Grim Harvest
The Grim Harvest refers to a three-module Adventure Path for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2n edition based in the Ravenloft setting, as well as their in-universe effects, which are divided into the Grim Harvest proper and its direct fallout, known as The Requiem.
The basic plot is that Azalin, the lich darklord of Darkon, has come up with another cataclysmic scheme in the wake of the Grand Conjunction: a ploy to sacrifice tens of thousands of people based out of the city of Il Aluk in order to fuel his transformation into a demilich. Of course, it goes horribly wrong; Azalin is dispersed into the ether, whilst negative energy floods Il Aluk and transforms it into a city of the undead where the living cannot go without joining them.
This resulted in a period of 5 years known as the Shrouded Years, during which time Darkon was in chaos; the transformation of Il Aluk into the Necropolis severed Darkon's biggest trade artery and terrified the population of Darkon so badly that they renamed their land "Necropolis", believing the prophesied final days had come and soon all life would be extinguished. Not helping was the mysterious phenomena of "Drowning Dreams", a literal plague of nightmares - actually the psychic manifestation of Azalin's struggles to reconstitute himself from Darkon's collective mindscape and the efforts of Azalin's creation, the demilord Death, to stop him by devouring all trace of his essence. This lasted until Azalin literally pulled himself together, whereupon he began the work of restoring Darkon.
The "Shrouded Years" version of Darkon was canonized in the splatbook Domains of Dread, which was the updated, rereleased version of the Ravenloft campaign setting. It ended when the setting was converted to Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition.
Adventures[edit | edit source]
The Grim Harvest is made up of three adventure modules in sequence; Death Unchained, Death Ascendant and Death Triumphant.
Death Triumphant was released as a boxed set called "Requiem: The Grim Harvest", which contained Death Triumphant, Necropolis (an overview of Darkon at the start of the Shrouded Years, complete with stats for its demilords), and Requiem (mechanics for playing undead PCs, combined with a secondary minor adventure for an undead party).
Demilords[edit | edit source]
The near-destruction of Azalin left a vacancy for the position of Darklord of Darkon... but there was nobody wicked enough and powerful enough to claim the throne. So, instead, seven lesser Darklords arose, each bound to a specific region of Darkon. When Azalin returned, all of these except for one were depowered and resumed being normal monsters.
Death: Demilord of Necropolis, the negative energy-infused city of Il Aluk. Insane clone of Azalin that believes itself to literally be the manifestation of Death. The only Darkon Demilord to remain after Azalin's return.
Trillen Mistwalker: Demilord of the Mistlands, the region closest to Darkon's Misty Border. An elf ghost who went mad after his efforts to find a ruin he once stumbled across in the Misty Border resulted in the death of his little brother.
Glennis McFadden: Demilord of the Boglands, Darkon's vast swampy region. The only survivor of a dispatched hag coven who seeks to take over Viaki so she can have revenge and a secure place to build a new coven.
Gali Cloggen: Demilord of the Forest of Shadows, the vast sprawling woodlands of Darkon. A halfling rogue who was transformed into a maledictive (curse-born) wererat when he murdered the halfling woman he had loved when she rejected him in favor of another, before arranging for her husband to be blamied for the murder ande driven away.
Beryl Silvertress: Demilord of the Mountains of Misery, a volcanic mountain range abundant in mineral wealth and the center of Darkon's dwarf and gnome populations. A female dwarf vampire who has gone paranoid after constant failures to find the unknown male dwarf vampire who created and then abandoned her.
Yako Vormoii: Demilord of the Vale of Tears. A Vassalich created by Azalin himself, obsessed with Flesh Golems and the creator of the Maggot Golem, which is just as disgusting as you're thinking.
Dagon Skragg: Demilord of the Jagged Coast. A pirate turned Ghoul Lord who commands a ship of ghasts that launches raids up and down the shoreline for meat to sate their hunger.