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The Bloodhounds are a bounty hunter group centered in Jaress, Ilefain, headquartered in a fortress called the Kennel.
The organization known as the Bloodhounds is dedicated to finding people and bringing them to justice (or whatever fate awaits them). Some members limit themselves to tracking down criminals; others are willing to hunt anyone for a client who can pay the price. The group’s leaders don’t concern themselves with such issues, only with maintaining the organization’s reputation as the place to go to find someone.
Bloodhounds can take any assignments they choose. Some jobs come directly from clients who contact individual members. Others come through the grapevine, since members pass word to each other. Individuals are fiercely competitive, and if one succeeds where another has failed, the winner gloats over the victory. In fact, members often tell each other about the assignments they’ve taken, in effect challenging to beat them to the mark (their quarry). Members may work together, but most work alone or with nonmembers so that word spreads of their personal fame. Thus, whenever several Bloodhounds form a posse to catch a particularly elusive foe, word spreads far and wide.
Despite this rivalry, when a mark is too important to go free, a member can spread the word of a “free” bounty among the Bloodhounds. This means that any member who brings in the mark can claim the prize. Members who spread free bounties lose no face in the organization for doing so.
The Bloodhounds have a nearly unblemished record, having successfully caught every mark they’ve pursued except for a half-dragon sorcerer named Zerin the Flayed. Zerin has used a combination of powerful spells and physical might to elude three high-level Bloodhounds, two of which he managed to slay over the course of prolonged and exhausting battles. Unwilling to throw lives away, the guild leadership continues to ponder ways to complete the dangerous commission without asking for outside assistance and thereby weakening the guild’s reputation.
Members
Since so many of the group’s marks are human, rangers who have taken humans as favored enemies have an advantage in assignments. As a result, a large percentage of the membership is nonhuman, and differing alignments are rarely an impediment to teaming up. In fact, rumor has it that a good-aligned female elf and an evil-aligned male gnoll regularly work together, since between them they can function in any society. The gulf between their alignments is spanned by the bridge of their common goals.
Membership in the Bloodhounds is by invitation only. Members report on capable trackers they encounter in their travels, and from these reports, the organization’s leaders select candidates for membership. A member of the group tracks each candidate surreptitiously for a while. If the agent reports that the candidate has the necessary fervor and talents, the leaders offer her a chance to try out for membership. A candidate who actually notices an agent following her is almost guaranteed an offer.
To be accepted for membership, the candidate must track a member considerably more experienced than herself. The quarry makes the job difficult by leaving false trails, telling locals deceitful stories, and even hiring brigands to ambush the candidate along the way. The member must not assist the candidate in this task; otherwise, the test is void. A candidate who succeeds in finding the target passes the test and may join the organization.
