Countessa nearly drops to her knees as the wave of fatigue washes over her, but despite all odds, she remains standing. She finds the will to cast another spell, a grey ray reaching out towards the vampire.
(ranged touch)
Now that Marrick wasn't an immediate concern, it was time to focus on Strahd. Inhaling deeply he took his holy symbol and held it in the Count's direction.
"Pharasma commands you to stay back foul spawn of Urgathoa!"
"Damion hacks away with increasing desperation...
"Countessa!!! What just happened to Theodora? Is there a way to dispel that fell magic?", Petracleus continues to encourage his friends even whilst striking forward with his rapier.
"I have no means to dispel the effect!" Countessa shouts back. "It's all I can do to inflict damage!"
Round 3
Verran holds out his holy symbol, ordering Strahd to stand back. The Count sneers at him, but does not move toward him.
With a mighty blow, Daimon strikes Strahd in the back with his greatsword, finally penetrating the Count's invisible armor. The Count's blood is strangely crimson: darker than than the blood of most men. He grunts in apparent pain.
While Strahd is distracted, Countessa conjures a ray of positive energy, which strikes him. The Count's flesh sizzles slightly where the ray hit.
Petracleus also manages to skewer the vampire with his rapier, but the blade comes out clean... as if the strike had no real effect on him!
At that, Celowyn lets fly an arrow which strikes Strahd in the shoulder. He winces at the hit, but then casually pulls out the arrow and lets it drop to the floor.
Ireena reloads her crossbow and fires again, but the hits the chandelier before careening off harmlessly.
Round 3
...success
A look of true anger crosses your erstwhile host's face, and he spits, "As you reject my hospitality, I withdraw it." He gestures toward the dining table and utters a single arcane word of power. A sickly yellow mist appears over the table, descending on the food laid out for you. The malodorous stench of rotting flesh and spoiled fruit suddenly permeates the room.
"I will take my leave for now. When we next meet, things will go poorly for you."
Strahd grasps Merrick's immobile shoulder and utters another word of power. Both he and Merrick shimmer out of existence and are gone.
After a few more seconds, Theodora starts coughing violently, then takes a long gasp of air. She opens her eyes and sits up.
Glancing at the table that had momentarily been laden with a delectable feast, you see now that the meat is green and crawling with worms; the fruit and vegetables are putrescent; the wine is rancid; and the bread is black with mold. The stench of decay is stomach-turning.
As Theodora awakens, she immediately sits up and grabs her falchion. "Did you kill it?" She asks with confusion, then lays a hand on herself to heal some of the damage wrought by Strahd's magic.
Damion holds his sword ready while glowering about, "Where'd he go? Does anyone see him?"
"He used a dimension door, a minor form of teleportation. And worry not, the food was safe. He simply cast a spell to putrefy it."
[dice=Spellcraft]1d20+13
[dice=Spellcraft]1d20+13"He used a dimension door, a minor form of teleportation. And worry not, the food was safe. He simply cast a spell to putrefy it."
"Crap."
A quizzical look across his face, Petracleus is troubled as he examines his weapon..
...Strahd hardly noticed when I struck him - this is a formidable foe...
...and then he comes to his senses, "Merrick... he's taken Merrick!!!"
"Oh no, not poor Merrick! I tried to save him from whatever horrid fate that monster had in store for him." Theodora laments as she stands up and coughs the last bits of necromancy left in her lungs. "We need to find him and that talisman thing quickly. Does anyone have a wand that heals per chance? I can heal myself, but using it all up now seems like a bad idea."
Petracleus shakes his head sadly as Theodora asks about wands, "I fear we may have underestimated our opponent... I have no healing to offer you - I don't know about my friends? Maybe Verran could offer up a prayer..."
When Celowyn tries to put a positive light on the situation, it is all Petracleus can do to offer a thin smile...
"We need to rest and recover, and we need a safe place to do so. Some place with only one entrance or exit."
You all take stock of your position...
You're in the dining room. There is a door that leads east back out into the hallway. A beautiful yet imposing-looking pipe organ dominates the western wall. The banquet table that had been laid out with a delicious feast is now thoroughly spoiled with Strahd's magic, and both looks and smells revolting.
From outside, there is a flash of lightning and a more distant-sounding roll of thunder.
"Could you assist me with some healing, Verran?" Theodora asks the cleric with some hope in her voice.
Damion will take a look around...
...ineffectively.
Exhausted by Strahd’s spells and with the hideous smell of the rotting food coming from the table, Petracleus is less than his normal jovial self, ”Verran… have you any healing for Theodora? I have some limited magicks… but it would be better to keep those until we may need them”
Verran, despite being a bit distant, eventually nods and starts intoning a prayer to the lady of graves for healing. Knowing it won't be enough, he then reaches for the wand at his hip.
"Thank you Verran! I feel much better now." Theodora says warmly to the cleric as he heals her injuries. She then looks to the others, "Do you want to rest or press on immediately? I can cure Damion and Celowyn's fatigue now if we aren't going to rest."
"I'd rather face Strahd with a full complement of spells," Countessa says, stretching.
Verran's prayers to the Mother of Souls are granted, channeling mystical life-force into Theodora, healing her wounds.
Celowyn spies a set of pipes in the organ that appear a bit different than the others... and realizes that they're fake decorations hiding a secret door to the west.
The stink of rot from the putrefied food fills the room; even moving toward the walls doesn't really get away from it. Resting in this room will be unpleasant due to the smell alone. You hope that the stench won't attract anything that might like the taste of rotting flesh...
As she waits for Verran to use his healing wand, Theodora says to the others, "I can remove the fatigue from Damion and Celowyn if you want to push forward now. Taking a break is fine with me also, but I don't think we should wait until daybreak though, he's bound to start sending his minions up here after a short while."
"Indeed... we have precious little time before we will once more have company... and every second we delay, the less our chance of rescuing Merrick from whatever plan our duplicitous host has for him"
Seeing Celowyn linger near the organ, "What do you see? Has Strahd perchance left his sheet music behind? Hmmm... despite his other many failings, the Count does at least have exquisite taste in music"
"Let me have a look. It would be like that vermin to set a trap."
"Looks all right. Let me see if I can get it open"
"Thank you so much, Verran." Theodora says with gratitude to the cleric. She then lightly touches Damion and Celowyn, removing their fatigue, "Let's see what's behind that door."
”If we wait the night out then Merrick is gone”, Petracleus is rather too abrupt responding to Celowyn… his tone makes it clear that he is not willing to debate this point and that action is required now…
…having said that, the musician in him cannot resist a quick look to see whether the sheet music for Strahd’s pieces are lying around.
Petracleus: There are several sets of sheet music on the stand before the keyboard, hand-written on parchment. You take a moment to examine them. Two of them are in an early music notiation that dates back to the Taldan Armies of Exploration Era; the other two are in modern notation. You quickly determine that they are indeed the four pieces that Strahd had been playing earlier. You're pretty sure this sheet music would be extremely valuable to the right collector.
The secret door in the organ opens to a narrow passageway to the west leading into darkness. Stepping through the passage, you find yourselves in a bare room with stone walls, 20 feet wide and long, with a 10-foot ceiling. Dust and cobwebs cover the walls and floor. This room seems to have once been a defensive position within the castle's walls: you can see many narrow arrow slits that look out to the outer courtyard. The wind blows some of the rain into the room. A side chamber to the north likewise has arrow slits with a decent view of the entrance to the castle. A narrow archway leads south.
Following the corridor (darkvision).
Verran follows along, mouthing silent prayers to the Lady of Graves as he walks. Though he couldn't say it then, the Pharasman was not intending to come to the castle on Strahd's terms. They weren't ready to face him and weren't able to make the necessary preparations. At least now they had some idea of his abilities so the next encounter might go better.
If no one else provides a light source, Theodora pulls a sunrod out of her backpack and ignites it. Wanting to keep both hands free for her still drawn falchion, she tucks it into her belt.
With a look of steely determination, she takes up a position near the front, but far enough behind Damion to prevent immediately giving away his position with her light.
The corridor to the south leads to a round room, about 30 feet in diameter, with a domed ceiling 30 feet above your heads. Tall, thin arrow slits look out over the courtyard.
Frescoes, faded with age, adorn the ceiling, but they are so covered with cobwebs that you cannot make out what they represent. Another web-choked corridor heads to the east.
Drawn longsword in her right hand, Ireena looks around the room.
"This place just keeps getting creepier."
"I have a very bad feeling about this," Countessa breathes quietly.
Having, with some reverence for such ancient pieces, rolled up the parchment music and stored it in his pack, Petracleus follows his companions along the corridor to the domed room...
Whispering, he points out the frescoes and muses what they may have once depicted...
"...or lighting the place on fire."
"If anything is in the corridor, I'll try to lure it out here." Theodora offers, heading into the hallway and swinging her falchion through the webs unless someone stops her.
Drawing his swords, Petracleus follows Theodora... Peering into the darkness, he looks for signs of movement.
...these cobwebs came from somewhere... from something...