Discovering the Circle of Thunder
Standing around the dead Cockatrice, the party discussed what parts would be most useful to harvest. A painstakingly bloody and delicate procedure later, the party found themselves the owners of a Cockatrice Beak, Set of Eyes, and Heart. They also explored the nests and recovered four Cockatrice Eggs, which were cold as stone but pretty clearly egg-shaped.
Investigating the Owlbear just outside the Nest area, a heated debate about what to do with the petrified creature broke out. In the end a vote was held and Thorrfig submitted to the party decision, shattering the creature's head.
The party decided to hunker down for the night near the Giant Elk. In the last watch of the night, a crashing came from its direction and Thorrfig saw that it had collapsed to the ground. Standing on shaky legs, it approached the camp and locked eyes with Thorrfig.
Stuu jumped at the opportunity and approached. Thorrfig and Stuu saw a deep and ancient intelligence behind the Giant Elk's eyes as it locked eyes with each of them in turn. They felt more than heard it thank them. It was clear that this Giant Elk had business elsewhere, but before galloping off it touched Stuu's hand.
Finishing their rest they moved on towards the altar. Approaching the area they knew it existed in, they knew there would be increased Goblin patrol activity. They set about searching for the altar.
The party made good progress moving towards where they were sure a Druidic altar would be, following the signs of the Arcane, Forest, and what they know about druids. Each time the moved closer they notice the trees got older and closer together.
When they were getting close they ran into another patrol, this one saw them immediately and moved to close the gap. Quick acting on Rovu's part managed to convince the patrol that he was escorting prisoners to the ritual site. The goblins escorted them the rest of the way there and left them at the prisoner pit.
Three White Tusk Orcs were bound in the bottom of the pit, and four goblins were standing guard. The wind had picked up to be a gale at this point in the day, getting worse all the while since morning. As such the guards further away didn't notice when the party overpowered the two goblins close at hand, then one by one they killed the two other sentries.
After hiding the bodies, another heated debate picked up as the party discussed what to do with the Orc prisoners. After a vote, the party decided to leave them in the pit for now and deal with them after they finished their primary objective, finding and killing Lhupo the Red-axe. At that point, they would turn the Orc prisoners over to Bloodsword and the Cragmaw nation instead of killing and or leaving them.