Quote from Flyingmatthew >>

 As already established (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/27661-dead-in-thay-game-thread?comment=1715) none of the mages have any keys

 (Yeah I know that part, I was just trying to RP a little.)

(On the whole going left thing, can't we go back from the Forests of Slaughter and go left that way?)

Quote from Awaypturwpn >>

Quote from Flyingmatthew >>

 As already established (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/27661-dead-in-thay-game-thread?comment=1715) none of the mages have any keys

 (Yeah I know that part, I was just trying to RP a little.)

(On the whole going left thing, can't we go back from the Forests of Slaughter and go left that way?)

 You only have glyph keys for The Forest of Recovery and The Forest of Death. So you can't go left back into the Ooze Grottos from the Forest of Illusion.

You have two paths both lead through the room with the Acidic Vapors. The red path leads you down to the Forest of Recovery and then you need to move through to the Forest of Death. The yellow path takes you directly to the Forest of Death. Once in the Forest of Death you have the two options as stated above. 

The White Gates are a defensive way to keep the denizens from wandering around the Doomvault (along with making it harder for intruders like you to get around).

"There's got to be something we're missing. How did these wizards get in here with no glyph keys? I say we contact Syranna and figure out how she was able to get us a glyph key. Where was the nearest contact stone? Back one room, through the acid vapours?" Eiren gets ready to travel through the vapors once again.

"At any rate, we'll have to go through there...unless we want to try and use the black gate here...? Still can't get my head around how those are supposed to work."

It looks like the only Contact Stone you have come across since entering the Ooze Grottos is in the room with the acidic vapors. (They aren't listed on the map). 

Part of the problem with the Black Gates is I don't quite understand them myself. I believe that you need a glyph key to the place you are traveling to. I am going to paste the text into the spoiler below so everyone can read it and see if the explanation makes more sense to someone else. 

Does anyone abject to either of Eiren's plans of action?

(fine with me)

(I think I understand. The black gate's "field" is that security-field-thing that threw me backwards when I tried to touch it, right? So if we have any glyph key, then holding the glyph key up to the field disables it. THEN, if the glyph key is attuned to a zone containing another black gate, you can open up a portal to that black gate. This portal also disables the security field on the other black gate, allowing you to pass through without getting zapped. And it sounds like the black gates can be "held open" just like the white gates, allowing multiple people to pass through)

"Do we really need to talk to her, though? The wizard must've probably come here through the black gate, and we can only use it to go back to the forest where we came from. There's nothing so mysterious here, and we still have the same options of paths we had before. We either head towards the iron golems I can't even put a scratch on, or make a little visit to the lake of madness." Velmine responds, unamused by how long a time the group was taking just to make a simple decision about one of two paths they'd have to follow.

"I mean, if you want to talk to her, go ahead, I just don't think we need to put everyone inside the poisonous room if you're gonna do that. Aren't there other stones in better places? Or, couldn't we stay here and wait until your conversation is done?"

Quote from Awaypturwpn >>

(I think I understand. The black gate's "field" is that security-field-thing that threw me backwards when I tried to touch it, right? So if we have any glyph key, then holding the glyph key up to the field disables it. THEN, if the glyph key is attuned to a zone containing another black gate, you can open up a portal to that black gate. This portal also disables the security field on the other black gate, allowing you to pass through without getting zapped. And it sounds like the black gates can be "held open" just like the white gates, allowing multiple people to pass through)

 Yeah I believe that is how it works. 

(DM: Would we have to be in contact with the acid vapors to talk to Syranna through the contact stone?)

Eiren shrugs. "The Lakes of Madness sound perhaps even more fun that the Forests of Slaughter. I'm happy to travel there. Should we see about using that black gate to get back to the forest?"

Sure. As long as we’re getting the job done, the way we go through here doesn’t really matter, does it? Baik says.

Quote from Awaypturwpn >>

(DM: Would we have to be in contact with the acid vapors to talk to Syranna through the contact stone?)

 Yes, that is how I read it.

I've had a few busy days doing medical stuff 

It looks like there is a Black Gate in the Forest of Death (where you fought the troll) so that should work, I will try to post later tonight 

Eiren gives up on the idea of using the Contact Stone as whoever uses it would be breathing in the acidic vapors. He decides to instead try to use rge Black Gate to travel to the Forest of Death. A Corvin has the key attuned to the Forest of Death, he uses the key to dissipate the gates magical field. He then uses his key a make a portal to the Forest of Death. After everyone is through Corvin follows and the gate closes back up. Eiren leads the party north towards the White Gate leading to the Lake of Madness. 

But as you are moving into the next cavern you see a Wight and eight Zombies. Most of the undead including the Wight are clustered around the pool in the western part of the cavern, but a couple scattered around the cavern give alarm when you enter. 

Roll initiatives 

Wight's initiative 10

Zombie's initiative 13

Everyone with = or > 13 can act

As the combat begins, Velmine prepares her shortsword and one of her new daggers, leaving the rapier in its sheathe at least for the time being.

Velmine Initiative: 26

For her turn, the Tiefling takes the chance she has, being in the back, and pulls out a new fuzzy ball from her Bag of Tricks, dropping it down just 5 feet on her right. (K13)

Bag of Tricks Animal: 7 (Mastiff) (Rolling for Hit Points: 6)

The mastiff spawns right to her side, and she tells the group. "Hey, guys, I just got a dog!" She then approaches a hand to pat the mastiff while telling it. "You can stay here, for now, you'll be able to help us later on, okay?" She then heads towards L11 while hoping to avoid the tree on her side as much as she can. Once there, she tries to hide with a cunning action.

Stealth 16

Init. 17

Initiative 12

Velmine make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw with advantage. 

Baik you can act 

Corvin, Eiren, and Qu'oth still need to roll initiatives 

Initiative: 21

Velmine's Con Save: 10

(Would you take a look at that. The first roll was a nat 1... Then that advantage saved me and put me at the result of 16.)

Velmine was able to avoid the dangerous spell like effects of the trees.

(If you haven't said you were trying to stay clear as much as possible, I won't have given you that advantage roll)