Harvest Jack

Teleria is rich in nightmares, whether they be real or imagined. Tales of headless horsemen, beasts under the bed, things that go bump in the night – for every genuine account of a horrifying creature, there is a frightening story meant to delight children on a stormy autumn night. While most of these monsters stay safely in the world of the imaginary, there is one in particular that inhabits both the dream and the real. All must beware of the wrath of Harvest Jack, who cackles his way across the fields of Kaerok with scythe in hand. Harvest Jack’s story began as a happy one – one of a mischievous spirit who inhabited the carved vegetable lanterns of Lozrayn, Kaerok's annual harvest festival. He played harmless pranks, possessed nearby scarecrows to make them dance, and sang for the delight of all who saw him. Jack was also a cunning trickster, often challenging local farmers to games of riddles. If someone solved one of Jack's puzzles, he would bless them with a bountiful harvest for the next year. If they failed at his game, he would give his playmate a scare, but all in good jest. For many generations, the appearance of this jolly apparition was cause for great celebration, signaling the start of the harvest, and much revelry among the people of Kaerok. However, as Siroth's darkness encroached further into Teleria and the War of Kaerok saw its once peaceful fields watered with blood, Jack's playful spirit became twisted with malice and hate. His pranks grew more and more vicious, and his good-hearted scares became truly terrifying. During one fateful celebration, Jack's usual merry dance became a waltz of blood, with him taking up a scythe and cutting down his audience as if they were wheat ready for reaping. Possessing the festival's most prized pumpkin, Jack transformed it, carving into it the blood-chilling grimace that now so terrorizes the farmfolk of Kaerok each autumn. During that season, farmers listen in fear for the sound of Jack's ear-splitting cackle – the signal that his dreadful harvest has begun. No longer do people in Kaerok leave pumpkins and turnips sitting outside their homes at harvest time as they once did, waiting for a once playful apparition to make his appearance. No longer does that harmlessly rebellious sprite feature in the ghost stories told to children around campfires. Now, all that remains are the chilling tales of Harvest Jack, and countless souls fear that to speak his name is to invite his wrath.