A massive battle ensues with all the creatures in the space fighting (or quickly dying). At the end of the battle only two of the inhabitants of the mirror are left standing. One is Biff Longsteel (who you remember meeting on the plateau near Nanny Pu'pu's hut) who explains that he came into the tomb with the company of the yellow banner. He made his way down here with them. One moment he was approaching the mirror and the next minute he was in the battle that just occured. You explain that the company of the yellow banner has probably been dead for some time. He is saddened by this but quickly decides to join forces with you. The other survivor is a drow named Tlad Xolbrys . Only Thazma and Trayzeal are able to speak with him as he only speaks elvish, but even that is difficult as he has a very odd accent. He explains that he was visiting Omu during the construction of the tomb and found himself trapped in the mirror. He believes he may have been in the mirror for many years even though it feels as if a short time has passed. He claims to have from a place called the 'Valley of Shadows'. He also decides to join you. You head down to the other end of the corridor to explore. A stone slab blocks the end of this corridor. Painted on the slab is the image of a gaunt male humanoid wearing a hooded cloak, its face a mask of stars. The figure's withered left hand is raised with palm extended. You spend some time trying to work out how to move the slab but without luck. You move back into the gargoyle room and down the passage with the devil face. You ascend the stairs and find another stone slab blocking the way with the same painting upon it. As Trayzeal examines the slab, Javelin examines the devil face. In the mouth he sees a small lizard looking up at him. "Hello", he says, "what are you doing here"? "I say. Hello", replies the lizard. Javelin reaches down and the lizard climbs onto his shoulder. "I'm jolly glad you are here", says the lizard, "I was too jolly scared to move. I'm delighted to see another of your species though. Shall we go? This is a dastardly place". Biff recognises the lizard as one that the company of the yellow banner had 'awakened' in the jungle of chult. Javelin is pleased to obtain another companion. However you seem to have reached another dead-end, so you head back to the gargoyle room to examine the pit in the middle. It appears to lead down to a chamber some 40 feet below that is filled with sick and dead vegetation. Grizz transforms to a lizard and he and burp walk down the walls of the pit and into the room below. A pungent stench fills this pentagonal room, the walls of which are covered with riveted sheets of iron. A wild garden full of sickly plants and rotting compost takes up most of the interior, and a narrow path hugs the walls between two exits. Jutting from the middle of the garden is a six-foot-tall rusty sprinkler. In the ceiling above the sprinkler, a ten-foot-wide shaft leads straight up to where you came from. You examine a passage to the south and find a gap in the join between the passage and the room. It's almost as if the room you are in is on a giant cog. Outside you see what appears to be a lake. On the other side a worked stone column stretches from the bottom of the lake to the cavern roof and is attached to the nearby wall by a stone conduit. On one side of the column, steps of moss-covered stone climb from a stone dock to a landing whose stone door shows no handles or hinges. Ropes lash a pair of rowboats to a dock post, and a rusty iron cage wallows in the slime, held afloat by chain and winch. Phosphorescent crabs gather at the bottom of the lake below the cage. b'Urp and Grizz squeeze out of the gap and Burp leaps over to the landing. A monstrous mouth forms on the door's surface, calling out with a deep drawl: "I'm so hungry I could eat you alive, but I'll settle for somethin' else. Somethin' livin'. Somethin' light!" b'Urp realises that the cage is for catching crabs so he starts operating the winch. The cage lowers into the water, but with a loud rusty screeching sound that echoes through the chamber. When it hits the bottom b'Urp sees some crabs move into the cage so he brings the cage back up. He collects one of the crabs which devours it, then spits out the shell and slowly opens, revealing a circular stone staircase heading upwards and a passage to the south. It looks similar to the secret staircase they had found earlier. While this has been happening, the others have tied ropes to the pedestal in the room above and climbed down into the room. Javelin is peeking out of the gap between cog and passage but is too large to squeeze through. "What do you see?", he calls to b'Urp. At this moment a creature from nightmares emerges from the water. The creature faces Javelin and Javelin suddenly feels an overwhelming desire to bring his companions to this creature. He cajoles his friends to find a way to get to the creature but you all can see that something has affected his mind. "He is ensorcelled", states Thazma, "we must cause him pain to help him throw off the power this creature has over him". She then throws a small bolt of fire at him. Meanwhile both Grizz and b'Urp decide they need to get away from this creature. Grizz heads back into the room and returns to his normal Firlbolg form, while b'Urp goes through the doorway with the mouth and shuts it behind him. Javelin has never quite trusted Thazma and he reacts badly to being attacked , attacking her viciously. She falls and he continues stabbing at her corpse. The drow, Tlad, sees that one of the people he able to talk with has been killed and his face twists in rage. He throws a line of lightning at Javelin that narrowly misses, melting a chunk of the metal wall of the room and making the entire room spark with electricity. Trayzeal tells him "stop, we only want to hurt him a little. His mind has been taken over" You all start trying to hurt Javelin, just a little so that he throws off the effects of the creatures mind control. He starts fighting back, but a well placed stab suddenly brings him back to himself. Sadly, it is too late. She is already dead and her soul has been claimed by the soulmonger. Tlad takes her spellbook and amulet. Meanwhile b'Urp has found his way to a secret door that leads to the passage to the south of you. He calls you down. As you pass by gap in the cog the creature emerges from the depths again. Trayzeal sees the creature and feels the creature take hold of him. He is now wholly the slave of this creature, the great and mighty aboleth, G'lyh'rul. The aboleth decends back into the depths and the rest of you pass by without noticing any change in Trayzeal.
