October 17th, 2020 None other than the party's
former traveling companion, Travyn Boondiggle, arrived at the Circle of Thunder
at the precise moment Gorthok's primordial form took shape atop the hill.
There, he found Cormac (who had been laid out from some bad fish he had eaten),
Tibor (who just wanted to go someplace safe), and Charles (seemingly
non-plussed about it all. Further up the hill, he saw his companions and a
centaur battling a Huge lightning-infused boar. Apparently, Travyn had come
looking after his companions and to let them know they probably needed to move
against the white dragon soon. The dragon had paid Phandalin two visits within
the last few days and things were getting serious in the town. In any event,
there was little time for chat, and he quickly threw himself in the battle,
just like old times. The hill shook with thunder
and was charged with lightning as the adventurers rallied and ultimately
prevailed against Gorthok. In the end, it was Tiger Matthias who pounced atop
the husky fellow and delivered the killing blow. Roar! In the aftermath of the
battle, the party discovered fist-sized smooth stones spread in a circle atop
the hill. Stylized lightning bolts were carved into each stone and they
appeared to be some sort of summoning circle. The party elected to scatter the
stones in the nearby forest, to prevent Cultists of Talos from being able to
use the site again. Then, Xanth the Centaur,
last of his tribe, urged the party to press their advantage, to strike deeper
into the Neverwinter Wood to put an end to the orcs' destruction once and for
all. The Woodland Manse was just 10 miles away and, in these adventurers, Xanth
saw an opportunity to put the forest back to rights. Predictably, Tibor was
firmly against any such activity and wanted only to return to safety. But he
was the odd man out, so the party forged on and soon arrived at the Woodland
Manse. The Manse was a dilapidated
manor overrun with vines and surrounded by a very fertile pumpkin patch teeming
with gourds and delighted lightning-branded boars. There, Matthias parlayed
with the boars, hoping to learn more of the manse's contents. One very vocal
boar did not seem interested in allowing Matthias' crew inside what he called
'their communal house' and essentially told Matthias to "move along".
This of course did not sit well with the adventurers, so Simplejack and Travyn started
goading the boars by gloating about slaying Gorthok, and other scandalous talk.
An Anchorite can only take so much, so one of the boars shapeshifted into a
half-orc and blasted Simplejack and Travyn with a lightning bolt. A battle broke out in the
pumpkin patch and boars and Anchorites came a-squealin' and a-damage-dealin'.
But the party once again prevailed. Later, having not learned from his recent
sushi poisoning, Cormac overindulged on magic pumpkin seeds and poisoned
himself. Travyn was quick to jump to Cormac's aid and suddenly jammed his fist
down the old man's throat and Cormac began to gag. Matthias, sensing this was
not going to end well, stepped in, and used primal magic to solve the dilemma.
While the poison may be gone, the mental imagery of Travyn's fist jammed down
Cormac's throat is not. Some wounds never heal... Putting that whole
unfortunate affair behind them, the party entered the ruined manse. Inside,
they found little twig dolls on a fireplace mantle, each doll carved in the
likeness of the adventurers. The group started fooling around with the totems,
testing out their efficacy and eventually fooled just a little too hard! Suddenly, the twig dolls
sprung to life, the manse walls began to rattle, and the air became charged
with positive energy. In the background, Tibor whined to Charles, "I will have
you know; I was on the record this was a very bad idea. Mark me!" PCs Present: Chiao,
Cormac, Matthias, Simplejack, Travyn
Items Gained: 3
Holy Symbols of Talos (Cormac)