Following the instructions of the Mad Hungarian, you have found your way to this unplotted stretch of the Pacific Ocean. You consult the star charts by the light of your lantern and know that you have reached the appropriate place -- if your uncle's fevered dreams can be believed, it is here that something lurks beneath the waves.\n\nAll is still, and there is nothing around -- none of the locals would come with you, fearing some naive superstition, so you are manning the small houseboat alone, save for the help of Johansson, miles from the nearest habitation.\n\nJohansson chews his cigarette and remains pensive.\n\n[[GAZE AT THE SERENE SURFACE OF THE WATER|BUBBLES]]\n\n[[CONSULT YOUR CHARTS AGAIN -- ARE YOU SURE THIS IS RIGHT?|THUMP]]\n

You silently mouth a prayer in panic and fear. You haven't prayed in years, but now, in the face of such a blasphemous thing, what else is there to do?\n\nDivine intervention does not occur. You are on your own.\n\n[[YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING|WELP NOW WHAT]]

You pull the harpoon gun from the trunk and spend a few agonizing seconds deciding how it works. You grit your teeth and aim.\n\n[[SHOOT IT JUST SHOOT IT JUST SHOOT IT|TAKE THAT]]\n\n[[CAREFULLY LOOK AT YOUR TARGET AND TAKE AIM|LOOKED TOO CLOSE]]\n\n[[NEVER MIND -- GET OUT OF HERE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE|FULL SPEED REVERSE]]

You have to bash open the lock, cursing the whole time, but eventaully the trunk wheezes open.\n\nIt's full of old maps of unhelpful locations, but a bit of sifting reveals an ancient, rusted harpoon gun of dubious origin and unlikely functionality. But it might be better than nothing.\n\n[[TAKE HARPOON GUN]]\n\n[[THAT'S NOT GOING TO SUFFICE, I'LL TRY MY LUCK RAMMING THE CREATURE|RAMMING SPEED]]

<<if $engine_on eq "no">>You desperately restart the engine, cursing at it as it sputters back to life.<<endif>> \n\nYou bring the boat about and put every ounce of speed you can into the pitiful engine. It whines and coughs and strains, making enough noise to wake the dead.\n\nYou look over your shoulder to find Great Cthulhu bearing down on you.\n\n[[OH NO|DEVOURED]]

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"\n\n"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"\n\n"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"\n\nYOU ARE INSANE, POSSIBLY DEAD. EITHER WAY YOU ARE LONG PAST CARING.\n\n[[TRY AGAIN?|HELLO CTHULHU]]

In a panic you search the whole boat, top to bottom. There is nothing.\n\nPapers and biscuits and small tins scatter the floor and begin to float away from the boat as you tear the boat to shreds looking for anything useful, but there is nothing.\n\nThrough the tears that have started to fill your eyes, you see the boat's steering column. Maybe, just maybe, you could ram the boat into the horrible thing, and at least injure it enough to make an escape?\n\nIt's unlikely, but it might be all you can do.\n\n[[THAT'S MADNESS. I'LL TRY MY LUCK WITH THE HARPOON GUN|TAKE HARPOON GUN]]\n\n[[THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA, BUT IT'S THE BEST I'VE GOT|RAMMING SPEED]]

In a desperate panic, you turn off the engine and hold perfectly still. Great Cthulhu stands on the absurd island, gazing upon its demesne.\n\nIt doesn't appear to have noticed you yet, but you can't stay here forever. It will find you eventually, and then...\n\nNo, it doesn't bear thinking about.\n\n[[GAZE IN AWE AT CTHULHU|LOOKED TOO CLOSE]]\n\n[[LOOK FOR A WEAPON|WEAPON SEARCH]]\n\n[[PRAY|PRAYER]]\n\n[[WAIT|WAIT]]\n\n[[TURN THE ENGINE ON AND FLEE AS FAST AS YOU CAN|FULL SPEED REVERSE]]\n\n<<set $engine_on = "no">>

You don't know this boat very well, or its contents. You rented it without thinking much of it, or investigating its capabilities with any thoroughness. Johansson seemed to think it would suffice, and you trust -- trusted -- his judgment.\n\nThere is a large trunk next to the steering wheel -- maybe there is a weapon of some kind there?\n\nThere are a few other boxes and bins and drawers throughout the little boat -- it might be worth checking those as well.\n\n[[SEARCH LARGE TRUNK]]\n\n[[SEARCH REST OF BOAT]]\n\n[[LOOK AT CTHULHU|LOOKED TOO CLOSE]]

Overwhelmed by the sight of Great Cthulhu, panicked and fearful, you fall to the deck of the small craft, lamenting your insignificance and the cruelness of the world.\n\nAll is darkness then, and pain.\n\n[[AHHHHHH|MADNESS]]

Great Cthulhu

In a panic you search the whole boat, top to bottom. There is nothing.\n\nPapers and biscuits and small tins scatter the floor and begin to float away from the boat as you tear the boat to shreds looking for anything useful, but there is nothing.\n\nThrough the tears that have started to fill your eyes, you see the boat's steering column. Maybe, just maybe, you could ram the boat into the horrible thing, and at least injure it enough to make an escape?\n\nIt's unlikely, but it might be all you can do.\n\n[[THAT'S MADNESS. MAYBE THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE TRUNK|SEARCH THE LARGE TRUNK]]\n\n[[THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA, BUT IT'S THE BEST I'VE GOT|RAMMING SPEED]]\n\n

Bill Coberly

Your boat is nearly capsized as something massive rises out of the ocean just off starboard with another deafening roar.\n\nAn island ascends impossibly out of the ocean, massive, miles across, covered in cyclopean architecture wrought from tremendous stone blocks. Johansson curses for a time and rights the boat.\n\nYou barely have time to register the existence of the island before one of the buildings slides open and something horrible pours forth -- a great mass of tendrils and slimy flesh, taller than the Colossus, more horrible than Satan -- a mountain, walking or stumbling into the ocean, lidless eyes staring in every direction.\n\nJohansson screams and flings himself into the sea without a moment's thought.\n\nYour mind flashes back to the statue on your uncle's mantle, and you know you are looking at a god -- what you had thought was the twisted imaginings of primitive superstition is very real.\n\nGreat Cthulhu has arisen, and if you're very lucky, maybe it hasn't seen you yet. <<set $engine_on = "yes">>\n\n[[TURN OFF THE ENGINE & STAY VERY STILL|ENGINE OFF]]\n\n[[FLEE AS FAST AS THE BOAT CAN TAKE YOU|FULL SPEED REVERSE]]\n\n[[STARE IN AWE AT GREAT CTHULHU|LOOKED TOO CLOSE]]\n\n[[TRY TO RESCUE JOHANSSON|RESCUE OPERATIONS]]

Great Cthulhu has not noticed you yet, but it is beginning to stir further from its House at R'lyeh, and you know you are completely exposed.\n\n[[LOOK FOR A WEAPON|WEAPON SEARCH]]\n\n[[FLEE|FULL SPEED REVERSE]]\n\n[[GAZE INTENTLY AT CTHULHU|LOOKED TOO CLOSE]]

You call out Johansson's name, throw out the life preserver, run around looking and screaming and searching for the poor man.\n\nYour noise attracts the attention of Great Cthulhu.\n\nHe bounds across the water and messily devours the entire boat, with you on it. Your last sight before you are ground into pulp is Cthulhu's maddening eyes.\n\n[[OH NO|DEVOURED]]

There is a rapidly closing hole through the base of Great Cthulhu. It turns slowly towards you and lurches ponderously in your direction.\n\nYou have a few seconds of clarity before it reaches your craft. You ponder your own hubris, that you thought you could harm Great Cthulhu with any weapon of human design.\n\nAs it lurches towards you, it grabs the boat with two of its many limbs, and suddenly, almost absentmindedly, closes its mouth around the craft.\n\n[[OH NO|DEVOURED]]

There is a horrible sound as your boat rends the creature in twain. A horrible gas fills the air and chokes your lungs -- you begin to cough up blood and bits of phlegm. A terrible sticky substance has covered much of the boat, such that it is difficult to move.\n\nYou spend several seconds retching before you realize you are still alive, and that you have nothing but clear water before you. Your eyes fill with tears and you desperately push the boat forward, forward, ever forward.\n\nWith dread, you look over your shoulder to survey the damage you caused the creature.\n\n[[DID I MAKE IT|EXCEPT NOT]]

It's difficult to plot an exact location on the ocean, but the coordinates inscribed on the ancient scroll led you here, you are sure of it. You check once more, just to be certain.\n\nThere is a sudden, deafening roar from somewhere deep in the abyss, a noise which seems to go on forever. Then silence descends again, now oppressive. You can hear only your heartbeat and your ragged breathing, when suddenly there is a quiet thump against the bottom of your boat.\n\nJohansson's eyes are white and staring, straining for any clue.\n\n[[WHAT THE...?|HELLO CTHULHU]]

You manage to hold it together long enough to try to rescue the stalwart Swede.\n\nYou lurch over to the railing, straining your eyes to catch a glimpse of Johansson -- there are no splashes, no signs of struggle, but Johansson's hat floats just over there. If he is still alive, he is very well-hidden.\n\n[[CONTINUE TO LOOK FOR JOHANSSON|ALTRUIST]]\n\n[[TURN OFF THE ENGINE, STAY VERY STILL|ENGINE OFF]]\n\n[[FLEE AS FAST AS THE BOAT WILL TAKE YOU|FULL SPEED REVERSE]]

You freeze in panic, barely breathing, staring in Cthulhu's direction. It doesn't appear to be moving.\n\nTime passes. This is unbearable -- you have to do something!\n\n[[GAZE AT GREAT CTHULHU|LOOKED TOO CLOSE]]\n\n[[YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!|WELP NOW WHAT]]

You have to bash open the lock, cursing the whole time, but eventaully the trunk wheezes open.\n\nIt's full of old maps of unhelpful locations, but a bit of sifting reveals an ancient, rusted harpoon gun of dubious origin and unlikely functionality. But it might be better than nothing.\n\n[[TAKE HARPOON GUN]]\n\n[[THAT'S NOT GOING TO SUFFICE|SEARCH THE REST OF BOAT]]

In the end, you are not even a mouthful for Great Cthulhu, less than a snack.\n\nYOU ARE DEAD\n\n[[TRY AGAIN?|HELLO CTHULHU]]\n

Your eyes are drawn toward Great Cthulhu and you cannot look away. You stare in awe at its twisted, eldritch mass, its tendrils, its lidless eyes. It moves like nothing from this world, nothing which fits your understanding of basic physics.\n\nYou stare and stare and stare and after an eternity, find yourself chanting, over and over and over, "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"\n\nIn your last moment of lucidity, you wonder what it means.\n\n[[CTHULHU FHTAGN|MADNESS]]

The harpoon gun takes two pulls to fire -- the first time it simply makes an ominous clunk sound, but with the second, it propels the projectile forward.\n\nThere is a horrible squelching sound and a terrible odor fills the air as a small cloud of green gas erupts from the wound. Great Cthulhu does not make a sound, and the harpoon gun is torn from your hand as it turns in your direction.\n\nYou do not appear to have seriously injured it, and now it is coming towards you, its lidless eyes full of apathetic malice.\n\nYou are going to have to move. It occurs to you that you can either flee or try to ram the Creature as it moves towards you -- maybe you can injure it enough to make an escape.\n\n[[FLEE|FULL SPEED REVERSE]]\n\n[[GRIT YOUR TEETH AND PUNCH IT TOWARDS GREAT CTHULHU|RAMMING SPEED]]\n\n[[PANIC AND FALL TO THE GROUND IN FEAR|TERROR]]

The ocean is still and beautiful, black as night -- your imagination takes you to strange places as you imagine bizarre architecture submerged beneath the deep -- a recurring theme of your uncle's dreams.\n\nInterrupting your reverie comes a sudden, deafening roar from somewhere deep in the abyss, a noise which seems to go on forever. Then silence descends again, now oppressive. You can hear only your heartbeat and your ragged breathing, when suddenly there is a quiet thump against the bottom of your boat. Johansson's eyes are white and staring, straining for any clue.\n\n[[WHAT THE...?|HELLO CTHULHU]]

In desperation, you fire up the engine again and point your craft towards Great Cthulhu, which seems not to notice your approach.\n\nYou close the distance quickly, careful not to stare too closely at the Creature. As you approach it, you grit your teeth and mutter another prayer.\n\n[[CRUNCH|DID I MAKE IT]]