A/N: Sorry for the wait, y'all. I just had a hell of a time writing both last chapter and this chapter, because honestly the Firewine Ruins quest is so dang boring and poorly designed, and I had one hell of a time trying to write it in a not-boring way and turn it into a halfway decent narrative. Hopefully, future chapters will be a lot easier to write than this was. This quest just does not lend itself well to writing, and I actually had to spend a lot of time brainstorming, editing multiple times, all that kind of stuff. That, and just getting up the motivation to write about something that had been so dang boring to play through. I am pretty happy with how it turned out, though, and I hope you are too.


Day 110, Hour 5

Morning, Mr. Journal. Um. Is it really morning, though, if you can't see the sun yet? I'm not sure. But, it is getting lighter, so I suppose it's close enough. Either way, we've had one heck of a night. Between kobold patrols and skeletons, we've had our hands right full.

The kobolds are near as endless up here as they were down there, though it looks like they send the weaker ones to patrol the surface. They all seem to be coming up from the ruins on this end, too. Odd, that. They have to be getting into the ruins from somewhere. If not here or Gullykin, then where? Gods, Mr. Journal, this mystery just gets stranger and stranger. Curiouser and curiouser, even. A few of the patrols actually managed to spot us throughout the day, and Rasaad, Immy, and me had to fight them off as Yeslick and Viconia were still busy healing themselves and Ajantis.

And, as if the kobolds weren't enough, we were attacked by skeletons in the middle of the night! Gods, but I'm glad we've got two clerics with us. They just flash their holy symbols and the undead go running. I've always wondered why that works, Mr. Journal. Maybe skeletons just really don't like religion?

Either way, the horde of skeletons were far less deadly than they could have been, thanks to Viconia and Yeslick. Still woke us up in the middle of the night, though, which weren't fun. I didn't get near enough sleep after that, but that didn't stop me from waking up before the sun did. Gods. I'd go back to sleep, but I don't think I can. All these attacks have set my teeth on edge, they have.

The others are still asleep, excepting Viconia, as drow do the same not-sleep thing what surface elves do. I can't blame them. I'm sure they're all exhausted. I know I am. We'll probably be heading back to Gullykin once everyone is up, though I'm not sure how long that will be. I mean, the sun's not even up yet, Mr. Journal. Gods, but I have some time to kill. Suppose I should try to get the old creative juices flowing. Haven't had a chance to do that in a while.


Day 110, Hour 6

Deep down in the darkness
Among traps in narrow halls,
We can hear the tapping footsteps,
Muffled yips and yaps and growls.

The path behind is empty -
We can't see the path ahead.
We can feel their eyes upon us
With a sense of mounting dread.

They come from every crack,
Each nook and cranny, every pass.
Soon they'll have us all surrounded
And this day could be our last.

I don't know where they're coming from,
I don't know where they've been,
I don't know where they are now,
But they want to do us in.

There's something strange about this
Horde of kobolds in the dark.
It's as if they've come from nowhere,
Just been kindled, like a spark.

Somewhere deep, this mystery
Is waiting to be solved
And I know we have to find it now -
We're too deeply involved.


Day 110, Hour 7

As all enter, all remain as one.
Until all exit, out again, as one.
Made an oath, as one.
Six remain as one.

Yet, one is not as one.
By one, the oath undone.
Until the one returns to one,
All must remain as six, undone.

Until what's done has been undone
They must remain until they're one
And one rejoins the six, as one.


Day 110, Hour 9

We're about to head out towards Gullykin now, Mr. Journal. Everyone's finally up, and we've all got some food in our bellies, though we couldn't start a cookfire for fear of alerting the sodding kobolds. Trail rations aren't the most tasty thing to eat, but at least they're filling enough. I'll write you again once we're back in town. Here's hoping we don't have to fight our way through too many kobolds on the way there.


Day 110, Hour 14

Hello again, Mr. Journal. We've made it back to Gullykin in one piece, and after we're done with lunch, we're going to start our investigation. We need to figure out how these kobolds got into town on their last two raids – that should point us to where we need to go. We spoke with Mayor Luckyfoot as soon as we got back, but he's got no idea how the kobolds could be swarming down there in such great numbers either. He suggested that if we're going to question the townsfolk, we should start with the guards outside town, as they're Gullykin's first line of defense, and are the ones who rushed in to drive the kobolds out during the last two attacks.

The journey back here was, luckily, not too eventful. Didn't get attacked by any kobolds or anything. We did get approached by some guy what had real greasy hair and an even greasier smile who said his name was Meilum, and claimed he was the strongest and most famous swordsman on the whole of the Sword Coast. I'd never heard of him, but I admit I don't know all that much about local celebrities, so I just sort of smiled and nodded, told him it were an honor to meet him, and all that. I tried to ask him what such a great hero as he were out here for, and if he knew anything about the kobolds, but he just gave me his autograph and launched into a long, melodramatic speech about how it were so hard to be famous. Then he ran off before I could say anything, shouting that he had important hero stuff to do. After he were out of earshot, I asked the others, and none of them had ever heard of him either. So, either we've all been living under a rock, or that man was sodding full of it.

Aside from that little encounter, though, the rest of it were just a lot of boring walking. But, honestly, after getting ambushed by kobolds six ways to seventh-day yesterday, boring were a nice change of pace.

Anyways, everyone looks like they're just about finished with their food, so I should probably put you away for now, Mr. Journal. Wish us luck.


Day 110, Hour 18

Gods, but no wonder the kobolds were so sodding thick down in those ruins! Turns out there were an ogre mage down there what had been summoning them to attack the halflings and lure helpful adventurers like us into the ruins so he could kill them and take their stuff! He won't be doing any of that no more, Mr. Journal. But, you probably want to know how we managed to figure this all out, huh? So, let me tell you our awesome detective story.

We started our investigation out by asking the guards on the edge of town about the raids, just like Mayor Luckyfoot had suggested. Turns out, both times, none of the guards saw a single kobold until the attack was already in full swing. Wouldn't have even gotten there in time to drive the little buggers off if they hadn't heard the screams. So, wherever the kobolds were getting in, it were from somewhere inside the village.

Well, I was right worried when that conclusion came to light, Mr. Journal. After all, the only passageway into the ruins we knew about in town were the one in the temple what Immy had unlocked. So, we went back to the temple to talk to the priests, with my heart feeling like it were made of lead the whole way over there. From the look on Immy's face, I'm pretty sure she felt the same way.

The priests confirmed for a second time that they'd never seen any kobolds in the temple before the night we spent in the wine cellar, and reassured us that if any kobolds had tried to come through there into the village, the night watch would have stopped them. Apparently they've got at least one priest minding the temple at all times, even in the wee hours. That were a relief, but little did I know this mystery was about to get real confusing – the big picture we got after interviewing the townsfolk just looked like one big fat contradiction!

Here's the basic gist of it, Mr. Journal. No one in town knew of any entrances to the ruins beside the one in the temple, and, on top of that, nearly all of the villagers said they'd seen the kobolds coming from west to east, meaning they likely came from the direction of the temple. The priests stuck by what they'd told us earlier, though, that no kobold could have come from the temple without them noticing. We ended up just sitting around in the town square thinking, and let me tell you, Mr. Journal, I was near completely stumped! Couldn't think of a single possibility!

We probably would've just been stuck there if Viconia hadn't spoken up.

She said that we surfacers were too simple-minded, and that back down in her drow city with the really long name I can't pronounce, if you couldn't predict a rival house's next move you were as good as dead. In times like this, she said, you have to learn to think like your enemy. In this case, whoever were commanding the kobolds. Definitely not the kobolds themselves. I absolutely did not misunderstand and ask why we had to think like kobolds, and she definitely did not have to correct me. That is not a thing that happened, Mr. Journal. Nope. Not at all.

Anyways, she sort of guided me through the process from there. Told me to imagine it were up to me to sneak a bunch of kobolds into this town, and then asked me how I'd manage that. I were able to eliminate a straightforward approach, as the guards would catch that. And, the temple passage were too well-guarded, as well. So, the only other way to get them in, far as I could see, were through another secret passage. But, as the townsfolk didn't know of a second way into the ruins, it'd have to be somewhere that weren't easy to discover, like an abandoned building or something.

Well, we asked around, and it turned out there were one house just north of the temple what no one had lived in for a real long time, so we went to check it out. I felt so smart as we headed toward that house, Mr. Journal. I thought I had it all figured out.

I didn't.

We must have turned that house upside down five times over, and we didn't find a thing. No secret passages, no nothing! I was right frustrated, I was. Even kicked a chair over. All that and we still had nothing, Mr. Journal! I got real upset, shouted at Viconia that I couldn't think of anything else, threw a right temper tantrum, I did! Viconia, though, she was completely unfazed. Maybe even a bit amused. She sure was smiling, I can tell you that. She just grinned and said, "That's because you're still thinking like a do-gooder."

She told me not to be afraid to use people, because our enemy wouldn't have no qualms about it. And when I heard that, it clicked. They had a man on the inside. It were the only explanation left. Of course, that left the question of what to do with that information. I mean, we couldn't just go barging into everyone's house left and right, demanding to search every sodding inch of the place. Immy and Ajantis agreed with me that it didn't seem real nice – Ajantis even went so far as to call it "counter to the path of righteousness" - but they both couldn't really think of any other way to do it. None of the others piped up with any bright ideas, neither. In the end, we just decided to search the houses closest to the temple first, as that were the most likely place for the kobolds to be coming from. That way, we'd at least avoid disrupting the afternoon of every halfling in the sodding village.

The halflings at the first house were real nice and cooperative, though definitely a bit upset at being under suspicion. When we approached the next house, though, no one answered the door, and when we knocked, it just swung open from the pressure. Hadn't even been locked. It were quiet inside. Weirdly quiet. And there were a smell coming from inside what I couldn't quite place – musky and unpleasant, but real faint. The place were right suspicious, Mr. Journal, so we decided to go inside. Figured that if we met the owner, we could just explain what was going on and move forward from there.

The ground floor were completely empty, so we headed down toward the basement. As we went down the stairs, the smell got stronger, and I knew what it was. I'd smelled it before, back in the Nashkel Mines, and just a few days ago down in the ruins, too.

Kobolds.

There weren't any of them waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs, but their smell were everywhere, thick in the air. The owner of the house, a squat little halfling fellow with shifty, beady eyes, were down there, sitting on a sofa, and he got up with a start when he saw us come in the room. He advanced on us all menacing-like and straight up threatened to kill us if we didn't leave right away. Didn't even ask what we were doing here. Of course, we didn't leave. Immy stepped forward, putting on her scariest face in return, and asked him about the kobold smell. After that, he admitted to letting kobolds into the village, but said we wouldn't live to tell anyone else. Then, he charged at us, three feet of concentrated fury. Ajantis smote him dead with holy might before the guy could even touch us.

After that, we searched the room, and Viconia found a secret door behind one of the bookcases. We went through and found ourselves in a small, dark chamber with nothing in it but a ladder leading down through a hole in the floor. We climbed down, and, just as we expected, found ourselves back in the Firewine Ruins. The ogre mage what was waiting for us at the bottom were a sight less expected, though. He looked at us with this big, ugly, toothy grin and said that we'd fallen right into his trap, and he'd have even more fun killing us than he had killing the halflings.

Of course, like any good villain, he had to dedicate some time to monologuing at us about his Brilliant Evil Plans, which, like I mentioned before, involved summoning a shite-ton of kobolds and using them to terrorize Gullykin and lure adventurers here what wanted to put an end to the halflings' plight. After that, he'd kill them, take their stuff, and split the take with the guy in the house above. And now, it were our turn to make him richer. Not.

He started chanting a spell at us near right away after that. From the gestures and incantation, it looked to be a wide-area enchantment spell, something what could easily incapacitate us all at once if it hit. Well, I acted right away, Mr. Journal, near on instinct, same as I'd practiced loads of times – I threw a Magic Missile at him. When it hit, he stumbled a bit and lost focus, and his spell fizzled. Once he regained his composure, he geared up for another big spell, and I hit him with another Magic Missile. Meanwhile, Ajantis and Yeslick had rushed in to attack, and Immy were firing arrows like crazy. And the ogre mage? He never once thought to switch over to physical combat and use that perfectly good BOSSHAMMER he were carrying. Nope. Not even once. He just kept trying to cast those spells he were so proud of, and I stopped. Every. Single. One. That ogre never stood a chance, Mr. Journal. I'll have to let Xan know that the magic interruption trick he taught me before he left really did end up saving our arses.

After that were over, we found that the ogre mage had stashed a ridiculous amount of gold over in the corner of the room. Naturally, we took it. Not like he was going to need it where he was going. Then, we went back up topside and told Mayor Luckyfoot what had happened. He were right upset to hear that one of his own neighbors had betrayed the village, but was relieved that Gullykin's kobold troubles were at an end. He thanked us and gave us a bit of gold as a reward. Right nice of him, that.

Several other halflings have come to thank us throughout the day and one of them, a retired adventurer with a lot of stories to tell, has offered to let us stay the night in his home. We've taken him up on his offer, so we won't be heading back to the Friendly Arm until tomorrow. Just as well, as we would get in a day early if we left now. We're in his basement now, sitting by the fire, and it's right cozy in here. He says we can swap tales over dinner tonight, which I'm real excited for! I love hearing stories, Mr. Journal! I'll be sure to relay them to you when I write you again in the morning. See you then!


A/N: And there we go! Firewine Ruins quest finished! Done! Behind us! I am actually really proud of this chapter, it was a pain to write but I am really enjoying reading through it now. Fun fact, I know the ogre mage was casting an enchantment spell, specifically Chaos, because my first attempt ended in a TPK. The second attempt is when I just didn't give Linn any commands at the beginning of the fight so she could be free to disrupt all his spells with Magic Missiles as soon as he started casting, because I am NOT dealing with Chaos. Anyway, tune in next time as our heroes check back in at the Friendly Arm and then set out for their second tenday of downtime! Toodles!