Fog-Stalkers

Overview

The Fog-Stalkers are among the Drifters of the Veil: hunters that blend into its fog and strike travellers from it.

Appearance

A Fog-Stalker cannot be seen in the fog. Seen at all, it is a thickening of the mist, grey on grey, about the size of a large wolf, that has an edge where mist should not have one. When it strikes, the edge sharpens into something like jaws or claws, pale as bone, for a moment, and then it is mist again. It makes no sound before it strikes; afterwards the fog is colder and smells faintly of wet iron.

Habitat and Range

They hunt in the fog of the Veil, thickest where the Veil is thick and slow and travellers struggle to keep their way.

Behaviour and Temperament

A Fog-Stalker waits in the fog, follows a traveller unseen, and strikes when the traveller is alone, tired, or uncertain. It prefers the Lost, who do not fight back.

Abilities

It is all but invisible in fog, and can follow a traveller through the Veil's shifting corridors without losing them.

Uses and Dangers

They give nothing. Their danger is the strike no one sees.

Lore and Belief

The old crossing-words of the Veil tell travellers not to cross alone, and some say the Fog-Stalkers are why. Mist-country tales on Caeldon of a fog that takes the last walker in a line may come from them.

Smugglers who use the thin places walk roped together for that reason, and a cut rope found at a shrine path's mouth is one of the worst signs on the boundary roads.

Where It Appears

• The Veil
• Writers' Guide: The Veil and the Outside