Still thirty feet away, it's a bit of a throw, but Grenk twirls the grapple hook and then releases.  It flies across the open space and into the room, and smacks against the mirror with a clang. A small crack appears where the grappling hook hit the mirror. 

Silas and Grenk consider a rope technique while the small frog is set on the ground, closes its eyes, and hops blindly towards the mirror.  Badger then begins speaking to it from afar, while keeping his eyes averted from the shiny surface.  "More left....more left...MORE LEFT....not that much left...more right...MORE RIGHT...."  Badger is not sure the frog knows it's left and rights.  

Regardless, eventually the frog reaches the spot in front of the mirror. 

So not a proximity activation, thinks Badger. Calling out to Hopkins, he says: OK Professor, good work. Hop off to the side and relax. Then to the others he announces: It seems to be safe enough to approach, as long as you don't look into the mirror.

(Unless it is not activated by FROGS! HAHA!  Outsmarted by the DM AGAIN!)

(The fabled "Mirror of the Sticky Tongue" that was created by an evil bullywug mage to catch prey)

(Bullywug mage is a great idea...)

Sickle will take the lead and step out, averting his eyes.

Sickle reaches the room, and near the mirror, his eyes firmly on his feet and the floor below him. No bullywug mage for this one it seems.

Seeing Sickle arrive safely, Badger ventures inside cautiously, avoiding looking at the mirror, and collecting Hopkins from the floor. If he manages to avoid disaster, he will sit to the side of the mirror (or behind it? is it attached to the wall?) and start casting Identify as a ritual, looking for any way to undo Mal's capture.

It seems approaching without looking works, and the group moves into teh room that is otherwise empty. The mirror is mounted on a section of wall that juts out a bit, leaving two spots behind and to either side that are safe to sit within. Badger completes his identify spell as the others wait....and then reaches out a hand and touches the mirror to complete the ritual. He holds his hand there for a moment......

Khomara activates or deactivates the mirror. It is currently active. 

Anyone who looks at the mirror, while it's active, is sucked into a dimensional pocket and kept it stasis. Time does not pass for them. The mirror can hold up to 12 souls, each in their own pocket. Saying Blackfire, and then a number, will release the soul stored in that pocket. Your spell does not reveal how many pockets are empty. 

Grenk follows the others if they made it closer and when getting there, if Badger reveals the info he says, "if there is twelve... can't we work backwards?  Like our friend should be the highest number right?"

Typical of the goliath to make such a simplistic conclusion. There are so many factors to consider when experimenting with powerful magic. Does the mirror understand Common? Does it need to be active to use the release word? If Mal is ejected facing the mirror, will she be sucked right back in? Will it still work properly now that Grenk has cracked the surface? Perhaps Mal will re-emerge cracked herself. Not so fast, he interjects. Let's get prepared first.

Badger will first attempt to cast Mending on the mirror to fix the crack. He suggests they leave the mirror active and remain behind the mirror, so that if some horrible monster is ejected it might see its own reflection again before seeing them. Or better yet, Badger could turn everyone invisible.

The mending spell seals up a small crack at the bottom of the mirror...that Badger carefully watches from an extreme angle.  The mirror doesn't suck him in.  Does he cast invisibility on them all first?  And are you going backwards from 12? 

If there's no further recommendations, Badger will deactivate the mirror with the command word so they can move around without getting sucked in accidentally. Calling everyone into a huddle, he will cast Invisibility at 5th level on everyone. Then with Grenk and Badger on one side of the mirror, Sickle and Silas on the other side, he will reactivate the mirror with the command word, and call out Blackfire Twelve!

With a small flash an oversized thing that looks like a cross between a bat and a massive mosquito appears in the air.  It hangs there, flapping its wings as it looks around. The stirge spins around slowly looking around the room 0 and then faces the mirror. *pop*. It vanishes, sucked immediately back into the mirror. 

I love it when a plan comes together, says Badger smiling to his invisible self. Calling out the the others he says: So Mal's not in number Twelve. Maybe it works backwards... Ready? Blackfire One!

A human male with dark weathered skin appears. He is wearing colorful robes with beads sewn into the sleeves and in patterns around the chest and waist. He has two large rings in his ears and half his head is shaved. He drops into a cautious pose, glancing this way and that....looking a little confused. When he gets a glimpse of the mirror in his peripheral vision and quickly looks away.  "G'thor mak tanul asta asta!!" he exclaims to himself.  Then he turns and runs down the passage away from the mirror and the room. 

As the man runs away (Badger assumes he is native to Chult), the gnome rapidly considers several new possibilities. The first is that the released prisoners might fortuitously prove useful in clearing out potential hazards in the dungeon as they flee in desperation. The second is that perhaps Badger should probably prepare to use the helm to detect the thoughts of the released prisoners as they appear, possibly learning more about the mirror or about the dungeon itself, and also potentially being able to suggest they look into the mirror again. The third is that if the mirror wasn't yet full of prisoners, then the stirge that appeared wouldn't necessarily have been sucked back into the mirror into the same 'slot' as it was originally in, so could potentially be released with another number called. The same could apply to any of the following attempts, so the plan of leaving the mirror active might not work unless they were lucky enough to release Mal early in the experiment. But for now at least they could be confident that position 1 was empty. The fourth idea came when the Chultan man reflexively avoided looking the mirror. Badger considers creating an illusion of a mirror identical to the real one directly opposite the real one, hoping to trick prisoners to turn away from it and instead look into the real mirror by mistake. The fifth idea is that some of the prisoners are likely to be other trapped adventurers who could aid them in their quest, and might be more useful out of the mirror than in, so should be prevented from becoming trapped again.

Badger shares all these thoughts with his invisible companions, asking for their recommendations before continuing the process.

The buzzing bumble of ideas and thoughts come bubbling out of the invisible gnomes mouth. Grenk, Silas, and Sickle find themselves assaulted with his rapid fire of thoughts and ideas. Though, Silas points out the obvious first point, "Casting any spells will end the invisibility spell for you, just remember that." 

Yes, of course, I know that, Badger mumbles a little embarrassed. It was Hopkins' idea anyway. But he refrains from any further retort. The gnome has been noticeably more respectful to Silas lately, since about the time he magically scouted the room with the polygonal keyholes. 

Based on Silas' advice, Badger continues: I think we should continue but allow each released prisoner to vacate the room. I shall deactivate the mirror before the next release. If trouble should ensue, I can reactivate it with a word and hopefully avoid confrontation. Badger speaks the Khomara  command to deactivate the mirror. He then says: Blackfire Twelve to test the theory that the stirge returned to the same slot. If nothing happens, then it will confirm that prisoners can return into any position, and that the release-and-imprison tactic is flawed. Either way, it will be easier to go through the numbers in order to better keep track. Confident position 1 is empty, he will call out: Blackfire Two.

Badger deactivates the mirror.  Then he calls out "Blackfire twelve".  Nothing emerges.  Then he calls out "Blackfire Two".  Mal appears in the room. 

Mal, a moment ago you saw yourself get sucked towards the mirror, and now you're facing the hallway, you figure the mirror is at your back. Your friends aren't around but you shortly hear their sounds as they shuffle about the room invisibly. 

Ha! I did it! exults Badger, seemingly forgetting the advice and contributions of the rest of the group. Mal, are you unharmed? invisible Badger asks without much interest in the answer. I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to maintain the spell a little longer and stay invisible. Another human emerged from the mirror and we should probably see where he went. Badger is curious about who else might be trapped in the mirror. He chuckles a little when he considers the hapless stirge, suddenly free only to be trapped once more. But once the dungeon is defeated and the Soulmonger destroyed, there would be plenty of time to unravel the remaining secrets of Badger's new domain...