Riddle

Hound of Olric. He Who Walks Behind. The Chained Hunter. The Midnight Man. Stalking Shadow. Scar That Steals. The Mournful Highwayman. Blade in the Dark. The Bound Seeker.

Call him what you will. Name him, constrain him, invoke gods and powers against him. It will do you no good. If Olric--that wicked, greedy Sorcerer-King--covets something that belongs to you, it belongs to you no more. Olric will send his Hound, and once the Hound has a scent, he cannot be stopped. There is nowhere you can run that he cannot find you. There is no tower tall enough, no wall thick enough, no magic strong enough to protect what you cherish. Oh, you may pity the Hound as he pities you, but his will is not his own, and his pity has no power to sway him. So you mark my words, young braggart. Be proud if you must, but make it a quiet pride. Do not boast. Because the only way you are safe from the Hound of Olric is if his Master never hears of you.

Aspects

Skills

• Great (+4): X
• Good (+3): X, X
• Fair (+2): X, X, X
• Average (+1): X, X, X, X

History

Even before he acquired his Hound, Sorcerer-King Olric of Vorarl was famed throughout the lands of the Tapestry. He was descended from a long line of powerful sorcerer-monarchs, and that power had reached its pinnacle in him. A magical prodigy, he’d mastered the magicks of his ancestors by the time he reached the age of majority and, legend has it, all the known magicks of all the known lands by the time he was crowned King.

Olric developed his own knowledge and power as far as he could, then turned his sights outward. He began collecting magical objects; the more rare and powerful, the better, but if an object had any magic at all, he wanted it. His obsession spread to magical creatures great and small, and eventually even to people. Some souls were born into the Tapestry with innate gifts, magicks unlearned and unlearnable. If Olric could not himself acquire the power that these rare few were born with, then he would acquire them.

Olric didn’t care whether or not someone wished to part with their property or their pets or their children. If sentient creatures or talented people did not want to come to him willingly, there were other means of persuasion. When he could not purchase what he wanted, he stole it. When he could not steal, he threatened. When he could not threaten, he killed. And on those occasions when even Olric’s vast and powerful magicks did not get him what he wanted, he went into a rage that lasted for days, and his subjects suffered for it.

Thus Olric was elated when one of his agents brought him news of a Seeker living in a neighboring kingdom. Seekers were exceedingly rare, born with an innate ability to find anything or anyone. At the height of their powers, not only would they know where the object of their search was, they could also follow it anywhere--through walls, through magical barriers, even into other dimensions. If Olric had a Seeker in his thrall, then anything he wanted, anywhere in the Tapestry, would be his.

The Seeker was a farm boy called Clay Riddle, a peasant name if ever there was one. Olric made arrangements to purchase the boy from his parents. They were . . . reluctant, but Olric’s agents convinced them that giving up their eldest son in exchange for Olric’s gold and the lives of their remaining four children was quite a fair bargain.

Clay was barely fourteen, his Seeker powers in their infancy, but Olric did not have to wait for Clay’s ability to mature on its own. Olric put the boy through several grueling days of rites and rituals. First he bound the boy’s will to his own, insuring that Clay would be compelled to obey his every command. Then he amplified Clay’s power, forcing it to its apex with a complex and dangerous enchantment that pushed the boy to the limits of his endurance. Olric was quite pleased that Clay survived. He was also fascinated to discover that the arcane symbols he had drawn on Clay during the spellcasting were now seared into the boy’s flesh--black sigils starting on his forehead, trailing past his right eye, and flowing down his cheek to his throat. The scars continued along Clay’s collarbone and across his chest, circling his torso twice before spiraling down his left leg to the ankle. Olric theorized that the mystical energies of the rituals interacted with Clay’s inborn magic to cause the intriguing side effect.