Faced with one final room, the party gathered at the southern entrance and listened intently to see if they could detect any creatures awaiting them on the other side. Not hearing any movement, Dazz and Hulmer opened the door and found themselves immediately confronted with what appeared to be a belligerent talking suit of armor who called them intruders and infidels. When it chased them out of the room, it soon revealed itself to be not one creature, but three: an angry sentient flameskull, a lumbering suit of gleaming armor, and an animated ax.
Barely shutting the door in time, the party gathered their thoughts, healed themselves up, and plotted a new plan of attack. This time, Dazz and Xan were sent to quietly sneak in through the other entrance, while Hulmer, Myev, and the rest of the party sought to distract the flameskull and its animated companions. Hulmer and Myev proved particularly successful in drawing and holding the flameskull’s ire — and this gave the party a welcome opening. Using Detect Magic and excellent perception, Dazz and Xan were able to locate a hidden compartment in the central pillar of the room, all while sneaking behind the flameskull. Inside the compartment was some sort of box containing two gems and vial of dark liquid, overlaying a magical circuit, which appeared to be the means by which the animated armor and ax were controlled.
While Dazz and Xan were conducting their investigation of the pillar and its contents, Hulmer and Myev were busy fighting the animated armor, the ax, and the flameskull which by now was aware of the other party members in the room. Soon the flying skull was raining down fire upon the party, with a particular interest in Hulmer. Dazz attempted to sneak attack the skull by leaping up and trying to stuff it into the bag of holding while it was being restrained by Hulmer‘s ensnaring effect. Sadly this bit of dramatic daring-do went completely wrong — Dazz wrong-footed the leap, missed the skull completely, and thudded soundly into the wall. At this point the flameskull had broken free, and now showered down more fire and pain from above.
Things were looking a bit wild and uncertain, but fortune smiled upon Myev at last and she swung mightily at the skull and smashed it to pieces. As for the ax and the armor, Dazz discovered when she put the control box into the bag of holding, they both stopped moving — presumably because what they were supposed to protect was not within range having disappeared into an inter-dimensional pocket. The bag also seemed a good place to put the skull’s remains.
Hulmer was pleased that he did not have to destroy the magical armor — instead, he was able to take it and don it as a replacement for his old battle-scarred armor. It became clear that it had been enchanted to retain a perfect brightness that resisted rust, grime, and all manner of decay.
Searching the rest of the room, the party found a fancy steel shield inlaid with gold and onyx, depicting a tree. They also located +1 crossbow bolts (20), various bits and pieces of weapons, and the dark gloomy helmet which made its wearer’s eyes glow a fiery red.
With their last foes vanquished and the final room looted, the party headed back to the surface with a sense of urgency as they realized the flameskull’s powerful enchantment meant that it would soon regenerate fully and be active again (albeit stuck inside of the bag of holding). They rushed to the Temple of Boccob, and there enlisted the help of Galdrin Goodtree, one of the temple’s senior priests, to trapped the flameskull in a circle of protection before it fully reassembled. Seeking information about the temple, its original occupants, and the skull’s former identity, the party and Galdrin pressed it for answers. As it turned out, the flameskull seemed to be experiencing an existential crisis, not knowing how to continue on, having no purpose now that it had been severed from the temple’s ritual bonds and its former duties. It revealed that it had once been a wizard named Thanadir, but over the long centuries of being trapped in the armory, the skull had lost many of its memories and recalled only slivers of its former life and world.
With the assistance and encouragement of the party, the flameskull began considering now options for its future. It confessed wanting to see more of the world, to be a part of the city in some way, and seek out more knowledge having been lost and forgotten for centuries beneath ground. It decided it would take on the name “Flanadir Flameskull” and as a 5th level wizard, seek permission to register with the Adventurers’ Guild.
Satisfied that Flanadir’s aspirations for a new life were sincere, the party left him to his thoughts and took counsel with Galdrin on other matters, namely on the possibility of the priests of the Boccob to aid the party in interrogating some of Clarissa’s fallen party members using the Speak with Dead ritual in order to solve an eight year old murder mystery.
Sanctuary 