I always loved the sea, even before I knew what it was. It calls to me, fascinates me intellectually, inspires me spiritually. Some fear it, which I’ve never understood… that is until now.
I can’t make sense of what has happened in the last hour. I remember all of the bits, each fleeting sight, groaning sound and foetid smell, but it doesn’t ring true. Like a set of jigsaw pieces showing a simple picture, but all of the pieces are misaligned and ill fitting.
These are the thoughts that come to me in the smashed up lamp room of this broken down lighthouse, the gale blasting through smashed glass, leaking bodies lying on the floor. At least the feeling in my arm is returning. Whatever that ‘thing’ hit me with threatened to seize me whole. Why didn’t it? Maybe I’m just lucky. Lucky! Now that’s a funny word to use given I was secure aboard the SS Essex not long ago, en route to Rockport and my research. Now I’m trapped in a windswept, blood covered glass box, with the copse of an unknown creature at my feet. Lucky! I’d always hoped to discover a hitherto unnamed species and lend my name to it. Be careful what you wish for, huh?
I shared the lifeboat to this rock with two men who have turned out to be something more than I expected. But what did I expect as we three strangers rowed away from the sinking Essex? Not this… not this. The lighthouse should be occupied by three souls. I suspect the souls of at least two of them have departed.
So… here I am, an unnerving gold coin in pocket, a bloodied hammer in my good hand, having just survived an assault by murderous fish people. As I say ‘fish people’ in my mind, I know how dumb that sounds. These are truly a new discovery, but I’d rather call them ‘fish people’ than lend my name to them.
The phrase ‘what goes up, must come down’ comes to mind as I look at the now shut trapdoor. I glance to my fellow strandees. We know the only way out is down. How many more of these creatures wait for us? How long can our luck hold?
Dave was gracious enough to introduce us the Call of Cthulhu through The Lightless Beacon one-shot. It was a fun adventure and the characters we played were sufficiently dysfunctional to cause all sorts of mishaps… my favourite was when I failed to catch a character falling through a trapdoor, only to have another then land on us!
Rather than give a blow-by-blow account of what happened (which’d contain loads of spoilers), I’ll leave some of my notes here. If you have the patience to decipher my handwritten scrawl, then maybe you have the makings of an investigator…
I’m sure that makes little to no sense, but trust me, it was an excellent adventure run expertly by Dave as Keeper.
Until next time,
Owen
PS I picked up the Call of Cthulhu starter box following this game…