Reaction

Neutral
Anyone wearing a Thanatar talisman or blemish

Hostile
Everyone else

Friendly
Cannot be converted to Friendly status, but a Thanatari DreamQuester could conceivably pick it up and use it in the next encounter!

You have several ways of defeating the spirit. Perhaps the most obvious is to reduce it to zero magic points. If you want to cast any spells (such as Spirit Screen or Spirit Block ), you will need to make a concentration roll (INT x 3) first.

Simply destroying the head is not enough; to release the malign spirit within you'll also need to utter the Lhankor Mhy head smashing ritual... if you know it. It takes exactly one melee round to recite the ritual in full.

Every round of the combat one line of the ritual will appear on the north wall. It is written in your native tongue. To read a line, you must succeed in a Read Own Language roll. You can have as many attempts as you like to understand a line. At the end of six rounds, the whole ritual will be displayed on the wall, and will remain until either you or the ghost is defeated:
 
 

You will get an experience check if you manage to read a full line, even though this normally isn't allowed for Knowledge-based skills.

Once you have pronounced the ritual, match the ghost's Magic Points with your own. If you fail to overcome it, subtract a Magic Point and try again next round. It will keep on attacking you until you succeed.

A final way to banish the Mad-Head ghost is to use the Daka Fal Free Ghost spell.

Melee Sequence

1. Make Statement of Intent.
2. Resolve Spirit Combat....remember, if you intend to cast a spell, you must make a concentration roll.
3. Resolve other actions, eg. reading the inscriptions on the wall, reciting the ritual, crushing the head, etc.