This chapter details the Grim Harrow, doomed Undead that seek the Deck of Many Things in all its forms so they can destroy it and end their own existence. But as the Deck of Many Things has multiplied through the multiverse, the Grim Harrow's goal has become increasingly difficult. Nevertheless, this menace scours the multiverse for any version of the deck, destroying anyone or anything that gets in the way. Consisting of Undead creatures of varying strength—from shadows and carrion birds to powerful champions of violence and despair—the Grim Harrow is an antagonist for campaigns of all levels, whether a Deck of Many Things appears in your campaign or not.
Intended for Dungeon Masters, this chapter describes the Grim Harrow's motives and methods, as well as the dreadful demiplane that serves as the creatures' home. Stat blocks for several members of the Grim Harrow appear at the end of the chapter.
The Grim Harrow
When the Skull card is drawn from a Deck of Many Things, an avatar of death appears, hell-bent on slaying its summoner. In this way, the infamous deck has claimed many mortal souls.
These souls don't pass peacefully into the afterlife, nor do they simply vanish. Marked by the avatar of death, these souls instead rise as evil Undead linked to the deck. For centuries, these Undead aimlessly wandered the multiverse, until a grim champion began seeking out its fellow victims and forged those it found into a force it called the Grim Harrow. Eventually, the Grim Harrow found a faerie demiplane called the Gardens of Delight. Desiring a home base for their effort to destroy Decks of Many Things, the Undead killed or drove off all who dwelled there and claimed the gardens as their own.
Over time, the necrotic magic of the Grim Harrow corrupted the Gardens of Delight, warping the demiplane into the Gardens of Decay. As the demiplane became bound to the Grim Harrow, so too did the hunt's members become bound to the demiplane.
The Grim Harrow uses the magic of the gardens to search the multiverse for Decks of Many Things. When these Undead find signs of a deck, their harrowing hunts begin anew, and woe to those who get between them and their prey!
Goals
The Grim Harrow's primary purpose is to destroy all copies of the Deck of Many Things. Its members believe destroying the decks will end the doom that binds them to an Undead existence, allowing all the victims of the avatar of death to truly die at last. This thesis, however, can be proven only by the final destruction of all the decks—a nigh impossible task since the decks manifest on worlds throughout the infinite multiverse.
The Grim Harrow seeks any information regarding decks, those who've had a deck, and those who know the decks' secrets. These foul menaces are wary of agents of the Solar Bastion (see 9), as well as rifflers (see 20), strange Fey who are drawn to the decks. Members of the Grim Harrow search for tools that might help them in their mission, including powerful magic items, rare spells, and depositories of ancient lore.
Since making the Gardens of Decay their home, the creatures of the Grim Harrow can leave it only for limited periods (see the "18" section later in this chapter for more information), so they seek out ordinary mortals or unusual extraplanar allies to be their agents on other worlds. The leaders of the Grim Harrow—fearsome Undead called grim champions—select privileged servants to leave the gardens on harrowing hunts or other key missions. Between hunts, most members of the Grim Harrow wallow in misery within the gardens, tormented by their own hateful existence.
Joining the Grim Harrow
Most members of the Grim Harrow are souls slain by the avatar of death (as summoned by a Deck of Many Things). However, not all such souls are deemed worthy of joining the group.
Upon dying at the hands of the avatar, souls appear in the Gardens of Decay, a demiplane detailed later in this chapter. The souls are permanently bound to this demiplane and take on the form of evil Undead such as shadows or ghouls. Many of these creatures wander the demiplane, pursuing their cruel compulsions.
New arrivals are spotted by the grim champions or their lieutenants, who seek out potential hunters and coerce them into service through temptation or the threat of violence. The ideal candidate for the Grim Harrow is intelligent enough to pursue leads, powerful enough to claim the deck from anyone who resists, and obedient enough to do what the grim champions tell it. But this combination is rare, so the grim champions must often settle for imperfect servants.
The most common recruits to the Grim Harrow are revenants, specters, wights, and wraiths. Ghosts and mummies are also counted among the group's members, and the lieutenants of the grim champions are typically death knights, liches, and vampires. If you have access to Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, source=MPMM and source=MPMM make excellent additions to the Grim Harrow.
Harrowing Hunts
The Grim Harrow keeps a close eye on the planar portals contained in a glass tower within the Gardens of Decay known as Death's Aperture (see the "18" section below). The Grim Harrow travels via Death's Aperture while pursuing a Deck of Many Things or the organization's other interests. These missions are known as harrowing hunts, or simply hunts.
The leader of a hunt is handpicked by one of the grim champions and is usually the most powerful Undead on the hunt, although sometimes a weak but clever Undead is given command over powerful but less intelligent ones. On rare occasions—usually when the Skull card has been drawn and the Grim Harrow has a chance to destroy a copy of the Deck of Many Things—one of the grim champions leads the hunt themself.
The leader of the hunt rides a mount—typically a warhorse skeleton or nightmare, but sometimes a more unusual creature. The hunt is also served by flocks of harrow hawks (see 20) that function as spies and messengers, along with harrow hounds (this 18 appears later in this chapter) who find and track prey.
Once the hunt begins, the Undead move as quickly as possible to complete their mission. If a Deck of Many Things is present, the hunt tries to kill whoever has it, then destroy the deck or, failing that, return the deck to the Gardens of Decay. If the deck isn't the immediate object of the hunt, the members of the hunt spread out, seeking anyone who might've encountered the deck. After centuries of activity, the Grim Harrow has visited many worlds throughout the multiverse and has contacts and agents everywhere. Many of these informers don't know who or what the Grim Harrow really is; they know only that the hunters are terrifying and will kill anyone in their way. Hunters seeking the deck periodically reestablish their authority over these contacts through fear or bribery, collecting any intelligence they have concerning the Deck of Many Things and related topics, such as the Solar Bastion (see 9), Heralds of the Comet (see 11), and rifflers (see 20).
Because the Undead are bound to the Gardens of Decay, the hunt must end after 24 hours. At that time, any Undead on the hunt vanish, reappearing in the Gardens of Decay. There, they report to the grim champions and await the next hunt.
Gardens of Decay
The Gardens of Decay is a dreadful realm overflowing with deathly energy. Once a beautiful faerie realm called the Gardens of Delight, the demiplane was conquered and corrupted by the Grim Harrow. The plane's titular gardens are wide expanses of corrupted land, each representing a different means of death. At the center sits the Glass Arboretum, which holds Death's Aperture—the demiplane's primary entry and exit point.
Gardens of Decay Features
Unless otherwise noted, the areas within the Gardens of Decay have the following features:
Gardens of Decay Locations
The following locations appear on map 19.1.
Glass Arboretum
A strangely vibrant beacon of colors and iridescent light, the Glass Arboretum sits at the heart of the Gardens of Decay. At first it appears to be a lush conservatory filled with vivid flowers and verdant trees, but closer inspection reveals that the plant life is entirely artificial, constructed entirely of beautiful, fragile glass sculptures.
Death's Aperture
A 20-foot-tall octagonal tower, known as Death's Aperture, rises above the glittering landscape of the Glass Arboretum. One side of the tower holds the tower's entrance. The other seven sides are dominated by luminescent, stained-glass windows. These windows depict colorful, ever-shifting fractals that periodically coalesce into scenes from worlds throughout the multiverse. Each window is a planar portal to the world currently visible in the window. Usually these images are random, but when someone in the multiverse draws the Skull card from a Deck of Many Things, one of the windows shows a scene depicting the unfortunate individual and opens a portal to that individual's location.
At the center of Death's Aperture is a bottomless well that churns with dark smoke. When a grim champion wishes to punish a trespasser or an incompetent minion, they throw the unfortunate creature down this well, and it is never seen again.
Mothwing Grove
Mothwing Grove is an eerily quiet forest of stout trees shrouded in mist. The scent of rain hangs heavy in the grove, but rain never actually falls here, and the air is supernaturally stagnant.
In addition to the demiplane's standard features, Mothwing Grove has the following feature:
The grove gets its name from the unusual will-o'-wisps that inhabit it. These will-o'-wisps—thought to spawn from the lonely and fractured souls of the grove's other Undead inhabitants—adopt the shapes of moths or butterflies, and flitter through the thick mist. This grove is also home to flocks of harrow hawks (see 20). Many of these hawks are in the Grim Harrow's employ, serving as spies and scouts for hunts.
Magtubo
At the center of Mothwing Grove stands a wide banyan tree swaddled in the pale vines of a strangler fig. This tree is an ancient entity named Magtubo. (Use the treant stat block for Magtubo, but its type is Undead instead of Plant.) Magtubo has lived in the Gardens of Decay since before the Grim Harrow came; it remembers the faerie forest that used to be here, which it once tended. If anyone asks, Magtubo tells the story of the Grim Harrow's arrival and slaughter of the Fey that dwelled here, but otherwise the tree remains silent, avoiding the notice of the grim champions.
When not leading a hunting party, Jyn Corvis, the Grim Champion of Desolation (this 18 appears later in this chapter), can usually be found lounging among Magtubo's roots, planning the Grim Harrow's next moves.
Scarlet Mire
Scarlet Mire is a putrid swamp soaked in unspeakable violence. It was here that the blink dogs that dwelled within the Gardens of Delight were slaughtered, and where they rose again as Undead harrow hounds (this 18 appears later in this chapter). Rancid red sludge bathes the land, and the cloying, metallic taste of blood suffuses the air.
In addition to the demiplane's standard features, Scarlet Mire has the following feature:
The red mud and boggy terrain of Scarlet Mire are caused by the glut of decaying bodies beneath the marsh's surface. Crawling claws skitter through the marsh, grasping at any who pass through. Scarlet Mire is also inhabited by roving bands of wights.
The Rowena
The jagged prow of a half-sunken galleon juts from the heart of the marsh. Scrawled lettering on the ship's side reveals its name as the Rowena. Wynemar Brack, the Grim Champion of Bloodshed (this 18 appears later in this chapter) captured this ship on a hunt centuries ago and hoped to sail it through the Astral Sea, escaping the demiplane's pull, but the demiplane's magic brought the entire ship back instead. Wynemar holds court here, attended by her first mate, a death knight named Lord Gallien, along with other lieutenants and lesser Undead.
Withered Vineyard
Withered Vineyard is a place of plague and illness. Rows of crops stand blight-gorged and decayed. The few fruits that spawn from the shriveled plants are gray and wrinkled, breaking open to reveal maggots infesting their cores.
In addition to the demiplane's standard features, Withered Vineyard has the following feature:
Hungry insect swarms ravage this section of the demiplane. Undead that inhabit the Withered Vineyard for extended periods of time sometimes transform into hulking masses of rotting foliage (use the vine blight stat block, but these creatures' type is Undead instead of Plant).
House of Rot
A ramshackle farmhouse known as the House of Rot stands atop a squat hill in the center of Withered Vineyard. Sickly blue paint peels off the farmhouse's moldering wood walls, and the holes in its slate roof are knitted over with cobwebs. Inside, the bones of Humanoids litter the floor, picked clean by worms.
The House of Rot serves as the home of Aleron, the Grim Champion of Pestilence (this 18 appears later in this chapter). Twin banshees named Alegara and Melisma watch over the house in Aleron's absence. They welcome visitors, sizing them up as potential meals while offering trays of rotting appetizers and cups of moldy tea.
Adventure Hooks
The Grim Harrow includes both weak and powerful Undead, and it serves as an antagonist organization for adventurers of every level. The threat it poses turns any Deck of Many Things into a ticking time bomb. The following are examples of ways the hunt might come for characters:
The Grim Champions
The Grim Harrow is led by three powerful entities with the title of grim champion. Each champion embodies a terrible facet of death. Jyn Corvis, Grim Champion of Desolation, is the oldest and most powerful of the three and embodies all-consuming nothingness. She led the Grim Harrow to the Gardens of Delight long ago and is the nominal leader of all the Undead in the demiplane. The other two champions—Wynemar Brack, Grim Champion of Bloodshed, and Aleron, Grim Champion of Pestilence—rival Jyn for power and together can oppose her. The fact that the three champions rarely agree on anything is a major check on the group's power. Instead of the Grim Harrow acting as a unified force, each of the three champions usually pursues their own interests, seldom cooperating or sharing intelligence or resources.
I don't fear death—haven't for a while, in fact. It's a blessed consequence of living such a long and adventurous life. But I fear the Grim Harrow's leaders.
Grim Champion of Bloodshed
Wynemar Brack was once a farmer, but mercenaries in a local war razed her fields and sacked her village. In desperation, she yielded to the clever patter of a traveling fortune teller and drew from a Deck of Many Things. The avatar of death slew her in a flash. That was many centuries ago, and Wynemar is now a powerful and bloodthirsty Undead commander of the Grim Harrow.
Wreathed in searing fire, Wynemar embodies the havoc of violence and war. She rides a flaming steed that uses the nightmare stat block but is an Undead instead of a Fiend.
Well, that's not quite correct, either. Rather, I fear the sheer destruction those three grim champions leave in their wake. Their lives might be condemned to undeath and annihilation, but then they stampede across the multiverse, violently killing so many innocents whose stories have yet to be written. I want to empathize with them; I've tried to put myself in their places and understand their motives. But I can't. They're simply abhorrent.
Grim Champion of Desolation
Jyn Corvis, a former adventurer, might have been the first person to draw the Skull card from a Deck of Many Things and be slain by the avatar of death. Even Jyn doesn't know for sure, as that was so long ago that she's forgotten almost everything about her former life. Jyn's existence over so many centuries has left her in tortured misery, and now nihilism is all that drives her. More than any other member of the Grim Harrow, Jyn is desperate to destroy the deck and end her painful existence. If she could, she'd take the entire multiverse with her.
The Grim Champion of Desolation rides a malevolent draconic beast with pale, leathery wings and emaciated skin; this mount uses the wyvern stat block, but it is an Undead instead of a Dragon. An eerie, hollow silence heralds the champion's arrival.
I remember my first encounter with this champion. All of a sudden, everything around me went painfully silent. The ringing of blades, the rustle of clothing, the hum of magic—all gone. It was like I was stuck, observing the world through a frosted pane of glass.
Grim Champion of Pestilence
Aleron was once a tiefling adventurer, but unlike so many victims of the Deck of Many Things, he never drew the Skull card. Instead, when one of his allies drew the card and faced the avatar of death, Aleron came to his ally's aid. A second avatar of death appeared, and Aleron was slain; soon after, his Undead corpse crawled from Withered Vineyard, tainted with plague. Aleron resents his fellow Undead in the Grim Harrow, considering himself better than all of them and unjustly condemned to the Gardens of Decay for an act of altruism.
Though the weakest of the Harrow's three leaders, the Grim Champion of Pestilence is nonetheless a fearsome entity of sickness and blight. A swarm of insects surrounds him in a mockery of a halo, and debilitating plagues flow from his fingertips. Aleron rides a warhorse skeleton with flies buzzing in its gaping eye sockets.
We fought. I survived. I couldn't speak for days afterward.
Harrow Hound
When the Grim Harrow first found the faerie realm known as the Gardens of Delight, that place was home to a large population of blink dogs. The Undead invaders slaughtered the blink dogs and settled in the gardens, transforming the demiplane forever. In time, the necrotic magic of the Grim Harrow animated the corpses of the blink dogs as the first harrow hounds.
The Grim Harrow employs harrow hounds as trackers and companions. Harrow hounds are especially useful when investigating possible sightings of a Deck of Many Things. If a harrow hound catches the scent of its prey, it never loses it, even if the hound and its fellow hunters return to the Gardens of Decay with the hunt incomplete. Powerful Undead, such as vampires and death knights, might be accompanied by packs of harrow hounds.