Murder Hobo Squad: A Lost Mine of Phandelver/Dragon of Icespire Peak & Beyond D&D 5E record (Beware Spoilers!)

DM: Thorivor sadly couldn’t make this session and due to an easter induced unexpected napping related incident Ramond missed all the combats but arrived in time to help decide what to do after.

The party decided to begin exploring the mine today starting with the large central room they had not been to, but was revealed on The Black Spider’s map and head up towards the room labelled, “Dangerous undead!  Flying Skull”.  They headed north from the entrance towards the stairs to that room a mess of Ghouls had swarmed them from.  Scouting ahead, Karson spotted some Stirges feasting on the ghoul bodies.  Behind him, Melandrach tripped and accidentally revealed his hidden Light Stone, outlining Karson for the Stirges who looked up and chased the fresh meal.  They drank well from Karson, but with them all bunched up to eat him, Devere unleashed a cone of Burning Hands and friend them all while only mildly singing Karson.

They edged their way up the stairs in to the big room and then cautiously and slowly explored the room and came up with a plan to draw the enemy back in to a defensive position.  Everyone would form up around the top of the western stairs and the enemy would be baited to follow someone through the north eastern entrance towards them.  Archers could pelt them for a few rounds and the melee could deal with them once they got too close.  They wanted some light in the area (DM: The dynamic lighting feature already influencing everything they do.  Worth having, if you can get it to work without creating too many issues) so they broke up some of the tables for fuel and lit the two braziers in the room.  They then got in position and Karson crept in to the next room with Araloth nearby as backup, walking on the ceiling with his new Slippers of Spider Climbing (DM: Which presumably also do something to stop you suffering from all the blood rushing to your head even though that’s not mentioned).

As Karson headed up the path he became aware of a light source ahead and it appeared to be moving.  He eventually caught sight of a floating skull wrapped in green flames slowly moving about the room.  As he was considering shooting it, it disappeared behind a blast furnace.  He held his action and waiting for a clear line of sight.  When it reappeared he suddenly wondered if he was within the light of its glow and not stealthed (DM: it was close, but he was safe), and he unleashed his arrow (DM: And initiatives were rolled).  The Flameskull advanced towards where the arrow had come from and shot two Fire Rays from its eyes at the intruder, nearly killing him.  Karson ran away as fast as he could, while shouldering his bow.  Araloth shortly followed suite while shouting out a warning that the flying skull was approaching and some Zombies were following it.

The light of the Flameskull could be seen moving down the corridor but he did not reveal himself to the room.  Karson drew his swords and ran around the room looking for somewhere he could stand that was in complete darkness, but the braziers prevented this.  Devere Blessed Melandrach Ramond and Thorivor as everyone continued to hold their shots.  Then the first of the Zombies came running out of the corridor, drawing fire from Melandrach, Bilba, and Thorivor.  A surprise zombie appeared from the other entrance in to the big chamber, much closer to the party, behind Araloth and Karson.  Araloth turned around and went for him, attacking from above, stood on the wall.

The now Blurred Flameskull entered the main room and Talindra hit it with a readied Eldritch Blast, and Ramond fired his Wand of Magic Missiles at it (DM: 3 charges, leaving 1 remaining), which was countered with a Shield spell.  The Flameskull unleashed three Magic Missiles and Karson, knocking him unconscious, before retreating back up the corridor.  As the zombies approached the party pelted them with arrows, holding formation, and slowly whittling them down while Talindra healed Karson.  Devere spoke up, saying he’d noticed something behind them down the stairs.  (DM: He had a sliver of light showing him part of a token down the stairs behind them.  He couldn’t make out what the token was, but it was big.  An Ochre Jelly had been following them for a while hoping to sneak up on a lone victim at the back of the party.  At this point it thinks it is hidden, just as I thought!)  Devere then Sorching Ray’ed two zombies and the big thing behind him.  Still walking on the wall, Araloth killed his zombie, but another appeared at the top of the stairs nearby.

The light of the Flameskull faded from the far corridor.  Realising he had been spotted, the Ochre jelly advanced slowly up the stairs.  Talindra used her new staff to trap the jelly in webs, restraining it successfully, and then cast Shillelagh on her staff just in case.  Devere summoned a Spiritual Weapon to attack the jelly for the next few rounds.  Melandrach backed up and put an arrow in it too while the others continued to work on the Zombies, killing some before they could make it half way across.

The Flameskull appeared atop the stairs where Araloth was fighting and hit him with both his Fire Ray eye shots, hurting him badly, before ducking back around the corner.   Ramond threw a javelin at the Jelly and got back in formation.  Karson turned his sword in to a bird and had it attack the Jelly and block its path.  Talindra joined in, Hexing its Strength checks and Eldritch Blasting it, and Melandrach shot it then drew his Staff.  The first of the Zombies finally made it to their defensive position as the last of the Zombies revealed itself.  Araloth got his Second Wind (DM: healing) and ran up the wall, across the ceiling, and down the wall on the other side, trying to get to cover (DM: Slippers of Spider Climb means tracking full 3D movement and mapping.  This is gonna get interesting / frustrating).

The Flameskull ventured down the corridor and shot both rays at Araloth but went wide, and didn’t have time to retreat to cover.  The Jelly advanced 5 foot through the webbing, squeezing next to Talon and through the Spiritual Weapon.  Ramond stepped forward, eager for a melee opponent, and cut deep in to the Zombie in front of him.  Karson stepped down to help, but the Zombie somehow survived.  Karson retreated and dodged a free strike.  Talindra Eldritch blasted the Flameskull as Devere’s Spiritual Weapon smooshed the Jelly.  The lines met, Melandrach took his staff to the nearest zombie as others shot arrows in to the remaining nearby horde (DM: 3 left at this point).  Melandrach took a hit in retaliation.  Araloth wall walked to attack the Flameskull before retreating again.

The Flameskull advanced forward, rising as he went, and then spat out a Fireball behind the group, getting everyone except for Talindra and Araloth, even killing a zombie.  (DM: He rolled 33 damage and scared everyone badly.  They don’t know how often he can do that).  Melandrach and Karson dropped and everyone else was looking bad.  The Flameskull took what little cover it could.  Ramond smote the nearby zombie and gained some temporary hit points to keep himself alive as he tried to make himself a tempting target to the last zombie.  Talindra healed Karson and Blasted the last Zombie.  Devere ran down the stairs and healed Melandrach as Thorivor gained his Second Wind and put two arrows in to the Flameskull.  Melandrach threw a Radiant Sunbolt at the skull and ran for cover away from the others.  The last zombie fluffed its attack on Ramond.  Araloth ran along the walls around the corner to the Flameskull and sunk his blade deep in an eye socket, gained leverage on it and swung it around.  It flew off the blade, hit the wall and bounced around before landing motionless and extinguished on the floor.  Arlaoth then stood over it to ensure it didn’t get back up again while Ramond finished off the final Zombie.

With the enemies dead, the party investigated the skull and asked if anyone had any clue what it was, while Devere prepared a healing prayer circle.  Melandrach said he had read something about this a long time ago.  He told the group that they were made from dead wizards and were usually created to guard something or to complete a specific task.  They also self-resurrect after a short time, although he wasn’t sure how long it took.  They then spent 30-45 minutes (DM: in real time) discussing what to do to stop it getting back up, along with having a quick wonder round the Blast Furnace room.  Their final solution was to lock it in a room until they could make or buy some Holy Water and hope that killed it for good.  Any cleric or paladin can spend an hour and a 1^st level spell slot to turn a flask of water and 25gp of silver dust in to a flask of holy water.  If they can find some tools they can spend a while filing down 250 silver coins and make a flask themselves.  They took the skull back to the most southern rooms and threw it in the eastern one.  They closed the door and used pitons to wedge it shut.  They went back to the small central room with 2 doors and beds and had a short rest.