Blast Furnace Flameskull
Our party ventured deeper into the caves clad shining gear powered up by the legendary Forge of Spells.
They encountered a massive smelter/billows mechanism surrounded by dozens of coprses. Hovering above the device was a flaming skull. The skull's gaze darted quickly from entrance to entrance in an erratic pattern, constantly on high alert. Each time the party entered its gaze, its flames flared up, changing their color from an unearthly green to a vibrant red, and it shrieked an unearthly howl. The noise was quickly followed by a salvo of flaming bolts at the intruder.
After starting a fight with it, several of the corpses on the floor began to rise, their broken limbs snapping back into place with sickening cracks. The zombified dwarves shambled at a ponderous pace towards the intruders, watched over by the flaming skull in the air.
With the party clustered within the entrance tunnel, the flaming skull floated down from its high vantage point and unleashed an inferno among them. The explosion did massive damage to each party member and they retreated with haste. None of the combatants pursued and the party chose to explore northwards, toward the origin of the sound of the booming echoes.
Kronk discovered a massive underground lake whose currents caused periodic crashes against the stone wall near the cave. A slick and narrow ledge hugged the south side of this cavern, with branches going southwest and northwest ahead.
Choosing to spend an hour catching their breath, the party charged the flaming skull in the bellows room. It withstood their assault as best as it could, and the zombies did what zombies do best, but after a relatively short fight, the party was victorious.