With no enemies within reach and those snakey-wizards firing off shots, Ran gets back to his feet and moves as quickly as he can to the east to get into the shrubs and bushes then head north (only has 45' of movement this turn w/ dash - Stealth if needed this turn - (10, 16))

Ran makes it to the bushes and begins heading north, unsure if he was seen or not.

The two mercenaries on the rooftop continue to fire bolts at the two yuan-ti priests.

• Crossbow:  10
• Crossbow:  23  Piercing Damage:  14

Mica, Meili and Eryndor are up.  No more yuan-ti in melee.

Well, if the target wouldn’t come to the fighter, the fighter would just have to go to the target.

The closest yuan-ti was beyond her reach, but that didn’t mean she was out of the fight. With a swift motion, she pulled her boomerang free.

She focused on one of the distant enemies, exhaled steadily, and let the weapon fly. Once and again! Then Meili ran towards the priests, closing the distance to press the attack as soon as another opening appeared.

Attack: 17 Damage: 7.
Attack: 22 Damage: 7.

(full 45ft towards priests)

As the last of the nearby yuan-ti fighters fall, Mica turns his attention to the two remaining spellcasters.  Drawing his bow, he takes careful aim down the open stretch of trail and fires two arrows toward the one already hit by the mercenaries' crossbows.  As he moves, he calls out to the mercenaries still in the building. “Come out and fight, you cowards! Help us push them back.” He moves 30 feet up the trail towards the enemy, then ducks into the nearby brush to make himself a harder target. 

Attack: 10 Damage: 7.

Attack: 13 Damage: 3.

Plus 8 colossus slayer damage on a hit. 

.

Eryndor strides with measured grace, his long coat swirling as he swings his crossbow into his hands. The rain-slicked stone of the jungle ruin gleams under the dim light, but his focus is elsewhere—on the hissing yuan-ti sorcerers weaving their vile incantations. With a practiced flick, he slides a bolt into place, raises the weapon, and lets fly. The missile sings through the air, cutting a path of whispered death toward its mark. No sooner does the shot leave the string than Eryndor pivots, slipping behind the corner of the building, pressing his back against the cool stone. A smirk ghosts across his lips.

Attack: 13, Damage: 8

Between the crossbow fire from the mercenaries on the roof, and the assorted ranged attacks from the party, one of the yuan-ti priests is hammered relentlessly until it can hardly stand.  It shouts something in an ungodly tongue to the other, and then the two of them depart, dashing deeping into the jungle ruins.  They seem to call for the snakes to follow, but the swarm lingers, transfixed still by the hypnotic patterns they saw in the sky.

"Har, nice shot!" one of the mercenaries calls out.

As the last of the yuan-ti slither into the shadows, the storm still rages overhead.  The battlefield is a churned mess of mud, blood, and rain, the air thick with the scent of ozone and death.  The two mercenaries atop the guardhouse step forward along the edges of the rooftop, crossbows raised.  Their oilskin cloaks drip with rain, their black breastplates gleaming under sporadic flashes of lightning.

A deep voice calls down from above, sharp and commanding.

“Attention!  Drop your weapons, now!  You will submit to the authority of the Cormyr Company, or you will be made to submit.”

Another guard, a man with a rough growl, spits over the side before shouting, “This valley is under martial law!  No one moves through these ruins without inspection. You’ll lay down your steel and step forward, hands open, or we’ll put you down like we put down those snake bastards!”

From below, their positioning is clear—the guardhouse, old but sturdy, has high stone walls.  The roof is their true advantage, offering them both cover and a clear field of fire.  Only two can be seen on the battlements, crossbows trained on the adventurers, while the party knows at least three more are somewhere inside.  

[What to do?  You can ignore them and continue to chase the fleeing yuan-ti, start a fight with these guards, flee on your own... it's a smorgasbord of exciting and terrible options.]

((how high are the guard house walls?))

[Just one story, but it’s a tall 1 story… 15’.  Come to think of it, they are both looking over the east wall to the east/southeast at Mica, Meili and Ran.  It’s possible they don’t know where Eryndor went since he’s hugging the south wall below them.  You can make a stealth check if you are so inclined.]

“Bloody hell. Bunch of whiny pompous muppets,” Ran says. 

The whole point of this was to get ahold of one of these mercenaries to find out where all of the temple stones were taken.

Ran moves further north to get partial cover from the rocks then drops his swords, swings out his crossbow and fires a bolt at the mercenary speaking.

Heavy crossbow: Attack: 22 Damage: 2  

“Did you find out anything in there or do we need to beat it out of one of these idiots?” Ran calls to Mica and Meili

Stealth: 6

Eryndor tilted his head, amusement flickering in his emerald eyes as the Cormyrean guards jeered from their perch above. Their words, brash and careless, tumbled down like rain, but he paid them no mind. Instead, his fingers drifted to the hand drum at his side, caressing the taut surface like an old lover’s cheek. Then, with a sudden flick of his wrist, he struck a rhythm—soft at first, then growing, a hypnotic cadence winding through the humid air like the whisper of a Fey enchantment. Each beat wove into the next, a melody of mischief and shadow, played for an audience that did not yet know it was ensnared.

((Wis save 15 - cast cube to have its bottom 5 feet above my head so as to catch as many above me as possible and none on the ground. This would break the concentration on the other hypnotic pattern))

Meili huffed out a breath, watching the yuan-ti vanish into the ruins. Not the cleanest victory, but it would do. Back to the mercs, then.

She had to give Ran credit - he went straight to the point.

Moving quietly, Meili returned to him. Not that anyone could hear much through the storm, but it paid to be cautious. "Nothing useful inside. Just more mercs - and they’ve locked the door from the inside now."

Her eyes flicked to the rooftop, gauging the distance. Fifteen feet wasn’t that high.

But before she suggested anything, she watched Eryndor’s strange manipulations. "Is he with us? Know what he’s doing?"

[Using the existing initiative, Ran would be up, then the mercs, then everyone else.]

Ran's bolt sails high and wide, but delivers its message all the same.

Both men raise their crossbows and return salvos in his direction.

• Crossbow:  12

• Crossbow:  16

Ran hears one rip through the underbrush just past his ear, but neither connects.

Then, as Ran and Meili watch, the stranger casts some sort of magic on the mercenaries on the rooftop.

WIS:  7, 14

The two men pause, lowering their crossbows, as they look quizzically at the air in front of their faces.  They say nothing else and make no other immediate hostile action.  

[Mica is still up, but both rooftop guards (the only ones you are currently interracting with) are both incapacitated for the moment.]

Ran shrugs at Meili. "He just appeared out of the dark but he attacked the snake heads and I think he got me back on his feet so I'd wager he's on our side."

With the threat temporarily abated, Eryndor lilts in his song-song way. 

"Be at ease, good sirs and madams, for I am but a lone wanderer upon this weary road! Yet when fortune placed me in the path of warriors bold, locked in battle ‘gainst both snake and sellsteel alike, I found myself rather inclined to lend my hand. After all, foes so foul oft make for strange and unexpected fellowship, do they not?"

He dipped in a theatrical bow, rainwater trickling from the ends of his chestnut locks as he cast a sidelong smirk at the still-bewitched  guards above him. "And besides, 'tis no proper fight without a bit of song, a touch of jest, and a trick or two to keep the dance lively!"

Meili gave a small nod at Ran’s shrug. "Good enough," she murmured. If he was healing allies and targeting yuan-ti, that put him in the "not an immediate problem" category.

As Eryndor launched into his performance, Meili exhaled through her nose, gaze flicking between him and the mercs. This one certainly liked to hear himself talk. The question was whether it would get them closer to what they needed or just buy time for more trouble.

For now, she waited, nursing her injured side. If words could solve this, fine. If not… fifteen feet wasn’t that high.

"Can fly there and drop one down for you to pick up and drag away. Should I?"

Ran watches Eryndor sing and shakes his head. Not a threat to the group but definitely crazy.

”Yeah if you can drop one down I’ll try and wrap him up.”

Mica looks at the walls of the guard shack, judging the distance and calls out to Meili. “I can probably climb up there to help you out if you need it, or stay down here to help Ran.  Are we trying to capture one or not?  We should have just stayed back and left them for the snakes.  If I’d have known they would stay holed up in there I would’ve.” 

Mica turns to the stranger and nods "Glad to see you lend a hand, more than this lot did." he waves toward the guardhouse.  He winces at the movement and holds a hand to his side, then takes a piece of moss from his pouch and packs it in one of his deeper wounds, relieving some of the pain. 

Heals 16 hp.

Meili is able to glide up to the rooftop in the darkness of the storm and give one of the incapacitated guards a gentle push.  He falls over the side, landing hard and prone on the ground surrounded by Eryndor, Ran and Mica and taking 3 bludgeoning damage.  He sputters, roused from his stupor but in a compromised position.

Initiative: 

1. The party
2. The lone, prone merc

For the time taken to decide on this, fly up there, and push him off, lets say there are still 5 rounds before Hypnotic Pattern wears off on the guard still on the roof.

Meili spared only a glance at the second merc, still lost in whatever vision held him, before gliding down after the "fallen star" of their little show. The goal was to take the man alive - but in agreeable conditions. And she could think of no better condition than unconscious.

Her strikes were light in appearance but precise in execution. There are points on the human body that, when struck just right, could leave a man stunned. Meili aimed for them.

Unarmed Strike: Attack: 18 Damage: 9
                             Attack: 22 Damage: 5

                             BA: Attack: 24 Damage: 5

Stunning Strike (last 1ki) on a hit: CON saving throw (DC 14)

Damage non-lethal!

After Meili knocks some sense into the merc, Ran gets ready to grapple him and hold him from running but is willing to give the guy a chance to surrender first.

If he’s still conscious, Ran says “Best not to put up a fight mate or we’ll do you like we did the snake heads. Why don’t you just come along quiet-like and have a nice chat with us. We just want a wee bit of information.

If he looks to run or fight back, Ran will give a grapple a try.