Warlock Patrons Wanted!

[KingCorn]

Powers check, cause this is some thread necromancy. I got some ideas of custom warlock patrons for 5e, and I've already posted a few on the r/Ravenloft subreddit

Zmeu:Found in myth and legend of the Balinok Mountains, Zmeu is described often as a mixture of man and dragon, often shifting between the forms as he likes, and is said to have lived in Barovia ages before the von Zarovich's first set eyes upon the valley, having been known to steal gold and maidens from the natives to feed his gluttonous desires. He is said to still live in the valley, having been drawn into the mists along with everyone else, and resides in a cave in the Balinoks whose mouth is only visible to those blessed by fate.
Zmeu does indeed lair in the mountains, with his home filled with jewels, gold and ancient treasures, all of which he guards with the avarice of a dragon. Despite his greed, he obeys the ancient laws of hospitality, and all who find his home are welcome so long as they offer tribute in return. On rare occasions, he will offer a bargain: he will part with some of his treasures and magic in exchange for a favor: to find him a beautiful woman to take as his bride. But he has made this pact before, and always asks for another bride.
Zmeu often appears as a giant of man, with skin as red as blood and the wings and head of a dragon. When asked, he will claim to be an ancient fey, unrelated to those that dwell in the shadow rift, but those familiar with the nine hells might notice he appears very similar to an Abishai...
Pacts: Fey, Fiend, Genie

Ole' Needlemouth:"First Fish for Ole' Needlemouth" so the saying goes for Mordent Fisherman. In old wives tale, he is said to be a giant sea serpent in the Sea of Sorrows who will grant good luck to those who offer their first catch of the year to him. But Ole' Needlemouth is no mere story, and he has far greater gifts to give.
Appearing as a great eel of varying size, sometime little bigger than a man, sometimes larger than a ship, he is always known for his white, iris-less eyes, and his mouth of needle-like teeth, and skin like tarnished gold. A simple creature, he wants but one thing: meat. Not meat of the see, no, but meat of a rarer kind. Meat of the land, meat of men and beasts. In return, he will give command of the waves, the ability to speak the language of the eels, and the secrets of civilizations said to be lost beneath the sea
Ole' Needlemouth may be summon from the waters by dumping a pint of fresh blood from the cut palm and holding out the still bleeding hand while invoking its name. Upon first summons to make the pact, he will claim the hand as his tribute. Though he resides in the Sea of Sorrows, he can be summoned wherever there is enough water.
Pact: Lurker of the Deep

Liber Supplicium: The Book of Punishment, this foul text was written ages ago during the beginnings of the Church of the Lawgiver by the scholar Adrik Sidorov, who claimed to have received divine inspiration, and wrote the now heretical text which details the main tortures and torturers of the Hell of Slaves. Over time however, his writing focused less on the fitting punishments of the damned and more on the punishers themselves, even including details of how to summon them. Deemed a heretic, Adrik was burned alive, but the Liber Supplicium was not found.
As time went on, the Liber Supplicium began to appear again, in the hands of daemonologists and arcanists alike, each driven by its knowledge to commit deeds of foul tyranny upon their fellow man. Whether the book is truly demonic, or simply tainted by the evil of its maker, none know. However, its descriptions of some of the torturers of the Hell of Slaves seem early similar to the Black Duke and Injirara...
Pact: Fiend.

[The Lesser Evil]

(Looking at 5e Warlock patrons here)

Does the Pact have to be for a singular entity? Could it be for a group?

Great Old One Pact could come from the heavens/stars as a group of astrologists/star gazers like the Omen Watchers or Celestines understand them.

Archfey Pact could come from the Arak, either the Seelie Court or Unseelie Court. As makers of shadowstuff/black mithral items, the Arak might grant the Hexblade pact (Xanathar's Guide to Everything).

Fiend Pact could come from all the fiends stored in the Iron Flask of Tuerny.

The vestiges from the Amber Temple could grant any number of pacts, acting together, singly, or in particular combinations. Though you might need to refer back to older sources like Elder Evils or 3e Tome of Magic for more info on these beings.

Isolde/the Carnival could grant Celestial Pact (Xanathar's Guide to Everything). The Abbot from Curse of Strahd might also, although he'd probably offer a more twisted set of goals than most Celestial patrons.

The Withered Rat (Gaz III p. 103) seems like it could grant some kind of pact- maybe Fiend? Or Undying, since he supports the Cult of Simon Aundaire?

Undying could come from Death/the Slain of Necropolis or Vecna. Toben the Many could make for an interesting source, he might have need for living agents.

[KingCorn]

Here's a full list of custom warlock patrons I'm working on, including the ones above:

• Zmeu: A dragon-like fey creature that has laired in the Balinoks before even the Zarovich's first saw the valley, who will part with his magic and treasure hoard in exchange for a bride
• Ol' Needlemouth/Prota-Enkholus: A giant eel monster said to haunt the Sea of Sorrow, in fact a respected demigod of Shay-Lot before it became the drowning deep, he offers knowledge and power to those who feed his hunger for flesh and vengeance
• Aradia, of Arwan's Shame: An ancient witch and child of the death god Arwan, her foul deeds saw her cast from her father's house and cursed to forever haunt the world between life and death.
• Liber Supplicium: A book from the early history of the church of the Lawgiver, it lists the many tortures found in the hell of slaves and how to summon its torturers for yourself, the sheer evil of its contents has given it a dark power
• The Hand of Justice: A executioner's blade first forged in the Shadowlands, it has been in the hands of many an executioner. The souls of its victims, both innocent and guilty alike, still haunt the sword.
• Nicu, Friend of Vistani: Said to have been the first wereraven to make a pact with the Vistani, while others say she is the embodiment of the fate of the vistani themselves, she will only bargain with those who have protected the vistani or have their blood within them
• Ix'xil, the Jewel from Heaven:A sentient asteroid of pure diamond, it wishes to reunite the many pieces which compose its being and become whole once more.
• Le Demon du Sang: An ancient vampire of Dementliue fame, he was changed forever after drinking the blood of a fiend. Now he offers his power and riches to all who can supply him with more fiends to drain.

[KingCorn]

Here's more details on the patrons I'm working on.
Zmeu, Wyrm of the Balinoks

• Legend: A famous villain of Barovian legend, the dreaded Zmeu is said to have menaced the Balinoks for untold ages. In “Sir Alerik and the Golden Shield” he is said to have stolen the sun from the sky, and demanded tribute of treasures and beautiful daughters from all the lords of the land in exchange for its return, only to lose a battle of wits to Sir Alerik. In “The Dragon and the Terg” he is said to have challenged a Terg soldier to a test of arms over the right to raid a town, only for the clever towns people to flee during the fight, leaving both with nothing. Even in “The Saga of Strahd I” he can be found in a minor role, offering the Terg a secret way through the valley in exchange for all they gold their war slaves could carry. The Terg took his offer but mutilated their slaves so they could carry nothing. Enraged, he flew back to his lair shouting warnings to the Barovian people to spite the Terg invaders.
  While he has not appeared in subsequent legends, he is said to lair in a cave in the Balinok Mountains whose mouth can only be seen by those blessed by fate, and still hungers for treasure and maidens.
• Appearance: A skilled shapeshifter, Zmeu can appear as man, animal, and even a dragon. His favored form, and the one he takes in most legends, is an 8ft tall giant with blood red skin and the wings and head of a dragon, covered in opulent jewelry from the many treasures of his hoard. While he claims to be an ancient fey, unrelated to those of the shadow rift, those familiar with the Nine Hells will notice he looks very similar to a Red Abishai…
• Pact Making: While a vile thief and villain, Zmeu still respects the ancient laws of hospitality to any who find his home, offering them shelter for the night in exchanged for some object of worth. For beautiful women, he will offer them magic and all the jewels of his home in exchange for their hand in marriage. For others who merely impress him, he will offer them a trinket from his collection as well as some of his powers in exchange for their services in finding him new treasures and new brides, as well as settling old scores.
• Motives: Zmeu holds the same desires he has always held, beautiful maidens and mighty treasures, especially the Terg. Zmeu still feels cheated by the Terg for their trickery and will task his servants with finding Terg relics and treasures, the more precious the better.
• Recommended Pacts: Fiend, Fey, Noble Genie (UA)
• Notes: Based on Romanian folklore, he acts based on the actual legends: a love of treasure and maidens. He is in many ways the typical dragon, yet his skill with dragon and humanoid form suggests otherwise.
  In terms of pacts, Pact of the Fey fits both for his self-claimed origins and his status as a figure of lore. The powers of his pact could be explained by a “gift” from his hoard, with more gifts at subsequent levels. For pact of the Noble Genie, again it fits to the idea of being given a magic gift in exchange for service, with the Genie’s Entertainment being a vision of Zmeu’s hoard rather than actual teleportation.
  For pact of the Fiend, this works as a Dread Possibility that Zmeu is in fact a Red Abishai, which would explain the fire powers of the pact, as well as change his motives. Perhaps he hungers for maidens not out of simple pride and lust, but as part of a great ritual which his entrapment prevented.

 
Ol’ Needlemouth / Prota-Enkholus

• Legend: One of the favored creations of the ocean god Oceanus, Prota-Enkholus was his divine messenger, taking offerings of fish and slaughtered calf to send prayers directly to the ocean god. The Empire of Parathalassa honored him as they did their divine patron, building temples in his honor. All was well, until the mad Emperor Virundus called for mass sacrifices in an effort to attain godhood. When the mists claimed Xalot and placed it within the Drowning Deep, Enkholus was claimed alongside them. By a twist of fate, he was deposited in the Sea of Sorrows, decades before the Nocturnal Sea ever appeared. Mordent Sailors who witnessed his hunts gave him the title of Ol’ Needlemouth, and began the practice of offering the first catch of the year to him for good luck, a lesser version of the tribute of old.
• Appearance: Rarely appearing above the sea surface, most can only see a serpent like shadow beneath the waves, 100 meters long. His true appearance is a giant eel, with pearl white eyes skin like tarnished gold, and a mouth full of needle like teeth. His size is such he could swallow a man whole.
• Pact Making: While any may offer Ol’ Needlemouth fish in exchange for a modicum of luck, true pacts can only be made by those who offering blood from a cut palm and invoking his ancient name. If the pact is accepted, he shall claim the cut hand as his own, and speak directly to the pact maker, offering ancient knowledge of the sea and the friendship of the eels. To be before him is to stand in the presence of the divine.
• Motives: Prota-Enkholus wishes more than anything to be freed from the mists and reunited with his divine father, as well as vengeance against Xalot and Virundus for their sacrilege. These are long term goals, and is content for offerings of flesh and a promise to spread the worship of Oceanus whenever possible.
• Recommended Pacts: Lurker of the Deep, Great Old One, Celestial.
• Notes: Prota-Enkholus is a good patron to build a campaign around, with just how large his goals are, and acts more like a clerical divine patron than a traditional one due to his origins. While he has some H. P. Lovecraft inspiration, he has origins as a divine servant for a mostly benevolent god, he is scary but not necessarily evil. In terms of GOO Pact, it would make be better to emphasize the alien-thinking of divine, how it cannot think in mortal terms. While Celestial Pact doesn’t fit mechanically, it can be explained by the divine origins. For Lurker of the Deep and cross-domain communication, it could be that Prota-Enkholus creates a reality wrinkle and might use this to make an avatar over vast distances. A serpentine shadow appears below the surface of any nearby source of water and whispers into your mind, or any eels speak on his behalf.

 
Aradia, of Arwan’s Shame

• Legend: Aradia was born during the end of the Age of Summer to a favored priestess of Arwan, fathered by the god himself. Born with a connection to life and death, Aradia could send souls straight to her father’s hall with but a whisper and call armies of Goblyns to serve her every whim. Yet, this was not enough for her, and soon enough she began to be fascinated by the magics of the fey. Learning under them, she learned to harness the power of curses upon her enemies, and even the secrets of undeath. Legends say she was one of the three witches to attempt to control the weave and thus responsible for the Age of Autumn, the act stripping the life from her
  The vileness of this act was too much even for Arwan’s black heart, and so Aradia was cast out from her father’s house, cursed to remain between life and death forever. Now christened Aradia, of Arwan’s Shame, her unresting spirit haunts the land.
• Appearance: When wishing to seduce and beguile mortals, she will take the appearance of a beautiful young woman of dark brown hair and ivory skin. Her true form is the whispy, ghostly image of an ancient hag, stooped and decrepit from the tole of years, with large goblyn-like teeth and eyes.
• Pact Making: Haunting the lands of Tepest and Keening, Aradia can often found in the sacred stone circle of the land doing all she can to defile them, or spreading fear and death through the hamlets. She calls to those with the potential for magic, as well as those who hold deep knowledge of life and death, and whisper sweet nothings to them on the wind. Those who agree receive her mark, a sign that they are now her’s. In return for service, she offers not just magic and the mysteries of the grave, but also hoards of goblyn servants and even safe-passage through the lands of Keening.
• Motives: Driven mad by exile, age, and the eldritch secrets she holds, Aradia holds no single motive. To harness even greater powers of death and magic, to receive her father’s forgiveness and end her exile, to kill the three upstart hags and the ApBlanc who dare think they can control her goblyn slaves. She will even in her madness sick her own servants against each other.
• Recommended Pacts: Fey, Undying, Fiend, Hexblade
• Notes: Aradia occupies that weird area of Ravenloft that is “ancient, but also probably not real” but can still work if you ignore that fact and have fun with her. In terms of recommended pacts, Fey and Undying make sense due to her origins and knowledge both mechanically and thematically. Fiend fits her theme mechanically, and it could be said her sheer evil makes her fiendish in nature. For the Hexblade, while she does not fit thematically, the Hexblade’s skill in curses fits perfectly to an ancient spectral hag. In terms of pact boons and customization, I would grant Pact of the Chain Goblyn as a familiar form choice.

 
Liber Supplicium

• Legend: Early into the Bridling, when the Church of the Lawgiver was first gaining form and strength, one of the riders of Old Vaasa Peirtor Sidorov claimed to have received divine inspiration from the Lawgiver as to the fate of all who disobeyed his teachings. Proving himself to through a trial by fire and demonstrating the favor of the Blacklord, he was given the funds to write what would have been the second book of the faith. Isolating himself for months, Peirtor got to work written out visions of torment, of fate that awaited the unfaithful in the Hell of Slaves. Yet over time, a change overcame Peirtor as he grew more aggressive and his writings almost perverse in their descriptiveness of tortures, and even included ways to summon the jailors and torturers of the Hell. When his tome was finally presented, it was deemed a foul text, filled not with the divine word but instead sadistic indulgence and magic. Peirtor was declared a heretic and burnt at the stake, yet before the book could receive the same fate, it mysteriously disappeared.
  Now the book is found in the hands of heretics, wizards, and even men of true faith to the Black Lord, summoning the pain and fire of the Hell of Slaves and chaining its servants to their will. Some claim that in its pages, even the Black Duke can be found. The church still searches for the tome and finally destroy it.
• Appearance: A hellish power and magic which suffuse the text has changed its form time and again. For some it is a great tome bond in iron chains and detailed with tormented faces, for others a red book without detail but smelling of hellfire.
• Pact Making: The longer one possess the tome, the more of its secrets will be known to the reader. But in doing so, they put their mind and very soul at stake, as they begin to smell smoke and sulfur coming from the pages, their dreams filled with visions of torment and fire, and their thoughts growing violent and dark. For those who believe it truly is the word of the Lawgiver, or to those who simply wish for the powers of Hell, it is worth it.
• Motivation: Few know if the Book of Punishment is just a mere tome, or if Peirtor’s fervor and the hellish power it holds has given it a will of its own. Those who hold the tome feel a compulsion to spread pain and tyranny wherever their can, to summon the torturers of the Hell of Slaves and learn their terrible secrets, and to spread the gospel of dominance. Perhaps it truly is a divine text, a instrument of the Lawgiver’s Will…
• Recommended Pacts: Fiend, Hexblade
• Notes: The Liber Supplicium, or the Book of Punishment, is an odd patron in that it functions more like an artifact. However, this is also the case with most Hexblades. For the pacts and pact boons, it would be best to think of the Liber as providing those powers by the secrets it holds. You can bind weapons, creatures, or simply gain more magic from the book itself. In story terms, I’d say the book might not be sentient, but could hold the names of so many fiends, not all of them Devils of the Nine Hells, and any one of them might be using the book as a way to look into the land of mists.

 
Nicu, Friend of Vistani

• Legend: The wereravens have been dear friends of the Vistani since they first appeared in the Land of Mists, and so they share legends, one among them “The Pact of Nicu”
  The way the wereraven’s tell it, when the Vistani first appeared in the Land of Mists, they made three pacts: A pact with the Mists which would serve as their home, a pact with Strahd von Zarovich who would serve as their protector, and a pact with the wereravens who would serve as their ally. Just as the first too pacts were sealed with magic, so too was the last, with the greatest of the wereravens, Nicu, agreeing to forever watch over the Vistani. In return, the Vistani and the wereravens would forever be as brothers. To them, Nicu is first and greatest of their kind.
  The way the Vistani tell it differs a great deal. When first exiled by the gods to the mists, all manner of beasts of darkness beset them. The only one which would leave them be was a lone raven, who watched there suffering yet did nothing to stop it. Finally, one among the vistani, Nicu, approached the raven and recognized it was fate itself in disguise. Catching the bird in hand, the vistani promised to set the Raven that was Fate free, and in exchange the Raven that was Fate would forewarn them of the dangers in the Mist. The Raven that was Fate agreed, with Nicu as the seal of the pact itself, becoming the eye of fate upon the future of the vistani. To them, Nicu is an avatar of fate.
• Appearance: Appearing as a great raven as large as a hawk, with dark mist flowing from its wings and shrouding one of its claws.
• Pact Making: A pact with Nicu is no simple thing, and few if any who have a “pact” with Nicu are aware of it. At some point, Nicu deems someone significant to the fate of the Vistani, and nudges things ever so into place to get what it wants. Many who receive its “gifts” believe they are sorcerers or favored by fate. Should any become aware of where their new found power truly comes from, they might wish they had never known such power.
• Motivation: Whether as a wereraven or an agent of fate, Nicu wishes to protect the vistani from harm. It will do anything, serve both good and evil, man or monster, in order to do so. However, its definition of harm differs from what mere mortals would define it as, taking a view of threats centuries into the future or years already past. To Nicu, both are more significant a threat to consider than some paltry mob of the now.
• Recommended Pacts: Great Old One, Ravenqueen, Fey
• Notes: Nicu is…weird. I wanted to make a patron as mysterious as the Mists themselves, one whose help is often never recognized. While this does present some problems roleplay wise, it can be taken as a chance to redefine what it means to play a warlock, to have something out there watching out for you. For pact boons, it could be you just find them. You “find” a magic blade which you may recall to your hand, you “find” a book of spells and find you can read it, you “find” a familiar, ect. Again, Nicu should act in a way to where your not even aware they exist, much less that you somehow have a pact with them, until much later on. In terms of recommended pacts, Great Old One fits perfectly thematically as Nicu is truly alien in both its thinking and its approach. Ravenqueen is also an obvious one, though this reveals a bit more of what your patron may be like. In terms of mechanics, some divination abilities would fit well.

 
The Hand of Justice

• Legend: Forged in the early days of Nidala as a weapon against “evil”, being used in executions against “sinners”. Its first victim was one of Elena’s most faithful knights who she had deemed tainted by evil. In time, the sword left Nidala by the whim of the mists, ending up in the hand’s of other realms. And in each, it was used as a tool of execution. From the sadistic anger of a Falkovnian Talon, to the cold unfeeling judgement of a Darkonian executioner.
  Each soul who was killed this way, unable to even fight back, still haunt the sword. All the souls it holds, both innocent and guilty alike, cry for vengeance.
• Appearance: A one and a half hand sword, it is inscribed with prayers to justice and Belenus along the blade. The guard itself is decorated with a golden hand which appears to wield the sword as well, to show that justice itself swings this sword.
• Pact Making: Any who hold the sword will begin to hear the curses and death cries of its victims, risking madness. However, in harnessing their anger one can unlock the powers known only the undead.
• Motivation: Every soul within the sword screams for vengeance against their killer, as well as against the state which sanctioned it. If they had they’re way, all the great kings and lords would be brought down and the lands would burn. A deeper desire, held with but a few souls, is to return to its home in Nidala and to strike down Elena Faithold
• Recommended Pacts: Undying, Hexblade
• Notes: Much like the Liber Supplicium, the Hand of Justice acts more like an artifact and a patron, though this one actually has confirmed sentience. Much like how the Liber was built with Pact of the Chain/Book in mind, this is built with Pact of the Blade in mind, being able to summon the weapon at anytime. The ability to form a new pact weapon could be using magic to change the form of the blade. If could even be that the Hand of Justice is not the blade itself, but the golden hand upon the guard. It has a bit too much of a tie to a Darklord, something I wanted to avoid when making these patrons, but it felt like to good a place to first make the weapon. If one wishes, that detail can be dropped and the weapon could have been forged in Darkon or some other domain.

 
Domin d'Alard, Le Demon du Sang

• Legend: The d’Alard family is a minor noble house of Demenlieu with deep ties to the University of Dementlieu. While once vastly wealthy, the near scandalous amount of funding they have given to the university, particularly the Department of Arcane Sciences, has reduced them considerably. This funding starting under the now long deceased Domin d’Alard, who is said to have grown fascinated with the arcane after a torrid love affair with rumored witch. In truth Domin was dead long before he even first embraced the arcane, having been turned in the prime of his life. The rumored witch he was seen with had in truth been demonically possessed, and upon attempting to drain her blood, he grew a taste for such fiendish blood and power. Have grown addicted to the sensation, and convinced he had evolved somehow, he began to pour funds into any who could promise to bring him more. Controlling his family from the shadow, he has any and all fiendish arifacts and flesh brough to him, to continue his growth. He has changed into something that is neither fiend nor undead, a thing far darker than either…
• Appearance: Appearing as a wealthy nobleman in his late twenties dressed in the style of scholars thirty years ago, Domin cuts an imposing and dignified figure. However, the air around him is off, giving a sense of power that seems to warp the very space around him. While his eyes are often appear detached and judgemental, when angered his features warp to a nightmare visage of ember like eyes and demonic horns.
• Pact Making: Those who Domin deems useful, he will send an official summons via a useful proxy. Upon meeting, he will give a simple offer: serve him or die. Those who take the offer are given his tutelage in eldrictch secrets and given a vial of his blood, which binds them to him.
• Motivation: Domin has grown addicted to the blood of fiends, feeling it will grant him spiritual ascension. As such, warlocks are often put to work tracking down fiends for him to drain, or acquire the materials to summon one.
  While Domin uses fiends as his path to power, he still pursues the secrets of the arcane, and will send out his minions to acquire tomes and grimoires for him.
• Recommended Pacts: Fiend, Undying
• Notes: One of the most approachable patrons, Domin allows for actual face to face interaction and a patron-pact maker relationship that’s very transactional in nature: power for favors. Domin also serves well as an undeniably evil figure who through his specific goals can potentially serve as a source for good, sending hunters to tract down rampaging fiends, if only so he can then drain them. In terms of pact boons, every one of them work as powers he can grant. Flavor wise, adding Blood Bag Imp and Carrion Bat as familiar forms for pact of the chain would be a good expansion. His ultimate gift could be to become a vampire, but that would be something to negotiate between the player and dm.

[Mischief]

These are all well designed with Ravenloft-style horror in mind. Awesome work!

Notes: Aradia occupies that weird area of Ravenloft that is “ancient, but also probably not real” but can still work if you ignore that fact and have fun with her. In terms of recommended pacts, Fey and Undying make sense due to her origins and knowledge both mechanically and thematically. Fiend fits her theme mechanically, and it could be said her sheer evil makes her fiendish in nature. For the Hexblade, while she does not fit thematically, the Hexblade’s skill in curses fits perfectly to an ancient spectral hag. In terms of pact boons and customization, I would grant Pact of the Chain Goblyn as a familiar form choice.

I offered the possibility in my notes that when the Dark Powers were dragging land into Ravenloft, they brought in Fey-wildspaces attached to the prime lands as bycatch. You could explain your ancient Fey origins that way. I forget if I posted the notes on this or if they are simply lurking on my harddrive, but my version of the Dark Powers are in a long-running asymmetric war with the fey they dragged in. Many a Land Ritual involves desecrating or overunning a wild space the fey draw power from - basically the DP using people to bug-bomb the untamed, unpacified fairies. Meanwhile the fey are busy burrowing into the planar fabric like termites trying to usurp bits of it.

VIEW CONTENT:

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---- Primeval Web ----
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When the Dark Powers dig their hooks into an outside land and sink it into Ravenloft, native wild powers and shreds of the Feywild are inevitably dragged with it. These primal entities hold more ancient claims to the land and do not take kindly to their new self-declared masters or their Darklord puppets. The Primeval Web is neither an element nor a plane, but a linked network of little wild spaces "in between" that do not bow to the Dark Powers and still cling to the unsullied beauty of the bright Feywild. Most are small: a knee-high stone shrine at the corner of a road, a creeper-covered pergola in a vineyard, a hollow tree knot, a single grove where pristine flowers persist, or a clean creek trickle high in the mountains. The largest nodes guard the seats of old land powers which predate the realm's fall into Ravenloft: fanes, cenotes, leys, henges, guardian tors, altars, menhirs, dolmen tables, megaliths, aeries, grottos, and grand sacred trees.

Much to the Dark Powers' chagrin, the Primeval Web's network of strongholds has spread all throughout Ravenloft, even to lands created wholesale from mists. Any witless soul who approaches the Primeval Web hoping for safety or kindness will quickly be disabused of their fantasies, provided they escape the experience. The wild folk have not survived Ravenloft's despair by trusting outsiders, sheltering them, or giving them handouts -- especially humankin. Many fey denizens have tasted the temptations of the mists, hunt the innocent in raids for flesh, souls, and slaves, salve the angst of entrapment with chaotic blood-lusted massacres, or strike deals with the Dark Powers for their own continuance. Even the most Seelie of bands require tests and demand sacrifices or tolls before allowing audience. The denizens of Ravenloft who are most likely to know of the Primeval Web are farmers, hunters, shepherds, druids, rangers, barbarians, warlocks, "good" werebeasts, and elves. (Note pure elves are still considered humankin by Ravenloft's fey.)

Domin d'Alard, Le Demon du Sang
Motivation: Domin has grown addicted to the blood of fiends, feeling it will grant him spiritual ascension. As such, warlocks are often put to work tracking down fiends for him to drain, or acquire the materials to summon one.
While Domin uses fiends as his path to power, he still pursues the secrets of the arcane, and will send out his minions to acquire tomes and grimoires for him.

While I am not the biggest fan of the GC plotline, I bet this guy is a problem for the Gentleman Caller and his children. I can only imagine Azalin would want him put down.

[Mischief]

The 2020 UA material has a Warlock whose Patron is one of the undead Darklords.

https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/down ... sses04.pdf

https://dnd.dragonmag.com/2020/08/25/un ... ntent.html