Here is the first part of the ninth edition of the D&D Game Summary.
Please refer to the earlier editions for character backgrounds and other
exploits.  


Summary of "NorCal Campaign" Part 9A
------------------------------------

This adventure was based on the adventure "To Bite the Moon" that
appeared in Dungeon Magazine issue 48.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #32--01/13/95

The Winter: (Aug 30, 697)
    With the winter closing in and a lot of hard adventuring behind them,
the group decided to settle in Hildan for a few months.  Hildan is a city
of fairly large size.  Not quite as big as Strafferberg or Kestria, but
quite wealthy.  The people there have an active social structure with
a strong duke of the empire leading them and where social position is
tracked by vitually everyone.
    Rhodan went out into the nearby forests with his mother.  They spent
most of the winter out on the land.
    Spike trained in carpentry and worked as an apprentice.  He also
continued his studies of other fields that interest him.
    Melody put some time into her spellcasting abilities and memorized
Detect Magic, Knock, and Invisibility.  She spent the rest of her time
getting involved in Hildan social life.  Her bardic abilities and stunning
adventures made for great talk.  Her knowledge of the war brewing in the
Dwarflands was also popular among the nobels of the city.
    Furnes spent his time in service to the temple of Hastenzi.  He began
training lower level priests.  He also began to make use of a much
more elaborate holy symbol with large rubies in it.
    Galen spent his time pursuing his magic.  He memorized Fireball,
Feather Fall, Knock, Blur and Spider Climb during this time.
    No one is quite sure what Studedly was up to because they rarely saw
him, but he seemed to enjoy what Hildan had to offer a skillful young
"businessman".  During his stay, he donated 250 gp to the temple of
Hastenzi and was known to attend a few services at the temple.  He now
bears a simple broach of the god.

On the Road Again: (Feb 21, 698)
    With the worst of winter behind them, the group got back together to
consider what to do next.
    Melody and Galen both suggested traveling north toward Imari (the 
capitol of the Empire).
    Rhodan suggested travelling to the elflands.  He wants to escort his
mother there.
    Furnes backed up this suggestion by saying that he had been assigned a
quest by the great god Hastenzi.  They would all be going with him to the
elflands.  And since the road past Highland and Turthan was closed due to
Goblin attacks, they would be going over the mountains of Gesh and into 
the elflands via a pass.  He had a map.  They were to look for the Brazier 
of Hastenzi.
    Several of them did not like Furnes' direct assumption that they would
follow him, but with Rhodan and Furnes both wanting to go there it at least
seemed like an okay idea.  Melody in particular laughed a bit at going
after "Hotsi-totsi's Bra".
    Studedly and Melody also had reservations about going into the elflands.
Being half-elven, they did not want to deal with stuck-up annoying 
pure-breds.
    The information that goblin attacks were happening near Highland and
Turthan was also interesting.  The goblins are not normally organized, so
who could be bringing them together?
    In any case, they gathered their things together along with some new
equipment into their faithful cart and set off to the town of Vinyard.

Signs of Battle: (Feb 24, 698)
    Almost a day out of Vinyard, they passed by the wreckage of a small
caravan which looked as if it had been attacked and burned only a few days
earlier.  They gave the area a quick search and found nothing of importance
remained.  The wagons were obviously attacked, ransacked and then burned.
There was no sign of magical fire, however.  
    Rhodan discovered humanoids were responsible for the attack but could
not figure out what race they were.  Too many human tracks clobbered the
area and were more recent.  Apparently humans came to clean up the mess
afterwards.
    So finding nothing of specific interest, they proceeded to Vinyard.

A Family Affair: (Feb 25, 698)
    Shortly after arriving in Vinyard, Galen went off to visit his family
at the Turnspan Vinyard.  His mom was excited to see him once again and
admonished him for not writing regularly.  It'd been 3 years since he
left home, shortly after completing his apprenticeship with a local mage.
    He found out that the whole family was together at home.  They were
upset over the loss of a huge portion of the family wine, which was being 
shipped to Hildan in a caravan only a few days ago.  His eldest brother 
Jerold was hurt badly in the attack.  It was only thanks to the priests of 
Louhi that he lives.  His other brother Karl, who is also older than Galen, 
had taken on the tasks normally belonging to the eldest son.
    Things were going fine until Galen's father came in.  Galen and his
father had a big falling out over Galen's desire to study magic rather
than learn a "real skill".  The fact that he was not here to help the
family out when trouble struck was something his father pointed out yet
again.
    Galen stayed the day and had dinner with his family only because his
mother insisted, and his brothers were eager to hear of his life during
the past 3 years.  He was also planning to do some vengeance on the ones
that took the family wine.

A Damsel in Distress: (Feb 25, 698)
    The rest of the group settled into the Sticky Feet Tavern and Inn.
Shortly after settling in, Furnes went off looking for a Hastenzi temple.
He found a lone priest.  Rhodan went to the temple of Louhi and donated
100 gp to them for good luck and local information.
    Spike decided to drink away the afternoon in the tavern.  That is where
he met Jacinth.  Jacinth was a rather beat up looking dwarven woman who
was drinking strong ale and sitting alone.  She had only one leg, the
other was amputated at the knee, and from the looks of it fairly recently.
    Talking with her, Spike found out that she was part of the wagon train
that was wiped out.  Apparently the caravan was attacked by a band of gnolls
near dusk.  The gnolls would normally have not been a problem, but their
leader weilded a wand that spread a red beam of light over the wagons and
made most of the human guards run away in fear.  With only a few left to
fight, they were pretty quickly overwhelmed and the gnolls made off with
most of the wine.  They also made off with some of Jacinth's possessions.
    Seeing that Spike was interested in her tale, Jacinth asked if he might
be willing to help her out and retrieve her belongings from the gnolls.
She offered 1000 gp in reward.  She also offered more detailed information
on the whereabouts of the gnolls.  She said the town blacksmith, who was 
the only other dwarf in town, helped her track the gnolls to their lair.
    Spike took in all of this information and agreed to ask his companions
if they would take on her quest.

Taking the Job: (Feb 25, 698)
    With Spike and Galen both interested in going after the gnolls, the
group quickly decided to take the job.  Spike went back to Jacinth for a
bit more information.
    Jacinth told him that she needed to recover two items.  One is a gold
ring with two black stones and a red stone set in it.  The other is a
gilded sword with two red stones and a black stone set in it.  These are
very important to her.  Spike wondered what a dwarf like her was doing with
such items in the first place and after some querying, Jacinth revealed
that she was a White Rider.
    The White Riders are an organization of messengers that takes their
missions very seriously.  The Riders guarantee delivery and their members
are sworn under the strictest of oaths.
    Jacinth revealed that she took up membership in the White Riders shortly
after her 50th birthday and has been using it as a way to "see the world"
for the past 45 years or so.  The 1000 gp reward would basically be her
entire earnings for this mission but she absolutely had to get the items
back, even if they had been "used".

The Sassy Gnoll: (Feb 26, 698)
    After making sure Rhodan's mother Alreli was safe in town, the rest of
the group set out the next morning by heading up the Hildan road to
the site of the attack.  From there they headed south by half a day until
they arrived at the ravine that Jacinth said held the gnoll cave.
    Rhodan and Studedly did some reconnaissance on the ravine and determined
that the gnolls had no guards on duty.  The group then moved carefully into
the cave with Studedly leading.
    They stopped when Studedly heard some barking ahead.  Furnes cast 
Faerie Fire on himeslf and followed as Rhodan and Spike led the battle 
charge down the corridor and at 3 gnolls hanging out behind a barricade.  
The two fighters each dispatched a gnoll quickly but during the battle
a change came over them.  In fact it came over the entire group.
    They were gnolls.
    That's right, during the battle something happened that changed every
member of the group into a 7 foot tall hairy creature whose language sounds
like barks, snarls and growls.  Rhodan and Spike were confused by this.
The last of the gnolls was a female who leaned against the door drunk and
frightened.  Furnes leaped at her.
    The female said "stop!  stop!  don't kill or my mate will hunt you all 
down!".  Melody acted quickly and stopped Furnes from bashing in the gnoll's
head.  "What's going on?" she asked.  The gnoll replied "are you here to
attack our tribe or to join it?"  Thinking quickly, Melody replied that
there were here to join and that they must see the leader quickly since
one of their members (Furnes, of course) was insane.
    The gnoll agreed and quickly led them through the door, down a corridor
and into the main gnoll cave.

Bitten by the Moon: (Feb 27, 698)
    In the main cave they found over 40 gnolls sleeping, playing games, and
doing the things that large groups of gnolls do in a cave.  They also found
that much of the missing wine casks were stacked on one wall, while much of
the wood from the wagons appeared to have been broken down for firewood.
    The leader came forward quickly and took over for the female.
    "What is the meaning of this?" he scowled.
    "He's insane I tell you!  He needs help quickly" replied Melody dragging
a scowling, glowing Furnes along.
    "By Refnara!  What has happened to him?  Has he been bitten by the 
moon!?" snarled the leader.
    "Indeed, the moon has attacked him and he needs help now!" Melody
continued to press.
    "Quickly, this way," the leader said and they followed him to a side
door where he did a small ritual and then opened it.  It was obvious that
most of the gnolls were very afraid.  They were muttering about the moon
and kept a good distance from Furnes.
    The room was a small cave with a hole in the floor.  The leader went
to the hole and yelled "Oh Refnara, goddess of fear and dread.  Your
servants come trembling into your chamber and beg you to appear before
us."  He then stepped back and waited as a screeching noise came from the
hole.  A few minutes later, the head of a woman rises from the hole.  The
smell of rot filled the air, and the head itself glowed a strange purple
color.  Her neck was covered in scales which also glowed purple.
    The leader bowed down, as did all the other gnolls and players except
Furnes (who would not bow down before a false god).  The leader then asked
Refnara to bite away the light which the moon had cursed this poor gnoll
with just as she bit away the moon when it got too big in the night sky.
Refnara said she would not until they brought her more treasure and meat.
The leader asked if the horses and the sword were not enough and she said
that he must do better.  The leader began to plead because the moon was
near full and no time remained to find meat and treasure.  Refnara agreed
to help this time but meat and treasure must follow.
    During this whole time the party members were tense because Furnes was
on the edge of attacking this "god" in front of its worshippers.
    Almost by circumstance, the Faerie Fire on Furnes wore off at this time.
The gnolls all bowed down once more and the leader thanked Refnara.  The
head dropped back into the hole and the leader directed the gnolls from the
room.

Would You Like to Play a Game? (Feb 27, 698)
    Back in the main cave things returned to semi-normality for most of
the gnolls, but the leader stayed to question the newcomers.
    "Who is your leader?" he asked.  And Melody replied "He is" and pointed
at Furnes.
    The leader said, "I am Kurgahr and I lead this tribe".  Furnes replied
"I am Furnes and I lead this tribe".  Then Kurgahr began to circle around
Furnes with a hungry look.  He said "I welcome you tooth brother to my tribe" 
and then suddenly lept forward and bit Furnes on the neck just hard enough
to draw blood then lept back.  He then said "Argh!  You are hurt!  I will
ease your pain."  He then stepped back and returned with 14 gold coins which
he gave to Furnes.  He then stood and waited.
    Furnes thought quickly on his feet and began to circle Kurgahr.  Saying
the same words, Furnes lept at Kurgahr and bit him.  In return he offered
35 gold coins.  Kurgahr looked impressed and repeated the ritual.  This 
time he offered a 50 gp gemstone.  Furnes did his part and offered up
three 25 gp pearls.  Kurgahr was enjoying the game and this time offered
up a silver dagger with a dog's head carved into the guard.  Furnes decided
to up the ante and offered a gold plated skull mug with ruby eyes!
    This last one really impressed Kurgahr for he called all his "people"
to chant for and welcome the new members of the tribe!  A big party began
with drinking, dancing and percussion music.
    Furnes quickly went aside and used a Cure Disease Prayer Bead on 
himself.

Half Way There: (Feb 27, 698)
    During the dancing, Melody and Studedly went out to find the female
gnoll that they first encountered.  Once they found here, they arranged
to dance nearby and bump into her really hard.  Hard enough for Studedly
to use his theiving skills to steal the ring off her finger.  He also
stole her wristband while he was at it.
    A job very well done, they decided to cover themselves by bumping into
another random gnoll and having Studedly place the wristband onto this
gnoll.  When the two items came up missing, this gnoll would have to answer
first.
    They then went aside to look at the ring.  It was a gold band that fit
Jacinth's description except all three stones were black.  Something 
happened to use up that part of the ring.  It didn't take too many guesses
to come up with the fact that this was probably a ring of wishes and the
silly gnoll had wished them to be visiting gnolls rather than deadly humans.
Studedly held onto the ring.

The Search Begins: (Feb 27, 698)
    Once things quieted down, the group wanted to go after the "god" and
recover the sword.  Galen wanted to use some magical spells, but found
that ones with verbal components were difficult to cast in the gnoll
language and were likely to fail.  Still, there were too many gnolls awake
to make it out easily.
    Studedly arranged a game of dice and taught the game to the gnolls.
This gathered a lot of them in one place and Galen used Verbalize to drop
a Sleep spell on the gathered gnolls.  The group then slipped into the
holy room while no one was watching.  


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #33--02/03/95

Cave Crawling: (Feb 27, 698)
    The group made their way down the hold in the floor and began to
search the corridors and caves underneath.  In one cave they found a 
sinkhole in the floor with a body below.  They decided not to investigate.
In another they found some sticky web strands hanging from the room.  After
some looking, they decided to skip past this cave as well.
    All during this time Rhodan was tracking the path that the "god" would
have taken.  This was fairly easy since the creature was obviously large 
and traveled like a snake.
    Finally, they came to another cave with some 1 foot long cave crickets
in it that began to raise a lot of noise.

Turnabout is Fair Play: (Feb 27, 698)
    The noise brought Refnara to them.  The crickets were silenced as she
entered and asked why they came.  Melody and Rhodan offered some evasive
answers and Rhodan attempted to attack her.  Once they had a clear look
at her it was obvious that she was a Naga.
    She responded with a Color Spray that blinded the fighter and a Heat
Metal that began to cook him in his armor.  Galen pumped a pushed Magic 
Missile into her, and Melody tried to bring a Flaming Sphere to bear.  
Furnes used Protection from Fire on Rhodan but found himself Held and 
then had a Heat Metal cast on himself while he could do little about it.
Melody helped him by pouring water into his armor to lessen the damage.
Spike was Charmed by the Naga and turned to defend her retreat against the 
party.  
    Studedly was trying to get behind the Naga and couldn't.  When the Naga
left, he pretended to be on Spike's side and got behind Spike where he could
check on the Naga, who had just retreated one room away.  Galen helped out
by Levitating Spike so he could not attack them very easily.  It was a
tricky situation, but Furnes finally ended it by getting Spike to put on
his Ring.  This dispelled the Charm and got the group working together 
again.
    
Off with Her Head: (Feb 27, 698)
    Studedly suggested a plan to have Spike continue to follow the Naga
and drag in Rhodan's body.  Once they got close they would attack the Naga
and if they could not kill it quickly, Furnes would use Protection from
Fire on them and Galen would help out with a Fireball.
    The plan went off perfectly and Spike and Rhodan dispatched the Naga
quickly.  Furnes collected some scales and then cut off the Naga's head
and put it in a bag for later use.
    They found 2000 sp, 500 gp, six gems (500 gp, 100 gp * 3, 50 gp, 10 gp),
a Potion of Gaseous Form, a Potion of Healing, three gold scroll tubes with
Scrolls(1=Hold Undead and Phantom Steed, 2=Identify, Deep Pockets, and
Enervation, 3=Protection from Electicity), and they got the Sword.

I Think It's Magic: (Feb 27, 698)
    They continued through a few more corridors and found a cave with
glowing purple fungus, which they avoided, and another cave where they were
attacked by some giant ticks.  Melody hit one with a Magic Missle as they
all ran through.
    They then returned to the chamber through which they entered the tunnels
and took a look at the Sword.
    It still had 2 red stones and one black one, so there was a chance the
Sword could restore them to their original forms.  Spike drew the sword
to take a look at it, and it talked to them.  They found the sword to not
be very talkative and a bit simple-minded.  It's name was Spellslayer and
it wanted to kill evil wizards.  When they asked it it could return their
forms, it said that it could but that it would not unless they helped it
kill an evil wizard first.  Unfortunately, they did not find this out 
until after a great deal of time was spent trying to figure out how to use
the wish right now.
    Thus their problem.  Where to find an evil wizard?


ADVENTURE NOTES--DAY #34--02/17/95

The Sword?  The Sword?  Who's Got the Sword? (Feb 28, 698)
    Spike discovered that the Sword can tell an evil wizard on sight, so
he snuck back into the main cave and went around with the Sword under his
cloak.  They were in luck, the gnoll leader was an evil wizard.  He went
back to the others and then they entered the main cave together.
    Kurgahr was angry at them for entering the temple without his 
permission and was telling them so.  Most of the gnolls gathered around
and the tension rose a few notches.  Then Furnes lit a spark in the powder
keg by pulling out the head of the Naga and saying their god is dead!
He followed this up with a Pyrotechnics on their fire.
    The battle was nasty but mostly one sided.  The party members were
more than a match for the gnolls.  Galen used a Fireball on some of the
Gnolls while Rhodan attacked Kurgahr with the Sword.  Studedly mostly stuck
to the shadows leaping out to make fatal backstabs on a few gnolls.  Melody
and Spike were fighting away with Furnes alternating combat support and
spell support.  Melody tried a Magic Missile but it failed due to the
gnoll language barrier.
    Rhodan had Heat Metal cast on him by Kurgahr and was also hit with a
Command spell.  Furnes used a Protection from Fire on Rhodan and was using
Produce Flame to fight the gnolls.  Rhodan was disarmed of the Sword during
a key part of the battle by Kurgahr, who used a flindbar as a weapon.  
One of the gnolls tried to pick up the sword and was instantly killed by an 
explosive shock.  A second one died the same way before Melody picked up 
the Sword.  
    In the meantime, Galen killed Kurgahr as he was trying to get away by 
using a Magic Missle.  The Sword was furious at them for being such goof
ups.  They got "lucky" when a gnoll helped out Kurgahr with a healing potion
and the leader began to get away.  This is when Melody chanced after him
with the Sword, but when she attacked him she fumbled the sword.
    She picked the sword back up and went to attack again, but this time
she was hit with a Fear spell and began to run away... with the Sword.
Studedly ran after her and tripped Melody, and in one move also picked the
Sword from her hands and returned to fight Kurghar as she ran away.
Kurgahr was hurt badly and died on Studedly's first strike.
    Rhodan was sent out to hunt down the last few gnolls that survived the
battle.

They Got Bett'r (Feb 28, 698)
    The sword thought they were idiots, but they did help him kill an evil
wizard so it granted them a wish.  After a very lengthy discussion over
how to word the wish, they used it to return to their normal forms.
    They then gathered the gnoll bodies and put them in the temple room.
They also gathered up all the the Turnspan wine casks that were left and
loaded up their cart.  They took a cask of some other wine to keep for
themselves.  Among the treasures, Furnes gathered back his mug.  He left
the Naga head but took the flindbar.  Galen gathered some Naga scales
for himself (to give to his Order), as did Melody and Studedly (for
reasons which are not so clear).
    The treasure was 3000 gp, a 500 gp gem, and a jade necklace worth
??? gp.

Just Rewards (Mar 2, 698)
    When they got back to town, Galen made lots of points with his family
by returning what turned out to be half of the wine they were shipping out.
This would save them from financial difficulty.  His mom suggested that he
stay for a while with the family.  His father would learn to forgive him
if he saw how useful Galen could be.  Besides, since Paleth (Galen's
first master) was killed there has been no town mage.  Galen turned this
all down.
    Rhodan and Melody spread word that the gnolls had been killed and told
the authorities where they could recover the wine that remained.
    Furnes and Studedly just drank and watched the others.
    Spike made his way back to Jacinth and returned the Ring and Sword to
her.  She was not happy to see that they had been used, but she listened
to Spike's tale and understood.  Spike then refused the 1000 gp reward
she had offered.  Instead he asked more about her and the riders.  He 
even asked about the possibility of joining.  He spent the next two days
(and nights) with her.  He told her where he was from and how to leave a
message for him in Foxboro or the Dwarflands.  She gave similar instructions
on how to find her.  And finally, he arranged to meet her at the Dwarven 
capitol during the summer.

THE FUTURE: (Mar 4, 698)
    This little excusion was but a chance to explore some of the characters
and to get the players back into the spirit of things.  It was now time
for them to continue on their way over the pass and into the elflands.