielded the white marble and granite that made up most of the construction of Neverwinter and Waterdeep. While the woods were home to some rather unsavory creatures and ne'er-do-wells, she had the magic to evade or deal with them, as long as she didn't shoot out too many pyrotechnics.<br/><br/>Of course whoever Durnan talked to didn't help by leaving a map or a couple other landmarks to go by, that would have been too easy. Even after the journey deep into the Kryptgarden, Syla's search took the bulk of a tenday, but finally, thankfully, with a stroke of luck, she found the half-hill. An errant look over her shoulder and a hill with a flattened top shown through a bend in the trees. Two steps forward or backward or to the side and she wouldn't have seen it at all.<br/><br/>As she walked toward it, she grew more certain as black stones and plinths began to peak above the hill edge as she climbed the well worn divots, more of a game trail really in the steep side of the hill. If it wasn't for the thick forest, this hill might actually be easier to spot for it was alone for a good half mile in all directions save the steady slant north to the Sword mountains. As Syla approached, the trees gave way and left the ground open about fifty paces to the base of the hill. The hill itself was rather wide, about two hundred and fifty paces wide and rose sharply about sixty paces up. The only vegetation left were ugly weeds, thick briars and sharp thorns that cover most of the way up.<br/><br/>Then a peculiar thing, a large set of shoulders and a head rose above the hill line. He was bare chested with a hairy back and shoulders, his arms the size of tree trunks reached to the heavens and the large man yawned deeply, a deep sound that was on the verge of vibrating Syla's bones. Blearly eyed, the big man rubbed at his eyes looking around...<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Here's to a great game between us. I figured I'd get us to where the action was instead of walking the whole distance from the Yawning Portal Inn. If you want to do a quick flashback to something along the way, that's fun to read too. Hopefully I've set the stage for this first encounter well, but ask me if you have any questions about where things are, or if you want, go ahead and make up some terrain or a boon in your favor. I'll reciprocate by tossing out something that might hinder Syla at a later point. It'll be fun going back and forth with that.</div></div><br/><div class="floatright"><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">(https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdnd.wizards.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fmedia%2Fstyles%2Fmosaic_thumbnail%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fmosaic%2FHill_Giant_Mosaic_Thumbnail_TypeA.jpg%3Fitok%3DzLneqfKE&amp;f=1)<br/></div></div></div>