Call of Cthulhu - The Island - Gameplay

As the party moves towards the figure on the beach, it moves away, with a shuffling, shambling gait. It seems unused to walking on land. At the water's edge, the figure doesn't hesitate for a second before wading into the ocean. Just as the figure gets knee-deep into the water, the light from the lighthouse flashes around, illuminating the scene properly.

You see that the figure is a naked fish-like humanoid, with bulging eyes, clawed hands, and scaly green-black skin. The creature is carrying a strange stone idol under its arm, which depicts some kind of weird deep-sea fish, looks like a mix between a gulper eel and an angler fish. As you watch, the creature quickly gets waist-deep, then chest-deep into the crashing surf, before disappearing under the water entirely.

Looking at the boxes on the beach, they appear to be fairly mundane shipping crates. You could break them open if you wanted to look inside.

What do you want to do from here?

You go to the wrecked ship, looking in through the big hole in the side. There's another big hole smashed on the opposite side of the ship, where water is quickly flooding in from. The ship's hold is quickly becoming filled with brackish seawater. There's quite a few more cargo boxes inside here, that are getting thrown around by the movement of the ship as it's battered by the sea waves. You don't see any bodies, but it looks like a fight of some kind took place inside the cargo hold, there are big scratches on the walls that could have been made with sharp daggers, quite a few of the cargo boxes are broken open, there's splatters of relatively-fresh blood on the interior surfaces, and it generally looks like a scene of carnage. You don't think it would be safe to enter the ship and search further, given how quickly the interior is filling with water.

Looking around further on the beach, you find some tracks leading off further down the beach, running parallel to the cliff face. The tracks look like two people wearing shoes, carrying something heavy between them.

What do you want to do?

You don't find anything in the ship. I'm not sure exactly what would be in the cargo hold of a ordinary ship of this time period, but whatever mundane supplies that you would expect to find, that's what you find, both in terms of the boxes on the beach, and those remaining in the ship. There's nothing out of the ordinary here, other than what's previously been described.

I imagine you'll want to follow the trail up the beach at some point, so I'll tell you what lies in that direction. The trail leads to a winding path that gradually works its way up the cliff face. The path leads to a cleft in the rock, that opens up into what appears to be a natural cave. You can't see the back of the cave from the entrance, even with your lanterns raised. You expect that it continues on, deeper into the cliff.

What do you want to do from here, players?

It's alright, I wouldn't have had you roll in that circumstance anyway. It's an easy track to follow, it's on wet sand. I'm not one of those referees who asks for a roll to see what would be obviously visible for your characters in the context of the game.