Slow Build Eldritch Horror

[Lord Torath]

Start with small things that seem just a bit off. Out of the corner of their eye, a PC sees a sign that says something horrific "He is Coming" or something. But when he goes for a direct look, it says "Heat venting" or something innocuous but similar. Tentacles wrapped around a pillar become conduit or tubing.

After they've been there for a bit, they start getting the occasional clanking. Once or twice they can verify that it's resonance - they step on a floor plate and a panel on the far wall vibrates - and they can trace the physical path traced by the vibration. Other times there's no explanation.

Can you have fluids dripping? Regular drips, then a pause, then regular drips again. They find a 'balanced' bowl that slowly fills up then dumps as a possible explanation, but again, most of the interruptions seem to have no explanation.

Eventually the signs take a bit more active 'disbelief' to turn back into regular signs rather than eldritch scribblings. It's suddenly very hard not to see a skull in that Official Notice poster. Eventually you see a "Heat venting" out of the corner of your eye, and when you turn to look, it clearly reads "He is coming." And that conduit bundle is definitely writhing!

What kind of things can they find in the Ship's Log? The Maintenance log? Are there any human remains on the derelict? What was the derelict hauling? How long has it been derelict? Could there still be rats or other vermin alive? Some of the stuff Son of a Lich! mentions would be good to include in the captain's log. Records in the infirmary indicate scalpels and 'eldritchly-useful' drugs and chemicals have gone missing, again depending on just what has been going on and for how long.