Lia watches the others sruggle with the door.   Looking at Velon she looks thoughtful for a moment.   " Ill try it.  Its more about technique than brute strength sometimes.  " She takes a moment to ask Sune to help her yet again.  

  She then looks at Lawrance.  " That was pretty exhaustive a minute ago with Perry.  Do you have a little more help for me in the same area   I would like to show Perry up  " Lia laughs and walks over to the gate while listening to Lawrance.   She studies the gate for a moment and tries to open it.   

After a few moments of several people yanking at the stubborn door, eventually the diminutive wood elf gets it to budge. The massive slab of wood an metal creaks open to reveal... a wall of ice, perfectly molded to match the outside face of the gatehouse door.

  Lia grins as the door opens.  She bows low and straightens back up.  " Sometimes it just takes a woman to do something right.  " Her smile fades as she can tell from their reaction something is wrong.  She turns around and frowns.  " Well....isnt this nice.    " 

Velon looks at Lia, coming in last to lend a hand and finding just the right leverage for the door, and begins laughing heartily as she is the key to getting it open.  Still laughing, he says "see, just as I always say, the most amazing woman in all the realm!"  "Our enemies are probably glad we fools hold Lia, Mari and Morgaine back from what just the three of them could accomplish without several dumb oxen getting in their way!"  He continues to laugh for several more moments and adds "I imagine they might let Penelope into their elite force as well, given her skills!"

Eventually, still in good spirits, Velon begins to inspect the ice still blocking the doorway.  "Do you think it's just a layer that had formed on the doors, or is there no open space beyond at all?"

"In the interest of keeping you moving, and alleviating my boredom, I'll go ahead and tell you that it is quite solid, and extends for quite a ways should you try to chip out a tunnel. It may interest you to know that one of the previous owners of this ruin had a rather mad plan in case his home was ever in real trouble. The whole place was rigged to teleport to a safe location when the spell was triggered. Inevitably, trouble came, not least because the man depleted his armed forces to pay for his little getaway plan."

"Of course, such spells are tricky to say the least even when not transporting things far beyond their normal limits. Oh the spell worked, but it deposited the whole place inside of a glacier instead of the intended destination. The magic carved out a hole in the ice exactly contoured to the outside of the building. In any event, the writings left behind by the doomed residents make for rather amusing reading. Should you choose to open the other door, you'll find the tunnel they tried to carve out, they didn't get far before running out of air."

"Geez, we didn't need the whole wall's backstory, Dr. Freeze," Perry responds to the oddly informative voice. "Which way is it to your throne room?"

"Hmm, disappointing, Seven Five Nine shows a notable lack of interest in the anomaly this place represents. Expected of commonfolk, not so much of an arcanist, even the less studied of such. Perhaps its cognitive abilities are defective?"

%Let's move before Perry encourages more expostulation. Through the opening opposite the door?%

Poljen looks to Velon.  "If our only real direction is through this door, I am willing to go first.  Obviously the bastard here will be watching so I don't think we need to try being too sneaky anymore."

  Mari steps forward at this.  She speaks through the mental link.   " Just because he knows we are coming doesnt mean we just barrel into whatever trap he has waiting.   I dont feel that he is the type to directly confront us.  He wants us to come to him.  This is his home.  Have no doubt there are traps up ahead.  Let me go ahead of you to watch for traps.  " 

Cratol will walk around checking to see if there is another way to go besides the way we entered this area.  He would hope that there is one as he is not sure about the other way and the mysterious voice. 

 Cratol will check out the doorway that the creature they fought came out of.  He is hoping that this will lead us forward and not have to go back the way we came as he is not sure that is a safe way to go.

Rolled a 11  Add +4 for investigation or +7 perception  Not sure which way to go with that.   Moving to N6

  Mari looks at Poljen.  " Lets check this out.  Ill go with you to make sure you dont fall in a pit.  " She advances into the tunnel cautiously.  Mari scans everywhere as she moves up to F6. 

As far as people can see, the tunnel ahead appears clear, and almost identical too the one you first entered. As with every other part of the ruin, it is oppressively cold in here, and your breath turns into great plumes of white.

Poljen nods at Mari's words.  "Aye, he probably has traps.  Hopefully you can see them, and if they are hidden too well, I should be able to survive them.  Let us go."  The big man moves out with the rogue, also keeping a weather eye for traps and threats.

Velon replies to the voice "that's really very interesting and all.  I can't wait to hear more about it in person."

The paladin nods in approval of Mari and Poljen taking the lead, hoping at least one of them will notice any traps or enemies in time to save them further trouble.  "I'll take the rear this time" he says.  "I hope that swarm of bones is hungry again."

   Mari walks ahead with Poljen further down the passageway.   " Hopefully no need for you to have to survive a trap.  Not if we are cautious.  " She continues looking for anything out of the ordinary that could indicate a trap.  

  Lia stays up at the front, not far behind Mari and Poljen.  She is also looking for any signs of trouble.  Her bow is in her hands with an arrow nocked.  

Lawrance, travelling alongside Perry in the group, ponders the mentality of this unseen observer. %He seems to give orders to the creatures like they were possessed more than trained. Possibly some kind of necromancer who uses spirits or the like to inhabit his creations and make them more intelligent and biddable? Banishment may be an effective way to deal with them.% 

Gamliel, now back in the pocket dimension, whispers - He also may just be really good at controlling his undead creations. Keep a close watch for more of those spy-eyes. He's probably got the place riddled with them for his 'tests'.-

%Good point.% Lawrance replies, peering along the surfaces for any such sensor.

OOC - Perception w/adv 19

Cratol will be up towards the front with Lia just in case there is trouble.  He has his lt crossbow out and ready. 

His enhanced senses working in many ways, Lawrance spots something along the wall and alerts the group through the link : %Wait a moment! There's something here written on the wall. It's tiny, but I think we can still make it out.% He then leans down to read the tiny script, hoping for a clue.