"You're right, a<em>Cause Fear</em>spell would fit the bill... I've also got a spell literally called<em>Doom</em>that does a similar thing... I'll prep them both just in case! Good thinking Yazhu, that's why you're my favorite monk!" Sandra said as she gave Yazhu a hug.<br/><br/>"So what am I, the chopped liver priestess?" Spivey pouted, but, not to be left out, jumped into... Sandra's cleavage for a change.<br/><br/>"I think you've overthought the first part though... salted walls is a pretty obvious reference to Brinewall," Ameiko chuckled.<br/><br/>"Hmph!" Baihu crossed her arms. "I'm not so fragile you need to keep me in the rear you know! You better rest up tonight Yazhu, I'm not gonna let you hear the end of it if I have to bail out your ass tomorrow!"<br/><br/>"That won't be necessary," Shalelu spoke up, "you'll have me."<br/><br/>"And I'll keep watch tonight!" Kelda volunteered.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><em>Everything restored to full via magical healing / full night's rest! And feel free to prep / load up on buffs beforehand - Ameiko casts as a level 3 bard and Sandra / Spivey as level 3 clerics.<br/><br/>For solving the riddle, the boss will auto-fail the saving throw against Sandra's first use of Cause Fear or Doom in the upcoming battle!</em><br/><br/><hr/><br/>Rested and refreshed, the Jade Whores set out for the caves below Brinewall Castle once more. With both Kikonu and the high priestess out of the picture, the corbies had no more reason to stay, and any survivors had abandoned the castle overnight, leaving the way clear. Slightly more worrying, Slugwort was missing from the dungeon, with a quickling's footprints heading into the dungeon up to the ogre's cells, and both pairs of footprints leading out of the castle.<br/><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/pE5cuaH.png)<br/><br/><strong>V10 Grotto:</strong><em>The floor of this vast cavern descended in two twenty-foot drops into a large, eerie grotto. The walls dripped with moisture and bore strange and disturbing cave paintings of towering four-winged humanoid shapes - by now, Yazhu recognized them as depictions of the demon lord Pazuzu, worshiped by the now defeated dire corbies. Tiny motes of glowing light drifted and bobbed in the air, giving the place an almost nauseating feeling, as if the cavern was viewed through a dreamlike haze.<br/><br/>In the centre of the grotto was the eldritch-looking egg sac as tall as Yazhu's waist, its transparent leathery shell still moist and pulsing. Around the egg, the motes of glowing light hovered in mid-air suspended in place, as though frozen in time. As Yazhu approached the egg, she found herself slowing down once more the closer she got to it...</em><br/><br/>But this time, they had Desna's divine aid to beat the timey wimey field! Spivey raised the phylactery which she was now wearing on a slender silver chain. "In Desna's name I command thee! Of the shackles of time be free!" The phylactery radiated a faint wave of divine energy that ignited the motes of hovering light, making them burn and twinkle like minuscule stars for a few minutes, before they burnt themselves out and dissipated into wisps of thin smoke.<br/><br/>And the embryo within the eldritch egg struggled against its leathery confines, pushing the shell to its limits and beyond in its efforts to claw its way out into the world. A weak spot on the egg bulged, then cracked, and finally split apart as tentacles spilled their way out. Finding purchase on the egg's exterior and the surrounding rocks, they pulled the rest of the monster out after it, dripping with embryonic fluid. It had a slimy mollusk-like body complete with ten tentacles, two of which ended in savage claws, a monstrous face, and large leathery wings. The moon disc was tightly grasped in one of its tentacles... "Decapus!" Ameiko shouted, recalling the name from some obscure bardic lore. It screeched back at her, an unworldly noise that echoed in the cavern.<br/><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/DuIWMwZ.png)