He brings out a flat piece of wood, more bark than anything, and starts carving lines and curves. A wooden map.

As he works he starts rambling "Hardly anyone comes to the lake anymore, you could thank ol' Bessie for that" When he says "Bessie" ripples appear in the water, and a tentacle wider and longer than you pops out with a splash. It grabs one of the half finished wood carvings and drags it down into the murky depths. You can see the shadow of something huge under the surface. While all of this is happening the old man just chuckles "Ah, I wasn't going to finish that one anyways. She likes the cherry wood best"  He turns back to you with a grin "Don't worry yourself none, she's harmless. Folks don't even know she's real, they think I'm the town crazy. I s'pose I always have been though, crazy projects I never finish. Sorry for snapping at you earlier, I'm not well received in this town." He glares down at the boats, half in the lake and half in fog. He hands you the map, despite the material and method of writing its readable.

"Hey, finally finished a project, hope the map helps kid".