The Lord of the Lost

*The cold chill of winter surrounded the traveler, his brittle skin tightened around his bones. He'd been at it for three days, now. His hunting party had been attacked by frost giants, and while he just barely managed to get away, the rest of his caravan was not so lucky. As soon as he had set off, a terrible storm had set upon him, and he felt like he'd been moving in circles. Had it even been three days? Had it been shorter? Longer? He did not know. The cold and the starvation were getting to him. Soon, the chilling embrace of death would claim him.*

*Or so he thought. The cold storm was broken by a steadily approaching light. A hooded individual, lantern in one hand and gnarled walking stick in the other, approached him from the north. The traveler rushed through the snow before collapsing in front of the hooded individual, frigid tears running down his face.*

*"Now I suppose you've wandered in here long enough, hmm? You look miserable." The hooded individual's voice was smooth and welcoming. He placed a hand on the traveler's arm and helped him to his feet.*

*"I'm so happy to see you, I've been out here for days - finally someone that can help-"*

*"Now now," the hooded individual interrupted, a wry grin revealing itself from beneath the cloak, "I did not commit to any such thing."*

## The Lord of the Lost

The Lord of the Lost is an archfey that finds his greatest pleasure in experiencing the wide range of emotions that comes from an individual led astray. He spends most of his time in arctic environments, but has also spent time in lush forests or on the coast of remote islands awaiting lost individuals. He delights in making bets with himself on how long it takes for desperation to set in on the forlorn traveler: how long before a party turns on each other for food, how many days someone can survive alone, how long it takes to find civilization, so on and so forth. He does not care much for where a traveler comes from, nor where they end up, instead focusing entirely on the dread that comes with being alone.

Similar to a prey playing with their food, the Lord of the Lost has weather-changing and environment-shaping abilities that keep his victims wandering. Laying a massive layer of fog over the ocean, thickening the treetops so that travelers cannot use the stars to navigate, or simply posing as a toy salesman to separate a child from its parents are just a few of the tools in his toolbox. His intentions are unclear, as sometimes he will lead individuals into the mouth of a hag's lair, and others he will lead straight back to the embrace of a long-forgotten friend. His mood changes quickly, but the only constant is his love for the uncertainty a lost traveler experiences.

## As a Patron

The vast majority of the Lord of the Lost's followers are individuals he agrees to lead back to their destination. He does not employ them to do his work for him, so to speak, as a lost individual means nothing to him if he is not there to enjoy watching them, but he does force them to agree to allow him to divert their course whenever he sees fit. As a DM, the Lord of the Lost serves as a great excuse to put side quests or plot hooks in front of your players. He may decide to keep the players in a forest for three days while they are on their way to a time sensitive quest, or he may point them in the direction of a seemingly unimportant item or individual that becomes relevant to the plot months later.

If you wanted to go for a more good-aligned warlock (or maybe even a Cleric diety!), The Lord of the Lost could also give powers to warlocks to help out individuals he may have forgotten to lead home after getting them lost in the first place. These powers would be contingent on rescuing any lost or stranded individuals the players come across on their travels, or traveling to far islands and remote tundras to escort somebody back home.

### Pact Boons

* *Pact of the Blade:* a gnarled wooden walking stick with a thick oil lantern on the end, which could serve as either a quarterstaff or a mace
* *Pact of the Tome:* a collection of maps whose destinations and trails are constantly shifting on the page, with new spells revealing themselves on pages where they were not previously
* *Pact of the Chain:* a small sprite that glows like a lightning bug, with colors of the light changing based on the mood of its master

### Extra Gifts

* A bag of rations that allows his followers to cast Create Food and Water or Goodberry once a day, so that he feels less guilty about making them get lost for six weeks
* A heavy lantern that disperses magical darkness when activated. When a high enough level or after an appropriate side quest, allows the warlock to cast Find the Path once a day as a ritual

### Flavoring the Warlock

* Any compass I hold spins wildly out of control and does not work; any map I look at has the ink melt slowly off of the page, or the roads twist and turn vividly in my sight
* Whenever I fall asleep, I wake up in a spot about thirty feet away from where I first laid my head
* My footprints occasionally diverge from behind me when I am traveling, and reunite with me sometime later
* I cannot read street signs when I am in a major city

### Plot Hooks

* *(Low Level):* While traversing a snowstorm, you find yourself in the path of a lost revenant. She desperately needs to find the man who killed her and her husband to take her revenge, but she has no idea how to get out of the storm she has found herself in.
* *(Mid Level):* You are traveling by sea when your navigator falls unconscious and all compasses on the ship cease to work. When a heavy fog rolls over the waves, the only thing you can hear is the alluring song of a choir of female voices coming from a nearby shoreline.
* *(High Level):* Your party attempts a routine teleport, but are lead to a completely different location than what was targeted. The family of vampires that live here are quite upset that you have arrived to their home unannounced, but your patron thinks it's hilarious.