Before she could even register what was happening, Ysa's body became heavy and rooted in place with her arm continuing to hold her lit Scythe aloft in the air.

• CON Save: 3 (NAT 1!!)

(I think Magical Guidance is only for ability checks unfortunately)  

"What in the..?"  Garmus mumbles as he sees the snakes writhing on the woman's head.  He feels his body start to tense up right before he turns his head, realizing what is in front of him.

Con ST 18

Ysabell petrifies. Eralynn, holding her hands up in surrender, stumbled back and tripped on the stairs, startled and fearful of the creature.

"You guys OK?"  she waits patiently to hear the others...Eralynn is tripp'n on the stairs, she must be ok... all but Ysa say something "SHIT! Ysabell!  Are you still there?"

Crystal continues to keep her gaze at the pool that seemed to be glowing a bit, her mind is swirling with four letter words as she is imagining the worst for Ysabell.  She listens as Echo replies to the creature wondering who the heck Sylvarie is... I thought we were looking for Falthrax... no matter, she'll just let him do the talking.

Ecko places his talons in a T-shape and quickly shakes his head. "Nope. Time out. Everyone calm down. Whoever you are, we come in peace - if you ain't a hag, I don't have issues with you. Cool? No idea who or what you are, but if you're hostile, we'll take our friend and be right out. Oh, have you seen someone named Falthrax or Sylvarie recently?" he stutters, mind going on several tangents in silent panic as he watches Ysabell begin to turn to stone. Well, that was an issue. Hopefully the Avowed or someone could turn her back.

DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check.

Ecko puts on his best puppy-dog face as he casts a quick guidance. Persuasion, here we go - 2 nope! Ecko trips over a stair backwards and falls to the ground. 

As he picks himself up, Ecko drives an elbow into Crystal. "Maybe you try? I don't want to get stoned...not like this..."

Crystal listens as Echo squawks out why we are all here, she can only imagine his head twitching a bit as he spoke... suddenly she feels a sharp elbow in her side.

Ecko drives an elbow into Crystal. "Maybe you try? I don't want to get stoned...not like this..."

"Hey, watc...." she stops mid sentence as he encourages her to try to talk to this, what the hell is it, a medusa?  "OK, ok, I will... stop tickling me." she whispers to Echo.

While keeping her gaze on the pool, she makes her best attempt at talking to the medusa to convince her that we were NOT the enemy "Please, listen to me... We are NOT here to hurt or torment you.  We are simply looking for Falthrax and...." she stops a moment trying to remember the other name.... damnit think...oh yes "and Sylvarie... both are missing and we fear that the hags have taken them as prisoners or something." she explains "we are looking to.... to eliminate these hags." she coos

Crystal Persuasion: 15

The medusa stops. 

"Sylvarie?" she says. "That used to be my name. A name I haven't heard in a long time. Thanks to the coven. I was weak. Now, I am a monster. I was a devoted priest of Sune who shared my knowledge and uplifted others to help them realize their own worth. Sadly, my devotion to others masked my own self-doubt, which made my feel that I wasn’t worthy enough to be a priest of the god of love and beauty. I came here. The hags used my insecurity to manipulate and corrupt me ten years ago. Concealing their true nature, they enticed me into a dark bargain—and a terrible curse. And here I remain."

That was certainly a...development. In fear of turning to a statue like poor Ysabell had, Ecko rummages around for a towel before wrapping it over his eyes and flashing a nervous, beaky smile to the medusa. "Hey, monster's a subjective term. Hags are horrible creatures - they manipulate and kill people, right?" At this point, Ecko has lost track of Sylvarie and instead is speaking off to a random direction. He wasn't good at maintaining eye contact, anyways. "If it settles your mind any, Ilmar is here, posing and spying on the hags. I was tasked with finding you. Oh!" he startles, returning to his previous question. "Have you seen a man named Falthrax? We're here to find him, too. And kill the hags! Yes, kill the hags. You said a curse? Maybe we can break it for you. Or something. Speaking of, do you know how to...un-petrify people?" Ecko walks up and looks the stony Ysabell in the eye. "In three day's time, tell me the word 'pumpernickel' if you remember this," he whispers with a giggle at his curiosity of whether or not people can witness things while petrified. 

Crystal leans over to Echo and whispers "Who is Sylv....." she starts but gets interrupted as Echo starts in about monsters being subjective and hags are horrible.  She slowly looks up at Echo just enough to notice that he's actually talking to a nearby pillar and she gives him a gentle poke in the ribs 'She's to the left just a little bit" she whispers to him "you're talking to a pillar right now."

Oh, that's how they know about this Sylvarie... Llmar the masseuse knows her she thinks to herself... this is all starting to come together.  She gives a slight chuckle at his comment to Ysa.... but it made her think, can stoned people actually hear?

Her attention went back to the glowing pool... what was making it glow she thought to herself.  She decides to slowly move that way to inspect it further as Echo squawks aware at the medusa.

Investigation: 8 

The medusa ties a rag across her eyes. Eralynn visibly relaxes and gets up from on the stairs, joining the group.

"If it settles your mind any, Ilmar is here, posing and spying on the hags. I was tasked with finding you. Oh!" 

"Ilmar. Ilmar is here?" for the first time in ten years, there is hope in her voice.

"Have you seen a man named Falthrax? We're here to find him, too. And kill the hags! Yes, kill the hags. You said a curse? Maybe we can break it for you. Or something. Speaking of, do you know how to...un-petrify people?" 

"The hags keep slaves in the tower. As long as their painted portraits remain, forever are they bound to the coven."

She mentions nothing about un-petrification, now thinking about Ilmar. Down in the pool, which is about 6 feet deep, is some sort of wand.

"Paintings? Is that how the hags are cursing people?  So.... destroy the paintings and lift the curse?" she asks as she leans down next to the pool and looks in "This is curious" she says completely out loud "I wonder what it is?"  She casts Mage Hand to grab the object and bring it to her.  "What do you know about this wand in the pool?" she asks Sylvarie

Garmus keeps his mouth shut, he's no good at talkin' nice.  What were they going to do about Ysa?  This was not a good, he knew even less about magic then he did about talkin' nice!

Ecko's attention is immediately - and unwaveringly - fixed towards the item fished from the pool. He begins chirping something in Auran, casting an identify on the wand. "Right! Let's find some paintings and force the hags to undo your curse. Does that sound good?" he happily says, most definitely misjudging the difficulty of the said task. 

"Paintings? Is that how the hags are cursing people?  So.... destroy the paintings and lift the curse?"
"Yes."
"This is curious" she says completely out loud. "I wonder what it is? What do you know about this wand in the pool?"
"Your reward, should you remove the curse. It is called Radiance. It is a wand of the warmage."

https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/wand-of-the-war-mage-1

"Right! Let's find some paintings and force the hags to undo your curse. Does that sound good?" 
Without Ysa, one less member, Eralynn nodded, but wasn't convinced. Hags were dangerous. So, naturally, she worried a little. 

“Does breaking your curse also make Ysa flesh again?” Ecko openly wonders, sticking a piece of aloe chewing gum right on Ysabell’s scythe. “Alright - who else is here? Where are the paintings? We should destroy them regardless. I believe Saeth is gone, so…Sylvarie, do you know who else is a servant of the hags? We could trawl the place, hope they have some magic potions or whatever which dispels this stuff. I’m sure telling Ilmar we found you will comfort him.”

"The painting are in the tower. Breaking the curse will not un-stone your friend. I am sorry about this occurrence. It is clear you are not in league with them. Be careful. They are dangerous."

Eralynn felt a sharp pain in her leg, as if she had broke it, but testing it, everything was ok. How strange. I'm ok. That was weird. She said, rubbing her shin.

"Your reward, should you remove the curse. It is called Radiance. It is a wand of the warmage.”

The wand feels nice in her hands...she can feel the arcane power that it possesses, she thinks about just running off up the stairs with it but decides to honor the words of the medusa ”We will break this curse... lets go find some paintings and destroy them!” She says as she drops the wand back into the pool. She turns to head back up the stairs seeing Eralynn struggling a bit and holding her leg ”Oh my god, are you OK?“ She leans down and helps her back up and to the upper level of the shrine.