Our next destination was Gullykin, a halfling village nearby Ulcaster's school and Firewine Bridge. It consisted of a number of round hovels which reached into the ground, a chapel, and some farm animals. A short wall of made of little stones surrounded the village.
Having seen us approach the village on the main footpath from afar, a senior halfling was waiting for us at the entrance. He bowed politely. "Well met, traveller. Gandolar Luckyfoot, at your disposal. To what does our little village owe the pleasure of your visit?"
Halflings, being based on hobbits, were well known for their hospitality. Case in point, Gandolar here has concerns for the safety of Gullykin which needs the intervention of armed adventurers, but he's being a good host rather than ask us right away to help his village.
As I had expected by now, he was taller than me. Actually, from as far I I could see into the village from my vantage point, all the halflings in the village were. Was I stunted? Murrrrrrgh.
I tried to put those concerns out of my mind for now. "We have heard of the troubles upon the village of Gullykin itself," I said. "Kobolds which harass the villagers and disappear back into Firewine Bridge. As a fellow halfling, I decided this affront cannot stand."
Gandolar's cordial demeanour wavered. "Indeed, help with removing the kobold threat which has moved into Firewine Bridge would be most appreciated. But I must warn you as well. There be many an odd thing that roam through there, and I hear tell they be a touch more organized than your normal critters, but I hear many things." He pointed to the large chapel at the northern part of the village. "Just go to the basement of the winery, there you will find a secret door to the basement of Firewine."
Just above the entrance to the chapel was a sign that read, 'Temple of Yondalla and Alvanhendar's Fine Wines'.
"It's both a winery and a temple?" Neera asked, head cocked to the side.
"Yup. That's Yondalla for you. Very practical when it comes to village living considerations," I said. I was Sonny, and in Sonny the halfling's memories, Gorion had made sure I knew about my race and our patron deities. "She and her sister have always considered the halflings' needs. We don't constantly drink hard liquor like the dwarves, but even out here a little wine always goes with any celebration."
My party looked at me oddly.
"What?" I asked them.
"I've, uh, never heard that Yondalla has a sister?" Jaheira said. The rest nodded with her.
"Sure she does-" I said then stopped short.
Hold on, Sonny the halfling didn't know of any sister. And the player I used to be didn't remember reading such lore for the Forgotten Realms either. Yet I was sure that Yondalla had a sister, a dark-half to the halfling matron goddess that was Yondalla.
I scratched the back of my head. "Well, I might have gotten confused. All I know is from books I read while I was with Gorion. I didn't grow up in a village like this myself."
Alvanhendar, priest of Yondalla as well as vintner, wasn't too impressed to see us. "Eh? Who's this then? More intrepid fools on the road to a beating? I suppose ye need the healing or some such to repair whatever damage ye marched headlong into. Well, the Provider provides and the Provider protects, but don't ye go messing up her handiwork anytime soon!"
The Provider being Yondalla, of course. I mean, her holy symbol was a cornucopia.
Alvanhendar pointed to the back of the group, where Imoen was inspecting the barrels. "And stand ye away from them barrels of ale. Littleman watches over all, and he'll turn you out on your ear if you damage a cork in his spiritual home."
Imoen took a step back from said barrel, her hands put aside. "Littleman? Uh, who's that again?"
Okay, thankfully Sonny the halfling knows this one, because the player from Earth certainly did not. "Halfling hero. Uh, I'm pretty sure this obscure winery wasn't literally his home. The priest must mean spiritual home in the religious sense as Littleman was a hero of Yondalla."
The priest smiled at me. "So good to see a halfling who knows his history." She looked me up and down. "And so good to see that halflings of any size are able to contribute in ridding the realms of evil. Sonny, I presume?"
"That's me," I said, eyebrow raised. "I'm surprised our reputation has reached this far."
"Adventurers have come before, seeking to rid Firewine of the kobold threat," Alvanhendar said. "They did not return. I can only hope an accomplished group such as your own will fare better."
We had questions for the priest, as well as some purchases to make. First, questions.
"So there is a secret door in this very winery that leads to Firewine. Is it through that secret passage that the kobolds have harassed the villagers?" I asked.
"No, it is a secret passage. The kobolds know not of it. I'd know otherwise as I'm here most of the day."
I pulled out my map, pointed out Gullykin and Firewine Bridge, measured the distance. "Its at least eight hours of travel from Firewine to Gullykin. Why bother? What's so important about Gullykin?"
Alvanhendar stroked his chin in thought. "Aye, that be a good question. There be nothing worthy of kobold's attention, save the occasional cow and barrel of wine. But the attacks don't seem focused on stealing from or even killing us hin. Just the odd injury."
Hin being a local term used for halflings.
"Too organised according to Gandolar earlier, able to defeat bands of adventurers ready for kobolds. Yet no obvious motive for attacking Gullykin?" I said, looking to the rest of the team. "Anyone else have questions for Alvanhendar here?"
Imoen put up her hand. "So this Firewine Bridge place, it be named after this winery, yeah?"
"NO! Don't be daft! Firewine Bridge be an ancient elven town, far older than Gullykin," Alvanhendar replied, aghast. "'Tis sheer coincidence!
"But the winery connects directly to Firewine-"
"No more stupid questions, please! I cannae take no more!"
Next came purchases.
Like most temples, Temple of Yondalla and Alvanhendar's Fine Wines stocked Healing Potions, Elixirs of Health, Antidotes, and Stone to Flesh scrolls. I bought all 17 Stone to Flesh scrolls for 1700 gold.
"WAIT WHAT?!? WHY?" Imoen and Neera shrieked together as I made the purchase.
"Eh. I'm going to do the equivalent of Simbul's Infinite Wands trick with her hair," I explained, nonchalant. "It's clear that we're going to face a lot of danger in our future, so we should prepare accordingly."
The two pink-haired irritations peered at me suspiciously. "Said preparations involve basilisks again, doesn't it?" Imoen asked tentatively.
I gave them a big grin.
Imoen and Neera groaned aloud. The rest of the party looked at us, puzzled. We'll fill them in later.
Gondolar looked at us skeptically. "Begging your pardon, noble traveler. But could you explain your plan again?"
I couldn't blame him for the looking at us funny. We were holding up brooms, feather dusters, dustpans, and wearing cleaning aprons, borrowed from the temple/winery.
"Based on our discussion with Alvanhendar, there may be something here that the kobolds want," I explained with a big grin. "So that we don't die like the previous adventurers, we are investigating further. Since we will have to question the villagers AND search their homes, the cover story will be we're providing cleaning services. One of us chats up your villagers, the rest of us clean out their homes."
The team gave me a side glance when I said the last bit. Yes, I did want to do the other type of cleaning out too, heh.
"And you need me to tell the villagers beforehand so you are allowed into their homes," Gondolar said. "You may not know this since you didn't live in a village like this, but we're hospitable folk. We'd have allowed you into our homes regardless if you only knocked politely and brought door gifts."
"Probably won't let us rifle through their stuff though," I said. "Still, I'll keep that in mind next time."
Khalid, of all people, was having a nice chat with an elderly halfling woman in her home about life in Gullykin over tea and crumpets. No stammering while talking to children and senior citizens, apparently? I'm beginning to see what Jaheira saw in him.
Meanwhile, the rest of us focused on cleaning the old lady's place up. Actual cleaning, not just searching for valuables. No sign of anything suspicious here, as I knew it would be.
While I was cleaning the table, Neera swept the floor closer to me and whispered, "You remember how all this goes down, right? We don't have to actually do all this crap in order to find what you're looking for!"
I grinned at her. "Don't be so unsporting. Investigating before charging into dungeons is good practice," I replied. "Besides, think about it. I can't really get away searching someone's home without due reason. Things are different here compared to the game."
She huffed and swept away in a different direction.
Due to the way hin hospitality worked, we were very welcomed in every household, ESPECIALLY over pleasant chatter and snacks. The snacks bit was particularly important. I was beginning to see why many halflings here were potbellied. So it was always a cultural thing, not racial? Oh, Tolkien.
Only one household did not welcome us.
Jenkal, a particularly shifty looking halfling, was standing in front of the door of his house with his arms barricading the entrance as if his life depended on it. I knew for a fact it did. "Any assumptions you might have about halfling hospitality do not apply to me!" he cried.
Sweat was building on his forehead, in spite of the weather not being that hot.
"You can watch us work yourself, if you're concerned for your stuff," I said. "It's free cleaning service. What are you so afraid of?"
"I don't care!" he yelled, "A man should be allowed some privacy!"
"Privacy? In a village like this?" Neera scoffed and waved a feather duster at the obstinate halfling. "The more you try to hide things you're your neighbors, the more they want to know what's going on."
Case in point, a crowd was gathering around us. The nearby halflings were looking at Jenkal suspiciously. Even Alvanhendar had come out of the temple to check what was happening.
I waved to Alvanhendar. "You said the kobolds always managed to evade the watch, and seemed to attack village from inside? Could there be another secret passage to Firewine connected to one of the homes?"
He didn't actually say the first bit, but the second bit was the important part.
Alvanhendar frowned. "Not sure about the kobolds. But yes, Firewine runs underneath our village. Would make sense if someone managed to burrow their way into Firewine."
As mentioned earlier, all halfling homes had a basement level. It's a halfling thing.
The stares on Jenkal from all around were intensifying.
Jenkal was positively drenched in sweat now. "No one gets into my home! I'll kill you if I have to!"
Off came the aprons, the dustpans and brooms tossed aside. Out came the weapons.
Jaheira cracked her knuckles and smiled at Jenkal. "We'll see about that."
One manhandling of an evil halfling later, and the party along with a Gandalor and Alvanhendar were in Jenkal's home. It didn't take us long to find a secret passage that led further down. The stink of kobolds from it was clearly evident.
We closed and blocked the passageway with cupboards for now, and came back up. Jenkal was trussed up outside, looking glum.
Gandolar spoke to the village, announcing what we had found. He took care to note the smell of kobold emanating from the secret tunnel.
"Traitor!" everyone cried, and tossed rocks at Jenkal. One rebounded of his skull, drawing blood and leaving a nasty lump.
I stuck a hand out to shield Jenkal. "Hold! We need to question this traitorous hin. Punishment can come later. Or sooner, if he doesn't co-operate."
In the end, it did not take too much to get the truth out of Jenkal. An ogre mage was the mastermind of the operations in Firewine Bridge. The ogre-magi also commanded another human mage, and a band of ogrillon. No wonder the groups of adventurers expecting only kobolds were overwhelmed.
As for the purpose of harassing the poor hin of gullykin, they were never the targets in the first place. The real targets were the unwitting adventurers sent down to deal with the kobold threat. Adventurers were far more well-equipped and wealthier than the average villager, after all.
"So now we know what to do," I said while addressing the party with Gandolar. "This will only end when the ogre-magi is defeated. After that, the passages can be sealed from our side. With how long the travel to Gullykin takes and there being little of interest here to the kobolds, the attacks on Gullykin from Firewine will then come to an end."
Any ogre mage was a formidable foe. Not only did they have the strength of an ogre, but they commanded powerful magic. The spells they memorise differs from one ogre magi to the next, but may include Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Flame Arrow and Confusion. Just one of those spells could decimate a low-level party.
Probably the oddest thing about ogre magi is that they are actually not from the Sword Coast. Ogre mages originate from Kara-Tur, aka the Forgotten Realm's version of fantasy Asia. The colloquial term for ogre mage there is Oni, which is what they are called in more current editions of D&D. For whatever reason, there were quite of few of them here in Faerun, far from Kara-Tur.
"What in the Nine Hells are you doing here?" the ogre magi said in an Asian accent as soon as he saw us descend down the stairs. He was alone, and surrounded.
"We'll give you one chance to surrender," I said. "Use it well."
The ogre mage took one looked at me, and laughed. "MMMaaahaha! Puny peoples come to fight?! Good!" the ogre mage snarled, "It has been much fun killing the little people of Gullykin, but-"
PUNY?!? "Chance wasted. Command please."
Branwen cast Command and we chopped up the unconscious ogre magi dead before he could get up. The end.
Though, not for his henchmen. I didn't forget that there was another mage and a number of ogrillon as well. The ogrillon were less of a concern, but the mage could probably organise the kobolds again.
A peek around the corner using a mirror revealed that a mage was nearby. When his back was turned, I crept up to him and gave him a love tap to the back of the head. The end.
Though, again, not for the other henchmen. I was hoping I could take the mage out unnoticed, but two ogrillons came charging down the corridor. Rather than face them, I ran back to the group. I heard two kobolds yapping behind me as well, but thankfully there was no arrow fire coming my way.
"Incoming!" I said, fist-bumping Khalid, as I ran past. He and Jaheira were waiting around the corner.
"How come he gets a fist bump and not me?" Jaheira muttered as the two of them moved in to tank.
From there, we didn't have much trouble tanking and spanking the rest of the major enemies. Our mission in Firewine Bridge was complete, and we did more besides to make sure the kobolds don't reorganise easily.
Yet Firewine Bridge lay before us, unexplored. What dangers lay ahead, and what rewards?
"Feels wrong to just leave it alone," Imoen said. "Aren't we breaking some sort of adventurer code?"
"It does seem a bit too easy, yes," Branwen agreed with her.
What, you LIKE hard battles Branwen? Actually, she does. Never mind.
The party looked at each other, uncertain. Finally, the group looked to me.
I shrugged. "I'm not really keen. But if you all like, we can explore the dungeon a bit. I'd like to see if we can get to the other exit to the surface of Firewine Bridge proper."
Over the course of this adventure in Firewine Bridge dungeon, we collected:
A regular scimitar for Jaheira,
a Mage Robe of Electrical Resistance,
scrolls of Ghoul Touch, Fireball, Lightning Bolt and Cloudkill,
a Potion of Power and a Potion of Stone Form,
and a Sling+1 (uh, acquisitioned from Gullykin *cough*).