Ravenloft: Strahd's Gesticulations

What is he doing with his right hand? Last session, the party began its assault on Strahd's domain, hoping to find the last of the items necessary to wormhole out of this hellscape with Trimia's Catalogue. We explored the Larders of Ill Omen (basement) and the parts of the main floor accessible from the front door. We begin this session moving up from the basement into a section of the main floor that's cut off from the others. We open the door and immediately run into a zombie golem, easily the toughest enemy we've faced so far. It slaughters us (full-party death) within a few seconds of meeting it. It does the same in a couple of reloads. Finally, with every buffing spell we can think of in effect ("Aid," "Shield," "Invisibility to Undead," "Prayer," "Blur") and a couple of blasts of a Wand of Fireballs the moment it appears, we manage to kill it before it kills us. The rest of this small area has nothing but stairs going up to the third floor. A zombie golem ruins our day. I can't…