The Citystates: Statues of Ganimyre

The Statues of Ganimyre

The Statues of Ganimyre are a sight to behold.  Along the Rhane River for  just north of Caelix are the remains of eighty-four statues that rise up some hundred-twenty feet in the air made of white stone.  They are the Emperors of Bael Turath and these are their tombs as well as gigantic ego-machines.  In the days of Bael Turath, these statues were painted by the masses of slaves that used by the tieflings.  Now out of the hundred statues, only twenty-three remain standing.  There is something about the stone or the enchantments placed on it, but the thirty-seven seem untouched by the ravages of time.  Even the statues have fallen or destroyed look pristine having been toppled due to wars, undermined or pulled down for the stone and to look for the treasures that are rumored to be buried deep inside the chest.   Ancient legends say that some or all of them  are humungous golems that were under control of the Emperor.

Caelix would like to have them under their control.  The current Emperor Caelix IX, of the Shadowskulls has just put down a slave rebellion and cleared his ziggurat fortress.  However he is stymied by Ganimyre Twin-Tailed, the Queen of the Medusae.  She was a beautiful tiefling woman, the favored concubine of the Emperor of ancient Bael Turath.  When the Emperor died, as was the custom of the time, she was one of the hundreds who was buried inside.  But she was not ready to die for years before, she begged and pleaded and prayed to Suless, the Whore Goddess, to grant her beauty forever.  For years, she was a beautiful concubine, the envy of many among the court of Emperor.  She found out she was immortal when she awoke in the darkness of tomb for Suless granted her wish.  It was many years she was entrapped in the tomb that she became quite insane for when she was finally free of the tomb by robbers seeking treasures, she turned them,  to stone.  Bael Turath was no more.  She was cast adrift in the ruins of the great city where factions and gangs ruled the land.  She looked up and the statue of the Emperor looming above her.

Over the centuries, she has amassed a loyal following of beasts and men.  She wears a great horned mask so enchanted as to let walk among her people without petrifying them and has enchanted other masks so other medusae can follow her.  Seven other medusae follow her and each of them have a particular mask.  A saber-toothed cat, a blood hawk, a human girl, a snow lion, an octopus, a serpent and a dragon.  Each of the masks denotes something about the medusae who wears it. 

Caelix has been stymied by Ganimyre.  She in her insanity thinks that even though Caelix is trying to bring back the glory of Bael Turath, the line she figures ended with her Emperor.  Caelix IX has no claim on the glories of ancient days, a mere pretender to the Black Onyx Throne.

Sebastien Cirrus

GANIMYRE TWIN-TAILED, the Queen of the Medusae

Medium monstrosity, lawful evil

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)

Hit Points 178 (21d8 +84)

Speed 30ft.

STR 10 (+0)  DEX 15 (+2)  CON 19 (+4)  INT 12 (+1)  WIS 13 (+1)  CHA 20 (+5)

Skills Deception +9, Insight +5, Perception +5, Stealth +6

Senses darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 15

Languages Common

Challenge 9 (5000 XP)

Petrifying Gaze. When a creature that can see the medusa's eyes starts its turn within 30 feet of the medusa, the medusa can force it to make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw if the medusa isn't incapacitated and can see the creature.  If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is instantly petrified. Otherwise, a creature that fails the save begins to turn to stone and is restrained. The restrained creature must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn, becoming petrified on a failure or ending the effect on a success. The petrification lasts until the creature is freed by the greater restoration spell or other magic.

Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it can't see the medusa until the start of its next turn, when it can avert its eyes again. If the creature looks at the medusa in the meantime, it must immediately make the save.

If the medusa sees itself reflected on a polished surface within 30 feet of it and in an area of bright light, the medusa is, due to its curse, affected by its own gaze.

ACTIONS

Multiattack. The medusa makes either three melee attacks one with its snake hair and two with her tail stingers.

Snake Hair. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft ., one creature. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage plus 14 (4d6)

poison damage.

Tail Stinger.  Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., on creature.  Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing damages plus 21 (6d6) poison damage.

LEGENDARY ACTIONS

Ganimyre can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn . Ganimyre regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

• Attack.  Ganimyre can make one attack with either her Snake Hair or Tail Stinger.
• Animate Statue.  Either she can animate a current statue or create one from the earth and dust around the fight.  She can animate a statue with 30 feet of herself and it can make a single attack.  +6 to hit a single target within 5 feet for 18 (4d6+4) points of bludgeoning damage.  The statue then then either freezes back into place or crumbles back into a pile of rubble.
• Forced Look (2 actions).  One target within 30 feet of Ganimyre are affected by her petrifying gaze as if they have seen Ganimyre.  If a creature naturally blind, they are not so affected.

LAIR ACTIONS

When fighting inside its lair, the Emperor's Tomb in which she was buried in, Ganimyre can invoke the ambient magic to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Ganimyre takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:

• The statues move or are created from the rubble and dust of other victims to surround a character and prevents the character from moving by either grabbing them or blocking the path.  A target cannot move or be moved for the round.
• She may cast a wall of stone that last for one minute and doesn’t require concentration.
• The area for thirty feet around Ganimyre is littered with rubble form her past victims that make the ground rough terrain for her enemies to move through.

REGIONAL EFFECTS

The region of the Ganimyre's Statues lair is warped by her presence.  With the area of Ganimyre's Statues are the areas along the Rhane River in which the twenty-three remaining statues still stand, roughly a mile from the river and fifteen miles from the Emperor's Tomb in which she was buried. 

• The area of Ganimyre's Statues it seems that all the statues will stare at the party members.
• Mirrors and other reflective surfaces are clouded and scarred, so much so that they cannot be seen in or reflected upon.

The regional effects will remain in play for 1d10 days after Ganimyre's death.