Tangle, who is about 80' away, lifts a hand in acknowledgment, but keeps going back towards the people she was fighting with.

Bazavur, you wake as Soar moves her hand away.

Tangle, the strange assortment of hunters, mercenaries and caravan guards stares at you as you approach.  Is... is it over? one asks.

Soar, the celestial spirit turns to look at you. No, I cannot. This was powerful magic, from a dangerous creature that would have caused great harm had it survived this birth. You all have my gratitude. But it will fade, and you will be well, Jalt my friend, and the celestial is definitely speaking directly to Jalt; Call to me again, in the City of Splendours, and I will answer.

Jalt, you are unable to see, hear or move, and barely able to think, but you heard the voice clearly, and can remember.

As Tangle reaches the others, she nods. "It is over... I am... I am sorry I fled, I... I needed to see to the creature commanding them, but... you fought well," she finishes lamely. She looks over all the dead people, finding the archer whose bow she is carrying, she lays it down next to his body, then goes to collect her own short bow from the ground. "We will be gone soon," she says, making her way back towards where the other members of her party are.

Tangle, the folk look at you as you leave, and rather sadly look at the bodies around them. They start to gather their fallen friends.  One shouts after you: Thank you!  However, none move to follow, and they slowly leave, headed south across the river where most of the other camp dwellers fled.

“What was it? Was that a yuan-ti, or something Tiamat did? I am very grateful you came to this place. I felt Kelemvor’s presence here, earlier. Jalt and I have had our different approaches to our main task, and I worried that Bahamut and Kelemvor were displeased with our little strife. It was good to feel the awesome power of two gods on this battlefield. Or was there three? I do have another question. Do you know about the masks?” Soar says, pausing to let the guardian answer questions, not wanting to bowl them over, as she catches her breath. 

Regaining consciousness Bazavur has a flash of memory, I was fighting a huge multiheaded snake creature and quickly reaches around his person for his axe. Finding it brings it to a defensive position near his body. He blink slowly, trying to clear his vision. He expects to see one of the giant snake heads getting ready to gobble him up. Instead, he sees Soar, “Oh. It’s you…” He groans in pain as he slowly moves to a sitting position. “I guess we won then?” He notes the slowly forming pile of red goop. He falls silent as Soar begins talking to the celestial presence felt throughout the battle.

Soar, as you begin to speak, the Guardian begins to fade.  You hear the words: I am not the right person for you to ask, Soar Jestalle. But you will find the answers you need, have no fear. And she is gone.

Bazavur, you also hear this in your mind, you think.  You sit up and survey the carnage around you, and see the celestial fade to nothing. To the south, you see the normally busy camp of Boareskyr Bridge deserted, wrecked in part as rampaging yuan-ti and fleeing campfolk have collapsed the tents in their path. On the bridge, there seems to be a group of people waiting and watching; they look like some of the guards who fought alongside you, and others who had fled before the battle began. They are not moving, just watching it seems.

Bazavur stands, now using his axe to support his weight instead of cut down the mass of snake people. He wonders aloud, “Are these the same snake people we encountered back at the tomb?… Did they follow us here?” Bazavur moves to retrieve his gear. He gives Jalt a confused look, unsure why his brethren is standing there motionless and silent… though that isn’t much different from normal. ( 😜 )

Unless something pressing stops his progress or draws his attention elsewhere. Bazavur begins dragging corpses around snake people in one pile and fallen guards, camp defenders in an organized line. He does his best to keep peoples belongings on their person. Not so much with the snake people. He’ll check them for any useful items. Gold, potions, scrolls, or perhaps orders from some higher being… who knows maybe he’ll get lucky. 

Investigation: 13

Tangle rejoins the group, nodding silently at the others. She is bleeding from many cuts, some of them quite serious, and has a slight limp as she approaches.

”We should have come together earlier to fight this creature,” she toes the anathema. “I do not think we will prevail in spite of ourselves too many more times.” Then she begins digging arrows out of the enemies.

Bazavur gives a hearty laugh. “With you three here to hit it while I have whatever it is distracted we should be just fine” He tosses the remains on a snake man on to the growing pile and looks like he halfheartedly believes his own gusto. 

"I will need a war bow," Tangle says apropos of nothing, as she draws a bloody arrow out with a pop. "My hunting bow is good in close quarters, but close quarters is proving too dangerous. Though you have remarkable staying power, Soar Jestalle. And you, Bazavur, are proving very... resilient." She pointedly says nothing about Jalt, moving around the bulk of the anathema looking for more arrows.

Bazavur gives Tangle a knowing wink “I get knocked down, but I get up again…”

Tangle mentioning she needs a better bow sets Bazavur’s mind to work trying to recall the multitude of armaments he saw during his stint in the military. Hoping to be able to recreate one of them for Tangle in the future. 

Soar sputters, but then nods, to the guardian as she disappears. She looks down at Bazavur. "We did win, though not without a lot of help. And we nearly didn't make it. Jalt..."

She tries to gently guide the cleric back to camp, finding a safe place for him to sit down. The guardian said it would fade, so she wanted to ensure he was somewhere comfortable when it did. She leaves the others to the arrow collection, body moving, and looting. She does engage on the strategic discussion. "Tangle is right. This was very close to being a fight we didn't barely win. We keep having those. If there's something I can do better, let me know. I may not have been smart to try to use Candelabra's speed to draw some of them away, but it was the decision I made, given where I was when I saw them. I think sticking closer together might be something we can try. That's smart. Cover each others' backs, and give Tangle a chance to break off and fire away. You hit hard with those! But these people... they've lost a lot today, out of the blue. Maybe I can help."

Soar spends time with the survivors, first trying to calm them and explain what happened, as fully as she knows how. That gods intervened here to protect and fight against an abomination that was trying to be born, that could have caused even further harm. She has been trained to help those grieving, in shock trying to make sense of the senseless. She sits with them, offers to listen, to give people time. She begins the rituals and prayers and preparations for those who died, respecting any gods or goddesses they follow, but also providing the calm of the grave through Kelemvor. 

She takes as much time as this requires, feeling more deeply connected to her god than she has in a while. She thinks about what would have happened here had the mage arrived early.

It takes someone else to remind her she should clean off the snake-dragon blood spattered all over her.

During the services Soar provides Bazavur would play his bagpipes. Something slow and somber to reflect the mood of those grieving. (I’m thinking along the lines of taps. And I think that could double as song of rest for an extra d6 if we get a short rest?)

Bazavur, you don't find anything of value on most of the corpses; you're not even sure if yuan-ti use money in the same way you do. However, in the rapidly dissolving remains of the largest creature you do find a large item, wrapped it appears in many layers of skins. The skins look like they might be humanoid in origin.

Tangle, you find many arrows, both your own and those fired by the locals; a total of 9 are usable.

Soar and Bazavur set about the task of comforting the locals, who slowly make their way back into the camp to survey the ruins. All in all, there's much less damage, and fewer losses, than there could have been; the survivors who fought alongside you tell their friends clearly that the battle would have been lost without your group's efforts, and many of the merchants and travellers seem ready to believe them.

Bazavur, make a Performance check as you try to use your music to calm people's nerves.

Soar, make a Persuasion or Religion check to try to reassure the people and guide them, as the priests of Kelemvor taught you.

After an hour, as people are still righting wagons and cleaning up, Jalt, you come to your senses, and can see, hear and think once again.

Soar persuasion: 10

Performance: 23

It's... a little too soon. People are still on edge from the battle; the sudden shock and the losses are still working their way through people's minds. The reaction is respectful, and people seem to understand what you are trying to do, but they don't participate wholeheartedly. Still, you are left with the feeling that you made a difference, however small, perhaps one that people will appreciate more in the coming days.

Soar takes a note for later that she should probably wait a bit, and wash up a bit, before trying to reassure and tend to those still in shock. She goes over to the others and takes a break of her own. Takes off her armor, washes up, washes and polishes her armor. Lays down for a bit.

Eventually she takes a walk through the meadow and picks a few flower buds to replace some of the bloodier ones in the skullmouths around her armor.

3 HD: 27

2 more: 5 9

2 hit die plus song of rest d6: 20