Tof-240508-eric

The statues come alive and start attacking
- I get between the nearest one and Ell
- Ell turns into a snake
- We hear Fish-Kicker shout that he's coming back
- One of the statues points at Milhouse and says “That gift was not for you”
  - They seem to be targeting him, as one of the statues goes directly after him
    - The other one follows suit
      - Ell is able to grapple it in his snake form
        
        We continue to fight them, eventually smashing them to bits
        
        We make sure Milhouse, who was near death, gets some heals
Investigating the area, we see a horrific aberration ooze its way out of the water in the previously-hidden chamber
- It looks disgusting, like some sort of corpse jello
  - It moves one of its long, tube-like mouth into the room with us and a voice comes from it
    - It sounds like a child saying “…Papa?” and then it vomits up a child's ball, which bounces off the floor
      - A multitude of children voices start saying “Play! Play!”
        
        Milhouse thinks it might be intelligent, like a child, and wants to try reasoning with it
        
        He asks it what its name is
        
        We hear just a chorus of voices calling out different names
        
        Milhouse looks distraught, and asks it how old it is
        
        We hear ages from 3 to 11
        
        Ell uses shape water to toss the ball to the thing
        
        Several of the mouths go for the ball, one of them pops it with its fangs
        
        We hear the child voices sobbing
        
        It comes through the entrance into the room we are in, and the voices start calling out “Papa, fix it!” to Ell
        
        Ell makes a ball out of water
        
        The creature starts to play with the ball, but then starts to have arguments with itself over who gets to play
        
        Ell manages to convince it to “play nice”
        
        We take the opportunity to GTFO
        
        - We go to the high captains and fill them in on what happened
- We let them know about the aberration we encountered
  - Fiandraska Goldenscale and Sylessa Baraxus go down to deal with it
    - Myungja Guanyin agrees that this counts as dealing with the university
      - We decide we're going to go take baths and get some rest
As we're getting to the inn, we hear an explosion from the direction of the university
- We see meat chunks raining down
  - A tendril, complete with a mouth, falls down in front of Ell
    - It starts talking, “Papa, am I not pretty enough any more? Papa, I tried to play nice…”
      - Ell kneels down and tries to comfort the “child” as it dies
        
        It wants a bedtime story, and Ell obliges
        
        Once it's asleep, I ask if he intends to try to keep it alive. He does not
        
        I offer to kill it for him
        
        I try, but it doesn't die, it just hurts him
We go to the castle to see if anyone there can help
- We run into Myungja Guanyin and Avercrumbie Finch talking, Avercrumbie Finch is still wanting to go to the trench lane
  - We still need permission from the other high captains
    - We also need permission from Tanis Dreadwhisper who is supposed to be dead
  - We talk to Fiandraska Goldenscale and he gives us his approval
    - We still need to talk to Silaris Emberstorm who is in Hikou, and Hamnefi the Icefist who is in Zhengheim
      - Since Tanis Dreadwhisper is dead, Hamnefi the Icefist is her surrogate
        
        We decide to sail for Hikou
        
        - We arrive at Hikou
        
        At the dock, Silaris Emberstorm meets us there. He's a tiefling man
        
        He says he wants to cut to the chase, he's heard we want his approval and he has a favor to ask us
        
        He says there is a ship called The Majestic Wind and is sailing from Minyi to Tian
        
        He wants us to intercept it and bring him its cargo
        
        He wants a new cannon that they are carrying. He says it's supposed to be very special, some sort of newly developed prototype
        
        It's their gift to their neighbor
        
        If we leave today, we should be able to intercept them south of Tosanvik
        
        We turn around and head back out, and manage to get there in time to ambush them

session, TOF