Chance Encounters: Horror on Harrow
In Chapter 27 of the Harrow: The Blighted Plane corebook, we point out that on the plane, dead means dead. There’s no baked-in means of resurrection because the presence of the crystalblight prohibits souls from lingering on the plane. Once something dies, it passes on to the great unknown far beyond Harrow.
That not only means no coming back, but it also means that spirits and other undead creatures simply don’t exist in the world. But just because ghosts, ghouls, and zombies aren’t concepts that can be pulled from, that doesn’t mean that you’ll have to forgo your horror adventures.
As any gatherer on the plane knows, Harrow presents more than enough opportunities for terrifying encounters.
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Terrifying Epilogue
Smell of ozone | goosebumps | afterimages
Hand-sized, crystal discs litter the chamber's floor, spilling from the broken and overturned shelves that fill the room. As the characters sift through the debris, a flash of bright blue light bursts from the discs, and the virulent echo of their crew being torn apart by gleaming reavers plays out before them.
Twists
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One of the crew members in the echo is missing, replaced by a stranger.
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The gleaming reavers are wearing white metallic collars.
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The crew in the echo appears to be fifteen years older than they are now.
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The blue light continues to strobe long after the echo plays out.
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The crystal discs explode after the echo has finished.
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The echo repeats every two minutes, changing slightly each time.
Corrupted Son
Earthy rot | stinging eyes | squelching muck
An enclave of sporebound lie sprawled across the ground before the characters, limbs jutting at odd angles and oozing green-black mycelium gushing from their orifices. As the characters take in the scene, a dark figure made of shattered bodies and slick, stinking fungus glides into the area. Three of the faces near its head say in unison, “The Mother must feed on her weakest young.”
Twists
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Gelatinous spores rain down from the canopy, burning the flesh they touch.
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Three small versions of the fungoid figure tear from its body.
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The fallen sporebound all begin to scream “Mother” together.
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Twisting filaments burst from the soil and wrap around the characters.
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A sporecat, dribbling dark green-black corruption, joins the figure.
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A shadow falls over the area, and the figure says again, “She must be fed.”
Sudden Turn
Pained screams | moonlight | musky sweat
A tortured scream draws the characters’ attention to a woman falling to her knees on the walkway, her hands and feet clenching and curling against the boards, and her spine contorting gruesomely. The broken moon above casts the area in stark shadows—and highlights the knife-like claws and gleaming crystalline spikes now covering her monstrous form.
Twists
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A nearby child begins crying, drawing the monster’s attention.
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The monster roars as spikes shoot from its body in all directions.
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The monster leaps from the walkway and begins running wildly toward The Gutter.
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Toxic, glowing bile drips from the monster’s mouth, coating her chest.
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A piercing howl erupts from the monster, shattering all of the glass in the area.
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The monster writhes on the ground weakly as the armed watch approaches.
Personal Invasion
Rustling | coppery taste | damp
Pink, papery cocoons sway in the breeze above the characters’ heads, each backlit just enough to see the multitudes of squirming forms each one contains. As they pass below them, several of the toddler-sized sacks fall, tearing open on the characters and covering them in the legion of glistening worms within.
Twists
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The worms immediately start biting and burrowing into the characters’ flesh.
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The worms undulate and buzz, filling the characters’ minds with excruciating static.
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The worms squirm up the characters’ faces, desperately trying to enter their eyes.
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The worms cover the characters’ mouths and noses en masse, cutting off their breathing.
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The worms swarm down the characters’ bodies, pushing their way into their navels.
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The worms sit up and begin spitting thick, nauseating liquid onto the characters.
Horrific Calm
Unsettling quiet | burning sun | sea rot
The aftermath of the blight squall has killed the winds, leaving an unnatural quiet in its wake and turning the watersands surrounding the characters’ ship stagnant and still for as far as their eyes can see. The corpses of creatures damaged in the storm float on top of the calm, their carcasses left to molder on the sands in the beating sun, alongside the characters’ hopes of escape.
Twists
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Long, grasping forelimbs emerge from the calm, feeling the air in the ship’s direction.
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The sun intensifies and seems to loom larger in the sky.
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The rations on the ship have become moldy and inedible.
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Every day, the characters forget something important to them.
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A breaker vessel stops 1 mile (2 km) away and waits.
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Watersands begins to accumulate in the bilge from an unseen leak.