Squiffy Ghast

When the moon waxes terrible, aethereal harmonies begin to cascade through the hollow grottos of the Cove and out into the surrounding environs, haunting the dreams of any and all who dwell nearby with visions of mossy crevices and the unspeakable horrors of the sea. In the comfort of bright candlelight, mariners speak of briny corpses rising from the depths and taking up a barnacled bow to draw out faded memories of revelries long since past. In these melodies there is no joy or reverie to be found, only madness and death. To sing and dance along to the tune of the tottering Squiffy Ghast is to quicken the heart to bursting and forsake all attachment to wholesome, surface-dwelling life. What fate then, for those hapless souls whose ill-charted course leads them to dance forever in the aphotic shadows.

Once the Squiffy Ghast was a crew member of the Crew of Smugglers who worked for the Ancestor. Playing merry sea shanties on his fiddle as they travelled the globe for the Ancestor in search of idols, ancient manuscripts and other items of more darker nature. This particular crew was the Ancestor’s favourite, until they began asking for too much money to keep quiet. So the Ancestor decided to arrange "alternative" payment, in the form of a cursed anchor that dragged them and their ship to the bottom of the sea. The curse that the Ancestor had placed on their anchor would not let them die, forcing them to relive their final moments again and again, chained and drowning for eternity.

Somehow the Squiffy Ghast succeeded in escaping the cursed anchor's chains, but the curse has left its mark. The Squiffy Ghast was now a ghostly being cursed with undeath, the only comfort he had left was his trusty fiddle and his love for music. In the deepest and darkest parts of The Cove, the Ghast wanders around the caverns, constantly playing its fiddle accompanied by a limitless liquor supply. Any adventurer who encounters the Ghast risks being driven to insanity by hearing its cursed music, and it’s said that those who dance to its tune are doomed to dancing with it forever.

Behavior
The Squiffy Ghast starts battles off in the back ranks. Its first turn it will use Maddening Shanty to move itself to the front. On its next turn it will use Offkilter Jig to send itself to the backlines. However, Offkilter Jig also inflicts Horror on your heroes. This is a unique status that works like Blight and Bleed, but deals 5 Stress damage for the next 4 rounds.

If there are only two enemies left on the field, including Squiffy Ghast himself, he will only use Maddening Shanty. This attack is guaranteed to target the Jester if you have one in your team.

Spawning
The Squiffy Ghast only appears in Champion level dungeons in the Cove.

Related Enemies
Cove: The Pelagics
 * Pelagic Grouper
 * Pelagic Shaman
 * Pelagic Guardian
 * Sea Maggot
 * Deep Stinger
 * Uca Major

Bosses
 * Siren

Cove: The Drowned
 * Drowned Thrall

Bosses
 * Drowned Crew
 * Drowned Anchorman

Trivia

 * Squiffy Ghast's attacks are programmed to move him forward and back 4 positions. This is despite only requiring to move 3 positions to always end up in the first and fourth positions after executing each move respectively.


 * Maddening Shanty is the only attack in the game which is programmed to target a specific hero class, the Jester, exclusively if you have him in your team.


 * There is the "Mine Goes to 11" achievement for killing a Squiffy Ghast with a Jester.