The druids turn out to be having a shouting match around a terrified tiefling child. Or, well, at least one member of the druids is having a shouting match, it's currently unclear if the others have managed her volume.

"—and I'm not saying 'oh yes, let's just let the pack of feral children run rampant and steal important things without consequence!' I'm saying that leaving her under guard of your venomous bite happy snake equates to actually just killing her!"

"What do you take me for?" another druid hisses, not anywhere near as loudly as the first one but with a presence just as attention-grabbing. "Teela is under my command and will not kill anyone—unless I bid her to. And this is quite beside the point that you are distracting from."

That looks like such delicious drama involving the tidbit he just heard a little bit ago from the other tiefling kid. He and his party go down the steps to watch the spectacle.

"It really isn't!! The adults are not going to find a literal viper particularly trustworthy, and will be furious if we actually keep her here under threat of death! Which is what it looks like and kind of is, actually! Just, look, I will take her to them and have a calm and rational discussion and we can talk about consequences for all of them that don't involve anyone getting bitten by a venomous snake!!!"

    The tiefling child—Arabella—has been quietly trembling this whole time, not daring to sob for fear of provoking the death-viper, but Ivetrielle's mention of "threat of death" makes her make a terrified noise at the back of her throat. And almost as if to underline it, the noise makes the snake hiss at her in a manner not too dissimilar to how the druid is hissing at Ivetrielle.

"The only one here who seems to not be ready for calm and rationality is you. She stole our most holy idol and you would have me do what? Release her with barely a slap on the wrist so that you can try—again—to get these devils under control and fail—again? Do you even have a plan for how to achieve this? They are poison in our circle and this thief is just another drop in a cup that has long since overflowed!"

"I would have you not threaten a literal child, yes!! And you complain about poison, and then call them devils and hellspawn and whatever else while planning to leave them all to goblins to die! This goes both ways, auntie, bridges need both sides! I'm saying I have been failing because you haven't been listening to me, so how the hells do you expect any of them to, either?!"

"You will speak with respect when addressing me! Blood relation or not, I am this Circle's First Druid and you are a child. You need to know your place—"

"Excuse me, hi!" calls Astarion from where he's been getting gradually closer to the line of druids that's guarding the central plaza of the grove from the outsiders until he's right by them. "Sorry, I couldn't help but notice there was a whole scene happening here that was not about me and I think this is a mistake?"

    "Outsiders are not welcome here!" replies one of the druids that is serving as the place's effective bouncer.

"...I'm sorry, what did you say?" asks the First Druid.

"Just as good at listening as always, auntie," says the shouty druid, a bit petulantly. "And... I think he's one of the ones that showed up to drive off the goblins? Hello, sir, are you in favor or against child endangerment because maybe she'll fucking listen to someone speaking sense as long as it's not from me."

"Oh I don't give a rat's ass about this child," he says, like a liar. At least he's a pretty liar. He thinks. He didn't get a good look at his face that one time he saw it in Lae'zel's mind and he was covered in goop but he thinks there was a hot guy in there somewhere. "I just think this is distracting from much bigger problems such as mind flayers, the ship thereof, their danger, and of course the fact that this entire thing here has neglected to be about me even a little bit. So first I would like a reward for saving your people and then I would like to discuss the illithid I just mentioned, and I feel like the tiefling child is just, you know, ruining the vibe? Just give her back to her parents, call it done, then let's talk about something that matters a lot more than that."

"...you have information about the mind flayers?"

"Darling, I have so much more than that, but I feel like this is not the best place for us to discuss this."

Roll Persuasion, DC 15.

He has +5 to Persuasion rolls, +1d4 from Shadowheart's Guidance, and 4 Inspiration points, he's good.

(Meanwhile, someone else rolls a Sleight Of Hand check to get the tiefling child's attention. Would Arabella (because she does in fact actually know her name) like to get the fuck out of this place right this instant, with the angry shouty druid who has been absolutely unwavering in her desire to keep this child safe?)

The roll succeeds.

(Arabella would absolutely like to get the fuck out of this place but there is a snake right there and she heard it when people mentioned how a single drop of its poison could kill her.)

Excellent, then all the people whose opinions matter are agreed.

So while the elves are distracted with each other, the shouty druid will carefully insert herself between Arabella and the snake, and then very quickly turn into a wolf and scoop the small child onto her back for an impromptu wolf ride. Destination: the fuck out of this place.

Astarion, your Persuasion roll has disadvantage now.

...come on, he was doing fine, he had this, why'd you go and make this more complicated!!!

Ugh. Fine. Even with disadvantage he's probably still fine. He'll probably need to use at least one of those Inspiration points but there's no point to hoarding them, is there?

Costs two of them but it succeeds.

One of the other druids turns into a bear but doesn't really have time to react before the wolf has run past, and the other druids are too stunned and uncertain about what to do, between the First Druid (and her snake) and the other druid, but the First Druid herself just looks pissed off and done with all of this. "You," she says, pointing at Astarion. "Come speak with me." Then she looks at the tiefling spectators. "And if I ever see that thief again I will hand her to Teela. Now begone."

And she turns around and stalks off into one of the caves, followed after a couple seconds' hesitation by two other druids (but not the bear, who is still the henge's bouncer).

See, he was doing fine.

"That elf," Lae'zel says, looking over her shoulder at the departing wolf. "She has fire. I would test her mettle in battle."

"Darling, I don't think she'll indulge you."

"But I'm going after her anyway."