Full Fathom Five, Call of Cthulhu Play Report

 A one-shot play report for Call of Cthulhu.  Full Fathom Five was written by Paul Fricker and is available from Drive-Thru RPG, there is wonderful art on the cover and within from John Sumrow.

This was run over two, two-hour sessions with four players, we used Roll20 for handouts, dice rolls, and character sheets with discord for voice.

Whales are obviously incredible, intelligent creatures and this is just a story, but there is a real danger that the next generations to come will only ever hear about them in books, so if you wish, you can donate to put off that day here.

...Here Be Spoilers (and a slight amount of artistic licence)...

You’ve been at sea for 13 months. There’s salt in your beard, and weevils in your biscuits!

Matthew Cole, Silas Coffin, Isaac Chase and John Dewitt are in a small whaling boat, Isaac is bellowing at his fellow seamen as they pull hard against the waves, "There she is lads, just five lengths ahead, now pull for all your life.  Pull y'blaggards!  PULL!!".  The others strain and the boat powers through the water, it is not long before they realise they have pulled alongside the massive leviathan  The fishy smell is powerful and their arms are near to giving out, but they relax into a stroke as Isaac prepares the first harpoon, he launches it at the creature, just as it dips beneath the water, Isaac curses and drags the weapon back into the boat.   Isaac can see the signs, the whale is about to head down to the depths, this, is his last chance, he leans back, "God see my aim true!", he shouts above the crash of waves on the boat and the harpoon launches and dully, thunks into the side of the whale.  The rope runs taut and their Nantucket Sleigh Ride begins, eventually, the whale slows and the water around the boat turns red, the sailors cheer and before long, the dying whale is lashed to the side of the boat.  

Pull y'blaggards!  PULL!!

Calmness now descends on the occupants, they catch a breath and lie back in the boat, awaiting the appearance of their mothership, The Barclay.  Silas leans over the side, his chest heaving his hands gripping the side when he slowly sees a picture forming in the now calm sea.  The picture is of his Nana, it's Nana Coffin, she smiles at him and he hears her voice, "Come to me now and everything will be well."  "Nana!", screams Silas and lurches forward to launch himself off the boat, a few of the others stand up and grab him, "He's gone mad!  Stop him!! Knock him out!"   There is a brief struggle before Matthew Cole, Isaac Chase and others grapple with Silas until he comes to his senses.  He apologises, must have been the exhaustion and the sun, he mumbles, he lies back down in the boat, the others keep half an eye on him.  Suddenly the cry goes up, "The Barclay is here, hands ready lads!"

Nana Coffin speaks

As The Barclay comes alongside, all is action, even Silas has shaken off his shock and is helping get the whale ready and the boat lifted up.  Within a few minutes, they are all back on board and the whale is being processed, there is much to do and everyone knows their task.  Above all this is heard a cry, "Who has it?  Which bastard took it?!"  The shouts come from Valentine Thomas, he is apoplectic with rage, "My Wife's crucifix, it's been taken, it's you!"  He points a shaking finger at Matthew Cole.  Cole turns away, he's had enough of today, first, he saw the face of his childhood friend Emma, a reflection in the water barrel on board ship, and she said the same phrase that Silas had shouted, "Come to me now and all will be well."  

Valentine rushes at Cole but is grabbed by the Steward, Lawson Bond, "No lad, there are ways to bring the wrongdoers into the light.  Leave this to me."  Bond gathers the others around, a few grumble at him that they've had things stolen too, mostly religious artefacts.  Bond leads them down below, inspecting bunks and chests and taking a few notes.  Suddenly, his eyes light up, he spots the bunk of Aurangi, that damned savage.  He rushes over and kicks the bunk, "You, what did ye see?"  Aurangi rolls over and groans, "I see nothing, I am dying, leave me, sir."  Bond, his face red, glares at him, he then goes to the end of the bunk and opens Aurangi's chest, he rummages through it, until he holds up a small carving of a strange mix of octopus, gorilla and something deeply unpleasant.  "Old Father Tu-Tu." says Aurangi, by way of an explanation, it seems to cheer him up.

Old Father Tu-Tu

Bond examines the carving, others look over his shoulder, eventually Bond throws it back in the chest.  He brandishes his book at the sailors, "I've got me notes now lads, it won't be long before we figure this out.  Leave it to me.", at this Lawson taps a finger against his nose and grins.  A figure looms over the group, "All will be well my boys.  All will be well." intones Captain Chappell.   He stands over the group, eyeing each of them, until eventually, they disperse, the last to leave catch a look between Bond and the Captain.  This last man was Silas Coffin, he knows Bond has a grudge against Aurangi but this was something different and that look he gave the Captain, they knew something else, he ponders this as he trudges back to his work.

Silas is asleep in his bunk, he dreams again of his dear Nana, suddenly he is awake staring into her eyes, as she leans over him.  As Silas smiles and goes to say something, Nana Coffin opens her mouth and cold, salty water pours from her mouth into his, he gags and tries to scream but Nana has strong arms that pin him to his bed.

As Silas struggles, John Dwight also dreams, he dreams he sees a woman, leaning over Silas, but as the woman turns her head, he sees it is Matthew Cole, John stifles a giggle.  John leans over his hammock and whispers to Matthew, "What tomfoolery is this...", but then he is cut short as Matthew pours water from his mouth into Silas'.  Silas gags and struggles.  John jumps up and tries to grab hold of Matthew to pull him off.  Isaac Chase is also getting out and coming over, between them they try and break the hold Matthew has on Silas, all the while seawater flows out of Matthew's mouth and into Silas' mouth, Silas is barely conscious.  John and Isaac scream and pound at Matthew, this is enough to loosen his grip on Silas and as they grapple with him, Silas falls to the floor, crawling away from the struggling group.

Silas runs into the darker recesses of the ship, Matthew throws off John and Isaac and starts to jog after Silas, the others scramble up off the floor to pursue them.  John sees the ship getting darker and darker and his eyes heavier, soon he feels he is lifted off his feet, his eyes closed, he opens them and again he is in his hammock and looking at Matthew Cole leaning over Silas, water again pours from his mouth.  John jumps up, even now though, his brain nags at him, this cannot be happening, it is surely a dream...

...hours later John awakens and looks across at Silas in his bunk.  Silas is lying still, staring up at the ceiling.  John is about to turn over to sleep when he notices the pools of water around Silas' bunk.  John gets up and approaches the bunk, he looks down on the still and dead form of Silas, water brims at his mouth, his glassy eyes, that see no more, staring upward.  John screams and grabs Silas, more water pours out of his mouth and continues to pour out.  Others awake and shout alarms, there is a commotion down below, all the while, water pours out of the dead mouth of Silas Coffin.

At this point Matthew Cole comes down into the sleeping quarters, John Dewitt, points a finger at him, "The murderer, I saw him, he did it!"  Many hands grab at Matthew, who struggles but looks dazed, his beard and the front of his shirt are wet.  Lawson Bond and the Captain are also down here, along with Obed Reid, the first mate.  The Captain holds up a hand and asks for calm, "Tell me, John, what did ye see?  Come now, don't leave out a word, all will be well."

It is a little while later and much has come to pass, Matthew Cole is seemingly innocent, no one has actually seen him do the deed, apart from in dreams, even though many of the crew are unhappy about this, they want Cole gone, he's an albatross and will bring bad luck.  The Captain stands on a box on the deck, a black, heavy bible under his arms, the seagulls' caw and four men have a body, wrapped in sailing cloth and chains on a plank. Water runs freely from beneath the sailcloth, pooling beneath the body, the men holding the plank, try and lift their feet out of the water, shifting uneasily.

Burial at Sea

Captain Chappell begins but is stopped as Lawson Bond whispers to him.  The Captain shakes his head and carries on, a dour, dull sermon is finished with a loud bang as he closes shut the book and heads back down below.  Isaac ponders the sermon, why did he omit Jesus Christ from it?  John Dewitt overheard Lawson urgently whispering to the Captain not to read from the bible, but the Captain replied, "It's just a reading Bond, it won't bother them. There'll be another soon enough, you'll see."

As John Dewitt heads back to his tasks, he hears a whisper, "Get out of my way you dodo!"  He whirls around, only to see Richard Petersen starting back at him, "Okay friend?"  says the amiable Petersen.  John nods and carries on, the whisper again "That's right you keep walking or I'll knock your lights out."  John turns again, quickly, seeing a scowl on Petersen's face quickly disappear into the same friendly grin, Petersen nods at him.

A little while later and Cole is down below, resting in his hammock, a shadow falls across him, it is Petersen.  Petersen smiles and Cole swings his legs off the hammock, just as Cole opens his mouth to talk a bag goes over his head.  He feels himself being grabbed and lifted off his feet, a fist crashes into the side of his head and his world starts to spin.  Another fist thuds into his gut and he almost retches.

"Over the side with this Jonah!", the voice of Petersen rings out, bringing Cole to his senses.  Cole feels himself being lifted and carried up the stairs, he twists and grabs at the railing, slowing his progress.  Cole now starts to scream blue murder, knowing he is only a few steps from being lifted and thrown over the side.  A few more blows rain down on Cole until he is dropped onto the deck and silence falls, Cole reaches up and pulls off the sack.

Staring back at Cole are the deep blue eyes of Henry Joy, he smiles warmly and offers a hand, "Chosen by the Angels, aren't you boy?"  Joy then turns to the others, "You know not what you do, don't be riling the Captain, you leave this one to me?"  The Captain and Steward are now on the scene and the remaining sailors turn and head below deck.  A bleeding and sore Matthew Cole limps away too, looking back at Henry Joy all the time.

Work continues on the ship and as the sun shines across the deck, Isaac Chase goes to dip his brush into the water bucket, staring back at him is his daughter, she calls to him, "Come down and join me, Isaac.  All will be well."  He starts and looks around, no one else notices this, they are busy with their chores, as he looks back down into the bucket a second time, he sees only his reflection staring back.

The evening has fallen and Isaac is alone he sits and eats his meal, the vision in the water has affected more than he would like to admit.  At that moment two small hands cover his eyes and a quiet, female voice says, "Guess who?".  The hands press hard into his face and he grabs them by the wrist, but the hands are strong.  Isaac panics and tries to jump up the hands press harder and he feels an eye pop and warm liquid spills down his cheek, he screams.

Barzillai Jones, The Barclay's cook is up on deck when he hears the distant shouts, he grabs a cleaver and heads down below, followed by Matthew Cole and a few others.

Down below, Isaac is frantically pulling at the hands, but to little effect, he screams again as he feels bones break in his cheek, he tries to slam his assailant into the bulkhead.  Isaac hears a grunt and then there is a cacophony of noises as other crew members join the fray.

Matthew Cole and Barzillai push through the group to see the last moments of Isaac Chase as a wildly grinning Richard Petersen grips Isaac's head and crushes his skull - blood, brains and gore explode on to the watchers and combatants.  

Previous to this, John Dewitt is down below deck, at the other end of the ship, he's taking a barrel down and spots Joseph Wright the cabin boy at the door of the Captain's cabin, he looks on the verge of tears, "A deal with the devil..."  he points at the door.  John tries the door and walks in on Captain Chappell, Lawson Bond, Obed Reid and Henry Joy, they are gathered around a table with various charts.  Reid says to Dewitt, "What is the meaning of this?  This is the Captain's quarters Dewitt!"  Dewitt makes an excuse, "Sorry, the boy thought he heard screams."  At that moment the screams of Isaac Chase echo through the ship.

The Captain once more oversees the funeral of Isaac, he again omits Jesus Christ from his short sermon and then the crowd disperse.  Arungai hears a strange whisper, almost on the wind, he follows it towards the back of the ship, climbing the rigging he spots Owen Dewitt.  Owen looks down at him, he waves, "Hello there Arungai, feeling better?"  "...you pox-ridden savage.", Arungai hears the last part as a whisper in his head, he steps back and starts to retreat, all the while Owen stares at him smiling. "Be on your way, you lazy good for nothing, do a proper days work for once..."  Arungai clasps his hands over his ears and stumbles away, Owen looks on a puzzled expression on his face.

After a long day of work, Matthew Cole, Arungai and John Dewitt are on the first watch, the Captain is at one end of the ship, as they sit and talk in the dark.  As they watch, the Captain lowers himself over the side of the ship, after a brief consultation, Cole and Dewitt edge closer, they look down and see the Captain on a rope seat, near the waterline, he is talking to something.  That something is large, black and sharp-toothed, tentacles boil in the water around it, stretching towards the Captain and then falling back.

Mother Hydra

Cole and Dewitt listen, they hear the Captain speak to the creature "Two down, one to go, then our deal is complete. Will you not let me see him one more time… father… papa… I am coming for you!".  On hearing this the three quickly head back to their post, shaking and wide-eyed.

The next morning, John Dewitt is on a mission, he has waited for an opportune moment to sneak away from the job in hand and head down to the Captain's cabin, he carries a barrel, by way of an excuse.  He knocks the barrel into the door, he waits, no response, he tries the door, it opens and the room is empty.  John steps inside and closes the door.  He heads over to a table full of charts, but he can make no sense of them, he opens a drawer and sees a pistol, he reaches for it, then thinks better and closes the drawer.  John heads over to a bookcase, not sure what he is looking for, he pulls down a couple of books, one is the Captain's journal, the other is a book called Monstres and Their Kynde.  The book is a copy made by Henry Joy, he scans through it, it seems to be a spell to summon a creature from the depths, he pockets the book.

Sitting on the bed, he reads from the journal, twenty minutes later, he is open-mouthed and sweating, his eyes going over and over the line "Joy’s book proved efficacious, and the deal was made. The price was three.’  Three?  Two have died, surely not a third will join them?  And then what?  Dewitt stuffs both books into his shirt and leaves the room.

Dewitt is talking in hushed tones to Aurangi, it is late at night and he is trying to convince the harpooner of what is going on, Dewitt shows Aurangi the books and a little while later he is looking as shocked as his compatriot.  They go to wake Aurangi's friend, the cook, Barzillai Jones.   Jones whirls in his bed as they put a hand over his mouth, a wicked-looking knife is pointing at the groin of John Dewitt, Jones is wide-eyed, but when he realises it is his friends he relaxes.  Discussion is had, Barzillai suggests he can poison the conspirators, then they can throw their bodies overboard, John will go to the Captain's cabin and grab a pistol to keep order.  The plan is set for the next night.

The next morning the crew are carrying out their work, the day is hot and Matthew Cole is down in the hold, sorting through barrels of oil.  Cole has not been feeling himself, disconnected from the goings-on, barely feeling the loss of Isaac and Silas, he's blocking out what happened, perhaps he knows more than his mind will let on.  He heads up the steps and feels a tug on his leg, it's caught.

Looking down, Cole sees a small hand gripping his leg, the hand elongates and flows up his leg, along with another hand, he is fascinated, the hands thread up his legs like vines and then... they start to squeeze and crush his legs, he screams out.

The crew is nervy and jumpy, they hear a shout from down below and to a man, they arm themselves and head below.

As they burst into the hold, they see the mangled figure of Matthew Cole, lying broken and twisted on the floor, standing over him is Owen Dewitt, his fingers twitch at his side, he does not resist as he is grabbed and forced to the floor.  Cries go up as the body of Cole is spied, curses go out at Dewitt, though some of the sailors exchange glances and nod.

Lawson Bond is on the scene, he bows his head and shakes, "Cover him up lads and take him up on deck, we'll do this quick."  Someone gets a board and some blankets, the body of Cole is moved up through the deck and laid outside.

The Captain steps forward, bible under his arm, he opens the book and turns to the appropriate page, as he looks out on to the crowded deck, he hears a scream from the cabin boy, Joseph Wright, he is pointing at the body of Matthew Cole.  Cole is sitting half upright, the blanket still upright, the crew shout and move back.

Cole stands up, the rag falls away and the reaction is instantaneous, Chappell and his group fall to their knees, the Captain calls out "Papa!", others of the crew look to be in raptures, staring and smiling at the figure of Cole, still more scream in horror and try to push away from the sight.

It is not long before chaos has covered the ship, beautiful women have climbed up over the side of the ship, along with the now whole and complete bodies of Silas Coffin and Isaac Chase.  Overseeing this is Matthew Cole, rising above the deck, arms wide

Matthew Cole calls out to Chappell and his men, "Your Payment is complete.  All will be well.  Now, behold!"  At this moment there is a crack and the ship lurches, around them black spires rise up out of the sea.  "R'lyeh!", screams Henry Joy.  The ship starts to list to one side as it takes on water.

The women and the previously dead shipmates dance and cavort with some of the sailors, Barzillai Jones, is lost in this reverie, spinning around from woman to woman, kissing, grabbing - he grabs Silas they laugh into each other's faces, hugging each other, tears streaming down their faces, this is truly a miracle!

Not all see the same scene as Jones; Aurangi and Dewitt see the horrors of ragged, bloated corpses and terrible scaled monsters, they push them away as they offer themselves.  Some of the sailors have started to make ready with the whaling boats, they rush to help.  Joseph Wright is staring open-mouthed at Matthew Cole, he sees a glorious figure in blue robes, it is beautiful, Joseph is transfixed watching events unfold.

The Herald arises!

The Herald/Matthew Cole is now a foot above the gunwale, he screams out, "Come with me now.   All is well." and falls backwards into the ocean.  Hell now breaks loose on the deck, scream after scream is heard as the true nature of the corpses and sirens on the ship is seen.  Jones pushes away the corpse he had been hugging and dancing around with, utter horror on his face, he starts to break, trying to get as far away from these creatures as possible, he pulls out his knife and leaps into a boat that is being lowered, he thrashes his knife out at the nearest sailors who dive over the side, then he starts to cut through the ropes.

Aurangi and John Dewitt see a wild and fractured view of things, through their left eye, they see the Herald descend into the depths, the spires of R'lyeh, lit from within, eventually, the Herald arrives at the gates and opens the door... ... both Aurangi and John Dewitt's minds are destroyed as a blast of evil, malignancy emanates from inside, something ancient and unknowing threads it's tendrils through their brain, and tug it apart, memories and senses collapse.  Who they are, is gone.

Aurangi, rushes to the side and dives over into the sea, John collapses on the floor, uncontrollably laughing and rolling around.  Joseph Wright, on seeing this, doubles his effort to help a few sailors untie a ship and lower it down, he jumps in and they push away, he sees Aurangi swimming hard, off into the sunset.

Two whaling boats head away from The Barclay, onboard the main ship can be heard the insane laughter of John Dewitt, it fades as they paddle harder.  The Barclay starts to slide beneath the surface of the water.

Days turn into weeks, Joseph Wright lies dying in the bottom of the boat, his throat parched, lips cracked, he stares up at the baking sun, imagining he can see again the blue-robed figure, beckoning to him, Joseph slowly reaches out his hand, to touch the figure.

Barzillai Jones sits cross-legged in his boat, his mouth is covered in blood, his eyes stare out into the distance, around him lie the butchered remains of his fellow crew members, he burps and settles down for the night, shifting a corpse under him to make himself more comfortable.