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7/30/2019 Horrible Things Happen While They Sleep
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Horrible Things Happen While They SleepInspired by Venger's and Tobie Abad's 'Things Happen While They Sleep' list, this is a list of
possibilities with a decidedly horrific twist. Some truly horrible events that might beset a party
while they rest.
1. Disturbing nightmares plague the entire party. No one gets any decent rest. Natural healing is notpossible, Magic-users are unable to memorize their spells and everyone is left fatigued. (possible -1
to ability checks or attack rolls for the remainder of the day).
2. The party awakens covered in a swarm of bloodsucking insects, each roughly the size of a coin,
resembling scarabs. The swarm scatters quickly once panic sets in. Any of the insects crushed
releases a thick gout of blackened blood and the chitinous body quickly crumbles into grey lifeless
ash.
3. One of the player characters awakens just in time to observe a strange insectile or slug like
creature force it's way into the ear or mouth of a sleeping NPC. Unsure if the sight was the product
of being between dreams and the waking world, the character asks the NPC about it. The NPC
seems physically fine and there is no sign of injury or evidence of the thing that character saw
happen.
4. The party awakens to discover a party member or NPC missing from their bedroll, the area
showing signs of a struggle. After following an obvious trail the NPC is discovered nearby (within
500 yards of the camp)still alive but unresponsive and cocooned to a tree or wall.
5. The party awakens at nightfall in a much different locale than they fell asleep at. They camp in a
forest and awaken to find themselves in forboding ruins or vice versa.
6. The party awakens in the middle of a giant ritual circle that wasn't there when they made camp.
The air is unnaturaly still and everyone is unnerved by it. Shortly after this startling find, the first
undead creature shambles into the camp and attacks. After the creature is dispatched, the party
notices the distant moans of other shambling undead can be heard somewhere not far off.
7. When the party awakens they find the NPC who agreed to take the last watch across the fire from
them facing away from the group. The NPC is sitting rigid with their blade drawn, laying across
their lap. Anyone checking the sentry will find them long dead, already cold, and missing their eyes.
8. An NPC hasn't roused with the rest of the party. When someone attempts to pull the NPC's
blanket back that person discovers a partially dissolved pile of gore and bones beneath. That personrealizes too late that the greyish blanket they still hold is oddly leathery and strangely heavy. Too
quickly the blanket wraps itself around that persons arm and begins attempting to envelop that
character.
9. The party awakens to find a body hung by the feet in the center of their camp (Either hung from
an overhanging branch or hung from a crude wooden tripod structure hastily lashed together). The
body, only recently dead is still very warm, twitches slightly and is still bleeding out. Strange small
glyphs of a mysterious origin have been carved into almost every inch of skin on the unknown
victim. There is no blood trail into or away from the camp. There are no tracks aside from those of
the party in the vicinity of the camp and no one saw or heard anything prior to awakening to the
discovery of the body.
10. Everyone awakens one morning to find two ancient silver coins had been layed gently over their
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eyes in the night. The coins are from an ancient civilization that had fallen long ago. For the next
few days, whenever the party sleeps, they awaken to find one of their party is missing, gone without
their gear and with no signs of a struggle, or worse, murdered in their sleep.
11. After waking, the party discovers they are covered in small bites or scratches. None of the
wounds are fresh and all are fairly minor. As the day progresses the party begins to notice the onset
of illnesses. The diseases are fairly common but the onset is much more rapid and aggressive thenanything they are familiar with or have seen before.
12. The character dreams of being carried in a cage of bones by robed figures who march along in
eerie silence save for the smooth stones they bang together in perfect unison as they walk. The
character is carried to a simple cold stone altar where a silent ritual takes place during which the
character is cut open and a small stone token is inserted into the wound. The robed figures resume
their grim cadence with the stones and shuffle away. The dream ends and the character awakens in a
cold sweat safely in their bed but with a dull ache where the incision had been in the dream.
13. A character is plagued with an occasional recurring nightmare involving a horrible and utterly
alien creature. The character often awakens and realizes it was only a dream. This time the characterawakens to see the creature pulled from his nightmare looming over a sleeping member of the party.
14. The party is awakened simultaneously in the middle of the night hearing a sound they mistake
for wind in the leaves at first, accompanied by a strange feeling that something is not right. A few
moments later the party realizes that sound is actually many sibilant whisperings coming from all
sides. The campfire is dying and the light cast does not reach far from the fire. The whispering
begins to grow louder as the fire flares a cold blue light. A ring of darkness outside the firelight
obscures the movement of vaguely humanoid shapes circling just out of reach of the light.
15. The camp is awakened by a sudden scream. What becomes quickly apparent is that someone is
dead, having been stabbed multiple times in their bedroll. Someone else emerges from their
slumber, their hands covered in blood. That person has no recollection of anything prior to waking
up and there is no murder weapon to be found.
16. The party shares a dream that ends with the party dying through misadventure. Everyone
awakens together, the memory of the dream fresh in their minds. If the dream is discusssed, the
party finds they all have the same story up to a point but conflicting memories as to the method of
their demise and who brought it about.
17. The party awakens to the smell of cooking meat only to find three human hearts on a wooden
spit cooking over their low camp fire. There is no trace of the bodies from which they came or anyunusual tracks around the camp.
18. Morning is shattered by a sudden scream of absolute shock and terror as someone discovers one
of their appendages has been replaced with either an insectile limb or a thick rubbery tentacle.
19. An NPC is discovered dead in their bedroll in the morning without a mark on their body which
is dessicated to a dry husk.
20. Everyone awakens to find themselves sealed in crude coffins, buried in shallow graves under
less than a foot of soil. The party manages to free themselves and finds that they are far from where
they camped in a forgotten graveyard. Not far from the now open graves they discover the remainsof a man with an expression of utter terror on his lifeless face. It is unclear whether the man is a
graverobber or caretaker but he does happen to be in posession of some of the party's equipment.
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