Ulthan goes next to Laffa, and passes him 3 berries, he eats one himself. "hrmpfh" is the only thing he says as he pats the cat's side.

Laffa scrabbles away from Ketch's clutches and dusts himself off. He cautiously accepts a berry from Ulthan and then seems to enjoy the taste and downs another. Meanwhile, Lionel stares at the ghost and reaches out his senses. Yup. Undead. Not just an illusion.  The ghostly creature seems to pay no attention to the group, or perhaps doesn't even see him, as he seems to sip non existent tea and read a non-existent book. 

Mordekai, who has been taking everything in without really knowing where his specific talents are best used, now mutters to Quinn, "Time to go to work!"

He wanders over to the ghost and casts prestidigitation to cause some delightfully tea-scented steam to rise and waft up around the ghost's face, hoping to catch its attention and, if the ghost can smell (which is doubtful) put it in a good mood. Then he casts Minor Illusion to create a semi-transparent copy of The Scrivener's Tale floating in front of the ghost. (Assuming Mordekai has at some point seen what the book looks like).

"Excuse us, pardon the intrusion, friend, but I wondered if you could help us. I presume that, being a ghost inhabiting this specific place, you know of this particular book? We're looking for some answers." As Mordekai approaches the ghost, he subtly ensures that some of the tattoos he bears from his earlier Disguise Self spell are visible.

     The door is still locked?  How strong does the door seem to be?  Ketch has no way to pick locks but could certainly put a shoulder or a good kick to it...

Failed to engage in a staring contest, Lionel continued to think aloud. "Maybe that ghost repeats everything it did in life and if we are patient, it will show us how to open the door? No? Too complicated?" The paladin ran out of ideas, his way of dealing with the undead was usually the destructive one, which did not seem helpful in this situation.

The door, which is locked, feels like a fake to Ketch. It's so solid that he feels like it might just be the illusion of a door over a solid mountain of granite. It doesn't give one bit to his hand or push, there's not an ounce of give in it, even the wood grains fail to compress under his touch.

Meanwhile, Meepo here's a familiar female voice whisper into his mind.  But, surprisingly, each of you can hear her now, whispering into your minds.  It is the voice of the Princess of Shadow Glass. The voice starts with a long hiss.  "That is the monster. The elf arcane master who constructed my prison. Zyrian the Scrivener. It is HIS life you must end to end your curse Kobold. Destroy this undead monstrosity before its too late."

Mordekai meanwhile has already approached the ghost. Quinn vibrates with excitement at getting to assist in a deception. The tea smell does nothing. As does the illusion of the book. Mordekai is halfway through his question though before the ghost looks up and glances around, seemingly becoming aware of everything at once. "How is it you have my book? It should not have been taken from me. It is dangerous. The Princess of Shadow Glass's power somehow seeps through into this world and can infect you. Be cautious."  The ghost "stands up", though is now standing in the middle of the table, it's legs under the table while it's midsection floats through the middle.  "Who are you? Why have you come?"

As much as Mordekai likesa flat out deception, he figures some of the truth might actually help here. "We do not know how or why or when it was taken from you, but we came across it quite unintentionally, and have unfortunately discovered its dangers." Mordekai pushes back the sleeves of his cloak to reveal the tattoos on his arm. (Well, there's no point revealing your entire hand of cards if you can help it.)

"Perhaps you could at least give us some guidance in seeking to defeat the Princess's power?"

The ghostly wizard looks down at the tattoo.  "Odd. It's close, but...I don't finish my e's like that."  He examines the tattoo, "And I don't think I'd spell 'lackadaisical' incorrectly.  Perhaps the corruptive powers of the Princess somehow makes the prisons physical manifestation mirror incorrectly. Very interesting. I wonder if perhaps the book itself has become corrupted or if it's only the imprinting process that....well...."  He glances at Mordekai, "I'm afraid soon you'll lend your life force to the prison itself, thus keeping the world safe from the Princess. It's quite the honor. To try and disrupt the process now, well...the sundering of the connection will take a part of you permanently I'm afraid. The prison needs energy to sustain itself." 

     Ketch thinks loudly to the voice in his head:  This is the monster?  Or this is a ghost of it?  Is it this shade we fight or must we find the real thing still?

"Not an option," firmly declared Lionel. "Find another source to power your prison. We need our friend intact. Any other suggestions before we begin to break this place down?"

"Meepo no want destroy any." Meepo speaks up, moving to stand near the ghost. "Meepo just want free of book curse." He glances to the door. "Meepo like free world of threat of princess too, if that possible..." He glances to the ghost. "Princess speak in Meepo's head, asking Meepo destroy ghost. Book no longer safe, others come, and keep coming. How end this for all?"

Ulthan heads back to the staircase to see if anything's coming down and will wait there to give advance notice of the incoming army.

The ghost looks down at Meepo. "Two of you are infected by the book. This is not right, not right at all. Though I see on yours the e's are finished as per my hand. I wonder how the spelling is. Most unusual, most unusual. Um, yes yes, quite right. Well...I dare say, there is another option. Though...if you lose, you risk setting the Princess back upon the land. The lives of countless people will have been spent for no reason. Though, after so long in her prison....perhaps the ritual to end her will work. She may be weak enough after all this time. If you fail, she will certainly rise again and visit terror upon this land and others. First one of you, perhaps both of you if the power has somehow been split, those linked to the book and thus bound to the prison, must stand in the ritual circle, light six candles, and invoke all of the princess’s names: REDACTED. The marked character must then use the parchment and ink found in the circle to express in writing their intent to free Nintra—whereupon the Princess of the Shadow Glass will be free.  Still though, you will not be free of the prisons power, as the prison will still exist and be drawing your life power to it.  Once the princess if free, and hopefully weakened enough by her imprisonment, you must fight her and render her unconscious." He speaks this part as if it were a truly daunting task. "Once she is unconscious she won't be able to resist the destructive power that the prison was truly meant to serve. To complete the process, a character with the scrivener’s mark must extinguish the candles. Upon which the prisons killing energy will destroy Nintra for all time, collapse the prison. That should likely end the mark on you, but....since the prison is using all its available energy to destroy Nintra, there's no way to really know what the really means. You just need to get through the door there.  I'm afraid that's a bit of a problem. The keys are around some of the guardians that protect this place. The only way to get at the keys here is to try to attack the door...which will awaken the guardians. They'll then try to um...ahem..er...kill you.  But, if you should not be able to defeat them, then I dare say you should not face Nintra, weakened or not, for you'll just end releasing her. Oh..and...don't let her extinguish the candles in the middle of the process...or she'll be truly free. Yes, I think I've covered all of the pertinent details."

Seeing how much this ghost knows, Mordekai decides to come clean, but doesn't drop the disguise image. "My tattoos are only an illusion, a decoy to keep attention away from our friend here who is the true victim of the curse. It has been somewhat beneficial so far. You are the only one to see through the illusion, which is another benefit as it shows that you are truly able to give us the information we seek. 

So we attack the door to provoke the guardians, defeat the guardians to get the keys to the door, and then go in and perform this ritual, and defeat Nintra, then blow out the ritual candles and hope we're not killed by the guardians, Nintra, or the ritual itself?"

Turning to the others, "We may need to rest at some stage. Do we rest now, or after the guardians of we can?"

All said sounded logical, straightforward and completely suicidal. "We will do that," nodded Lionel. "Who are those guardians and where exactly would they appear? Maybe we can trap them or weaken them before they do any real harm?" It sounded like the group would need full strength to fight the Princess, so resting after the guardians was the logical choice, however, there was another matter to address. "There is a Queen somewhere on the way to this place. With an army, no less. Can we ask you to talk to her and explain that we are about to free her from the Princess? Would not want to get a a few hundred arrows in the back while fighting another monster."

“How many keys?  Three, or do I guess wrongly?  And how does one attack the door to summon the guardians?  Brute strength and slapping it with a sad wizard seems to have had no such effect…” Ketch asks.  “Though I could try hitting it harder with the wizard…”

"hrmpfh but how kill her hrmpfh" asks the cat after listening to everything.

The ghost looks about at the flood of questions.  "Let me see if I may answer all of your inquiries."  

He turns to the cat and Ulthan, "Um, yes. She is very powerful. I'm afraid she has no weaknesses that I am aware of, except perhaps for her terrible personality."  

To Ketch, "There are three keys. Um you must strike the door with a spell or magical weapon and damage it slightly. I'm not sure smashing your sad wizard against it will be seen as a threat to the guardians."  (Laffa has made his way far away from Ketch and as close to the exit as possible.) 

To Lionel the ghost replies, "If you are expecting an army, then you must either defeat her before they arrive, or deal with them first. I would not recommend taking on Nintra with yet more enemies to face. The guardians will simply appear in various locations throughout the library. If you can sense magic, you can sense the places where the magic will summon them. I am unsure if you can disrupt that magic, though a sphere of anti-magic near those spots may prevent some of them from appearing, if you're capable of such things." 

He glances around, tapping on his fingers. "Did I answer all your questions. I believe I answered all your questions. Remember the full name, it's very important for the ritual: REDACTED" 

"Meepo remember names." Meepo speaks up. He looks to the others with a nod. "Someone want bash door, and we deal with guardians?"

At Meepo’s words, Ketch draws his axe and swings…

Giant Slayer Axe vs Door Attack: 14 Damage: 11  plus 4 damage due to Divine Strike.

Not sure, attack maybe should be a/advantage since door is restrained?  *shrug*