Log 11: Lord Isol meets his doom

Tem 46 – We had everything we needed to defeat Lord Isol: the Blood of St. Monica, the knowledge of when Isol was at his weakest, and the support of the Rhad Underground Movement.

Another days journey brought us back to the gates of Rhad. We originally intended to sneak back into the city using the hobbit tunnel that Timberfoot showed us. However when we got to the tunnel it was guarded by two goblins. We disposed of the guards with little effort but could hear the sounds of many more goblins inside the tunnel. We decided that our height placed us at a decided disadvantage in the tunnel and that we would need to find another way into the city. Quinn scaled the wall and quickly reconnoitered the area beyond. He said the coast was clear and threw down a rope to help the rest of us ascend the wall.

Once inside the city we stayed to the shadows and gradually made our way through the burned-out halfling quarter towards the Temple of Medea. We noticed that the two entrances to the Temple were guarded by Sleeper guards. Since stealth had worked well for us so far we moved to west wall where there was no gate but also no guards. Quinn once again scaled the wall and threw down a rope.

All of the party except for yours truly had scaled the wall when two patrolling Sleeper guards noticed us. They rushed and engaged me in battle before I could get over the wall. Two guards would have been no match for Corvas but I was sorely pressed. Fortunately Quinn jumped off the top of the wall and killed one of the guards. Together we disposed of the other guard just as more rounded the corner. We both managed to scrabble up the wall and into the inner Temple compound before they were able to reach us.

Once within the Temple we were met by Mother Tasha who assured us that we would be safe within the Temple walls. I asked how she could be so sure and she said that her diety Medea would strike down any who entered the Temple with the intent to do violence to its inhabitants. This was welcome news as our party was in need of rest after the days events.

The next day we met with Antonio and Timberfoot and made our plans to attack Isol. We would attack in one week during which time Antonio would organize and train the human resistance. During this time Timberfoot caught a halfling spy who was ready to throw a note containing our plans over the wall.

We interrogated the spy and learned that he had not yet delivered any news to Isol. His family was being blackmailed and he agreed to spy for Isol to spare their lives. He told us the password to get close to the goblin guards posted in the halfling tunnels. Since he was honest with us we decided to let the spy live but placed him under guard just to be sure.

Tem 56 - (1 week later) – We woke before dawn and left for the hobbit tunnels led by Timberfoot and six halfling warriors. As we crawled through the tunnels Timberfoot heard a noise and motioned us to be silent. He then growled the goblin password and snuck forward with the rest of the halflings. He returned about a minute later and we continued on our way.

Several minutes later we emerged through a trapdoor into some stables located in Isol’s tower. Here we parted ways with Timberfoot who would lead his party down to the dungeons to free the prisoners within. The Sons of Aldon would move towards the top of the tower to find Isol.

The main hall of the tower was shaped like a horsetrack and gradually led upward. Lacking a better idea we elected to follow the hallway upwards and ignore the many doors that presented themselves.

As we climbed Corvas suddenly motioned us to a halt. It must have been his fighter instincts at work for seconds later we were attacked by six large dogs with glowing red eyes. The battle was joined with vigor!

We slew two of the dogs in short order before getting bogged down. The dogs inflicted massive damage on our front line as they were able to breath fire as an attack. If it had not been for all the goodberries that Mother Tasha had provided us with we would surely have taken several casualties.

As it was we were only able to kill two more of the dogs before we were down to our last few goodberries. Stolph drank our potion of animal control as a last resort. Fortunately the potion worked and he was able to command the dogs to retreat.

We collected our wits and continued up the sloping hallway. About ten minutes later we heard noises behind us. We prepared for battle but noticed only a solitary elf running towards us. He introduced himself as Gilrathon the ranger and said that he had just been released from the dungeon by Timberfoot. We of course welcomed him into our party.

Several minutes later his addition paid dividends as he informed us he heard noises up ahead. We peeked around a corner and noticed six humans guarding a stairwell. There were two fighter-types, two clerics, a mage and a

thief of some sort. They were completely oblivious to our presence. We took advantage of their lack of attention and rushed to the attack.

By concentrating our attacks we were able to drop one cleric and the mage before they were even able to react. Then Stolph’s web went off capturing the remaining four guards. We attemped to bully them into telling us more about the fortress but they were foolishly defiant. I gladly pitched a container of greek fire into the web and watched them burn. Once the web burned off there was only one fighter left standing which Corvas and Alcon made short work of.

We quickly looted the bodies taking a significant quantity of gold, a nice-looking longbow and high-quality padded armor. Though more items looked valuable our haste forced us to leave much behind.

We ascended the steps into an ovular chamber with four doors. The westernmost door led into a wizards laboratory of some sort. We found a bunch of potions, several scrolls and a bunch of bizarre lab tools of some sort.

We next entered the easternmost room which contained a bed with a figure in it. Thinking we had hit the jackpot we ran over to the figure only to find that it was Aserji. He was staring vacantly into the air and covered with drool. At this point we knew we were close to Isol himself.

The third door led into another bedroom occupied by none other than Leonid. He was quite startled to see us. We confronted him about his role in Isol’s little conspiracy and he became quite despondent. He told us that Isol could be found in the next room and then broke down crying. It was apparent that he was no real threat so we locked him in his room.

We went back to the wizard workroom and fired a flaming arrow out the window to signal Antonio’s mob to attack the gates of the tower. We then broke down the door into Isol’s room.

A familiar voice greeted us as we entered the room. Some kind of shade sat on a throne at one end of the room and a bed with a prone figure resting on it was on the other end. Shade-Isol began mocking Stolph who merely marched across the room towards the bed. As Stolph lifted the cover off the bed we heard a loud growl and then saw Stolph lurch forward in pain. He was struck by some kind of invisible force and grievously hurt. I administered to his wounds and he grunted "Mordenkainens hound" through clenched teeth.

Though we could not see the entity that struck Stolph we all could feel its presence guarding Isol’s sleeping figure. Lacking any better ideas I used an Aid spell to strengthen Stolph beyond normal levels. He then made another attempt to force the liquid down sleeping Isol’s throat.

The gods must have been with us because we heard the hound lunge at Stolph, but it miraculously missed! As the liquid ran down Isol’s throat the Shade-Isol stopped laughing. Sleeping-Isol began aging rapidly before our eyes and gradually turned to dust. Four shades similar to Isol appeared and grabbed Shade-Isol. They pulled him into a void and the last thing we heard was laughter.

Well, I’m not completely convinced that we have seen the last of Isol but he is gone for now. We returned to Aserji’s chamber and woke him using St. Monica’s potion. He told us he was aware of everything while he was under Isol’s spell and thanked us for our help defeating him. He told us we could keep everything we found in his workshop as a reward for our efforts.

The Sons of Aldon did well in our first adventure together. So well, in fact that we have decided to remain together. Ator only knows what our next adventure will be. For right now I just know that I need some sleep.

The Sons of Aldon are currently comprised of (in alphabetical order):

Corvas Hamguard – Level 3 dwarven fighter

Gilrathon – Level 2 elven ranger

Hathron – Level 1 human fighter

Ormiss Stubbs – Level 5 half-elf cleric

Quinn – Level 2 half-elf bard

Stolph – Level 4 elven mage

Additionally, Stolph retains 3 henchmen:

Alcon – Level 2 human fighter

Balan – Level 2 human fighter

Calan – Level 2/2 half-elf fighter/ thief