Tof-240529-eric

We arrive at at Hikou and are greeted by Silaris Emberstorm
- Milhouse doesn't want to give up either cannon, but I manage to convince him that we're going to need to in order to purchase passage into The Trench Lane
  - We negotiate with Silaris Emberstorm and take him to view the cannons
    - He's surprised and pleased that we got them, and recognizes the traps
      - He offers to sail the commandeered ship to Binsogim to get more money for it, as a way of saying sorry for his intelligence being bad
Milhouse gets some workspace in Silaris Emberstorm's lab, and they are going to research the cannons to see if we can make them safe to use
- My intention is to have the smaller one mounted to The Gaping Maw to help murder The Kraken
  - We're given a stay at the local inn, and advised to check out the local shop
    - We do so, and encounter a shopkeeper we recognize from Binsogim
      - The shopkeeper leaves his magic ring on the table when he goes to put on some lotiona
Later, while we're asleep, several of us have very weird nightmares
- I dream that I see a mermaid while out sailing, and she's reaching out for help
  - I try to help her, but she's being held down by tentacles
    1. I go in to try to cut her free, and somehow she's cut in half
      
      The water fills with her blood, and goes black
    - I wake up covered in blood (blood sweat?)
- We hear Silaris Emberstorm downstairs at the inn, even though it's around 2:30 in the morning
  - We head downstairs, and it seems Drex also sweat blood in the night
    - Silaris Emberstorm tells us he managed to undo one of the runes, right about the same time that we had the weird dream
      - He had some disturbing visions when this happened
        
        He wants us to leave, he thinks that “something” is hunting The Gaping Maw and he doesn't want it in his port
We go to get some breakfast
- Milhouse seems to be freaking out about sugar in his coffee?
  - Drex apparently doesn't like sugar in his coffee either
    1. I notice that there are some playing cards on the floor, seemingly falling out of Milhouse's pocket, and one of them is an illustration of The Gaping Maw
      
      Suddenly, we hear an explosion
    - It came from the research lab, we head there
- There's a plume of smoke, Silaris Emberstorm and his assistants are there coughing
  - Silaris Emberstorm is yelling at a blonde woman
    - I've seen the woman before, she's Cerelia Windweaver, she's the first mate of Hamnefi the Icefist who goes to meetings for him
      - Silaris Emberstorm is blaming her for the explosion, she's calling him an idiot
        
        Silaris Emberstorm says everyone is okay, nobody was hurt
We ask her where her captain is, she says he's in Harrogate due to all the issues there
- We decide to head off there to try to get Hamnefi the Icefist's permission to enter the Trench Lane
Along the way, about 2/3 of the way through the journey, we come upon a familiar locale
- It looks like the place from my dream
  - I feel a weird compulsion to go into the water
    - I have Crawn take command, and to give me a few minutes before bringing the ship and the crew
      - I dive in and swim to where I had seen the mermaid in my dream
        
        I find a mass of dead tentacles, and a strange magical sword
        
        It doesn't seem to be a trap, so I take the sword and swim back to the ship
Once aboard, we try to identify it unsuccessfully
- Ell is able to confirm that it is not cursed, so I attune to it
  - It is Leviathan's Wrath - We pull up alongside The Icetide Stalker (Hamnefi the Icefist's ship)
- It looks to be mostly empty, but one crewman is lounging on deck
  - We call out to him, he tells us that most of the crew is on shore leave
    - He says the captain is on the iceberg
      - All we see on said iceberg is a polar bear
        
        We head towards the iceberg
We get there on dingies, there is faint music playing
- There's someone hanging out with him, playing music
  - It's Cerelia Windweaver

session, TOF