Rodrigo allowed everyone to get comfortable moving through the dark as he slowly lead them forward, it was interesting, it was there but not there, speaking softly he tried to describe what he saw as he lead them forward.

Tom is the next to last to go.  Letting someone who might be able to see in this darkness go last.

For awhile, the natural tunnel, which Gierdon identifies as a lava tube, continues on, only curving slightly to left or right. It's high enough that Mort doesn't have to duck to walk down it.

You've gone maybe 500-600 feet when you come to a door. In Rodrigo's magical light, it's hard to tell what the door is made of but it looks like bronze. It's set into a circular wall that spans the tunnel wall to wall and floor to ceiling. There's not visible means of anchor to the walls, though.

The oddest thing about the door, however, is the wheel set into the middle of it.

"I've never seen a door like this before," Gierdon says when it's his turn to examine the door. "Heard of them, though. It's said to be used to keep water out. Or in, I guess, in this case. Doesn't mean the other side is flooded."

"From what Umbro has said, I don't think that's the case here. I mean... why would the library be under water?"

"The wheel is attached to 2 to 4 bars on the other side... or maybe inside the door depending on how thick it is. As you spin the wheel, the bars retract from the wall until the door can be opened."

"If there's water on the other side, we should start to see it leaking through before the bars are completely disengaged... as long as we don't do it all at once."

"These were once lava tubes, but that door, unless it's been magically enhanced, wouldn't keep out lava. It'd still feel warm to the touch, though. I ain't feeling any heat."

He waits to see if anyone else has any comments before he tries to spin the wheel and open the door.

Tom doesn't have a reply to Gierdon and so remains quiet as he listens for sounds and tries to guard the party's collective back as they decide what to do next.

"Interesting insight, Gierdon," Umbro comments.

"If there was water behind it, it'd feel cool to the touch... probably. Otherwise, it's be the same temperature of the ambient air around us, especially over such a long period of time."

"Does make me wonder what the point of it is. I suppose there could be some sort of alarm on the other side. Maybe just spinning the wheel makes a noise that anyone on the other side can hear."

"That's a good point, too, Umbro," Anya says.

"If what's behind the door isn't hot nor is it cold, maybe it's alive! Maybe there's some sort of creature behind there... kind of like a guard dog."

"It would certainly explain why some of the adventuring parties never returned."

"Aaron, Elwood, and Mort! Get ready!"

"I'm always ready!" Aaron emphasizes. "Bring it on! This damnable tunnel traipsing is starting to get on my nerves!"

"I need something to fight!"

Even as Gierdon begins to spin the wheel, you can hear a faint noise coming from the door. After a second or so, it sounds like scratching on the door.

And then the door starts to swing open toward you... as the zombies start swarming through the opening!

Rodrigo offers a few curses in elven "Zombies coming through the door." he mutters after, as he steps forward with his blade striking out at the nearest one.

---

OOC: Attack with Blade (missing by a wide margin I'd guess), hitroll of a 4 for 6 damage.


14:10, Today: Rodrigo rolled 4,6 using d20+1,d8+1 with rolls of 3,5.  strike with my blade.

"Ha! Maybe there are gods after all," Aaron said, "since one of them just answered my prayer!"

He steps forward and attacks a zombie with the intent of keeping them bottled up until the others are ready and can get into position.

16:41, Today: Aaron Gray rolled 10,4 using 1d20+3,1d8+3 ((7,1)).

Yikes! I think Rodrigo broke the dice roller! Only slightly better than Rodrigo, but still not a hit... unless they zombies are AC 9. Don't think they are that feeble. Damage would have been feeble anyway.

Who's up next?

THIS is what he lived for!Not just attack the enemy, not just attacking evil, but destroying undead!

It only took a step to put him in position to bring his sword down upon a zombie's head as he activated the sword's flame with the words "Flame on!"


16:54, Today: Elwood rolled 25,8 using 1d20+7,1d8+6 ((18,2)).

That hit. Probably didn't destroy it, though.

Although the door was a bit wider than a normal door (if there was such a thing), with Rodrigo, Aaron and Elwood already attacking the zombies, there was no room for Anya to move up and join the fray. On the other hand, there seemed to be enough zombies to go around.

She'd be one of the backups in case any zombie slipped past the others. She'd also strike at one if the opportunity presented itself.

Rodrigo misses with his zombie attack and Aaron just barely misses, but Elwood easily hits and his attack destroys the zombie.

The zombies attack back but all three miss.

15:27, Today: Mysterion rolled 9,3,2 using 1d20+1,1d20+1,1d20+1 ((8,2,1)).

Because Rodrigo, Aaron and Elwood are all attacking the zombies. the zombies can't move past them. Only range attacks from anyone else can hit them.

Rodrigo tries to direct the others attacks while he defends off the zombies himself "Three at a time, perhaps fire high over our head." he all but shouts to the others as he parry's a blow from a zombie and snaps his blade back at them.

---

OOC: Should be a hit for 2 Damage...


15:01, Today: Rodrigo rolled 15,2 using d20+1,d8+1 with rolls of 14,1.  longsword.

Rodrigo has no problem hitting a zombie this time but he doesn't do enough damage to destroy the zombie.

The light from Rodgrio's magic lantern at least lets you see to attack them. The darkness doesn't seem to bother the zombies, though, probably because they don't actually 'see' opponents but sense them instead.

The firs three attack back but all miss.

Elwood swings again at the zombie he was facing. He'd hit the first time, but it took more damage to destroy one. You could just kill them because they were already dead! You had to destroy them to disrupt the magical necromancy that was animating them.

Plague zombies were another matter. Fortunately, these didn't appear to be that kind.

16:07, Today: Elwood rolled 10,9 using 1d20+7,1d8+4 ((3,5)).

Must not be much there to stab--he keeps missing!

 Anneth whips her wand from her hip and fires it.  If possible, she will "spread" the discharge to strike three zombies at once...

Wand of magic missiles at the zombies, Hoss!
00:28, Today: Anneth Mage-Singer rolled 17 using 3d6+3 ((6,3,5)).

Rodrigo missed his first attack, but hit with his second. It just wasn't enough to destroy the zombie.

Then Aaron missed.

Only Elwood hit with his first attack. The flame from his sword may have been the deciding factor in destroying the zombie.

He missed with his second attack.

Anneth then used her wand, and has no problem hitting three different zombies with her 3 magic missiles. She manages to destroy one of them, and then hits the one Rodrigo had damage, and destroys that one. Her third missile hits the one that moved up to attack Elwood and that he missed. It's just enough damage to prevent it from attacking Elwood this round.

There are still nine more to go. Fortunately, because they are slow, they can't move forward enough this round to attack Aaron and Rodrigo.

Mista was quite... frustrated... at the moment. Deep down inside, she knew she needed more experience and perhaps greater wisdom, but she felt nearly useless right now.

She could attempt to turn these zombies, but she couldn't destroy them yet. So, they'd just turn away... and then they'd have to fight them again in some other room.

She didn't have any spells that could hurt them... well, a Cure spell could, but she'd rather hold off on using them to help her companions.

Without a range weapon with which to attack them, she also couldn't get close enough to attack with her dagger because the fighters were all up front.

Thus, the frustration! She who waits also serves, she mentally repeated the mantra of her order. There will come a time...

She took a head count of the zombies while she waited, though.

"I'm counting 9 more zombies!" she called out to the others. "You've destroyed 3 of them, so keep fighting! The rest of us have your back!"

He had to remind himself not to get too anxious and step forward to attack the next zombie. He wasn't sure, but he thought that might make him vulnerable to additional attacks. Right now, they had the zombies in a bottleneck. Only three could come at them at the same time.

So, he waited for the next one to step forward... and attacked!

17:17, Today: Aaron Gray rolled 8,10 using 1d20+2,1d8+3 ((6,7)).

Oh, Fudge! Another miss! Hopefully, that'll let someone else get a GOOD roll.

"What the heck is it with these zombies that makes them so hard to hit?" he lamented at his bad swing. "Did we get cursed or something? Oh. Maybe it's the odd light we have to attack by. Yeah, that must be it!"

14:36, Today: Anneth Mage-Singer rolled 12 using 3d6+3 ((5,1,3)).
Blastin' zombies.

Anneth fires her wand once again, not discriminating as to which zombie is struck by her missiles...

Tom continues to watch out for the party's back as they deal with the zombies in the front.  It would be pointless to try and fire his bow over the heads of his friends and hit them instead of the zombies.

Although he wasn't in the front line, he SHOULD have been! That made him feel a bit frustrated, but then he realized that he could attack over top of the others.

11:23, Today: Mort, rolled 15,9 using 1d20+6,1d10+6 ((9,3)).

Pretty sure his hammer just squashed another zombie!

He refrained from giving any kind of war cry just in case his booming voice would carry farther ahead and alert some living guardian. That made the battle rather eerie since the zombies didn't say anything.

As long as the zombies kept coming, Elwood would keep attacking them. Fortunately, there was an end in sight... he hoped.

11:31, Today: Elwood rolled 20,8 using 1d20+7,1d8+4 ((13,4)).

Hopefully, that's another destroyed zombie!

The zombies were slow, so as long as he was able to smash one, it didn't get a chance to attack him!