Upon surviving the Maze of Death and escaping with the Black Opal Crown, our heroes find themselves in a hallway. At the end of the hallway is a mirror that lets off a faint blue glow. Kulu finds the mirror trap-free and Sophitia looks at herself. Magical forces attempt to pull Sophitia into the mirror but she is able to resist. Zyldi in her croc form attempts to pull the mirror off the wall and it will not budge. The party calls on Thas to help.

He says that it is definitely magical, and a clue from Acererak’s 4th warning says “The Mirror Holds Twelve”. Figuring that there is some command word that activates the mirror our party looks over some of the things they looted from Withers’ office.

On the back of Withers’ spell book are the words “Khomara” and “Blackfire”. Thas says “Khomara” and the light around the mirror goes off. Trying the word “Blackfire” the light pops back on and pulses. After a moment a voice from the mirror says “Please say a number”. Saying the number 14, the mirror responds “Bad Command or File Name. Please Try Again”. Thas says 12 and a Half-Orc falls out of the mirror.

The Half-Orc is Grokk. He’s dressed as a man of the woods and has a very easy going vibe. 53 years ago he was checking out the dungeon to see what it was all about and got trapped in the mirror. Luckily he didn’t age or need to eat in his extra-dimensional prison. He agrees to help the party with their quest and is eager to do something other than be trapped in a mirror prison forever.

Our heroes decide to release other mirror prisoners with Thas calling out each number systematically. A single stirge is released which Kanye quickly smashes. Next a tall muscular woman in black armor appears from the mirror. She is Lukanu, personal bodyguard to Queen Napaka of Omu. Her last memories are of Acererak coming to Omu and beginning to enslave the people. She wants to find out what happened to Queen Napaka.

A Giant Four-Armed Gargoyle is released next and begins to attack Thas! [title redacted] bring the Gargoyle down, but not before it pulls Thas apart! Shedding a single tear for their slain ally, they continue releasing prisoners: Biff Longsteel, the bleach-blond-spray- tanned adventurer from the Company of the Yellow Banner. He smiles too much and is a little full of himself. Next is Tlad Xolbrys, a Drow in robes. He claims to have visited the tomb while it was under construction and got trapped. Next a Troll is released and starts attacking people! After the Troll is slain, our party decides it best to move along.

Grokk, Lukanu, Tlad, and Biff all join the party in exploring the tomb. Grokk wants to help the party. Lukanu is only interested in Queen Napaka. Tlad wants to find a way out. Biff is cagey about his goals, but claims to want the Eye of Zaltec to revive the Starfallen.

Heading back up to Level Three they walk into the tapestry room. The first tapestry hangs from the ceiling and shows nobles having a merry feast. Behind this tapestry is another: the same scene but descended into depravity. Zyldi, still in crocodile form, tears this tapestry down revealing a third. The depraved scene has fallen further into madness and horror, causing Kanye and Elgard to “Nope” out of the room. Zyldi tears this third tapestry down. Mounted on the wall is a rotting boar’s head with blood dripping out of its mouth. Kulu and Grokk get the sudden urge to calmly walk toward it and stick their heads in the mouth. Zyldi grabs Grokk and trips Kulu while Sophitia and Elgard destroy the head with spells.

Treasure falls out of the mouth: Gold spectacles (Zyldi wants those), a leather eyepatch set with a bloodstone (Kanye!), and a platinum hair pin (looks good on Sophitia). The party sets the tapestries on fire and leaves the room in slow motion.

They enter Kubazan’s tomb. Will they be able to free this spirit, or will they fall prey to the nasty traps within?

After the battle with the Giant Four Armed Gargoyles that almost claimed Kulu’s life, our heroes rest in the hallway where the battle took place. During the night Sophitia hears a group approaching from the upper floors of the Grand Balcony. Kanye gently picks up Elgard as he sleeps peacefully and carries him up a staircase in a nearby hallway. Elgard mutters in his sleep a lot and for the first time his friends notice that he’s talking in his “swamp people” accent in his sleep. Could Elgard have been faking his noble accent this whole time?

The gang spies a group of six tomb dwarves. They are holding clipboards and brooms and begin cleaning up the site of the previous battle. Four of the dwarves clean and call out damaged parts of the tomb while the other two write down information on the clipboards. “Three of the four gargoyles destroyed, silver one remains intact.” “Adventurers remain at large” “Unkh’s tomb has been explored as well, acid pit is exposed”

Two of the Tomb Dwarves begin sweeping up broken gargoyle bits out of the hallway near [title redacted]. Sophitia notices that one of the dwarves glances at a specific spot on the wall that is covered in murals. Suddenly, Kulu’s crossbow bolt sticks his head to the wall while Nor stealthily grabs the other. The captured dwarf tries to alert his allies but is quickly terminated.

Kanye calls out with his best Tomb Dwarf impersonation “Hey! You guys gotta come look at this!” Kanye actually does a really good impression of the dwarves and one by one our party is able to pick off the remaining dwarves.

With the threat out of the way they are able to look at these clipboards. They detail the rooms on the 4th floor of the dungeon with handwritten notes as to what is damaged, and what work orders need to be placed. One note mentions the “Navel of the Moon” has been taken from Unkh’s tomb. The party deduces that the large egg shaped jewel from the clock must be this fabled treasure.

The next day they explore the spot on the wall the dwarf glanced at before meeting his end. A secret door is discovered that leads to a small cell. A skeleton is embedded in the wall, holding a candle that is burning. There are tiny holes drilled into the ceiling, and the room is incredibly hot.

Kanye throws a dead Tomb Dwarf into the candle. The flame snuffs out and the dwarven body disappears. A few seconds pass and the candle relights itself. Kanye throws two more dwarves into the room without snuffing out the candle and nothing happens. Kanye steps into the room, and as he does his magic soulbound hammer disappears. When he steps back out of the room his hammer reappears in his hand. Spooked by this, he recommends exploring the room at the top of the stairwell.

The stairwell ends at a stone slab. There is a gaunt hooded figure painted on the slab. Its face is a mask of stars and it raises its left hand. Elgard raises his left hand to touch it and as he does this the slab lowers into the floor revealing the room beyond.

Inside this dark chamber there are three things: A door leading down a hall away from the room, a crown sitting on a pedestal in the center, and a green devil face on the far wall, all of these things divided by walls.

Inspecting the green devil face shows the magical darkness in its mouth. Sophitia can hear whispers in Abyssal as she gets close to it: “Your doom is at hand. Darkness awaits”. Kanye grabs a tomb dwarf corpse from the hallway and tosses it into the mouth. This dwarf becomes annihilated from existence: not only does it no longer exist, but it has never existed. The characters have no memory of the tomb dwarf or of tossing it into the mouth so Kanye goes to grab another dwarf corpse to toss into the mouth. After repeating this a few more times the wiser members of the party suggest stepping away from the devil mouth.

They turn their attention to the crown. It is made of gold and has the largest black opal set into it that anyone in the party has ever seen. Kulu and Papazotl instantly want it, and Zyldi casts DETECT MAGIC on the crown. Transmutation, Divination, Evocation, Necromancy, and Conjuration show up in this crown, and after talking with the spirits and the Starfallen, they determine that this is the Black Opal Crown, another one of the fabled treasures. This crown is the priceless Yuan-Ti relic Ras Nsi wanted for summoning Dendar the Night Serpent . After checking the pedestal for traps, Kulu carefully takes the crown.

The stone slabs slide up and block off the exits. An overwhelming sense of dread and hopelessness fills the room. Kanye, Nor, and Zyldi begin taking Necrotic damage from an unseen source, and Zyldi turns into a giant crocodile, fearing the chamber will start to flood. Elgard runs to the far wall and suffers a little less from the ambient necrosis, and Sophitia activates her SPIRIT GUARDIANS and runs back toward the entryway. The SPIRIT GUARDIANS locate and attack a nearby source of the dread and when Sophitia looks into the corner of the room she sees a gaunt figure looking straight at her. She feels invited to the darkness and despair in its eyes but is able to resist the pull of the dreadful effects. Waves of necrotic energy rush over her as she resists this creature’s pull and she calls out its location to the rest of her team.

A second creature is found in the other corner of the room as its DEATH GAZE tries to take Elgard down, but he is able to resist it. Even in resisting it he gets a spike of mental pain. Kanye and Nor heroically run forward and vanquish the first monster, resisting the deadly effects of its mere presence as they bring it down. Sophitia closes with the final foe as it is brought down by [title redacted]’s might.

Shaken by the deadly encounter, they look for a way out. The inside of the slabs shows the same gaunt figure, its face a mask of stars, but with its right arm raised. This arm has been severed at the elbow.

Elgard uses ALTER SELF to make himself look like his arm has been severed at the elbow, and raises his nub up to the slab which causes them both to open. Our heroes step into the hallway eager to see what fresh horrors await.