Horrible Things Happen While They Sleep

Horrible Things Happen While They Sleep
Inspired 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 not possible, 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 person realizes 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
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 then anything 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 character awakens 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 any unusual 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 remains of 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.

Horrible Things Happen While They Sleep

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