The party breaks camp and continues southeast, continuing to move cautiously through the jungle.  The rain and sunshine mix to dapple the jungle in rays of color and glistening moisture, as the sound of birds calling above breaks through the sound of falling rain.

Less than an hour into your walk, you come upon a grisly scene.  A patch of jungle floor is torn up with footprints and claw marks, and in the center of it all lies the corpse of a huge dinosaur.  Its exact species is hard to pinpoint, as the head and most of the neck are missing, along with a good portion of its guts and organs.  Snapped ribs reach up toward the sky and gore is poured out upon the ground.  It is a fresh kill, without any doubt the source of last night's noise and commotion.  

Ran looks from the corpse to the jungle around them, then to Mica.

"Any souvenirs in there, you'd like?" Ran asks. "If not, we should keep moving before the scavengers show up."

As soon as they laid eyes on the grotesque scene, Danica immediately had eyes up and head on a swivel. Paranoid that what had killed it might not be too far away. Though the fact that they heard the fight fairly early last night was somewhat comforting, that was still no guarantee that the survivor had fled very far. Her curiosity gets the better of her as she creeps closer to the corpse beside Mica. "Y'think this is the same dino that I had a staring contest with the other day?" She asked of the ranger.  Whispering a prayer to Selune, Danica grimaced as she looked over the scales, bones and sinew left, thumb worrying at her holy symbol. 
Nodding at Ran's advice, she wouldn't linger for long.

Medicine: 23
Guidance:  1

"Can we just go?" Meili was whispering and stayed on the highest alert watching and listening. (Perception: 10)

Mica snorts at Ran’s question as he looks over the destroyed carcass. “No, nothing worth collecting here, been dead too long.  At least it looks to stay that way, not hardly enough left to be a zombie.  But let’s see where the big guy went.”  He looks around the area, trying to pick out the tracks of the other dinosaur to see if it was similar to the T-Rex tracks they saw earlier and what direction they were traveling before gathering the others and moving away before other animals were drawn to the site. 

Survival: 10.

.

Danica gets a good, close up look at the wounds.  Her post-mortem examination confirms this was NOT the work of the long-necked zombiesaurus they encountered.  This was the work of a predator, as evidenced by the broken tooth she pulls from the neck wound... a 6" long blade of dentin with one serrated edge.  She also notices the kill has been fed upon recently.  The mortal wounds were certainly delivered last night, but some of the bites were taken as recently as within the last hour or so.

Mica, you don't have to look hard to pick up the trail.  Footprints, measuring at least 2 1/2 feet in length, lead away from the kill at a leisurely stride.  The footprints lead away almost due south.

Nalomanterys offers a practiced bow when Danica acknowledges his magical prowess - at least that what he hears when she calls him a valuable addition to the group. "In my state, I would have settled for a halfway competent group, but I dare say we all make quite a team."

When arriving at the scene of last night's primal screams, Nalomanterys stays far away, making sure not to get his shoes dirty with any far-flung viscera. He pinches his nose and agrees with Meili. "Quite so! Ms. Meili has the right of it, as usual. What interest have we in a steaming carcass?!" He makes as if to continue on toward their goal (but will wait until everyone is coming his way).

"Information is important..." Danica murmurs as she pulls away from the corpse with wrinkled nose, trying to blow out the smell of it. "I'd think a wizard would know that better than most. Now we know that we still have two nasty dino's wanderin' around nearby, not just one. This here," She kicks the corpse lightly, "That long necked dino that stared me down? Is neither the killer of this thing, or the dead thing itself. So it's still walkin' round as well as whatever predator killed it." Glancing at Mica she then sighed and nodded at the others, "But now that we've got that, we should put some distance between us. Preferably not in the same direction as where it went." Staring at the ranger and hoping that they would receive good news. 

“Yes, let’s move on” Mica nods at Meili and Nalomantery’s comments, then turns back to Danica “It’s headed due south.  I would love to follow it, but our ruined city lies more to the southeast.  Maybe next time.”  He gathers his things to move out, but looks longingly in the direction of the tracks a moment before leading the party away from the carcass. He leaves another inconspicuous mark for Hew not far from the dead beast before continuing on in the jungle.

Wisely choosing to let sleeping therapods lie, for now, the party slips away from the kill site and continues their trek to the southeast.  The light morning drizzle gives way to clear skies and scorching heat.  Even after all this time in Chult, you find it difficult to rate the heat.  Often, each day can feel as though it is the hottest you have experienced.  Today, particularly so.  When you find yourselves in direct sunlight, the heat is painful.  You can feel your exposed skin struggling to resist the sun's rays, even with the healthy tans you have all developed.  And when you step back into the shade, the immediate blast of humidity prevents any relief.  You tax your water supplies as you struggle to keep cool and hydrated, even with the relaxed pace.  

In the early afternoon, as you follow a streambed, the bushes and vines to the north of you erupt as a family group of elephant-sized quadrupedal dinosaurs emerge and cross the stream.  They have massive, bony plates running down the length of their backbones, and their tails end in wicked looking 4' spikes.  There are old and young here, and they move past quickly and without paying your group any particular attention.  You notice, as they pass, that one of them has the chest and arms of a still wriggling zombie wedged in the long spikes of its tail.

As another long day of hiking passes with the sun low in the west, and thunder in the southwest heralding the coming chance to refill your waterskins, talk turns to selecting a spot to camp.  As Mica and Danica stop to discuss a promising looking rise, everyone freezes when they hear something unexpected... voices.  Human-sounding voices, and close.  It sounds like an argument, and it can't be more that 50 yards to the southeast, though you cannot see anything yet through the thick jungle.

Ran stops moving when he hears the voices. Are they coming they're way? (Perception: 14  ).

If they are, Ran does his best to move his clinking chainmail covered self into the dense jungle, behind bushes and trees (Stealth: 5  )

At hearing the sound of conversation, Mica quickly raises a hand for the party to freeze.  Placing a finger over his lips in a sign for silence, he winces slightly as Ran tries to move back into the bushes.  Mica creeps forward, trying to sneak forward and get a glimpse at whatever is making the noise while remaining unseen himself. 

Stealth: 17.

Perception: 6.

.

Meili made a few more steps before the fact that someone was talking out loud and that someone was not part of the group sunk in. The realization made her freeze in place (and the expression was closer to the literal meaning that she would like). She took a quiet deep breath, calming her nerves, and like Ran tried to fade into the greenwall around.

(Stealth: 23)

As Ran and Meili seek cover near where they stand, Mica tries to creep closer to the voices.  He still cannot see anything, but he hears a voice from up ahead shout, "On your knees, now!  This is your final warning!"  It still sounds like it is coming from further ahead, and Mica is confident he hasn't been spotted.  This voice seems to be threatening an unseen and heretofore unheard third party.

[Mica is now a little ahead of the others, but still not close enough to see what is going on up ahead.]

As soon as the sound of voices, true non-undead humanoid voices, could be heard, Danica would freeze alongside Mica, meeting his gaze with widened eyes. Immediately she would cast Pass without Trace as quietly as she could, trying to aid her own two left feet as well as the others. Waving Ran back into the foliage with a wince at the clanking of his armor. With that, the elf would creep up alongside Mica, lips pursed at the tense situation. She strained to hear anything further or get eyes on whomever was speaking or who they were speaking to. Regardless, it didn't exactly sound welcoming. Her and lingered on her scimitar, waiting to see if they would be detected and possibly have to defend themselves. 

Stealth: 13 + 10 (Pass without Trace) = 23
Perception: 24

Danica casts her spell and the sound of her and Mica's footfalls in the underbrush vanish away to nothing.  Peering through the vines and ferns, she gets a clear look at what is happening up ahead.

Danica alone sees the following:

 [Danica has a chance to react to what she sees.  Depending on what she does in the next moment, we will proceed...]

((earlier))

"Of course every apprentice understands there is power in knowledge, Captain Danica, but I do not need to step out into the snow to know that it is cold. We are in Chult" he extends his arms in a 'look around you' gesture. "I already know there are undead, dinosaurs, and undead dinosaurs around us." He ends in mock chastisement ((that is to say, he's being friendly and joking))

((later))

When the group hears voices, Nalomanterys stays behind. Even with the spell quieting their steps, he decides to leave the scouting to the professionals. Still, he tries to listen in from farther away and remains alert to the rest of his group.

Danica couldn't help but snort at Nalomanterys' words.

Mica:

 Looking back at the rest of the Seekers, the sailor hesitated. Should they take advantage of their stealth and move forward to attack now with the element of surprise? Or wait and see how the winds shifted? Lips sucked tight over her teeth, Danica thought a prayer to Selune before raising a flat palm out to Meili, Ran and Nal to see, clearly signing, 'halt'. Leaning for Mica once more, she whispers, "If the snakes attack anyone first, I'll rush in and scatter their forces." With that said, Danica begins thinking of the exact spell she wants to use before turning her keen green eyes to the strangers ahead of them. 

DM: 

No sooner does Danica whisper her ideas to Mica, than the jungle explodes with the twang of bowstrings and the screams of the wounded.

[The first round occurs, with everyone except the Yuan-ti and Danica surprised. ]

A hissing scream cries out something that sounds like, "Thrysshka!"  The lurking Yuan-ti spring their ambush on the unsuspecting mercenaries.  First, two yuan-ti malison (type 1)s hoist ropes, pulling up a heavy net along the trail behind the war elephant, blocking escape to the southeast.  Then, rest of the Yuan-ti strike from hiding on both sides of the trail, targeting the mighty elephant first.

[Striking with Advantage from hiding...]

2 yuan-ti malison (type 1)

• Attack 1:  24  Piercing Damage:  8  Poison Damage:  15
• Attack 2:  8  (Miss)

• Attack 1:  14  (Miss)
• Attack 2:  16  Piercing Damage:  8  Poison Damage:  3  

6 yuan-ti malison (type 3)

• Attack 1:  20  Piercing Damage:  10
• Attack 2:  19  Piercing Damage:  8   

• Attack 1:  24  Piercing Damage:  5
• Attack 2:  20  Piercing Damage:  4

• Attack 1:  14  (Miss)
• Attack 2:  20  Piercing Damage:  6

• Attack 1:  19  Piercing Damage:  8
• Attack 2:  17  Piercing Damage:  6

The mighty pachyderm stumbles under the hail of arrows, and falls to the jungle floor, bleeding out.  The two men on its back spill to the ground, landing prone.  The remaining two Yuan-ti archers switch to target the mercenaries on the ground.  "Ambush!"  is all they can cry before the arrows begin to take them as well.

• Attack 1:  19  Piercing Damage:  5
• Attack 2:  18  Piercing Damage:  3

• Attack 1:  15  (Miss)
• Attack 2:  10  (Miss)  

Keeping to her rushed plan, Danica charges forth from the underbrush behind the nearest cluster of Yuan-ti.

[There was a [ tooltip not found ] note on Danica's spell, but based on what you were doing rushing in like that, your suggestion to Mica to scatter the Yuan-ti, and the possible spells I can only conclude you meant for it to be Thunderwave...]

An explosion of thunder rips through the trees and underbrush, impacting 3 of the Yuan-ti.  [Saves:  7, 17, 7 ]  Two of the Yuan-ti (one of each type) are shoved 10' away from Danica, out of cover toward the mercenaries on the trail.  [Please roll damage, Danica.  If somehow I was wrong and it wasn't Thunderwave, well... bollocks.]

Round 2

The 6 yuan-ti malison (type 3)s continue to attack with their bows.  The three on the other side of the trail don't yet know what caused the Thunderwave and continue to target the mercenaries, as does the yuan-ti malison (type 3) furthest to the west.  

• Attack 1:  7  (Miss)
• Attack 2:  24  Piercing Damage:  10

• Attack 1:  6  (Miss)
• Attack 2:  14  (Miss)

• Attack 1:  17  Piercing Damage:  3
• Attack 2:  15  (Miss)

• Attack 1:  8  (Miss)
• Attack 2:  22  Piercing Damage:  10

The remaining two (that were hit with her Thunderwave) turn and target Danica.  One moves 10' away from her, leaving her range and subject to an AOO if she chooses to spend a reaction on it.  The other slithers back away from the trail and into the cover of the trees.

• Attack 1:  17  Piercing Damage:  5
• Attack 2:  6  (Miss)

• Attack 1:  22  Piercing Damage:  8
• Attack 2:  9  (Miss)

Amidst all the shooting and screaming, the red robed wizard in the trap crouches low, making a few gestures with his hands... and then he disappears.

1. yuan-ti malison (type 3)s
2. E
3. Meili/Mica/Nalomanterys/Danica
4. CC
5. yuan-ti malison (type 1)s
6. Ran