(It does, Ran’s bleeding out)

((If I'm not mistaken, all the snakemen are gone or retreating, right? If so...))

Nalomanterys stands up and rushes ((dashes)) to the dead elephant to survey the damage. With all the snakemen fleeing, any parting shot would likely just be a waste of his magical energy. Clutching his side where the poisoned arrow nipped him, Nalomanterys huffs in disbelief. "You must be absolutely kidding me! What in the world did we join in for?" He fumbles for a potion in case no one can tend to Ran's wounds. ((Free action to draw a potion... I'll use an action to administer it next turn unless someone can help with medicine/magic before that))

((I realize we're still in initiative, so that's how he spends his turn assuming all the snakemen are fleeing.))

Mica pulls his bow over to the retreating figures, thinking of sending some arrows after them, but reconsidering as he sees Ran fall to the ground.  Mica hurries over to him, kneeling and placing one hand on the soft earth of the jungle floor and another on Ran’s chest as he fills him with healing magic. “Get up, no time to lay around.  We have work to do.”

Ran heals for 8 hp.

.

Meili will try to reach whatever snake is in proximity and attack

Attack: 13 Damage: 4
             26 Damage: 11

Ran coughs and sputters the laughs and shouts for joy when he feels he’s still alive. He grabs Mica’s arm and pulls himself up.

”Just needed a quick nap. Now any of those bloody snakes left?”

As Mica tends to Ran and revives him,  Meili cuts off the last retreating Yuan-ti, striking it down with another session of savage blows.  As the snake-like bodies makes its final twiches on the jungle floor, all falls quiet.

Two of the mercenaries lay dead on the trail, their bodies riddled with arrows.  The animal handler, wounded but alive, moves back to the side of her fallen elephant, still looking in vain for some miracle.  

Of the party, only Meili has emerged largely unscathed.  Though partially healed, Danica and Mica both took serious injury and Nalomanterys is somewhere between life and death, based on the appearance of minimal injury weighed against his loud protestations. 

Ran is only barely back on his feet.  The red bird settles on his shoulder, cocking its head back and forth to examine his wounds.  Then it defecates down the back side of his armor, not for the first time.

As the party takes stock of their wounds and scans the jungle for any further Yuan-ti threat, there is the sound of footsteps on the trail.  Soon, the three mercenaries who had departed earlier, to flank the yuan-ti, emerge.  They too assess the situation, noting their own fallen as well as the bodies of the yuan-ti. Their expressions are grim as they survey the scene.  Without breaking stride, the approach Danica, Nalomanterys, and the other mercenary near the elephant's corpse.  

And then, suddenly, they draw their swords, leveling them at the captain and wizard.  "All of you, lay down your arms.  You are coming with us.  Resist, and these two die!"  The leader shouts.

As you pivot toward this new threat, a voice mutters, ""Serpentes fulmen...".  There is a crackle in the air.

"What?  Ah, shi- " begins the leader as he starts to turn to look over his shoulder. 

Behind the mercenaries, foot still caught in a leg trap, a red-robed wizard reappears, electricity arcing between his fingers.  In a blinging flash, a bolt of lightning flies from his hands, striking like a spear through all three of the mercenaries before burying itself in the elephant.  The men dance spastically and begin to smoke, as ozone and the odor of burnt skin and hair fills the jungle air.

As the bodies collapse, their breastplates blackened and scorched, the wizard throws up his hands, plaintively and crouches low.  "Please!  I am not your enemy!" he says, looking at the nearby Meili.  "Help me and I can help you!"

On Ran's shoulder, the red bird jumps and begins to squawk.

Then, near the elephant, the animal handler rises, looking in horror at the bodies of her slain comrades.  "... I... I'll kill you!" she screams, raising her crossbow and leveling it at the Wizard.

[New Initiative!

1. Party is up!
2. Animal Handler
3. Red Robed Wizard ]

(I think Nalo's Longstrider should still be in effect on Ran, yes, believe that puts the animal handler in range)

Ran takes a breath, resigning himself for more fighting. The adrenaline does the trick and gives him more energy than he had a moment ago. Still feeling the effects of the extra speed Nalomanterys gave him, he runs the 40' across to where the animal handler is threatening Danica and Nalo.

Once there he doesn't hesitate and slashes out with his longswords, hacking and hacking at the mercenary. You only give someone one chance to stab you in the back.

Bonus Action - Second Wind - Heals 14  

Action - Longsword 1 - Attack: 22 Damage: 11  

Longsword 2 Attack 2 - Attack: 14 Damage: 11  

Ran springs into action and cuts down the last of the mercenaries.  She makes a last ditch effort the fire off her crossbow - the target seeming to be the red robed wizard on the trail - but the bolt sails harmlessly into the jungle.

The red robed wizard remains crouched, with his hands up over his head in a posture of submission.  He remains silent now, watching to see what the rest of you do.

[We can be out of initiative, unless someone wants to take a swing at this guy...]

"No one is killing no one anymore!"

Meili only wanted to shout it while Ran decided to take the more radical pacifying action by eliminating one side completely. She could not blame him. The anger - unworthy of a monk but hard to fight - was boiling up inside her as well. Not to mention, that yet another detour at the swordpoint to yet another camp of armed people - no doubt mad with jungle-induced power-hunger and righteousness of some crazy cause - was not in the plans. But the anger died with the last mercenary.

She looked at the Red Wizard. "All right. Talk. Who was it - the humans not the snakes, and what was it all about?"

Meili moved closer to the dead elegant to check Nalomanterys' wounds and at least stop the bleeding. (Hand-of-Healing for the last Ki for 8)

[I have a feeling I forgot to subtract some lost HP. Going back through the fight to find them out]

"Thank you, Ms. Meili." Nalomanterys says as his slight scratch knits up and vanishes. "That helps." His skin is still red from the venom, but it looks much less pronounced now. ((He's near full health)).

After visually making sure that all his allies are at least alive, he joins Meili next to the red wizard. "Be careful. I would not recommend trusting a red wizard. Remember - becoming a red wizard is a choice."

He then confronts the Thayan directly. "No false moves now. If you try anything I will counterspell it and you will not last long enough to try again." [lie... I don't have counterspell learned or prepared].

Deception: 10 (sigh)

Ran takes a few breaths, wipes off his blades on the tunic of the dead mercenary, and curses at the bird. "Stop doing that." 

While the others question the wizard, Ran decides to start going through the pockets, pouches, packs of the dead to find anything of use.

He does eventually call over while he searches.

"Seen any white wizards out here?"

The wizard keeps his hands up.  At Nalomanterys' warning he nods.  "Yeah... yeah.  Sure... sure."

"I can tell you all about it.  The mercenaries... the Red Wizards... the white wizards.  I can tell you what we're facing out here.  Just help me.   Please..." he points down at his leg, which is bleeding heavily in the metal trap.  "Get me out of this thing."

Well... The memory of the "grateful" firenewt was still fresh... And yet, a living being in one of those inhumane hunting traps... Meili could not bear the look.

Since Nalomanterys proved to be alive and even looked relatively well, she nodded to his warnings and walked to the Red Wizard to see what could be done.

(If she can remove the trap, she will do it, if not - will call Mica to look at the contraption and then (should the wound look really dier, can even heal using a healing kit)

As Ran rifles through the belongs of the dead, he finds the following...

The Yuan-ti had little in the way of valuables, but they did have a variety of weapons.  Among their corpses, Ran finds:

• 4 longbows
• 4 scimitars
• 24 Arrows
• 10 Poisoned Arrows

The mercenaries have a greater assortment of belongings.  Though their breastplates are all damaged beyond use (by arrow puncture or scorching), they have other weapons and valuables:

• 1 unique looking longsword
• 5 longswords
• 6 shortswords
• 3 heavy crossbows
• 26 crossbow bolts
• 1 gold ring, from the hand of the animal handler
• Payment notes, redeemable at the King's Forest Bank and Treasury and stamped with the seal of the Cormyr Company.  The combined value of all of these notes is 1650gp.

Ran claims one of the longbows and scoops up the arrows, poison ones as well, though if the others are short on arrows for their bows, he offers them the arrows first. The length of time it takes to reload his crossbow was starting to get on his nerves.

He takes a closer look at the 'unique' looking longsword to see what makes it unique.

[Meili, it looks like a simple-enough mechanical trap.  It can be opened with a successful strength check, DC 16.  Or, it could be disassembled with the use of tinker's tools, DC 12, if anyone has them.

The wound is pretty gnarly.  He is going to be walking with a limp unless/until he receives some healing.]

As Meili examines the trap, the wizard seems to relax, if only slightly.  "Thank you.  I am called Eligos.  Eligos Neyadis.  The mercenaries who I just saved you from were members of a large band calling themselves the Cormyr Company.  They are in the employ of agents of the usurper, Szass Tam."  He looks at Ran, then reaches into his own pack and pulls out a white robe, just far enough for it to be seen, before tucking it back inside.  "If you get me out of this thing, I will gladly tell you all that I know.  But please... hurry."

Ran, the unusual longsword has much cleaner lines than all the others and shows the work of a master craftsman.  The are also small, red diamonds (or diamond-like gems) set in the underside of the guard.

 Meili checked the trap but being realistic about her own abilities regarding raw strength did not try to pry it open. "Mica, Ran, could you look at it?"

She was ready to treat the wound, though, once the foot was free (9+5 if the wizard had HD)

"Cormyr Company sounds familiar but not to the Chult. And that "Szass Tam" - is it a snake name?"

Ran looks over from his examination of the unique longsword, which had now progressed to slashing it through the air.

"Mica, pull on that side and I'll pull on this side," Ran says, asking Mica for help.

He then heaves against the springs of the trap.

Strength (Athletics?) Check: 25  or 13  if advantage from Mica's help.

"Don't try anything. This could easily snap shut again." Ran says to the wizard.

Nalomanterys raises an eyebrow at the suggestion that this red wizard saved their group. Why, he simply went invisible and hid the whole fight! Nonetheless, Nalomanterys is vaguely familiar with the name "Szass Tam." (history: 9) He crosses his arms and wonders what kind of Thayan they're dealing with... no doubt this is just another red wizard trick.

Seeing Ran swinging about a finer-than-most longsword, Nalomanterys cautions him. "Mr. Deadgleam, these mercenaries are connected with red wizards. I would stow that blade until I can check it for curses."

“The Cormyr Company? I think those poor fools with the ants who killed themselves were from that company as well.  Remember?  We found some of the same payment notes and the breastplate I grabbed is the same.” he taps his own breastplate with the flying bird. “That could have gotten interesting if any of them stayed alive.  Not sure what they are doing with this Tam guy.”  Mica kneels down to help Ran free the wizard from the trap.  “Alright, talk then.  How did you end up in this trap and why are these mercenaries after you?”

Mica also takes the trap and places it in his pack and splits the arrows with Ran, taking 12 of the normal arrows to refill his quiver and 5 of the poison arrows. He also examines the ring from the animal handler closely. “Curse?” He looks up at Nalomanterys “Can you tell if it is or not? What about this ring?”