Giving the last part, the "Brass Boots" to a yearning armored shadow results in getting the broom again, but no key. I tried this 6 times, giving up now. This quest is really annoying. I assume it is broken.
Die/evac/aggro wipe all of those resets the quest. The best bet is have someone do the quest without ever even engaging in combat, only time they are doing anything is if the room is cleared of all mob, rest of the time hide.... Good way to do this is have 2 groups just clearing and then as many as possible doing the key part.
Every single hand in can be done with hiding behind something near the NPCs without getting aggro. Under a table Behind a bed around a corner ect.... The NPCs also now see through IVU so you can hail them without dropping IVU.
If it res If it resets the items disappear, we did not die or evac and had the boots turned in nothing happened, he tried them on I believe it said and that was it. Tried it again same thing, whole group nothing on turn in
Hail him. I had a toon that died and had to "redo" the steps again, same thing happened... turned it what should have been the final item.... then nada.... hailed him, bam got key.
Just did this today using bard to collect the items. I did evac a few times just fyi. I turned in the last item and he gave bard back the broom. No Key! I went to start over by giving the broom to the first mob, the book to the second mob and I went to give the brazier to to the third mob and I ended up getting the key! I think this is still bugged.
3 boxed this with crappy merc tank & 2 merc healers, cleared each room, did 3 hand-ins and hails, onto the next. Slow & steady wins the day with this key, no deaths no evacs just careful.
That part is not a bug, your status is stored in the zone data, and there are a number of actions which will clear your character from the zone data, zoning (like on evac) being one of them.
You can start/restart on any part of the chain. So maybe he evaced a few times during the first 3 steps? I like starting with the skeleton since it is easiest to get to with no kos mobs near it, and I start and end at the same place.
