Hugo and Mike's contract attempt

Stub-class article · First seen: s17 · Last seen: s17
Hugo and Mike's contract attempt
the Mike soul-bond contract · Hugo's contract for Mike · the unsigned pact · Black Mask Soul-Bond Contract (Mike)
Hugo and Mike's contract attempt, Physical document prop (unsigned) portrait
Item
StatusFailed (Unsigned; Replaced by Verbal IOU)
First seens17
Last seens17
TypePhysical document prop (unsigned)
AttunementNone
HolderHugo (physical document)
OriginSoul-Bond Contract of Black Mask, with Mike's name pre-filled in clause XII; presented by Hugo in s17

Hugo and Mike’s contract attempt is the Soul-Bond Contract of the Black Mask that Hugo tried and failed to get Mike to sign in session 17, as the stake in a breath-holding bet that Hugo could not lose because he does not need to breathe [11][16][2]. Mike’s name was already written into its last clause. Mike read it, tried to amend it, and refused on lawyerly grounds, including that Hugo had “bet with something you don’t have” [14][27][20][21]. Hugo settled for Mike’s promise of one wish, “should I live long enough”, and the contract stayed unsigned [25][26][9].

Overview

The contract is a prop with a story attached. Hugo conjured a long written soul-bond contract of the Black Mask with Mike’s name already in it, and held it up as the prize of a bet he could not lose [11][12]. Mike would not sign, and never did. The attempt was made in the same scene in which the Black Mask rewrote Hugo’s pact [13].

Description

A rather lengthy written contract that Hugo willed into being and held in his hand [12]. Mike “read every word” [14], and Hugo’s own summary of it at the table was that once you die you join him in service, “becoming a warrior for the person I am also under contract for” [15]. The text was not read aloud in the session. It is headed “Soul-Bond Contract of Black Mask”, names the Black Mask as “the Master” and Mike as “the Bound”, and runs to twelve clauses:

  • The price (I, V, VI). His soul, living, dying and after death, belongs to the Master outright. Death, resurrection, destroying the paper or becoming undead do not end it; only a Wish does, and only if the Master accepts compensation.
  • Command (II, III, IV, VII). The Bound must obey for life, whatever the order, and may be punished for resisting. The Master may mark him, find him, speak in his dreams and seize his body for a short time.
  • Substitution (IX). The Master may accept another willing soul in place of the Bound’s, at his sole choice.
  • Breach and consideration (X, XI). Breaking the contract costs a year of life, a memory or worse. The Master owes only what was promised at signing, and a misunderstanding is no fraud.
  • The Bound’s warranties (VIII). He swears that his soul is his to sell and that he knows the price.
  • Final consent (XII). The Bound’s spoken or written vow, with “Mike” already filled in. The signature, witness and date lines are blank.

Mechanics (as played)

  • The wager. If Hugo held his breath longer, Mike would sign “your contract”; if Mike won, Hugo would sign Mike’s [11][16]. Both went under in barrels on the skiff. Mike breathed underwater for the full hour and then gave up [17][18].
  • The Black Mask’s terms. In frozen time, seen only by Hugo, she said “Always have them sign the thing before the bet.” [19]. She had rewritten the substitution clause: a signer would become her second attack dog, and if Hugo found one she would lift the Ascendancy’s mind control from him and from Rafe, the Wraith, and later crush the Ascendancy. Hugo kept the older condition that her commands cannot touch the current quest [13].
  • The refusal. Mike’s grounds were that Hugo already had a name on a contract and so “bet with something you don’t have”, that no court would call it something “a reasonable person would consider signing”, and later that Hugo has no breath to hold [20][21][22][23].
  • The IOU. Hugo’s fallback was that Mike sign if death became unavoidable, which Mike thought illogical to promise [7][24]. They settled on one wish in Hugo’s choosing, which Mike said he could commit to “should I live long enough”, and pinned to a 9th-level spell slot [25][26][9].

Open questions

  • Does Hugo still hold the document? It is not mentioned again.
  • Will Hugo try the Black Mask’s offer on someone else? He pitched a contract to Caelumn within the hour, and Caelumn declined [10].

History in the campaign

Session 17: New Hands, the Black Mask’s Renegotiation, and the Rimeclaw

Main article: Session 17

On the skiff Hugo proposed a breath-holding contest with a contract as the stake, and Mike agreed [11][16]. After an hour Mike surfaced and conceded: “I thought I was going against the turtle.” [18]. Hugo willed the contract into his hand and Mike read it, then wrote on the bottom to amend it, and Hugo objected [12][14][27][28]. Time stopped as the Black Mask renegotiated Hugo’s pact [5]. When time resumed, Mike declared the contract void and refused to sign [21][22]. Hugo took a promise of one wish instead [25][26].

Status

As of session 17. Unsigned: the signature lines are blank and the written terms bound no one. Mike promised the wish “should I live long enough” [26], and an Aurelian knight beheaded him in session 18 [29]. The Black Mask’s offer of a second signer in exchange for freeing Hugo was still open at the end of the scene [30][31].

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 17, line 580-587: The breath-hold bet (Hugo proposes the wager, Mike agrees verbally, both submerge).
  2. ^ Session 17, line 622: DM tells the new players out of character that Hugo is Voidforged and does not need to breathe.
  3. ^ Session 17, line 671-678: The contract appears in Hugo's hand ("a rather lengthy contract"); Mike reads it; Hugo summarises it.
  4. ^ Session 17, line 687-693: Mike attempts to alter the contract; Hugo refuses ("It's technically no longer my contract if you start editing it").
  5. ^ Session 17, line 697-717: The Black Mask appears in frozen time and renegotiates the substitution clause.
  6. ^ Session 17, line 732-744: Mike's grounds: "you bet with something that you don't have"; "an expectation of a reasonableness".
  7. ^ Session 17, line 747: Hugo's death-bed sign clause proposal; Mike non-committal.
  8. ^ Session 17, line 756-757: Mike's verbal substitute commitment: "Ah That I can Commit to Eventually doing Should I live Long enough".
  9. ^ Session 17, line 811: Mike clarifies at the table: "You said grant you one wish. And I said, 'Eventually, I'll be able to do that.' With a 9th level spell slot.".
  10. ^ Session 17, line 1058-1062: Hugo offers Caelumn a contract; Caelumn refuses.
  11. ^ Session 17, line 580: Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 17, line 671: Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 17, line 709-717: Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 17, line 677: Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 17, line 678: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 17, line 581: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 17, line 602: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 17, line 645: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 17, line 697: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 17, line 732: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 17, line 738: Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 17, line 744: Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 17, line 805: Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 17, line 762: Inline citation.
  25. ^ Session 17, line 756: Inline citation.
  26. ^ Session 17, line 757: Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 17, line 687: Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 17, line 693: Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 18, line 2276: Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 17, line 713: Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 17, line 717: Inline citation.
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