The Avengers settled in for a short rest but not before burning the bugbear bodies. After resting, they decide to remove the barricade in the east. A flameskull detects their presence and becomes hostile to what it perceives as intruders. An ogre zombie and six other zombies rise and attack. Fight:
- The zombies dash forward towards the party.
- The flameskull burns Oohye with a flaming sphere which spits fire to creatures around it. It also throws a fireball, catching everyone except Ixir.
- Oohye goes down in battle for the first time. Kavier also had the first time experience of being healed (instead of always the healer). Myrl goes down and revives many times.
- The flameskull was immune to fire (as Redspear learned with scorching ray) and cold (as Kavier learned with ice knife); and resistant to piercing damage. It also negated Ixir’s magic missiles.
- The end of the battle came down to the ogre zombie and the flameskull. Redspear felled the ogre zombie with scorching rays. Ixir deals the final blow with dissonant whispers and the skull bounces off the ground.
Redspear recalled that flameskulls can be rejuvenated unless doused with holy water. Fortunately, Milo had some on him. Exhausted from battle, they decide to take a long rest. As they took turns at the watch, they heard the slurping sound of ochre jellies pass by. Fortunately, they were not detected and was secure in the room. During the last watch, Ixir tries out his telepathy with a disbelieving Milo. Eight hours soon pass.
Myrl scouted ahead and found stairs leading to a cavern with the withered bodies of slain fighters. Redspear also sent his familiar and it sensed that there was an enormous furnace and bellows next to a dry channel where a waterwheel was. They move into the room to explore. Milo asked Oohye’s dire wolf what he smelled from the north exit of the canal — it said goblins. Redspear sent his bat familiar and discovered that the next room had a drow and five bugbears. Unfortunately, the bugbears spotted the bat and shot it down.
Myrl continued scouting the eastmost passage and discovered a set of double doors. She sneaked closer and found that the doors were scorched and cracked, its hinges melted. She hears a voice in her head that said, “Hello” and promptly informed her that only wizards and other authorised personnel are allowed into the Forge of Spells. Redspear, being a wizard, speaks to it. He says that they are looking for a friend and passed by this place. The creature advises him to ask the mining foreman for assistance and continue their way. Redspear asks it what they need to prove they are authorised — the creature grumbles that everyone seems to forget that the rings are the keys. Redspear tries to deceive the creature but it catches on that he is a half-elf and not any of the people that has been authorised to enter. The rest join in. Milo is confused by the voice. It emerges that the flameskull they defeated was the foreman. When the creature mentions it eats magic and magic items, Myrl convinces it that the wand they found would be delicious. However, it is unable to open the door… and the party thinks better of ramming it open. They say good-bye and head back to the smelter cavern, deciding to investigate the corpses further south. Myrl sidles along the passage and uses her mage hand to touch a corpse. It reacts…
To be continued…