The Second Annual Dungeons and Dragons Extravaganza

                Produced and DungeonMastered by Alex and Ethan
           Starring Jim, Mike, Tim, Greig, Bret, Steve, and George
                    Story brought to you by Jim Burmeister

Our story begins with a dwarf.  Not your ordinary dwarf, mind you; this is 
none other than Hjorvard Narlagh, famous Dwarven Fighter/Cleric!  At the young 
age of 54, he has already achieved 5th/5th level, a prominent position in the 
hierarchy of the local temple of Hephaestus, and performed many heroic deeds.  
He is sitting in his favorite pub relaxing, when all of a sudden, Foom!  A 
tall thin man materializes next to Hjorvard.  After introducing himself as 
Jenkins the Magician, the man tells Hjorvard that he has been selected to be a 
part of a great business venture.  Promising excitement, adventure, and great 
fame and fortune if successful, Jenkins hands Hjorvard a scroll, and then 
leaves as quickly as he appeared.  The dwarf looks at the scroll: it is a map 
to a castle somewhere north of his homeland, and a date: four days hence.

In four days, we find Hjorvard standing outside the castle.  He shows the 
invitation to the gate guard, and he is immediately whisked inside.  Before he 
can protest, servants separate him from his belongings and his clothes, give 
him a bath, a shave, a haircut, and new clothes, and finally return his 
possessions.  They then whisk him into a large hall.  Within a few moments, 
six more men are brought into the hall, dressed in new outfits similar to 
Hjorvard's.  When all are assembled, the servants withdraw, and a small figure 
steps into view, followed by a tall, thin man.  The short figure turns to the 
group of men and says, "Welcome!  I am your host, Pherondondelae, and I 
believe you have already met Jenkins the Magician."

Pherondondelae, a middle-aged halfling dressed in outrageously flashy 
clothes, climbs to a seat on a dais and begins his explanation.  He says that 
he is a prominent merchant from the city of East Lansing.  Each of the men 
assembled here is a brave adventurer, with great renown in his own land.  
Though they have never met each other before, Pherondondelae has brought them 
here to form a team; a team which will has the potential bring great reward on 
itself, and its sponsor (namely Pherondondelae!)

He continues: The great City, State, and Kingdom of East Lansing has an 
interesting way of selecting its rulers.  Every five years, a competition 
known as The Great Hunt is held.  Each prospective ruler enters a team in the 
hunt.  The person whose team wins the hunt becomes King, and the sponsors of 
the teams who finish later become the Council members.  He says that while he 
has been a Council member for several terms, (his teams always seem to finish 
7th), he is fed up with it, and decided that he is going to win this year.  
That's where the team comes in.

The team is to be Pherondondelae's entry into this year's Great Hunt.  If they 
win, and Pherondondelae becomes King, he will reward us with one *million* 
gold pieces each.  He then snaps his fingers, and servants start bringing out 
chests overflowing with gold, jewels, and other treasures; all of it very 
real, and it certainly seems like enough for a million each.  As the men reach 
for the treasure, the servants quickly haul it back away.

Pherondondelae then says that since he brought you all together, he expects 
you to win.  In fact, if you do not win the competition, or if you try to get 
out of it, then you must suffer the consequences.  Jenkins the Magician then 
speaks.  He says that he has this spell, which, when cast, will hunt down and 
kill any creature, with no second chances.  All he needs to cast this spell is 
a lock of that person's hair.  He then pulls out of a pocket a small wad of 
hair; each of the men think back to the haircuts they were given when they 
arrived...

The halfling then tells the team that they will leave for East Lansing first 
thing next morning.  The team will travel by land, a journey of about three 
days.  This will give the team time to get to know each other.  Pherondondelae 
and Jenkins will meet them at the city.

Next day, the team starts their journey.  Over those three days, they find 
that although none of them had ever met, many had heard of each other because 
of their great skill as adventurers.  The team consists of:

     Hjorvard Narlagh, the dwarf Fighter/Cleric;
     Big John Drott, a human Gladiator;
     Crunch, a half-orc fighter-Berserker;
     Raji Binderlu, an elven thief;
     Steeltooth, an gnomish mage;
     Crutches the Thief, a half-elf cleric/thief; and
     Slobbabeef, a halfling fighter/mage.

[Editor's note: Everything so far was given to us as background information to 
the adventure.  The characters were all made up, including their possessions, 
and were distributed at random to the players.  Our character packets included 
everything we needed to play, including photocopies of manual pages, lead 
figures, even a set of dice.  We weren't allowed to use any of our own 
rulebooks.  After telling the initial story, the DM gave us some time to get 
to know our characters and discuss them with the other players.  Then the play 
began.]

After three days of travel, the party reaches the gates of the city.  The 
guards demand to see their "papers", and when the team admits that they 
don't have any, the guards set them to work filling out hundreds of forms for 
themselves, their weapons, their spell components, etc.  After finally wading 
through all the bureaucracy, they are allowed to enter the city.  Just then, 
Jenkins shows up, and tells them there is a party tonight for all of the 
teams, and that they should go and check out the competition.

Some of the other teams in the competition are a team of all half-elf 
fighter/ magic-users (last year's winners), a team of paladins, a team of old 
sages (calling themselves the Bookworms--turns out they have been competing 
for years, but have never even finished the hunt).  There is a team of 
thieves and assassins, a team called the Aquatics made up of an aquatic elf, 
an intelligent squid, and various other marine creatures.  There is another 
team made up of two barbarians and Bigaxe the Fighter, and a team called the 
Really Rottens, led by a witch, and having a vampire, a werewolf, a mummy, and 
some creature in a covered cage...  The team tries to ask questions of members 
of other teams, but most of them aren't very talkative, so eventually 
everyone just leaves.

Next morning, Jenkins takes the team to a tent behind a platform in the city 
square.  There are similar platforms for each team.  A huge crowd is already 
beginning to gather, and by noon, the square is jammed with what looked like 
nearly everyone in the city.  A large scoreboard is erected at one side of the 
square, with team names listed and blanks where betting odds will be listed as 
news of each team's progress came back to the city.  At last an announcer came 
out and began introducing each team, and its sponsor.  Finally, he announced 
"Pherondonderama!" The team figures that must be them, as Jenkins shoves them 
out onto the platform to stand in front of the crowd.

Then the announcer begins explaining the rules of the Great Hunt of the Great 
City, State, and Kingdom of East Lansing.  Each team will receive a list, 
with a number of items on it.  The team has to gather the various items on the 
list (there are some choices), and return with them to the city.  Upon return, 
the items would be verified as to authenticity.  The first team to have all of 
their items verified would be declared the winner.

Some other rules: Teams will receive 10,000 GP in a special parchment 
currency which would be negotiable anywhere in the land.  However, the team 
is to use this money ONLY, not any other.  Various permits will be issued, 
indicating that the team members had the right to travel in the land, use 
weapons, etc.  Finally, a scroll of Supplemental Rules is in the packet, which 
must be followed.  The three Judges would be watching all the teams, making 
sure they followed the rules, and the teams would be penalized if they 
didn't...

With that, the announcer says, "Let the Hunt begin!" Then, a trap door opens 
in each platform, and a box rises up out of the hole.  Inside each box is the 
list, rule scroll, permits, and currency for each team.

[Ed.: At this point, the DM gave us a box with the list (below), the rules 
(several pages of all sorts of bizarre rules), the permits (a whole stack of 
them: license to use weapons, license to use magic, license to use excessive 
force, etc.), and the money (they actually made and printed money for the 
game: when we bought stuff, we paid with this money).]

      The List
      ========
      
  Alive (choose 1):
    Gnomish Prince
    The Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs
    The Vortex
  
  Weapons (choose 1):
    Demonsbane
    Maxwell's Silver Hammer
    Shaflukas' Bass Guitar
  
  Miscellaneous 1 (choose 2):
    The Magic Bus
    The Nullifier
    Isaac's Bar
    The Wand of Orcus
    
  Miscellaneous 2 (choose 2):
    Water from the River Styx
    Tribal Standard of the Brantorkl Orc Tribe
    The Book of Thoth


As soon as they get their box of stuff, the teams begin to leave the square, 
followed by the crowds.  Jenkins tells Team Pherondonderama to get going, then 
disappears.  So the team begins the first step of the Great Hunt: research.

[Ed.: The way the DM handled research was pretty cool.  They gave us a list of 
buildings in the town (libraries, shops, guilds, taverns, etc.).  To do 
research, we told them what location we were going to, which item we were 
researching, and how many man-hours we spent searching.  If we looked in the 
right place for long enough, they gave us information.  Most of the time, the 
information was in the form of a piece of paper, representing a section of a 
book containing the information.  A lot of the sheets were pretty funny, 
incorporating inside jokes that most of us got, since we had played D&D 
together before (in fact, much of the adventure was like this).]

The first stop is the Great Library of East Lansing.  The team spends the 
better part of the day there, getting basic information on most of the items.  
Over the next couple of days, the team works on a local Library of Magic and 
the University Library.  The Musician's Guild yields a couple of tips, as well 
as a few other places around town.  The party finally decides they have enough 
information to start searching.

Here is a short summary of what they find out about each item:

Gnomish Prince: There is a tribe of gnomes, led by a king, not far from East 
Lansing.  However, they are not very friendly with humans.  It is said that in 
the past, they created many amazing devices, among them the Magic Bus.  The 
king and each of his line is said to receive a distinctive tattoo at birth in 
the shape of the Magic Bus which identifies them as Gnomish royalty.

The Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs: Didn't find much information on it, so 
the team basically gives up on it.

The Vortex:  These ferocious creatures, the few that are left, live in the 
Valley of the Vortex.  [Ed.: description of the creature is that of a 
Tasmanian Devil from Warner Brothers Cartoons].  They are hardly seen anymore, 
although there must still be some left, as the destruction of the men of the 
Brantorkl Orc Tribe demonstrates.  It is said that they can be tamed by music 
of exceptional beauty.

Demonsbane: A very powerful sword of lawful good alignment, it was forged as a 
weapon against the forces of the netherworld.  Got a tip that a shopkeeper on 
a southern island knows more about it.

Maxwell's Silver Hammer: Didn't find anything quickly; decided not to bother.

Shaflukas' Bass Guitar: This guitar produced music of exceptional beauty, 
which would cause all to forget what they were doing and listen, enraptured.  
Once activated, the Guitar would continue playing by itself.

The Magic Bus: The bards at the musician's guild had an interesting song about 
this item, though it wasn't very informative [Ed.: they played Magic Bus by 
The Who].  Elsewhere, we found out that the Bus was build by the Gnomes of 
ancient times at the request of two of the Elder Gods: the god of the Earth 
and the god of the Sea.  The Bus could be used as transportation across the 
land or the sea equally well, and required no wind or other energy source to 
move it.  The party found a lead that it was partially buried under a mountain 
far to the north.

The Nullifier: This device completely nullifies all forms of magic in a 10 
foot radius sphere about itself.  It is supposedly in the hands of an 
eccentric collector of magic items.  Further inquiries lead to the location of 
the island on which he is supposed to live.

Isaac's Bar: Didn't find anything quickly; decided not to bother.

The Wand of Orcus: This is an artifact belonging to the demon lord Orcus.  
Supposedly it is currently in the possession of someone here on the Prime 
Material plane, but the team decided not to find out who.

Water from the River Styx: The river Styx, of course, is the river which flows 
through most of the lower planes.  Its water can only be held by certain 
objects: for instance, the helmet of a paladin, a cup forged by Hephaestus, or 
the bilge sponge from a Gnomish vessel.  One book talked of a well in an 
ancient city (now ruins) which led to the river.  Another gave the location of 
(supposedly) a gateway to the 238th plane of the Abyss, where the river could 
possibly be found.

Tribal Standard of the Brantorkl Orc Tribe: Found a book all about local 
Orcish history.  The Brantorkl was once one of the most powerful orc nations, 
but declined steadily in recent ages.  Most recently, the Brantorkl army went 
to the Valley of the Vortex in response to rumors of great riches to be found 
there.  None of them ever returned.  The remnants of the tribe still living in 
a land not far from East Lansing.

The Book of Thoth: This is an artifact belonging to the god Thoth.  It is said 
to be in the possession of The Spellmaster.  The team decided not to find out 
who the Spellmaster was.



Satisfied that they have enough information to begin searching, the team 
prepares to leave the city.  They decide to seek out the magic item collector 
who has the Nullifer.  They make their way to the coast, and hire a ship to 
take them to the island.  When they arrive, they find that is an old volcano.  
The party is surprised, but the ship captain assures them that this is the 
right place.  The party goes ashore and climbs up the side of the mountain.  
Reaching the top and looking down in, they find large stairs carved into the 
rock leading downward.  They climb down the stairs to find a passageway 
leading deep into the mountain.  They enter that, and follow it.  Eventually, 
they round a corner and the cave walls change.  Instead of being plain rock, 
there are niches of all shapes and sizes carved in the rock, each with a label 
below it.  The labels bear names of various magic items, many that various 
members of the party recognize from tales and legends.  However, all of the 
niches are empty. 

The party rounds another corner, and is surprised by a couple bolts of energy 
firing forth from someone in the room beyond.  They quickly retreat around the 
safety of the corner.  They look around, and find a convenient statue, behind 
which someone can see into the room without getting shot at.  What they see is 
a large room, with a 6 foot high wall running across the room, except for a 
gap in the middle.  On a pedestal in the middle of this gap sits an amulet.  
Guarding the amulet, and peering over the top of the wall, are six small 
creatures which appear to be made of flames.  Each carries a wand, which must 
be what they used to shoot the energy bolts.

The party tries shooting some arrows at the creatures.  However, the arrows 
don't seem to be having much effect, and a couple party members take pretty 
hefty damage from energy bolts.  Then, the dwarven cleric Hjorvard gets an 
idea: these creatures seem to be made of fire, so maybe water will damage 
them.  The party agrees, so Hjorvard casts a Create Water spell over the heads 
of the creatures, allowing gallons of water to crash down on the heads of the 
fire-creatures.  Sure enough, four of the creatures were killed outright, 
while the two standing next to the amulet on the pedestal were not affected at 
all.  In fact, the water did not seem to work around them.  The party realized 
that the amulet must be the Nullifier.

With only two creatures left, the party decides they can probably finish the 
monsters off hand-to-hand.  Though the creatures were tough, and the party 
took quite a bit more damage, all the creatures are destroyed and the team 
gets to the Nullifier.

Just then, a door in the back of the room opens, and an old and very sad-
looking fire giant appears.  He says that we passed his test and could take 
the Nullifier.  The party realizes that the fire giant must be the collector.  
He goes on, lamenting that adventurers have come and taken all of his items, 
and that he no longer has anything to live for.  He tilts back his head and 
lets out a roar, and all of a sudden, the ground beneath the party begins to 
shake.  They quickly decide that running away very fast is probably the best 
course of action, and immediately begin doing so, as rocks begin tumbling 
around them.  They make it out of the volcano, and back to the ship.  As they 
leave, the volcano erupts behind them.  But all party members are safe, and 
they have their first item.  They quickly sail away from the island.

Suddenly, a loud Foom! is heard, and a man riding a flying carpet 
materializes in the air above the ship's deck, in front of the party.  Next to 
the man is a large spinning wheel.  The team realizes that this must be The 
Wheelmaster, most feared of the three Judges of the Great Hunt. 
"Congratulations on getting your first item," he says.  "But I am afraid that 
you have broken the rules in doing so."  An evil grin appears on his face as 
he turns to his great wheel and prepares to spin it.

The team begins to protest: What did we do wrong?  He replies, "Why, you 
forgot the Victory Dance.  After each item, the team must dance the Victory 
Dance.  Says so right here in the rules."  He picks up a large book, flashes a 
page at the party, then sets it back down.  "I'm sorry, you'll just have to 
pay the price."

No amount of protest would change the judge's mind, and he spins his wheel.  
Around it goes...and finally stops pointing to a space labeled "Lose one magic 
item."

"I am so sorry," he says with a smile, "I will just have to take one of your 
magic items.  Hmm...let's see...I think I'll take Big John's Ring of 
Invulnerability."  The ring on John's hand disappears.  The party protests 
some more, but the Wheelmaster ignores them.  He does, however, agree to teach 
them the victory dance before he disappears.  The party is rather upset, since 
the ring was one of their more powerful items.  However, they realize there 
isn't much they can do, so they press on...

Since they are already at sea, they decide to continue to the southern island 
to find out about the sword Demonsbane.  The sea journey is quite long, over 
three weeks, but they make it.  There, the team seeks out the shopkeeper who 
is supposed to know the location of the sword.  They find him, and he says 
that it is in the possession of a troll who lives in a mountain, a ways 
inland.  The party convinces the shopkeeper to guide them there, and they set 
off.

After a fairly uneventful land journey, they find the mountain, and start up 
the path leading around its edge.  After going a ways, they encounter what 
appears to be an old man coming down the path.  Instantly suspicious, Hjorvard 
casts a Detect Magic, and the "man" shows intense magic.  Hjorvard 
communicates this to the rest of the party, and they draw their weapons.

The advancing creature realizes what's going on, and shifts to his natural 
state: not a troll, but an Ogre Mage!  After a furious battle, the team slays 
the ogre, and advances up the mountain.  In his cave, they find a great black 
sword, covered with runes; they realize that this must be the item they seek.  
They take it, and remember to perform their victory dance.  The shopkeeper 
from the village thinks this is rather peculiar behavior, but doesn't say 
anything since the party did just destroy the monster that had been bothering 
them for years.

Back to the ship, then another three week sea voyage back to the mainland.  
Upon arrival, they get news of the other teams.  It seems that some of them 
are doing pretty well, gathering items while Pherondonderama was sailing all 
around the southern seas.  The party realizes that they had better get moving 
if they are going to have any chance of winning The Hunt.  So they look at 
their options for the next item.

After some discussion, they decide to go for the Gnomish prince, as he seems 
the most likely choice in the Alive category.  So they travel overland, and 
eventually find themselves in Gnomish territory.  Some time later, they near 
the capital city, where they presume that they can find a prince.  However, 
despite discussing it intensely during the journey, the team still didn't have 
a plan for how to even contact the prince, let alone convince him to join the 
party.

As they ride over a hill, they encounter a group of gnomish guards on patrol.  
Before they know what's happening, the gnomes attack.  The party defends 
itself, and quickly decides to fight to subdue, rather than kill, since they 
hope to eventually befriend a gnomish prince!  Soon, all the guards are 
subdued and tied up.  When the leader regains consciousness, the party starts 
pumping him for information.  He doesn't want to talk to them, though, and the 
party is forced to use a Charm spell on the guard to get him to talk.

The spell is successful, and the guard reveals that there is indeed a prince 
who lives in the city.  He is not happy, however; he lives with in the palace 
with his father, the King, but has run away 3 times in recent months.  Each 
time, the guards have chased him down and brought him back to the city.

The party realizes that this may be easier to get the prince to join them than 
they thought; all they have to do is help him escape, and he should want to 
join them.  So, they write a letter, and have the charmed guard take it in to 
the city to give to the prince.  They then move to a group of trees close 
enough to the city to see it, but far enough away that the guard patrols 
wouldn't find them.

That night, as the party watches the city, they see a single figure move away 
from the walls and up towards them.  When he reaches the trees, the party 
meets him.  He says he is the prince,  that he got their note, and wants to 
join them.  The party asks to see his birthmark, and he does: it is a solid 
black rectangle, on his leg.  The party is skeptical at first, but the prince 
assures them that this is indeed the tattoo which identifies him as a prince.  
The party then looks back to the city, and seeing the parties of gnomish 
guards which are moving out, apparently searching for the prince, they decide 
his story must be true, and they quickly leave, after performing their victory 
dance, of course!

Next, the party decides to go north and look for the Magic Bus.  After several 
days of travel, they reach the area where their research said they would find 
the bus.  They find it, and see that lies in the side of the mountain, mostly 
exposed except for what look like large vines growing up and over the bus.  
They approach and try to hack away at the vines, when all of a sudden, the 
"vines" come to life!  They begin moving, then the end of one pulls out of the 
ground, and there is a head on the end.  Then, more heads begin popping out of 
the ground and attacking the party members.

The battle quickly becomes intense.  Not only do the heads bite at the party 
members, but the occasionally spit a noxious liquid, which causes a slow 
paralysis on a direct hit.  During the battle, two party members are hit with 
paralysis, but are saved just in time by eating magic "chocolate bunnies" that 
one of the party members has.  The battle rages on, and the party sustains 
more and more damage.  Slobbabeef (the halfling fighter/mage) casts a Monster 
Summoning spell, bringing several orcs into the battle, which did a good job 
of acting as targets for some of the attacking serpent heads, giving some of 
the party members a brief rest.  In the end, the party prevails, though the 
clerics are kept busy for a long time afterwards healing everyone up!

Shortly after the battle...Foom! another man standing on a flying carpet 
appears.  This is not the Wheelmaster, the Judge they ran into before, but the 
party figures (quite rightly) that any appearance of a Judge is probably bad 
news.

"I'm vewy sowry," he says, "but it appeaws that you have bwoken the wules." 
[Ed.: Use Elmer Fudd voice for this guy.]  "You see, you added people to your 
team, and they were fighting without unifowms."

"What?" the team asks.

"The owrcs that you summoned.  I will have to punish you for this.  I'm vewy 
sowry.  Let's see...you." (he points at Steeltooth the mage) "You lose all of 
your magic powers until the team gets its next item."  And with a wave of the 
Judge's hand, Steeltooth loses his powers, and the Judge disappears.  The 
party is rather put out by this ridiculous penalty, but there is nothing to do 
but press on.

Meanwhile, the Gnome Prince that the team picked up earlier is checking out 
the Magic Bus.  He is tremendously excited, for this is one of the gnomes' 
greatest achievements, thought lost, but here it is, in front of him.  The 
party gathers around the gnome as he is feeling along the side of the great 
black box which is the bus.  The gnome finds what he is looking for, and a 
panel opens in the side of the bus, dropping down a ramp leading up inside.  
The gnome quickly disappears into the bus, with the rest of the party 
following.

Inside, they find the gnome checking out the controls at the front of the bus.  
When asked if he knows how to drive this thing, the gnome explains that 
although the bus has been lost for generations, its principles and 
instructions on how to use it were still taught to the gnomish royalty.  Then, 
with a twist of a dial and a pull of a lever, the bus lurches forward.  As the 
party looks out in astonishment, a sphere of energy forms around the box-
shaped bus, lifting it up off the ground.  The sphere then appears to "roll" 
forward, with the bus remaining suspended in the center.  And with that, the 
party is traveling once again.

Next stop is a ruined city off to the west.  The party's research suggests 
that there may be a well in this city leading down to the waters of the river 
Styx.  They arrive after a short bus journey and begin the search.  However, 
after searching for nearly two days without sign of a well, the party gives up 
and decides to move on.

The other lead that the party has about the river Styx is located in a forest 
to the south of the ruined city.  Stories tell of a gateway into the Abyss, 
the hope being that the river Styx goes through this particular plane.  The 
party rolls south, and eventually arrives in the forest.  They continue into 
the forest, heading toward the point their research pointed to.  It becomes 
increasingly clear that this is no ordinary forest.  The gloom darkens, the 
trees become more twisted, great webs drape the branches.  Eventually, they 
reach the center of the dead zone.  As evening falls, the air shimmers, and 
the gateway opens.

The party is ready.  Earlier, they prepared their strategy.  Steeltooth 
remains behind with the gnomish prince and the bus.  The rest of the party 
goes in.  To gather the water, the team takes the bilge sponge from the Magic 
Bus, which the gnomish prince showed them how to use.  The party gathers 
outside the bus, and plunges through the gateway.

They enter a different world.  Almost exactly like the real world, except that 
there is no sun, moon or stars; the sky is a uniform shade of pink.  No grass, 
trees, or animals; the ground is a similar shade of pink.  The party stepped 
through at the top of a hill.  First, they look behind them to make sure that 
the gateway is still open behind them; they breath a sigh of relief to see 
that it is.  They then look ahead, down the hill.  At the bottom of the hill, 
they see...a river!  Hardly believing their luck, they start down the hill to 
the river.  Hjorvard the dwarf gets the sponge out, as they approach the 
water.  

Just then, Raji points off in the distance.  A huge flock of enormous flying 
creatures appear in the distance.  As they come closer, the party hears them 
screaming.  A word comes clear from the screams: Demonsbane.  Too late, Big 
John looks down at the longsword hanging at his side and realizes the grave 
error they made, bringing the sword into the Abyss with them.  It must have 
been like a beacon to the inhabitance of the place.

Hjorvard bends down to the water, and activates the sponge, being very careful 
not to touch the water himself.  The sponge full, he grabs it and struggles up 
the hill.  The rest of his party has already started moving towards the gate.  
"Wait for me!!!" he cries, as his shorter legs struggle up the hill.  With 
demon creatures literally nipping at their backs, the party shoots through the 
gateway.  But the struggle is far from over.

The party runs to where the bus is parked, with the demons following through 
the gate, gaining rapidly.  The party jumps into the doorway, yelling 
frantically for the gnome to get the bus moving.  However, the demons keep 
coming.  There was nothing to do but fight it out, hand-to-hand.  Ironically, 
the weapon which drew the creatures in the first place could not be used 
against them; Demonsbane is a lawful good-aligned sword, and none of the party 
members has the alignment to use it.

The battle is long and difficult.  At the end: all the demons destroyed, many 
of the team unconscious, everyone's strength and spells exhausted, but no one 
dead.  But as the team tries to catch their breath...Foom!

Yes, the Wheelmaster is back.  He is, of course, the last thing that the party 
wants to see, after barely surviving.  "What did we do this time?"

"Idiots!  Fools!" says the Wheelmaster, then proceeds to rattle off a list of 
"serious infractions" including leaving the plane and bringing otherworldly 
creatures into the world.  Then he spins his wheel...  It come up "Lose all 
your money."  The party breathes a collective sigh.  While losing all their 
money is a setback, the team saw several even worse spaces on the wheel, such 
as losing one of their items.  The Wheelmaster took their money, and went on 
his way.

One item to go.  Earlier, they had decided on getting the tribal standard of 
the Brantorkl orc tribe.  They knew basically where it was, and that it should 
be lightly guarded, since the majority of the tribe was destroyed in an 
assault on the Vale of the Vortex.  So, while the team rested and healed, the 
Gnomish Prince drove the bus south.

The team rides along in silence.  By now, they are tired of the Hunt, tired of 
Judges, and they just want to get this Orcish tribal standard, and get back to 
the city.  Should be no problem--finish off the remnants of the tribe and grab 
the standard.  During the ride, the team stops for more news of the other 
teams in the hunt.  The latest reports show that the team is still in 
contention; some of the teams are already out, and while some teams have 
gained part of their items, no one has finished yet.

They arrive at the ancient, partially ruined castle which is the last 
stronghold of the once powerful Brantorkl Orc tribe.  The team doesn't waste 
time, but immediately gathers together and begins the attack.  With a 
combination of magical levitation and brute strength, they attack the 
fortress.

The party is almost unprepared for the Orcish resistance.  It consists 
entirely of Orcish women and children, mostly untrained in combat.  Though 
there are a large number of them, they have no chance against the trained, 
experienced adventurers which comprise the party.  The battle quickly becomes 
a bloodbath.  The heaviest resistance came from some Orcish female archers, 
but even these were quickly overcome.  [Ed.: During this battle, our DM gave 
us incredibly gory details about how our party was murdering these poor, 
helpless women and children.  I mean, he REALLY hammed it up.  It was not a 
pretty sight...]

Finally, the few remaining orcs decide that life is more important than pride, 
and clear out.  The party catches their breath, as they survey the carnage 
surrounding them.  Then they turn their attention to the tribal standard.  The 
standard is not quite what they expected.  It is not a simple banner, but a 
large construction of huge logs, designed to be carried by about 8 big orcs.  
Even with their exceptional strength, the party finds that it can barely move 
the standard, let alone drag it back to East Lansing.

But the party does not realize that the battle is not quite over.  While they 
look at the standard, a hidden door in the ruined castle opens.  Out from it 
pours a horde of half-orcs.  Not women and children, but fully armed male 
warriors.  The party instantly draws their weapons and turns to meet the 
charge.

Once again, the party performs.  Although the half-orcs appearance is a 
surprise, they are still no match for the team.  After a brief, intense 
battle, the half-orcs lie dead, and the party stands with no serious damage.

So the party returns to the problem of the tribal standard.  But they are not 
about to let a trivial detail like transportation stop them now.  Hjorvard 
casts a spell which reduces the size of the standard, then the team is able to 
load the standard onto the Magic Bus.  The team, after performing their 
victory dance, hold their breaths, waiting for a judge to show up.  But 
nothing happens, so they slap each other on the back and climb aboard the bus.

They drive back to East Lansing as fast as the bus can go.  As they enter the
gates, the crowds cheer them on, and they find out that they are indeed the
first team back to the city.  The party is directed to the judging area,
where the officials will verify the authenticity of their items.  

However, just then, they hear a noise behind them.  They soon find out that
it is another team, returning with all of their items.  They are taken
to another area, where different judges will verify their items.  Thus, it
comes down to which team will have their items verified first.

The officials go to work on the party's items.  First, they interview the
gnomish prince.  He states that he is a true son of the King of the Gnomes,
and thus a prince of the Gnomish Kingdom.  He shows them his tattoo as
proof of his statement.  The officials confer among themselves, then nod,
and one of them announces: "Gnomish Prince: verified!"

Next they turn their attention to the Magic Bus.  There is little doubt that
this is official, since the party rode into town on the Bus, but they consult
their reference books, cast a few spells to make sure it is not an illusion,
talk briefly with the Gnomish Prince.  "Magic Bus: Verified!"

Then one of them goes over and takes the nullifier, inspecting it, and comparing
it to one of their books.  He puts it on, and motions for everyone to stand
back.  The other officials then begin casting spells at him, first relatively
mild ones, then more and more powerful spells, until this one official is 
completely surrounded by dazzling blasts of magical energy.  Finally they
stop, and the official wearing the magic item smiles and waves to the crowd,
completely unaffected by the spells.  "The Nullifier: verified!"

Fourth is the tribal standard of the Brantorkl Orc tribe.  The scholars look
at the standard, look in their books, poke at the wood, and so on.  Seeming
puzzled by something, one of them casts a spell at it.  All of a sudden, it
grows larger in size!  (They had dispelled the reduce spell that Hjorvard
had cast on it).  Now the scholars look satisfied, and they announce:
"Brantorkl Tribal Standard: verified!"

Only two items left.  An official takes the sponge, activates it, and pours
the liquid into a cup, which immediately begins dissolving.  Before it falls
apart, however, the official picks up the cup and drinks the contents in one
gulp.  He stands still for a moment, then suddenly, all of the flesh
explodes from his body, leaving only a skeleton standing there.  The officials
nod, but then one of them says, "Hey, wait a minute.  Doesn't the Ichor from
the Pool of Primus the One do that, too?"  The skeleton lifts a bony finger
and points to the gnomish sponge laying on the ground.  "Oh, yeah, the 
Gnomish sponge won't hold the Ichor.  Okay.  Water from the River Styx:
verified!"

For the final test, one of the officials picks up the great sword, Demons-
bane.  The others busy themselves tracing a large pentagram in the dust.
They then gather around it and begin chanting.  The air swirls, and turns
dark, then a huge, horrible figure appears.  The demon snarls and lashes 
at the sorcerers, but the magical symbols hold him fast.  Then the man with
the sword steps forward.  The demon sees the sword and lets out a blood-
curdling scream.  Then the man raises the sword, and strikes the evil
creature.  As the steel contacts his form, the sword seems to begin to
suck the life out of the demon.  It grows smaller and smaller, until within
moments, there is nothing left but a few wisps of smoke in the air.
The official raises the sword and says, "Demonsbane: VERIFIED!"

All of their items check out.  But did they finish before the other team?
They will have to wait to find out.  The officials announce that the winner 
will be revealed at a ceremony that evening in the city Stadium.

That evening, everyone gathers in the stadium.  The teams which finished
and their sponsors have seats on the field, and the stands are packed with
the population of East Lansing, eager to see who will be their next King.
In the area set aside for Pherondonderama, the team members sit quietly,
as the mage Jenkins stands by, fingering a small ball of hair...

At last, the moment comes.  The officials stand up on the podium and 
make their proclamation:  "The winner of the Great Hunt of the Great
City, State, and Kingdom of East Lansing is...PHERONDONDERAMA!"

The party breathes a sigh of relief.  Pherondondelae beams and comes over
to congratulate the party.  With a flourish, Jenkins throws away the ball
of hair, and the party knows that they have succeeded.  Pherondondelae then
renews his promise that the team will get their one MILLION gold pieces
each, and then he goes forward to be crowned the new King of East Lansing.

...and thus ends our story.  Join us next summer for the THIRD annual 
Dungeons and Dragons Extravaganza, sceduled to be held in scenic
Buchanan, Michigan!

[Final notes: This is pretty much how the campaign happened, as well as I
can remember.  I left out a lot of details, of course, but I don't think
I forgot anything major.  If it seems like Hjorvard shows up in the story
more often than the other characters, it's only because Hjorvard was my
character, so I remembered better what he did!

Throughout the adventure, the DM gave us updates on the status of the other
teams in the Great Hunt.  He also told us the odds that the bookies were 
giving on each team; sometimes these were very funny.  I really can't 
remember much about the other teams, though.

The campaign was a competition; there was another group of people who
did the same adventure at the same time as us.  They finished before we did,
both in real time, and in game time, but it was pretty close.  

Alex and Ethan, our DM's did an amazing job of putting the campaign together.
They had to work up 13 mini-adventures (one for each of the items on the list),
even though we only went through six of them.  Afterwards, they told us that
they had prepared for all of the items, even the artifacts like Orcus'
wand and the Book of Thoth.  Some of the adventures were really cool, too;
it's too bad we couldn't go through all of them.  The other team got some
of the same items as us, but some different ones, so it was fun to compare
our adventures.

The whole campaign was loaded with inside jokes, cameo appearances by 
former characters from previous campaigns, and just general funny stuff.
Most of the cities on the map were named after real-world cities: East
Lansing, of course; but there was also Ann Arbor, Livonia, Whippany, and
several others.  The research that we did at the beginning of the game was 
also great, some of the items we "found" were just hilarious.  One of my
previous characters showed up as the "boy hero Soranal" who saved some
village from the Vortex.  There were even jokes upon jokes:  one of the
items, Isaac's Bar, refers to Isaac, the bartender on the Love Boat.
Isaac had appeared in the D&D parody tapes that Mike and Alex made
while we were going through our campaigns a few years ago.  (I have those
tapes now, I would send you copies except that you probably wouldn't get
any of the jokes, since you weren't in on the campaigns).  

That's all, folks!

[Copyright 1992]