Animate skeletons

Animate skeletons was a necromancy spell that created a number of skeletons from nearby available remains.

Effects
Similar to the spell animate dead this spell reanimated the remains of a number of humanoid, depending on the power of the caster. The skeletal undead obeyed simple verbal commands as given by the caster until they were turned by a priest, or otherwise destroyed. The magical effect of animate skeletons could not be dispelled.

Casting
This spell required verbal, somatic and material components in order to be cast. The material component consisted of a mixture comprised of a drop of blood and a pinch of bone powder (or bone shard) that was combined with a specific salve that cost at least 10 gp. Once the mixture was applied to remains, the skeletons could be raised within 24 hours upon the utterance of a single word.