Harrowgourd

Harrowgourds are said to be the cursed handiwork of hedge-witches and embittered harvesters who could not bear the loss of their crops to rot or tax. A single malediction sewn into a scarecrow's stuffing births the first spark in a carved pumpkin, and if the spark is fed on blame or a child's frightened tears it becomes a Harrowgourd. They are most common in ruined farms, outlying orchards, and roadside fields where burn piles and old lanterns provide fuel for their living embers. Villagers of the Durnmere Vale mark places where Harrowgourds have been seen with iron pins and burned wheat; the Order of Emberwrights, a small sect of scholar-smiths and rural wardens, keeps crude journals and a battered lantern said to have once quieted a nest of the creatures. Stories tell of packs of Harrowgourds working in mischief together: one distracts, another lights a gourd, a third pelts a fleeing rider until the animal bolts. They fear deep, running water and the ancient hedge of Thornmoss — where, according to old farmer Beldric Hallow, a Harrowgourd's pumpkin will sink and drown its spark when forced beneath the surface.

A Harrowgourd stands roughly four feet tall, a lurching figure of bundled straw bound by fraying rope and rusted staples. Its torso is a misshapen sack of burlap patched with stitched trade cloth and old banner scraps; sleeves end in mismatched, thinned mitts stuffed with straw. The head is a hollowed, carved pumpkin—carved with an off-kilter grin and starry eye-holes—permanently affixed by leather straps and iron nails. Thin wisps of smoke curl from the pumpkin's stem and from hairline cracks in the rind; the carved mouth glows with a low, orange lantern-fire that flickers when it moves. Weathering has browned and mottled the rind; soot and sap drip down seams. Small gourds, each the size of an apple, are looped on a cord at its belt, charred at their tips as if repeatedly lit. The overall texture is a mix of split straw, burlap grain, pitted pumpkin rind and rust, with a slight oily sheen where tar or lantern fuel has been smeared. Scale: about knee-high compared to a standing human; often pictured in a moonlit field near a crooked fence or a burned-out bonfire.