"Not an artist, but my work does require I keep detailed notes and draw -," Mak'ral Blackroot begins to explain through the door to Marrin. But he stops abruptly as the door swings off its hinges and bangs into the wall.

The gray haired orc looks at Jan and Marrin, looking them both up and down, and then nods and gives a short stiff bow.

"Thank the heavens," Mak'ral says. "Let's get out of here before they come back."

He jams the book he had in his hands into the pouch at his waist and steps out into the hallway.

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Downstairs, Avaria pulls the covers off the creepy sucking mirror and the third mirror as well. Not being able to see the surface of the third mirror, she's not sure if it's similar to the first or not.

The two noxious gas spewing zombies find themselves staring straight at the first mirror. They appear to momentarily resist the supernatural pull but the suddenly, they're both sucked across the room, and disappear into the mirror itself.

Unfortunately, as that happens, whiffs of the green gas follow along with them and cause Ula, Soren and Avaria to gag on the miasmic vapours. Both Soren and Ula cough a couple of times but the fits pass quickly.

(Avaria - DC 13 CON Save vs Poison or take 4HP Poison Damage - there's not enough gas to cause damage on a failed save)

Through the doorway, Ethel can see a two other zombies making their way up the stairs but can't see either of the animated trees.

Zombies use their turn to get from where ever they were to the top of the stairs, with two more right behind them. At this point none of them appear to have seen their reflection in the mirror.

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Party is up.

Marrin looks at the door lying on the floor then over to Jan, she looks like she is about to say something but instead shifts to look at the orc,

"I think we'd best stay up here for the moment while our friends handle the zombies. Tell me more about your occupation? Oh, and are you any good with a crossbow?"

((Can Marrin see the entrance to the tower?))

 (CON save 22)

"Whoa!" Avaria can't help but exclaim as the zombies disappear within the mirror.  She knew that was theoretically what was supposed to happen, but see it in action... she coughs on the gas a bit, but it doesn't get into her lungs.  

Seeing more coming up the stairs, she pulls out one of her remaining javelins and readies an action to throw it at a zombie that appears to resist getting sucked into the mirror.  

Attack if needed: 26, Damage: 7

"I'm a botanist," Mak'ral says. He looks at the two of them and then over at the one who appears to have taken the door off the hinges and makes some assumptions then adds. "That's someone who studies plants. But perhaps we could discuss that once we're out of the tower."

He nods at mention of the crossbow.

------------------------------------------------

Avaria can ready her javelin and stay safe from the mirrors by keeping behind them. Though, being the warrior that she is, she knows that's going to make it harder to hit the zombies as the mirrors will provide them with some cover.

Marrin would need to go most of the way down the stairs to see the entrance.

Ethel, Marrin and Jan are up.

Marrin will pass Mak her crossbow and bolts as she continues, with mild amusement,

"Oh, is that what that means! I would have guessed you studied bottles or something."

As she finishes the hand-off,

"Only shoot zombies and rotting, walking trees. Everyone else is with us."

She'll then start creeping down the stairs until she can almost see the entrance (but no one in the entrance can see her).

((Guessing that's all her actions used up.))

Jan's eyes scan the room, dismissing the possibility of something of value that the imprisoned plant nerd wasn't already aware of or carrying.

"Your expertise in plants extend to the kind that walk around and are half dead?", Jan asks, moving along with Marrin, but keeping an eye on Mak and his newly acquired crossbow. Marrin'd hate to have to include a verse about how she gave the crossbow to the guy who shot her in the back of the head...

((Assuming she's not able to get visual on the entrance, are there any arrowslits or the like that would give vantage down to the gathering forces?)

Ethel grips her walking stick tighter and makes a sound that is equal parts triumphant and exasperated as the zombies breach the door and the first two are sucked into the mirror.

She moves behind the mirror that seems to be working as intended, calling out to the incoming zombies.  "Right here, little ones.  Come right in and join us," she says, tapping on the backside of the mirror.  Then, for good measure, she fires off a cantrip at the nearest zombie.

chill touch

Spell Attack:  27  Necrotic Damage:  9

Jan has access to one narrow window in this part of the stairwell. It looks over where the webbing captured a number of zombies. She sees two still stuck in the web, but she can't see around to the main entrance of the tower.

Ethel's spectral hand easily navigates the zombie's clumsy attempts to avoid it and the already diseased skin withers even further, leaving black splotches on the zombie's shoulder.

Ula raises her hands and brings them down quickly in the direction of the same zombie. Intense, divine light blasts down from the sky, searing the remaining flesh. The zombie looks about ready to fall apart under the affects of gravity alone.

Soren looks like he's about to take his rapier and charge in at the zombie, but then he glances at the mirrors, and pulls out a dagger and throws it as well. Changing his mind mid attack causes his aim to be truly awful. The dagger flies off, almost 90 degrees off course. Had Avaria been standing a little closer she would probably have been hit.

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Jan's still up, and Avaria can let her readied action go as neither of the two newcomers have looked at the mirror yet.

They may not be an immediate concern, but they'll be an eventual one, so Jan takes advantage of Ethel 's spell to take a shot at the nearest of the pair. 

Eldritch Blast Attack: 17 Damage: 10

Eldritch Blast Attack: 21 Damage: 6

((First to hit also does 3 bludgeoning.))

(Ava doesn't let her javelin go - she only has 2 and if they do disappear she can't get it back.  Thanks though)

Jan takes her time lining up the nearest of the web stuck zombies and watches as the first and then second blast rip the creature to shreds. As it collapses into the webbing, green gas erupts upwards before drifting off with the wind.

Avaria, not wanting to risk knocking over a mirror lowers her javelin.

The first two zombies at the entrance step further into the room. The first one ignores the mirrors, having spotted those that attacked and pushes forward. It swings its clumsy arms at Avaria, missing her completely, while at the same time it exhales an acrid, noxious gas outwards in a cone of poison (both Avaria and Ethel need to roll a DC13 CON Save vs Poison - 3 HP poison damage on a failed save, 1 if make it).

The other zombie though, the one barely hanging together can't keep its head up and finds itself staring straight into the body sucking mirror. In one instant the zombie is there, in the next its gone.

The next two zombies clamber their way into the tower, the first immediately spots its reflection in the same mirror and also gets sucked into it. The other spots people and has more interest in them. It beeline for Ula, slamming its arms at her and connects solidly with the dwarf. Like the other one, a cloud of green gas spews forth. Ula doesn't even cough as her strong dwarven constitution shrugs off the effect of the poison. But Soren gags and coughs as he manages to inhale at the same time the gas catches him.

Two more zombie come up the stairs and get to the entrance.

Upstairs, Mak'ral raises an eyebrow at the sounds of fighting from down the stairs.

"Are their more of you down there?" he asks, sliding a bolt into the crossbow.

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Party's up. Two zombies are in the doorway. Two zombies have gotten past the mirrors - one in melee with Avaria and one in melee with Ula, though within melee range of Soren. Ethel is just out of melee range for now. And four zombies have disappeared, apparently into the mirror. Wonder how many can fit? Outside the tower, Jan can still see one zombie struggling in the webbing.

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CON:  17

Ethel coughs and waves away the foul gasses [Losing 1 of her Temp HP].

Then, being outside melee, she rips off another clawed, spectral hand at the nearest zombie.

Spell Attack:  15  Necrotic Damage:  6

"Who in the Nine Hells of Baator are you girls talking to up there?" she hollers over her shoulder at Jan and Marrin.

Marrin yells down to Ethel,

"A fancy orc named Mak, he's into bottles. Nothing on him looks to be rotting."

Then over her shoulder to Mak, sarcastically,

"Would I tell you there were more of us just for the fun of it? Go shoot a zombie."

Marrin will hunker down until she can just see into the room and yells to the first visible zombie,

"It's surprising that this smell is actually an improvement for you!"

vicious mockery DC 16 wisdom save or 6 damage

If she can get to where she can join in the fight below, Jan will continue down the stairs and take some shots at a zombie. K will fly close to the ceiling and find somewhere to perch and give her a report of what she cannot see.

Eldritch Blast Attack: 23 Damage: 6

Eldritch Blast Attack: 16 Damage: 13

((First to hit gets additional +3 bludgeoning.))

Ethel's ghostly floating hand again grabs hold of the nearest foul smelling zombie (the one in melee with Avaria) and grips tightly. Black, festering blotches appear under the hands touch and the zombie roars out angrily. Just as it finishes roaring, it looks up at the sound of Marrin's insult. It's difficult to say whether the zombie understood the meaning of what Marrin said, but it's clear that understood the intent and sags noticeably under the vicious taunting.

Jan's double barreled eldritch blasting continues to be effective. No matter how resilient these creatures might be to permanently dying, this second one that was in melee with Ula, can't fight it's way through all the crackling energy and collapses on to the ground and ceases to move. But as it does, a cloud of green vapour explodes upwards from the corpse and engulfs Ula. The dwarf coughs a few times and swallows hard. There was just too much of it for her to avoid feeling at least some of the effects.

K flies near the ceiling, looking for somewhere to land. He spots the three mirrors below and wonders if one of those would work. The really shiny one looks interesting.

----------------------------------------------

Avaria is still up, and can K' roll a d20 please.

K: 10

(Sorry about the delay!)

CON save: 16

"Hey thanks!" Ava yells back to whoever is attacking this zombie that is in front of her.  But as she swings her greatsword (twice! Attacks 10 & 9) she misses both times and screams out in frustration.  

(guess you didn't need to wait for her after all!  sheesh!)

Avaria can roll her damage dice for those attacks. These may be special poison gas spewing zombies but their AC is still  regular zombie. 

Unfortunately K finds the allure of the mirrors too much to not just take a quick peek. And to be fair, no one told the little dust devil about what could happen when they look.

One moment K is in the room. The next, after catching sight of their own reflection, they’re gone.

Damage for the first attack: 12 (the second was a nat 1)