Erro looks back at Darion, who was maintaining the enchantment, and says to him "You know, you're pretty helpful in a pinch, navigating the wilds aside, you know that?" Erro then lines up some strikes on the beast in coordination with his allies, hoping to fell it cleanly, if not fairly, like the other beast:

Attack 1: Attack: 19 Damage: 9 Slayer: 6 Mark: 6

Attack 2: Attack: 22 Damage: 5 Slayer: 4 Mark: 4

(bonus action to switch Hunter's Mark before attacking) (movement to move in range for a hit, assuming I wouldn't be affected by the Hypnotic Pattern)

Darion grins at Erro's comment "I like to think I have my uses!" he calls back.

I'm not sure it makes a difference, but Darion can't hold a spell (requires concentration), so would only act after the creature is out of it's stupor. He will then cast Magic Missile at it again: 11

The lights themselves only last a couple of seconds, and are not persistent, so people would have no problem with them - it is only the stupor of affected creatures that persists.

Ellis would hold and cast Vicious Mockery again on the other creature at the same time as everyone else.

Hold: Vicious Mockery on the other one (15 WIS Save or take 8 psychic damage and disadvantage on next attack roll it makes)

((Can I hear how someone would mock a dilophosaurus? “Cool frill, bro.”)) 

((My mother can spit worse than that??))

Rawk and Erro give a nod and begin their swings bringing their swords down.  Immediately Elia calls down a lightning bolt to the south of the dilophosaur that arcs and sears one side of the beast.  A barrage of arcane darts are released from Darion as Ellis mutters under his breath towards the creature.  The two swords carve into the leathery flesh of the dinosaur and it howls in pain as the darts and insults land pelting both mind and body.  Rawk and Erro finish the creature with a final thrust into the chest, both swords piercing the heart.  Blood pours from the wounds for a few seconds then begins to slow as all the blood is drained out onto the pebbled dirt shore.  

(End of combat.  If anyone wants to attempt collecting a sample of teeth, meat, etc make a Medicine/ Sleight of hand check for anything intricate, STR or DEX for anything basic.)

A silence falls over the jungle and all you can hear is the occasional wave lapping against the shore.  After collecting yourselves and ensuring all is well you resume your travels following the edge of the jungle and shoreline.  You travel for hours, the sun piercing through the cloudy sky and heating the air but the breeze from the lake keeps you cool enough to stay comfortable.  At the expiration of the 3rd hour to catch your first glimpse of the village.  It is nestled in a small bay to the east of the river that flows from the southern tip of the lake.  The column of smoke you saw before, you now see, is made up from 8-10 columns of smoke from various huts around the village of Kainui.  Tahvo begins to bounce and wiggle with anticipation.  Your spirits high, you continue another 30 minutes before nearing the river.  The sun is sitting somewhat low creating an orange hue to the sky signifying it will set in the next hour or so.  Villagers have gathered to observe your approach and you watch as Elia raises her hand in a universal friendly wave.  A few villagers deploy small canoes and row to your side of the river.  Elia greets them saying, "Blessings upon you.  We come from Dom-gar and wish to speak with your elders." 

"Welcome.  Please, come with us." one of them says and motions towards the canoes.  Tahvo can hardly contain his excitement at this point and sprints to the nearest canoe waving and encouraging you all to hurry and join him.  You oblige him and each of you hop in a canoe. When you reach the other side there is a short 5 minute walk to the village wall which is a wooden palisade that has dried thorny vines wrapped along the outer side.  You enter through the shoreline edge which is reinforced with a small makeshift tower.  A rough rope ladder stretches down from the top of the tower where two sentries stand watch.  Mud huts and teepees are scattered around in clusters.  Three large wooden structures stand out amongst the native landscape of the village and you are lead to the smallest of them.  Appearing more as an empty log cabin, this 10ft x 20ft building serves as Dom-gar's equivalent to the visitor center.  "Rest and wait here.  We will return shortly." the same man says leaving you all in the cabin alone.  A few villagers stand outside watching curiously but keep their distance.  Tahvo continues to bounce and looks out through the front entrance hoping to catch a glimpse of his parents.

(Congrats on successfully making it to the village of Kainui!  You'd have a few minutes to converse amongst yourselves if you wish to RP.)

((Great scene setting!))

Erro wipes the sweat from his brow after helping to fell the last beast. He was very pleased to have not been mauled in this encounter, and he wears an expression of relief on his face. He places his hand on the dino's flank. What an interesting and admirable beast. Erro mutters something about not wanting to let such intriguing beasts go to waste. He will attempt to trim off the colorful frills, baselessly assuming that they could have some ornamental trade value. He also tries to get at whatever mechanism that allowed the beast to shoot the caustic spittle, being very careful not to burn his hands or harm the delicate structure. Perhaps it had some medicinal value? 

Sleight of Hand: 8

Erro breathes a sigh of relief upon sight of the village and the welcoming of seemingly friendly villagers. Erro will continue in his blithe, chatty fashion all the while using the interactions as opportunity to pick up on subtle cues and intutions, Insight: 23. Once inside the visitor center, Erro will toss his pack on the ground and stretch out on whatever comfy bench, chair, or mat could be found, enjoying the pressure taken off of his feet. "Very well done everyone! We almost died far less often that time than our previous jungle treck. I wonder what happens now? Tahvo, anything that we should know about your home? I am so happy to see you back here! Would you look at that lake? It is huge! I bet there's an endless supply of fish" he goes on.

Erro- You find the creature's hide very tough to separate from the muscle tissue.  The frill rips as soon as you reach to cut it.  It's too tight and delicate, so you settle on cutting off a 3foot by 1 foot section along the flank and tail that has about 2 inches of meat attached to it.  Switching paces to examine the neck, head and mouth of the creature but can't seem to locate any sign of where the mucus came from.

The villagers initially seemed cautious, some wielding bows and spears, not at the ready but prepared should you prove hostile.  Once Elia spoke and introduced you from Dom-gar their demeanor immediately changed to friendly.  You don't seem to pickup that there is any bad blood from territory disputes which corresponds to the stories you heard back in Dom-gar.  Many of the villagers seem curious about you "newcomers" but keen in on Rawk and Tahvo especially.  

Ellis is so glad that they made it to the village, happy to see Tahvo back in his home now.  "See? We were able to get you back home, safe and sound." he says to the boy, smiling.

((Yes, great scene setting! Love it! On another note me and Mrs Foof started playing Baldurs Gate 3 last night - it's AWESOME!))

With the beasts defeated, Darion looks relieved, but still has that 'fed-up' feeling about him. However, as they finally reach the village he seems to relax and look relieved. As he sees the villagers around, he notes the weapons, and he keeps a wary eye out even after Elia has introduced them (perception: 20).

He smiles, at the welcoming party, but doesn't engage keeping reservedly back. It always pays to be cautious, because friendly looks can disguise bad intentions in his mind. However when they are led into the visitors building he relaxes a little more, collapsing down to sit with a slight groan. Though not unfit (for a wizard!) the journey has taken it's toll on him.

"Thank Tymora! Back in civilisation at last!" he says with feeling. He'll close his eyes for a minute, as Robyn swoops in and settles on his shoulder. He'll give a little laugh at Erro's comment about 'not dying quite as much' "so sorry I missed the expedition then!"

"You've done so well! you have such better eyes than mine!" he gives her a stroke then picks her up and blows on her tummy, which Robyn looks exceedingly smug about. She gives out a little screech, the flies up onto his shoulder again. Darion wrinkles his nose "Hmm, I told you it would begin to smell, you know? You really can't carry food around like that."

Robyn gives him a haughty, offended look and launches into a long set of screeches, and Darion wrinkles his forehead in surprise "Really? You can do that? How fascinating. Well, go ahead and try. I might even have to make notes!"

Robyn flies up to the ceiling, a thoughtful if triumphant look on her face. Darion turns his attention to the rest of the group, firstly to Tahvo, smiling at the boys happiness "I'm glad we got you home safely! You have done so well during these dangerous times - I think your parents will be very proud of you."

He then says to the group "Well, we made it - that was some good team work there, I have to admit. Hopefully we can have a little recuperation time here, before we move on."

He'll then address Ellis "How are you bearing up, Ellis? I confess I found that trek rather taxing." he gives a grin "It still always gives me a shock when I hear you hurl out insults at our enemies - you are usually so polite and reserved! When we have a chance, it would be good to hear how you are able to use song and rhyme to shape the Weave as you do - it's both so similar yet very different to how we are trained to do it!"

He will then address the group as a whole "So on first look they seem pleased to see us. I wonder how long that will last when they realise we have come to ask them to put themselves in harms way to help us? And what price they will want?" his natural cynicism reasserts itself.

He would also prepare to cast Detect Thoughts when he hears the villagers returning - he will use it to do a surface scan of their minds when they come in (though not doing a deeper investigation initially).

((Nice! It’s been a long time since I have considered buying a full price new blockbuster game, but this may be the exception. Even pre access it’s awesome eh? What makes it particularly good? What’s the best part about it?))

Rawk will try to hack off on of the heads with her axe and using some rope, tie it in a loose net that is suspended from her bag.

Strength:  18

Once they arrive Rawk will look happily onto the village and Tahvo's excitement.  She knew the people of this village had been friendly with Dom-gar for years through trading but had never seen it in person.  She admired the simple but complex layout of the village and paid no mind to the stares, figuring they were looking at the severed dinosaur head. She struggled to act normal, her small gate and clawed feet did little to help in walking like the others.  She'd bobble forward flapping her wings a little to do a sort of hop, skip and three step walk while keeping pace with the group.  "That went better than I thought.  How are you holding up Erro?  I think you got the worst out of this trip so far." she chirps once they're finally alone, her body beginning to bob up and down with her own excitement.

(DM, how is Erro doing? I’ve always thought the RAW full healing on a long sleep always took the wind out of arduous survival scenes. Obviously he looks bad, but are there any penalties till he can take a proper break? D&D isn’t the system for gritty realistic survival [nor does it have to be] but we’re also not self-regenerating trolls.) 

(Erro- Ya I never really liked that portion of the game script.  I feel like magical healing can fix alot of that but at the same time realistically, it doesn't make sense.  Your back is injured and sore but thanks to the magical healing of Ellis your once mortal wounds are now painful reminders of a deadly encounter.  While you are able to fight and move normally, you know that if you over exert yourself, you could have a real problem.  I'm saving the details so I'm not being super meta, but Erro would know he needs to rest every night to let his wounds fully heal.)

Rawk- you easily lop off the head of the other dilophosaur that Erro didn't mess with and are able to make a rudimentary net to hold the severed head.  

Group- Tahvo is growing impatient but his excitement carries him through, "Ton's of fish.  Big ones and little ones and sometimes turtles too... Thank you Darion and Ellis and Rawk and Elia and Erro...  I never would've thought I'd see them again.  What is taking them so long to get here though?" he says smiling, his body almost mimicking Rawk's nervous bobbing.  A few minutes pass while some of you take the reprieve to sit and rest.  A small group of villagers including a younger looking male and female who seem anxious.  As the two enter the structure they lock eyes with Tahvo and immediately rush towards him.  Tahvo seeing them approach shouts, "Mommy!  Daddy!" and runs to meet them.  The trio embraces one another tightly, the two adults sobbing while Tahvo's feet dance with excitement.

Four others enter the building and smile.  They approach and bow before an older elven female with grey hair and narrow eyes says, "Thank you for bringing back one of our own.  We know it was a difficult journey to come all this way, but from what I hear there is much you wish to discuss with us.  Please, feel free to leave your belongings here. We'd like you to accompany us to the council for a short meeting.  We will make sure to provide you food, refreshment... and medicinal herbs." she says looking at the blood stained clothes of Erro and severed head slung over Rawk's shoulder.  

Darion will focus his Detect Thoughts on the Elven Female (though not going for the deeper access still - he neither wants to alert nor offend, just checking what is on the surface of her mind).

"Tahvo has been incredibly brave, given all that he has been through. I think we are all glad to see him reunited with his family" Darion keeps his voice pleasant and neutral, curious about what will happen "The Yuan-ti are terrible enemies, and our escape from them was a close run thing... but it will be good to discuss this with your council, and the threat they pose. Refreshment sounds most welcome!"

He will try and see if he can intuit anything from the response to this, alongside the detect thoughts. He will use his portent of 15 for the roll.

Insight check: 19

Other than that, Darion will follow tp the council meeting.

Ellis smiles, hearing Tahvo thank them all and so happy that they were able to keep him safe and bring him back home. He watched Tahvo hug his parents, making him think of his mother and how much he wants to hug her right now if he could. Then he saw the people come in, hearing the elven woman as he nodded. "Of course, we wanted to make sure that he got home safe and sound. Alright and thank you very much, we could sure use it." Ellis says back to her, smiling and following with everyone to the meeting.

Erro observes the happy scene with a smile while lying down and stretching out. He knew that he needed to take it easy where he could. Too few were such happy moments. 

“Medicinal herbs you say?? And food?” Erro stands back up for this and heads out the door with the rest. 

The elven woman smiles and replies, "Thank you again for the return of Tahvo.  Yes, the Yuan-ti are a wicked cohort.  I and the others would be most interested to hear of your story.  Come, let us celebrate and have fellowship with one another."

Darion- She is genuinely happy at the arrival of Tahvo and your group.  At the mention of Yuan-ti you sense anger and a bit of sadness, not directed at you but at the yuan-ti.

You all follow the group, leaving Tahvo and his family behind who thank and bless you as you pass, to a large teepee standing nearly 30 feet tall and roughly 20 feet across at the base.   The spacious interior is cooler than the outside and the shade is a welcome reprieve from the baking sun that illuminates the interior through the leather and fabric that forms the barrier between you. Small piles of multicolored fabric and furs lay scattered out along the ground. You look over to the six who are already seated, each upon a pile with legs crossed or folded beneath them.  The elven female sits in the middle of the six forming the 7 council members that govern the village.  "I am Arion.  Chief elder of Kainui.  Please make yourselves comfortable." the elven female says motioning to the various piles.  Once you are all situated, she bows and speaks again, "Elia, it is good to see you again.  I trust all is well in Dom-gar.  I understand the want of returning the boy but such a dangerous journey must have some other motive." she turns to the group welcoming any of you to respond, "Tell us, who you are and why you have come so far."  As she speaks a few villagers enter with warm herbal teas, three spits with 7-8 fish skewered on each, a few loaves of fresh baked bread, various fruit and small clay bowls of water that smells sweet, like honey.

Darion- Arion's manner is not insulting or brash but curious, respectful and wise.   She seems very interested in what the group has to say.

Rawk will sneak over to Tahvo and his family and wrap her wings around them for a quick hug.  You hear a gentle coo emit from her throat or chest, you aren't entirely sure then she follows behind the others.  Not having the same anatomy as everyone else Rawk simply flaps and bit and plops her butt on the small pile.  At the sight and smell of fish, her feather ruffle slightly in excitement and even though she isn't hungry, thanks to Elia's berry, she is still wanting of fish.  When given the opportunity she'll politely walk over and grab a couple fish then swallow them whole.

She knew she wasn't the best at talking but she did enjoy a bit of conversation so she decided to talk about herself.  "I'm Rawk.  It's just my father and I in Dom-gar... from my family I mean.  We fought the lingering shadow and killed it in Dom-Sorn.  The heart of Rutan is restoring the city as we speak."

Darion greets everyone politely, cautious but reassured by what he has seen so far. He gives a little smile at Rawk's enthusiasm, then adds "Though I wasn't part of that, perhaps it would also help if I explained what has led to this..."

He would then give a quick summary of the events in the Temple, being open about it all. Cautious as Darion is, he sees no point in holding any of these known details back - including the deal with Fenthasa, and the events leading to the Yuan-ti power struggle. If Ellis was also wanting to join in the telling, he would defer to Ellis both through his own dislike of the spotlight, but also judging Ellis to be the better story-teller.

He would finish at their arrival in Dom-Gar, and briefly mention helping firm their defences while the others went to deal with the Lingering Shadow. He would then hand over if someone wanted to go into more detail about that adventure.