Profane Caster. This flameskull is a 9th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 15; +9 to hit with spell attacks). It requires no somatic or material components to cast its spells. The flameskull has the following wizard spells prepared:
Cantrip (at will): mage hand, thaumaturgy, minor illusion
1st level (4 slots): Shield
2nd level (3 slots): Mirror Image, Heat Metal
3rd level (3 slot): Fireball, Major Image, Dispel Magic
4th level (3 slot): Greater Invisibility
5th level (1 slot): Holy Weapon
Multiple Personality Disorder. Long years of imprisonment have fractured your mind. But now, unlike lesser creatures, you can hold Concentration on multiple spells at once! When failing a Concentration check, the DM will roll to randomly decide which spell you drop.
Wannabe Lantern of Revealing (disguise!). This sneaky boi has Truesight to a range of 10 ft. Useful for "helping" the party with deciphering invisible hieroglyphs!
I'll be baaack! Once destroyed, your skull reforms in 24 hours in your sarcophagus if the rest of your body is intact, regaining all hit points and becoming active again.
Multiattack. The flameskull uses Fire Ray twice.
Fire Ray. Ranged Spell Attack: +9 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (4d6) fire damage.
Can't Catch Me! You teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see.
Hellish Rebuke. You give the creature that just damaged you a death glare, invoking hellish flames to engulf it. The creature must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 15), taking 3d10 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.
F*** off! Upon taking damage, you teleport up to 15 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see.
This mad lad can take 3 legendary actions. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The bonehead regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Leg it. Move up to your speed.
Die for me again! Sacrifice a Ghoul you can see within a range of 10 ft. to heal 15hp.
Pewpew! Make a Fire Ray attack.
Summon Groupies (costs 2 Actions). Your eyes emit an unearthly glow as your sight reaches into the Duat, calling back to the mortal world the souls of slaves who'd died building the pyramid. Add three Ghouls to the map. Up to a maximum of 6 Ghouls can be active at any given time.
Summoning Apophis. Triggered once a total amount of blood equivalent to 100-150(?) hp has been shed by the adventurers...
Description
Blazing green flames and mad, echoing laughter surround an undead flameskull. This disembodied skull blasts foes with fiery rays from its eyes and dreadful spells called up from the dark recesses of its memory.
Stage 1: Mind-controlled Egyptian "guide" uses the flameskull as a lantern to navigate the pyramid, working alongside the newly arrived adventurers to reach the pyramid's inner sanctum. Once there, the "guide" betrays the party and pulls out a sword on them, secretly assisted by the bodiless wizard's spells (Holy Weapon, Greater Invisibility, Heat Metal...) whom he tosses safely to the side, ideally out of sight behind a pillar!
Stage 2: The guide is defeated. And yet the skeletons keep coming! Villainous laughter (gimme a good 'ol MWAHAHAHA!) reveals to the party that the skull was the baddie all along. The fight becomes a race for damage: once a total amount of blood equivalent to 100-150(?) hp has been shed by the adventurers, enter Stage 3. (I might adjust the amount of blood required after some playtesting)
Stage 3: The Great Snake arrives. You've won either way!
Extra tips:
- When the party asks you to shine your "lantern" on potential traps, you can lie about what you see without consulting me (I'll provide you a map to consult). Your skull knows the general layout of the pyramid, having managed to utilize its tiny size to break out. Getting live sacrificial humanoid bodies in, past the traps and guardians to unlock the seals is what has proven more difficult, however... These powerful adventurers will help you.
- You could try to sneak away to summon your 6 Ghouls right before the Inner Sanctum fight to get a little head start. They'll serve as your front line while you go invisible and deal damage.
- Your cantrips + Major Image can be used to screw with the players; make them investigate noises or movements... Send me a private message about what you wanna try to do and I'll narrate it ;)
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