The three founding carts of the Hilt pulled into East Westworth looking to blow some glass, trade some passengers, and upset some bar patrons with "song". Their reputation preceded them, though, and the somewhat mechanical town sheriff recognized them as "troubleshooters." How the sheriff knew of them as such is rather unclear, and raises some questions about the who previous owners of the carts, from which the H.I.L.T. acronym was inherited, might have been. 

The commission was simple, stop some bandits from banditing in a nearby canyon. The reward, an urdifact of some value. They were also offered some backup in the form of an extremely violent gnome wearing excessively spiky armor, and his companion, a well-armored, well trained rhinoceros named Gregory.

The initial plan to draw out the bandits worked exactly as planned. The team drove their caravan through the canyon and the bandits took the bait. The bait being a relatively poorly guarded team of wagons. 

The bandits attacked with arrows from higher ground and called for a surrender.  The team refused on moral grounds, and also argued that their ghost would be opposed to it.

Two of he bandits were sent to investigate the claims of haunting. The ghost, was, in fact, fictitious. Everyone knew that except for the two bandits who were punished for their gullibility by being disowned and fired upon by their former teammates, an act that they would sorely regret in short order. 

Gene was able to defend the unsuspecting bandits from the unfriendly fire, and charged up the hill to the three remaining bandits while Tyrtaeus and Davion provided covering fire. This assault did little more than distract the bandits, though, but it provided a precious moment for the true hero of the day to take aim and loose an arrow. It plunged straight through the chest of his former leader, cementing the gullible bandit's alliance with the HILT and beginning his journey towards his destiny as the dark defender of the Sow Sow West canyons.

The battle was brief as arrow after arrow found its mark, ending the lives and careers of the bandits. Despite taking an apparent beating on the front line, Gene was no worse for wear and the team celebrated their first anti-bandit endeavor.

The victory was equally short-lived, however. As the two remaining bandits informed the team that night in the canyons brought fog... and spiders. Lots of spiders. 

Lots and lots of spiders.

With a lack of shelter, the group broke down all of their spare carts and built a ring of flame to keep the spiders at bay. It was a sound plan, but relied on spiders having to travel in the normal spidery fashion, by walking. 

The mists did not just conceal the spiders, they represented a dimensional rift to the demi-plane of spiders meaning that occasional spiders would drift into existence within the ring of flame. Most were quite small and inoffensive, several were not. 

The night was long and the battle taxing. Tyrtaeus was nearly killed, but the intrepid band won out, due in no small part to the unparalleled skill and courage of the former bandit, now defender of the night. His given name, was now lost to the ages. wWth the dawn his history was wiped clean, he was now... The Bat Man

He would stay to defend travelers through his canyon, but the others returned to East Westworth to turn in the corpses and claim their prize. 

The reward was a great artifact, the hammer Hemorrhage, formerly of great magical power, now excellent for hammering in tent-pegs. The caravan also gained a guard, Serah. She had been the less dramatic of the bandits to switch sides and had seen the wisdom in turning  to a career less prone to execution. She stayed on with the HILT until Tyrtaeus's song and Gene's magic tricks became too intolerable and she found another, more conventionally sane group to defend.