With the help of the Loremaster, the party locates a priest to The Raven Queen who is able to cast a Raise Dead ritual to revive Oin. This priest also serves as Hammerfast's undertaker – so through him, they are able to gain access to the body of the ritual caster who summoned the undead a few days earlier.
Zim casts a Speak With Dead ritual and learns some basic information about Azêllay and his lieutenant, Izemrasen. However, immediately after the ritual is finished, the body and two others in the crypt erupt in a column of flame and transform into Blazing Skeletons. Worse, each of the skeletons uses their Flame Orb power to summon Lesser Fire Demons.
Near the end of the fight, the last surviving Fire Demon invokes the name of another demon – who appears out of flame a few minutes later. Despite this demon's powers, the party focuses their energy on him and destroy him quickly.
No loot is found…
The first encounter was a home-brew using the “Ashurta's Rest” map from “Seekers of the Ashen Crown”.
There were a total of 3 Blazing Skeletons to start with. Each Skeleton could use its Flame Orb power (as a standard action) to summon a Lesser Fire Demon, so the demons showed up starting on round 2. Pretty soon, the skeletons had all been destroyed and the fight was just with the demons.
The second encounter took place in the same location – but the party had the luxury of a short rest before.
The Barlgura Demon named Naarash comes from page 59 of Dungeon 155 (as part of an adventure called “Heathen”). However, here he was used without any of that adventure's preamble.
The fight was quick – with the party taking him out after only a few rounds. This was mainly due to my misunderstanding of the “Free Actions” rules (I thought he could use his “Demonic Frenzy” action against every attack – but in reality he can only do it once per round). Still, it was a fun fight.
| # | Challenge | Type | XP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Blazing Skeletons | Artillery/5 | 200 |
| 3 | Lesser Fire Demons | Skirmisher/8 | 350 |
| 1 | Naarash, Barlgura | Solo Brute/8 | 1750 |
| Total XP | 3,400 | ||
| (6 PCs) | 567 | ||