Hugo and Mike's contract attempt

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)

Item

Status Failed (Unsigned; Replaced by Verbal IOU) First seen s17 Last seen s17 Type Physical document prop (unsigned) Attunement None Holder Hugo (physical document) Origin Soul-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, after rigging a breath-hold bet on his Voidforged no-need-to-breathe biology ^[20]. The contract is reproduced in full further down this page. Mike’s name was pre-filled in clause XII as the “Bound” party. Mike read the contract, attempted to alter it, then refused to sign on three escalating lawyerly grounds: that Hugo “bet with something you don’t have” ^[6], that no reasonable person would sign a contract this lopsided ^[8], and that the bet was inherently void. The contract was never signed. Hugo extracted a verbal substitute commitment from Mike — “Ah That I can Commit to Eventually doing Should I live Long enough” ^[10], clarified at the table as “with a 9th level spell slot” ^[11] — as a standing IOU. This is the first failed substitute-recruitment attempt under the Black Mask’s renegotiated pact terms ^[12].

Overview

Hugo and Mike’s contract attempt is the Soul-Bond Contract of the Black Mask that Hugo presented to Mike in session 17 as the prize of a rigged breath-hold bet, and which Mike refused to sign on three lawyerly grounds. Mike’s name was pre-filled in clause XII as the Bound party. The full text of the contract is reproduced in the “Contract text” section below; it is a failed-recruitment artefact, not an active item in the party’s loadout.

The s17 attempt is the first failed substitute-recruitment attempt under the Black Mask’s renegotiated pact terms ^[12]: the renegotiated substitution clause requires the substitute to become a second attack-dog alongside Hugo rather than replacing him, with both leashes (Hugo’s and Rafe’s) lifting together on a successful sign.

Contract text (full)

The complete contract as presented by Hugo. Mike’s name is pre-filled in clause XII. The signature, witness, and date lines are blank.

Soul-Bond Contract of Black Mask

Let it be known that this pact is made willingly, knowingly, and without coercion between the being known as Black Mask, hereafter called “the Master,” and the mortal known as Mike, hereafter called “the Bound.”

The Bound acknowledges that Black Mask is not a servant, patron, lender, priest, healer, or friend. Black Mask is the owner of the bargain.

By signing, marking, bleeding upon, speaking consent to, or otherwise accepting this contract, the Bound sells, surrenders, and delivers his soul to the Master. This surrender applies for all of the Bound’s mortal life and all existence after death.

I. The Price

The Bound grants the Master full and permanent ownership of his soul. This includes his living soul, his dying soul, his soul after death, and any echo, shade, spirit, memory, remnant, or reborn fragment of him. Any claim he might otherwise have to resurrection, judgment, afterlife, reincarnation, divine mercy, ancestral rest, or spiritual release is forfeit.

No god, devil, demon, angel, saint, ancestor, cleric, temple, oath, spell, ritual, or loophole may claim the Bound’s soul before the Master. If another power attempts to take, cleanse, redeem, hide, split, copy, reincarnate, resurrect, or protect the Bound’s soul, that attempt counts as theft from the Master.

II. Command

For the rest of his life, the Bound belongs to the Master. The Master may command the Bound by word, sign, dream, reflection, shadow, mask, written order, messenger, or any servant acting in the Master’s name. The Bound must obey.

A command from the Master overrides personal desire, loyalty, fear, love, law, faith, mercy, oath, memory, and moral objection. The Bound may understand the command. The Bound may hate the command. The Bound may suffer from the command. He must still obey.

III. Limits of Resistance

The Bound may not knowingly act against the Master’s interest. The Bound may not betray the Master, reveal the Master’s secrets, warn the Master’s enemies, damage the Master’s servants, property, masks, agents, contracts, holdings, or plans, seek release from this contract, ask another to break this contract, hide from the Master, destroy the signed contract, or claim he did not understand what he sold.

If the Bound attempts resistance, the Master may punish him. Punishment may include pain, paralysis, visions, loss of speech, loss of sleep, forced confession, blackouts, possession of the body, or temporary seizure of the Bound’s senses.

IV. Life Service

While the Bound lives, his body remains his to move, speak, fight, eat, sleep, and suffer, unless the Master commands otherwise. The Master may require the Bound to perform any service, including but not limited to killing, spying, theft, silence, protection, delivery, betrayal, sabotage, false confession, sacrifice, guard duty, soul procurement, or service against friends, allies, family, or former companions. The Master is not required to explain why a command is given.

V. Afterlife Service

When the Bound dies, his soul does not pass on. It goes to the Master. The Master may keep, bind, consume, trade, imprison, reshape, weaponize, command, torment, preserve, or deploy the Bound’s soul as he sees fit. Death is not release. Death is transfer.

The Bound may be made into a shade, mask-servant, whisper, guardian, hound, blade-bound spirit, vessel, message-carrier, spy, or any other form the Master desires. The Bound’s memories may be kept or removed at the Master’s discretion.

VI. No Clean Escape

The Bound agrees that this contract cannot be broken by ordinary means. The following do not end the contract: death, resurrection, Revivify, Reincarnation, atonement, memory loss, planar travel, divine intervention, Wish (unless the Master accepts compensation), destroying the physical document, changing names, changing bodies, becoming undead, becoming a fiend, celestial, construct, or spirit, or claiming insanity, fear, enchantment, trickery, drunkenness, ignorance, or regret. The Bound’s consent, once given, is permanent.

VII. The Master’s Rights

The Master may mark the Bound in a way visible or invisible. The mark may appear as a black mask-shaped scar, a shadow behind the eyes, a cold patch over the heart, a voice in the blood, or another sign chosen by the Master.

Through this mark, the Master may know when the Bound lies about the contract, find the Bound by shadow, blood, name, or soul, speak to the Bound in dreams, cause pain when the Bound disobeys, seize control for a short time if the Bound refuses a direct command, and claim the soul immediately upon death.

VIII. The Bound’s Warranties

The Bound swears the following: his soul is his to sell, he is not already fully owned by another power, he signs of his own will, he understands the price, he understands that the Master may command him for life, he understands that his afterlife is forfeit, and he understands that regret has no legal force.

If any of these statements are false, the Bound still owes the Master the nearest equivalent payment, including blood, memory, years of life, the soul of a willing substitute, or any other price the Master names.

IX. Substitution

The Master may accept another soul in place of the Bound’s soul, but only if the Master chooses to do so. The Bound may not force, demand, argue, or bargain for substitution once this contract is signed. If a substitute is accepted, the substitute must sign willingly. The Master decides whether the substitute is worthy.

X. Breach

If the Bound breaks this contract, resists a command, hides a truth, or acts against the Master, the Master may enforce immediate penalty. Penalty may include one year of life taken, one cherished memory removed, one failed death saving throw marked in advance, disadvantage on all Charisma checks against the Master’s servants, nightmares that prevent long rest benefits, temporary possession, the death of a lesser soul owed to the Bound, immediate summoning to the Master’s presence, or any worse punishment the Master can lawfully impose through the pact. The Master decides the punishment.

XI. Consideration

In exchange for the soul of the Bound, the Master agrees to provide the service, answer, power, favor, protection, secret, or assistance promised at the moment of signing. The Master is required to provide only what was promised. No more. If the Bound misunderstood the value of the bargain, that is not fraud. It is weakness.

XII. Final Consent (Mike’s name pre-filled)

The Bound speaks or writes the following words:

“I, Mike, sell my soul to Black Mask. In life, I am his to command. In death, I am his to keep. No light may claim me. No grave may hide me. No god may free me. I sign willingly, and I understand the price.”

Signed in blood, breath, shadow, or true name:

• The Bound: ___________________________ (blank — Mike refused to sign)
• The Master: ___________________________ (blank)
• Witnessed by: ___________________________ (blank)
• Date: ___________________________ (blank)

The attempt — session 17

The bet ^[1]

Hugo proposed the bet during the afternoon of Day 1 of the southbound voyage, after Mike had been pulled from the wreckage of an Aurelian-sunk ship and was still warming up on the skiff. Hugo’s wording:

“If I can hold my breath longer than you, would you be willing to sign a contract with me?” — Hugo, ^[13]

Mike agreed, unaware that Hugo is Voidforged and doesn’t need to breathe at all:

“if you can submerge yourself in water for longer than I can submerge myself in water, then I will sign your contract. But if you… But if I win, you’ve got to sign my contract.” — Mike, ^[14]

Both submerged in drinking-water barrels on the skiff. Mike activated his Vedalken partially-amphibious feature (1-hour underwater breathing); when that timed out, Mike surfaced and conceded. The DM clarified out-of-character to Ash (the new player) that Hugo doesn’t need to breathe ^[2] — Mike’s “I thought I was going against the turtle” ^[15] made it explicit at the table that the trick had landed.

The frozen-time Black Mask audience ^[12]

Time stopped. The Black Mask appeared on the water in her third visual form (a female gnome on a chair on the water, lure in hand; visible to Hugo only). She announced a unilateral renegotiation of the substitution clause — both Hugo and the substitute now stay on the leash, and the Mask indicated both leashes (Hugo’s and Rafe’s) would lift on a successful sign, with Hugo carrying forward the s4 egg-quest-immunity clause. Black Mask claimed she could help with Hugo’s mind-control problem and spoke dismissively about the Ascendancy ^[16]. The exact reason Black Mask is willing to act against them remains unclear.

The audience is documented in full at The Black Mask#Session 17 — the gnome on the water, the pact renegotiation, and a dismissive remark about the Ascendancy.

The refusal ^[17]

Time resumed. Hugo “willed” the contract into being and Mike read it.

Mike’s first move was to attempt to alter the contract by writing on the bottom of it ^[18]. Hugo objected — “It’s technically no longer my contract if you start editing it” ^[19] — and the negotiation went lawyerly:

“looks a whole lot here like name’s already on this contract. That means you don’t own your soul, so you bet with something that you don’t have.” — Mike, ^[6]

“You bet with something you don’t have I declare this contract null and void” — Mike, ^[7]

“first of all there’s there’s an expectation of a reasonableness now i do not believe in any court of law in these lands that anyone would consider this to be something a reasonable person would consider signing” — Mike, ^[8]

Hugo’s fallback proposal — a death-bed sign-clause (sign the contract if and when Mike is about to die anyway, for the survival benefit) — got no firm commitment ^[9]. The closest Mike came to a binding statement is the verbal substitute commitment that replaced the contract entirely:

“Ah That I can Commit to Eventually doing Should I live Long enough” — Mike, ^[10]

Mike later clarified at the table that the “wish” meant a 9th-level spell slot equivalent:

“You said grant you one wish. And I said, ‘Eventually, I’ll be able to do that.’ With a 9th level spell slot.” — Mike, ^[11]

This is the standing IOU: a single owed favour from Mike to Hugo personally, capped at one Wish-equivalent action, redeemable some time before Mike’s death, not a soul-bond and not transmissible to the Black Mask. The substitution clause of the renegotiated Black Mask pact is still open — Hugo can try again with a different party member, or with Mike again later if the circumstances shift.

Status

See also

• Hugo — pact-holder
• Mike — refused signer
• The Black Mask — Master of the contract
• The Wraith — whose leash would also have lifted
• Onyx Ring of Barbed Hooks — Hugo’s own active pact item
• Voidforged — the biology that made the breath-hold trick possible

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 clarifies out-of-character that Hugo is Voidforged and doesn't need to breathe — Mike loses the bet.
3. ^ Session 17, line 671 — Hugo wills the contract into being — "you seem to hold in your hand a rather lengthy contract".
4. ^ Session 17, line 677 — Mike reads the contract — "I read every word of the contract".
5. ^ 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").
6. ^ Session 17, line 732 — "name's already on this contract. That means you don't own your soul, so you bet with something that you don't have.".
7. ^ Session 17, line 738 — "You bet with something you don't have I declare this contract null and void".
8. ^ Session 17, line 744 — "there's an expectation of a reasonableness now i do not believe in any court of law in these lands that anyone would consider this to be something a reasonable person would consider signing".
9. ^ Session 17, line 747 — Hugo's death-bed sign clause proposal — Mike non-committal.
10. ^ Session 17, line 757 — Mike's verbal substitute commitment: "Ah That I can Commit to Eventually doing Should I live Long enough".
11. ^ 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.".
12. ^ Session 17, line 697-717 — Inline citation.
13. ^ Session 17, line 580 — Inline citation.
14. ^ Session 17, line 581 — Inline citation.
15. ^ Session 17, line 645 — Inline citation.
16. ^ Session 17, line 717 — Inline citation.
17. ^ Session 17, line 687-757 — Inline citation.
18. ^ Session 17, line 687 — Inline citation.
19. ^ Session 17, line 693 — Inline citation.
20. ^ Session 17, line 580-622 — Inline citation.