====== Session 30 ======

Sassani cast banish on herself to force her return to the temple with the others. Once she'd ascertained this worked she then reopened the book to see whether that was what caused her transfer and found herself back in the mirror temple. She once again banished herself back to her home plane and re-joined the others, explaining what had happened.

The final spider, which had stayed out of the fight after Chae-rin had given it ideas of grandure and rule, descended from the roof of the temple and offered to direct the group out of the cave system if they left quickly. With Sassani returned to the they took the spider up on its offer, and headed along the path it had set.

After sneaking across a large cavern populated with burrowing predators and flying, manta-like creatures the group found themselves at the foot of a large cliff with no top in sight. Sassani and Kathra flew up to find the top, and returned almost half an hour later with the estimate that it was about 2 kilometres high. The party were unwilling to attempt the climb, especially as the manta-like creatures were waiting nearby, trying to locate the sounds the party were accidentally making. The group came up with a number of plans, but decided to sleep on it inside Igsai's Tiny Hut to give them a chance to reorganise their spells for the best effect.

The group cast Polymorph and Enhance Ability on Kathra to make her into a large, strong version of one of the manta creatures. She took the Yugs on her back and began to fly them up the cliff. Sassani and Chae rode up on Sassani's broom, and Srash cast Levitate on an abandoned Yug parachute which the others sat in to pull it from the floor. They attached this parachute to the broom, and were dragged up the cliff to the top.

As the group landed at the top they were confronted by two naga, and a group of dominated creatures they nagas referred to as their “collection”. Amongst the collection, which was mostly made of Yugs, Yuglings and Yug commanders, the group also spotted a being they believed to be an elf. The naga demanded that Kana and Wei stay behind as part of their collection if the group wanted to pass. Chae-rin created a doppleganger of herself and put on a performance for the naga, who agreed to give up Kana in exchange for Chae-rin, and Wei agreed to stay with plans of escape. As the rest of the party moved towards the exit they noticed that Srash was not moving with them, and on checking saw that she had the same yellow glow to her eyes as the naga and the others in their collection.

As this had been happening Wei had also been watching as a figure snuck in from the cave mouth and headed through the shadows towards the elf. The figure grabbed the elf from behind whilst the party were distracting the naga, then dragged them off into the shadows.

As the party left the cave Wei teleported himself and Srash to the door and they all broke into a run. Exiting the cave they found themselves at the bottom of a rocky ravine with clear, cold sky above them. They were also confronted by three figures amongst the rocks, who demanded to know who the party were and where their two friends in the cave had gotten to. They put questions aside briefly as the naga began to follow out of the cave, and the combined groups pushed them back in. The group killed one naga and negotiated the release of the two outsiders with them, which the naga agreed to but with a slightly threatening parting line about “getting back what was theirs”.

Once everyone had been recovered the two groups faced off. The others introduced themselves as Hobson Rumblebelly, a halfling, Ahme, a black tabaxi, Aelynthi, the elf, Hissua, a genasi and Suon, who appeared to be a half-yug. Hissua, Hobson and Ahme explained to the group that they thought there was nothing but a wasteland where the Maikhan Empire was, and that humans had been banished from existence along with orcs over a hundred years ago as the two races' war had spread across the entire world. They were also not pleased with the fact the party were travelling with Yugs, which they claimed were the vanguard of a more organised army consisting of Yugoloth (the taller, smarter variety of Yug) and Orcs.

The party were left with the dilemma of what to do about their five Yug friends, who they were concerned would be killed if let free but would make it harder for the group of humans to be accepted if they stayed, and whether or not they wanted to look for an elf to restore the barrier as Aman had instructed, or whether they should let the barrier down and help the outside world with their fight against the invading Yugoloth forces.

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