Countessa responds by sending a crossbow bolt for the painting.
With a growl, Damion will dash back up the stairs.
Theodora moves up to the aggressive artwork and slashes at it with her falchion. Despite it being attached to the wall, she still somehow misses it.
Following Theodora's lead, Petracleus sighs and flicks his blade towards the painting,
That today finds me destroying such artistry...
Verran, for the moment, does his best to stay out of the painting's line of sight. For the moment he's fairly sure that his friends can handle it.
...hell yeah!
...Hit!
...fails
Monster Status:
Painting: hp 26/30
Rug: hp 36/36
Round 1, continued
Petracleus moves forward to stab the suddenly-animated painting, but finds that the canvas is preternatuarally strong, and the point of his rapier barely scratches it.
Countess moves into the room and lets fly a crossbow bolt, and finds the same thing: The bolt bounces harmlessly off the canvas.
Celowyn fires an arrow from her enchanted longbow, and the arrow embeds into the painting with a resounding *THUD*. A trickle of red flud begins to drip down the canvas.
Theodora moves in to to slash at it, but stumbles on the loose rug, and her blade clangs clumsily against the stone wall.
After falling down the stairs, Daimon picks himself up and heads back up, making it to the top of the staircase.
With no room to get close enough to attack the painting, Ireena and Verran hold their actions and watch.
Round 2
The painting casts another spell, this time at Petracleus.
At roughly the same time, the rug Petracleus and Theodora are standing upon animates, and envelops Theodora! It wraps extremely tightly around her, including her face, and the paladin suddenly finds herself unable to breathe! It then sqeezes her tightly, crushing her.
Undeterred by the animated rug grabbing her, Theodora holds her breath and slashes at it with her falchion.
"Nine hells!" Countessa shouts, drawing her wand again. She fires off two more magic missiles at the painting.
Wand of Magic Missiles: 42 charges
...a cold ice grips Petracleus, holding him where he stands...
Quickly realizing that she cannot use her falchion, Theodora drops it, draws her cold iron flail, and attacks the carpet
...hit
...fails to penetrate hardness
...miss
...hit
...success
...fail
...fail
Monster status
Painting: hp 22/30
Rug: hp 19/36
Round 2, continued
Petracleus is ensorcelled by the spell cast by the image within the painting, and freezes in place.
Countessa pulls out a wand and uses it to fire two magical bolts of energy at the painting. The canvas of the painting splits slightly where the bolts impact, and a red liquid starts to seep from the crack.
Celowyn fires more arrows at the painting, but has a hard time targeting it with so many of her friends in front of it. Her shots bounce harmlessly off the wall.
Wrapped tightly in the enveloping rug, Theodora can't maneuver her falchion, and manages to get hold of her flail. The spikes of the flail tear slightly at the rug.
Daimon then rushes in to help free Theodora, slashing at the rug with his greatsword. While he does manage to cut the thing, his blade also cuts into his friend.
Likewise, Ireena moves in to help Daimon, cutting at the rug. Again, she cuts through the magical construct but damages Theodora slightly in the process.
Verran casts a spell at Petracleus, granting him a sliver of Pharasma's wisdom to overcome adversity.
Round 3
The painting casts another spell, this time at Celowyn. Celowyn's movements slow for a moment, but she manages to shake off the effects.
The rug enveloping Theodora squeezes her tighter, but does not success in pinning her or squeezing out air from her lungs.
Damion will attempt to aid Theodora in getting free of her rugponant.
Theodora heals herself with a touch, drops her flail, draws her dagger, and attacks the rug again.
Not seeing any other way to help, Verran says a short prayer an brings a spectral dagger into existance next to the rug smothering the Paladin.
Countessa throws two more magic missiles at the painting.
Wand of magic missile: 41 charges
Still frozen to the spot, Petracleus can only watch as his friends struggle against the malevolent furniture of this place...
...hit
...success
...fails
...success; pushes her back 10 feet.
x10 feet: 50
...fails
Monster status
Painting: hp 13/30
Rug: hp 19/36
Round 3, Continued
Petracleus finds his body still frozen in place, and that all he can move is his eyes. He desperately forces his limbs to move, but to no avail.
Countessa fires two more magic missiles at the painting. Both impact into the canvas, cracking the paint, showing the canvas below. More red fluid seeps from where the missiles hit, streaking down the surface of the painting.
Celowyn fires more arrows at the painting. One arrow sticks into the canvas, causing more red to seep down its surface. The other bounces off harmlessly.
Theodora first summons the healing power of the Dawnflower to restore some of her own vitality. She then tries to cut at the carpet trying to suffocate her with her dagger, but the writhing tapestry prevents her from angling the blade into it.
Ireena sheathes her sword and assists Daimon with with trying to free Theodora from the animated carpet. Between the two of them, they manage to pull the fabric away from Theodora's face, allowing her to breathe for the moment.
Verran speaks a prayer to Pharasma, and the Lady of Graves sends a spiritual holy weapon to aid the fight. He turns the blade to the animated rug, but it is unable to land a solid cut.
Round 4
The rug attenpts to cover Theodora's face again, but between her own struggles and her friends' efforts, it does not. It does, however, continue to squeeze her, crushing her.
The image in the painting looks alarmed, and moves within the painting to peer around the streaks of red that now cover the surface... as if it's looking through a window. It casts another spell, this time at Celowyn. Celowyn feels an invisible force slam into her, knocking her back ten feet... and onto the spiral stairs. She tumbles down the steep and uneven steps, crashing against the walls and risers, and ends up 50 feet below the landing before she catches herself.
With her efforts trying to destroy the rug resulting in little accomplished, Theodora instead attempts to escape the high thread count prison.
She then uses Lay on Hands to heal herself further.
With her efforts trying to destroy the rug resulting in little accomplished, Theodora instead attempts to escape the high thread count prison.
Countessa says nothing, but the look of determination on her face is telling. She fires again from the wand.
Wand of magic missile: 40 charges
Increasingly panicked at his inability to move his limbs, Petracleus can only watch...
Verran directs the conjured dagger to continue it's attack while readying his own weapons in case other threats emerge.
...success
...fails
..hit
Monster status
Painting: hp 4/30
Rug: hp 2/36
Round 4, continued
His fear increasing, Petracleus struggles to regain control of his own body, to no avail.
Countessa fires more magic missiles at the painting, and they affect it as before. The painting is starting to look like it's in very rough shape, and the image within seems very worried indeed.
Celowyn picks herself up from her sprawl down the stairs, spits out a cracked tooth, and wipes the blood from her face. She then rises and starts climbing back up the stairs.
With the assistance of Daimon and Ireena, Theodora tears the malevolent animated carpet from herself. It hovers a few inches in the air. She then uses the power of Sarenrae to heal herself.
The spiritual dagger of Pharasma then cuts into the rug, tearing another rip into it.
Round 5
Daimon has no sooner let go of the rug from pulling it away from Theodora, that it rushes at him! Dagger still in hand, Theodora quickly slashes at it as it flies at her friend, and she cuts a decent tear into it.
Despite its extremely tattered state, the rug envelops Daimon in much the same way it had enveloped the paladin, attempting to crush the life out of him.
Darting back and forth between the red streaks that seem to be hampering its view, the image in the painting casts a spell at Countessa. She feels her limbs get heavier...
With a supreme effort, Countessa shrugs off the magic, saying, "Not so easily, Strahd!"
She hefts the wand again and fires two more missiles into the painting.
Wand of magic missiles: 39 charges
Petracleus can feel his mind sinking backwards away from his body... almost as if he is a spectator on his own life...
"Get off of him you terrible thing!" Theodora lashes out verbally in a manner befitting a paladin as she attempts to pull the rug off of Damion.
#%** *^%#
He'll draw a dagger and try to cut the rug off
(flank, power attack)
#%^^%#!
Not thinking his mace will be much use against a rug, Verran instead decides it might be wise to get more information about the animated room decoration.
Round 5, continued
Petracleus begins to panic as he continues to be a prisoner in his own body.
Countessa fires more magic missles from her wand at the painting. Both impact the painting, cracking the canvas and the frame. The painting shimmers, as if below the surface of a rippling pool of water, then the image of a young Strahd within silently screams. It moves back into the position you'd first seen it and freezes. It eyes, that had seemed alive, now become the artist's dabs of paint again. The frame cracks, and the painting itself falls from the wall to the floor.
Panting from exersion, Celowyn appears at the top of the stairs, and seeing Daimon now trapped in the rug, pulls a dagger to help cut him out.
Theodora, Daimon, and Ireena struggle to free him. While they manage to tear away some of the now-tattered strands of the rug, Daimon remains trapped.
The Lady of Graves herself finishes it: The mystical blade called by Verran slashes at the rug, and Daimon feels it relax around him. Its tattered remains fall to the floor.
**Combat Over**
As the now-inanimate and red-streaked painting falls to the floor, Petracleus feels the enchantment over him ebb, and he finds that he can move once again.
Verran examines the painting...
From here, there is a closed door leading west, the spiral staircase you had climbed that leads down, and another spiral staircase leading up. A noticable breeze blows down from the stairs above.
Theodora uses her personal healing on herself again, then looks to the others, "Anyone else need healing?"
Once everyone seems fine again, she looks to the western door, then the flight of stairs up. "Perhaps we should see whatever else is on this floor before moving up. Could you check the door, Damion?"
Slowly feeling returns to his limbs and Petracleus can move once more, almost sheepishly he shakes his head when Theodora asks about healing...
"All these nicks and scratches are starting to add up."
Countessa smiles at Theodora. "For a change, I avoided injury. I'm just glad that I was able to be of use in this fight!"
Theodora places a hand on Damion's shoulder and heals some of his injuries, "I hope that will do for now. Could you check the door here for any traps?"
"Thanks, sure I'll look..."
door
stairs
Verran focuses on the painting and then nods. "Pharasma has told me what this is. As you probably have guessed, this painting has alerted Strhad to our location. The spells it 'cast' were likely placed there some time ago."
Theodora calls the power of the Dawnflower to heal wounds on herself and on Daimon.
Turning his attention to the stairs leading up, Daimon does not detect any traps. He then checks the door leading west, and does not find any traps there, either.
He presses his ear to the door, and does not hear anything beyond it.