There we go, good girl, Xakroo speaks softly before looking at the others, asking, Anyone know how to take care of a ghost?
Hi Ghost person! I know you probably evil being, but, relatively speaking, you not even in top 1000 most evilest beings I have ever seen. You also been made ded or to stone by moar evil being then you. If you make tell of what happened, we can make better smesh of evil being that made you ded or stoned. Smart-friends will make tell of more!
Cani, utterly fearless walks up to the ghost confidently and makes a pitch.
Hmmm, I did monitor your progress towards my city, you have seen a total of 19696 individual demons, of whom about 16696 where more evil then this pathethic Gug, but well, I guess you cant count that far.
Maybe Gug cant count that far either? Cani knows that 10*10=1000 but Gug probably doesnt! Cani very considerate is pretty being who be much better at math!
Kwiazy looks at his friends and their approach to the ghost and waits, hand on his blade, waiting to see how the ghost reacts....
The ghostly shape disolves a bit, and reforms as the ghost of a snake-headed woman.
She looks fiercely at Kwiazy.
(fort save, please Kwiazy)
(you may roll initiative if your response to the continued attacks is combat)
Kwiazy manages to resist being turned into stone.
Yvra is up first.
Kwiazy fights off the sensation of his joints freezing up and his soft parts growing more and more not-soft... Shakes his head and his eyes narrow as he realizes what almost just happened to him... He lowers his gaze, so as not to meet the eyes of the stoner.
Yvra?
Yvra says, "I know how to lay a circle of salt in order to protect us from her evil...but if you cross the line you'll ruin it. Does anyone want out before I create it?".
Sounds smart Smart! Cani will make infuriating funny faces, and tell many stark truths to her!
Yvra, I would say go ahead and do your circle. Xakroo can shoot at the ghost, and we haven't heard from anyone else that they want out. It's probably better to keep things moving.
Hearing only agreement and silence, Yvra nods and casts a careful circle of salt around the companions.
"Don't cross the line, or you'll ruin it for everyone. She can't touch you at all until you attack. After that, she's likely to be able to strike at you, but the circle will still give you significant protection."
But I can make inform of her of being stupid, dumb, and less capable of squatdancing then Marilith Demon-being on Cocaine?
Cani asks as if this is really important.
"That sounds like...precisely what you should be doing now, Cani. Yes." Yvra smiles, despite himself.
Was funny story, Cani was sent by Apsu, who is clearly bestest, to very very pretty being with wings, who is also great writress because there was full blown romance novel on her wings, to deliver mythic Apsu weed. But Cani had to perform many unusual feats to be interesting enough to get audience! So he went into casting show, casstingshow being strange ritual to become famous! He progressed into finals because audience really liked Cani!
Final challenge was 2 parts, consumption and dance! One contestant got to decide dance, other got to decide what to consume! Cani was smart smart, and selected "Squatdance" as dance because enemy was snek-demon-lady, snek-demon-lady decided to consume "your bodyweight in Demon Cocaine!" Cani not know what Demon Cocaine is, some white powder? But apparently Canis body weight was zero, because someone in audience casted Anti-gravity spell on him! And also on roughly Cani sized stash of white powder, which started flying around to audience! Snek demon tried to kill some crab demon, who clearly was friendly because he was holding "Snek demon sucks" sign, and probably casted anti gravity spell on Cani, Cani just did his squat dance and won because judge blew up Snek-Demon with mythic empowered fireball, due to her ingesting some free flying cocaine and declaring it to be low quality.
Feel free to make some kn planes checks.
She glares at Yvra, and he feels himself growing stiff.
The entire party is up now.
Kwiazy has drawn his rapier, but makes no move as yet to break out of the circle... just ready in case something not affected by it tries to breach the salt barrier.
Yvra scrunches a mandrake root onto a bolt and fires at the ghost.
[ooc]No, you don't think this is still an image. The previous projected images have always looked like the nearby statue. This one started out that way, and then changed to look like a medusa. Considering the previous appearances have tried to turn people to stone, you think the medusa is this ghost's true form. And the ghost is the pac man on the map.
Yvra's bolt hits the ghost, doing a little less damage than normal.
Kwiazy is waiting, and Yvra has acted. What about Xakroo, Petrahk, and Velvunk?
Cani readies a smack should the evil ghost thing come close!
Being an expert strateghost, and thus clearly superior to the evil ghost being, he kind of doubts it will be that dumb, but why not try?
the ghost avoids the worst of the damage.
Petrahk?
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botting:
Petrahk attacks the ghost with magic missiles, knowing that they will do full damage.
The ghost attempts to move through Yvra.
Yvra doubles over and emits a dry gasp. As he does, a bead on his bracelet shatters into a puff of lavender smoke.
Lodni (the rabbit familiar he inherited from his adoptive mother) grimmaces as well, and some of the dark grey lines shooting across Yvra's scales lighten...and immediately spread through Lodni's fur.
The party is now up.
Xakroo is going to attack full ranged with his arrow.
I smack you! You not worth smite smite!
Cani 5 foot steps (I think its a 5 foot step) and begins smacking
Yvra steps back while carefully reloading her crossbow, and then fires off another bolt laced with screaming mandrake root.
Xakroo's arrow slams into the ghost.
All but one of Cani's slices hits, one of them very hard.
As Yvra's bolt hits, the ghost goes poof, clearly gone for now.
The ghost of a medusa can sometimes be held to life by the statues of those she petrified. Destroying or returning to flesh all those statues can keep the ghost from returning
With the ghost dealt with, as long as someone deciphers the spoiler above, you are able to safely explore the rest of the vault. At the very center, you find the medusa's body. Accompanying it is her journal, which explains her mission; she was sent by the Ironfang Legion to help claim the Onyx Key as a way to move troops. She was also careful to frame Molthuse for the theft.
This journal appears to be the proof you need that the Ironfang Legion rather than Molthune is the one who raided the Vault.
Glorytory! Viktory! Cani shall perform sacred Squat Dance that Snek-Demons cannot!
Cani does indeed do a pretty good squat dance, adding in several Saltos and backflips from the squat danceing position, while, implausibly enough, wearing his full armor.
Snek Demon? Does he mean a Marilith? They would indeed be challenged when it comes to squat-dancing.
These are GM approval pending, Canis plot independent background antagonist:
Wasnt there a Marilith Dancer, who was humbled by some adventurer in an Abyssal dancing contest in Alyushinyrra? She is rumored to have picked up an "Arms of the Marilith" item, and now uses these arms as feet so she can squat dance now?
Oh right, the Marilith in question pledged bloody vengeance on the adventurer who bested her, apparently some Kobold Paladin of Apsu dual wielding Earth Breakers, promising to quote "Squat Dance on his grave". Wait, dual wielding earth breaker Kobold Paladin of Apsu?
Yvra smiles knowingly at C4N, and says to the group, "OK, there are some honorable dwarves who need to be returned to flesh...and I suspect that doing so will have the added advantage of putting the medusa-ghost permanently to rest."
When Velvunk asks about healing, Yvra says, "Wise, new friend. Yes, both Lodni and I were injured by that ghost."
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"Not sure if we should be restoring the gug to flesh or not, but that might be something to consider as well. You've already hit on the important point -- and they can corroborate what we've discovered, even. We did get resources to cover that kind of thing, right?" Petrahk offers with a casual tone while looking for any sort of additions to her hoard.
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You are able to find all the statues, and those of monsters (like gugs) you destroy, while bringing back those of dwarves. The one statue that was broken you put back together before returning to flesh.
Having gathered all your proofs, including a few journals you found of the medusa plotting to steal the Onyx Key, you are able to return to Kraggodan and show what you found.
The council finds your evindence utterly convincing. They begin to try a diplomatic conversation with Molthune. This, given time and patience, means they may be able to help you deal with the Ironfang Legion. They also have more reason now to see the Legion as a threat.
"Kind friends," Karburtin Lightbrand says, rubbing the curls of his short beard with concern. "You have done us such a great service in past weeks that I wish I could bring you better tidings. Prince Gorm has dispatched not insignificant material aid—weapons and armor—to your allies, but alas, I must be frank. Our beloved Sky Citadel does not have the numbers to provide you with any military assistance. The prince considers you friends for life, but we cannot jeopardize our homeland by sending our small defensive forces on an offensive mission. Surely you understand. That does not mean we are unwilling to help, however. I have just finished extensive research on the Onyx Key, the artifact stolen from our vault, and it is indeed the weapon your enemies now use to move their troops unseen. The device creates a network of extradimensional tunnels—it’s a fascinating process, truly. My ancestors suspected the artifact relies on some great power source or hub positioned outside reality, and once opened a gate to it using the red sardonyx shard from the artifact’s base. But in the process, they unleashed terrible monsters that ravaged our city. I believe the Ironfang Legion has succeeded where my ancestors failed, conquering this hub and now using it as a central stronghold from which they direct their invasion. I’ve been divining, trying to locate the sardonyx shard for you, so you too can open a gate to the hub. My most recent spells found it deep within the heart of Fangwood Forest, but soon thereafter a powerful magic began shielding it from my spells. To me this implies only one culprit: the Blight."
He pauses to see if you have any questions.