Having given the signal, Mithra, too, charged forward, carefully observing the others for she suspected there was going to be a limit on how many could attack the skull at once... at least with melee attacks.

If an opening is there, she'll attack, too.

10:45, Today: Mithra Stormraven rolled 12 using 1d20+4 ((8)). Bleh. Probably not going to hit. I'm sure the skull can't be flanked.

He didn't expect it to have any effect on a flaming skull, but Firebolt was the only attack spell he had left. Even if he still had Flaming Sphere, it would probably be useless against the skull.

"Now's as good a time as any to find out!" he said to himself, and cast the spell.

11:53, Today: Cunaar Clothar IV rolled 11,14 using 1d20+5,2d10 ((6,6,8)).

Of course, that was always depending on whether he could hit the damned floating skull! He missed it this time! Good thing he could do it again... and again... and again.

Nixon wasn't one to be left out of anything, particularly battle! When the whistle sounded, he bounded forward in his inimical but flamboyant style... not just running but jumping and dodging, assessing the skull's ability to focus on its opponents. Could it handle more than one? More than two? Did it have a 'blind' side... one that it couldn't defend against as well as others?

In this case, he felt it inadvisable to engage in full melee with a creature that wasn't wielding any weapons! Instead, he darted in, attacked and withdrew!

12:19, Today: Nixon Nantickle rolled 25,8 using 1d20+5,1d8+3 ((20,5)).

Ohmigod! He criticaled! Well, maybe. It's a skull. Maybe it's immune to criticals. Depends on how the GM interprets it. Obviously Mixon didn't strike any vital organs, but was his hit just so forceful that it cracked the skull maybe?

Heinrik would have preferred to close with the skull and smash it with his great sword, but even he understood the problem of too many trying to get to the skull all at once--like too many people trying to get through a door at the same time.

Instead, he unslung his bow, drew an arrow, nocked it, and let fly.

13:03, Today: Heinrik Donnarsson rolled 20,12 using 1d20+3,1d8+4 ((17,8)).

Should be a hit. But will it do any damage?

Because of the sudden surge of attackers from 5 directions, the Flameskull doesn't react right away.

Tas has no problem scrambling out of the water channel by the waterwheel and closing the distance to attack the Flameskull.

Johnny Holy easily scrambles out of the water channel, rushes forward and just barely manages to hit the Flameskull (for 10 points of damage), mostly because of the distraction from the others.

Victor is also able to hit the Flameskull (for 12 points of damage) with his first attack, but the second attack misses.

Prizzard misses with his first attack, but hits with his second (but only does 3 points of damage).

Ero and Lureene run down the water channel to the waterwheel. They did spot someone hiding behind it, but when the whistle signal sounded, she charged forward to attack the Flameskull.

Hatchet Urikian, having come into the cavern from the other end of the water channel, also has no problem scrambling out of the channel and charging forward to attack.

Mithra charges out of the rear entrance to attack the Flameskull... but misses!

Cunaar lets loose with his Firebolt spell, but it does not appear to have any effect on the Flameskull.

Nixon manages to hit the Flameskull with a great blow... not a critical, but it does do maximum damage (11 points of damage).

Heinrik also manages to hit the skull with an arrow, but it only does 6 points of damage.

The Flameskull has some serious cracks and holes in it, but it is still functional.

It's perceptive enough to realize that Victor did the most damage to it, so it targets him with a Magic Missile spell (for 12 points of damage; 23:09, Today: StarMaster rolled 12 using 3d4+3 ((3,3,3))).

Because it doesn't move, it can make a second attack, casting yet another spell--Flaming Sphere. It targets the group that attacked from the right-hand side of the cavern, though it can only hit one per turn. It targets Nixon first for 12 points of damage (DEX save for half).

It's the end of the round now, and Tas and Hatchet make their attacks.

Hatchet: 23:21, Today: StarMaster, on behalf of 'Hatchet' Urikian, rolled 21,11,14,8 using 1d20+6,1d6+6,1d20+6,1d6+6 ((15,5,8,2)).

He attacks with a pair of short swords, manages to hit with both of them, but only does 10 points of damage to it. There are more holes and cracks in it!

Tas: 23:18, Today: StarMaster, on behalf of Tas, rolled 21,6 using 1d20+4,1d8+4 ((17,2)).

It took a few extra steps for Tas to reach the Flameskull, but her attack manages to strike it squarely, and though she only does 6 points of damage, it's enough to shatter the Flameskull!

The fractured pieces drop to the floor and the flaming sphere vanishes!

Victor looks around at the rest of the adventurers, noticing a new face among them, but doesn't consider such a thing worth mentioning at this precise moment. Instead, he asks,"Everyone alright? Anyone know how to make sure this bastard stays dead?"

Thressa tries hard to remember what her patron taught her about undead.


22:32, Today: Thressa Wildflamme rolled 8 using 1d20+4 ((4)).

Victor tries to remember anything from his magical training at the academy.

22:40, Today: Victor Harkness rolled 16 using 1d20+3 ((13)).

"I'm under the impression that the magic expires at the same time the body does, but I'll admit my knowledge of magic is quite limited." feels safe to assume we've all heard of or maybe even encountered basic animated skeletons. He could still easily be wrong about this. A demilich wouldn't die so easily.

Having not even struck the Flameskull, Mithra is a bit stunned at its sudden demise. At the same time, she was amazed at the results of the amassed onslaught that they'd unleashed on the Flameskull.

She paused for just a minute and leaned on her sword while the others dealt with the remnants of the Flameskull.

Then she started laughing. She laughed so hard that her side hurt and she collapsed to the floor still laughing.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Finally managing to catch her breath, she sat up and responded to the others' comments.

"Well, yeah, if the Flameskull had a body, it might have been totally destroyed when the body was smashed... again. On the other hand, it was created by powerful magicks, and a lot of that magic is still here. Possibly, it could feed on that magic to sustain it behind its second death."

Ero sighs as he realizes it was the newest member to their party.  "I should have surmised."

He turns to join the battle, but that too is moot.  "Observe," he says to Lureene, "we were superfluous."

The only thing that Thressa can recall that might work is Remove Curse.

Victor remembers someone claiming that a similar creature was permanently destroyed by the use of Dispel Magic and someone had suggested that holy water might also do the trick.

After Thressa and Victor disseminate their lore, Cunaar considers the situation for a moment before tossing in his two coppers.

"I don't think any of us are powerful enough to cast either of those spells, assuming either of them are in our repertoire," he says, "but I could be wrong. I definitely don't know those spells."

"So... did anyone bring any holy water with them?"

"No? Well, what if we gather up the pieces of the skull and grind them into dust and then throw the dust into the underground river? I suppose the magic could bring that back, but wouldn't it be a lot harder and take a lot longer?"

"Never heard of this Flameskull before. Outside of my wheelhouse."

" I have neither yet. "

"Flowing water might prevent the shards from reassembling. If they even would in the first place. I don't think it would be necessary to grind them into dust," Victor said.

Lureene nodded to Ero. "For the battle, aye, but perhaps we might yet be useful in disposing of the remains in a permanent manner. Though I'm a bit perplexed - not to dismiss our efforts, but if it was the sort of undead that is nigh-unkillable, I would have expected a longer battle to begin with."

She approached the others. "If we can't bring the spells to the pieces, might we bring the pieces to the spells? And bring them to a priest capable of casting the spells?"

She looked at the pieces, trying to remember what she'd been told about such things...

OOC: I'm not sure if it's superfluous but we might as well get all our caster-types to pitch in.

Having been in thought for a moment, he responds readily to Lureene. "There are too many possibilities to consider. If the magic is tied to this place could it not inhabit another intact skull, could it not form the skull from any scraps of bone available? If the magic is tied to the skull itself how could we prevent it from reforming during our journey back? I vote we leave it, along with a warning at each entrance, and notify a temple once we reach our destination."

"Putting together all the pieces," Ezguar steps forward and offers his two coppers in between the constant booming of the river's wave action, "had you attacked the Flameskull initially when you discovered it, the battle may have gone a lot harder. We were not only prepared, but we had greater numbers that let us prevail."

"It clearly was tied to this cavern, though I cannot see anything that looks valuable to warrant that. Also, given that it could cast spells, I'd say it was created from the skull of a dead wizard, so it probably can't just reform from any old skull, not even another dead wizard's skull."

"At a guess, if it can reform, it should do so within 24 hours. I think scattering the skull pieces into the underground river will probably keep that from happening. In any case, I think Prizzard had it right. Simply removing it from this place it was created to guard will probably break the spell. It makes me wonder, though, what might have happened if we had thrown a blanket over it?"

"I imagine there would have been a lot of smoke!" Victor bellowed. "As for guarding something valuable, that would be the Forge of Spells, or somesuch. There was a Spectator guarding a seemingly empty room, who seemed to think it was guarding it, too, and a Drow wizard working with goblins to find it."

Never one to get others to do something she wouldn't do herself, Mithra begins picking up the shattered skull pieces. She does so gingerly at first, as if afraid they might bite or something, but soon she gets them all gathered up.

She heads down the water channel to the right as the quickest way to get to the underground river as she wasn't sure the stream would have a strong enough current to sweep the pieces away.

Unless something happens on the short trip, she'll start throwing the skull pieces into the river, not just dump them. Toss a piece out as far as she can, drop another piece to the right, toss another piece, drop another piece to the left... basically, scatter them as best as she can.

When she returns to the others, she has this to say.

"So far, so good. Now, we've done the two things we were sent her to do. We've found and destroyed a large Orc contingent and we've found and rescued the two Dwarf brothers."

"Is there anything else we want to do here in the mine? If not, is there anywhere else in the area we want to go? There could be more Orcs around. At the very least, we should send somebody back through the underground river route to the backdoor and let Wendell and Krazh... or was it Kae? ...that we've safe, we found the Dwarves and they are free to head back to town."

Victor chuckled, and said, "Assuming they haven't disappeared in a flash of blue light! Any volunteers? Strong swimmers, perhaps?"

"Not a problem," Nixon says as he steps forward. "I'll go gather Wendell and whoever is still out there. Then we'll head out of the valley and go back to Phandalin. I'm ready for a few drinks!"

"Maybe we should leave some sort of notice here. Write it on the walls in case any of the others blink back in. That way, they'll know what happened."

"If it's a water way," Ubo offers, "then it sounds like it was made for me. I'll go with Mr. Nantickle here. Anyone else want to go?"

Victor said, "Hmmm... where would we leave the note? They could 'port in anywhere!"

"Chalk markings would probably work best, messages at each passageway. Or I hear some mages can leave glowing arcane messages, though the spell is rarely considered useful."