Lady of the pact

The Lady of the pact is an unnamed figure of the Sürgün Günlükleri ("Exile Chronicles") campaign, to whom the drow Ephorus bound himself by the pact that freed him from a goblin cell. The innkeeper Exalon, whom she had known for a long time, had vouched for him.^{1 2}

Appearance

She came to Ephorus in his room on the upper floor of the Lazy Wizard. The room grew unnaturally dark around him, and in place of the door he saw a long corridor, at whose end a woman with long hair rose from a golden chair upholstered in red velvet and came towards him out of the dark. She was humanlike and very tall, about six foot three, with a very white face, a long black gown of aristocratic cut with a ruffled collar and slashed sleeves, and sharp fingertips that looked golden.^{3 4}

Her words

The Lady said that she usually met those she bound before the bargain, but that with Ephorus the order had been reversed. She told him that his soul would come to her after death, not to the halls of the gods nor to the Spider Queen, but to a realm of shadow under the rule of herself and of a far greater Lady, whom she did not name. She set out the terms of the pact: unquestioning loyalty beyond death, no dealings with those who return from the grave on pain of losing his powers and being returned to his cell, and no family or children, for she claimed his body as her own.^{1 5 2 6}

She spoke of a plan in the realm of shadow for which she needed soldiers who had mastered themselves, those not used to pleasures or who had lived long enough to forget them. Over centuries, she said, Ephorus's grief, love and anger would be worn away until only his mind remained, and he would do great things according to his potential.⁷

When Ephorus kissed her outstretched hand, she cut his cheek with her golden nail. He felt it would never heal; she called it the sign that showed whose he was. Then he found himself back in his room.⁸

Through Exalon

Seeing the mark on Ephorus's cheek, Exalon came to speak with him. He said that those bound to her can recognise one another by such marks, and that they should help one another so as not to harm her future strength, and should not act against the interests of her important allies. She might send small requests through a crow or another servant, and these should be carried out at once. Exalon had never learned her great plan, and said that his own soul, bound to Osterhn, would not go to her realm.^{9 10 11}

Spoiler: Later claimsRevealSpoils: Sürgün Günlükleri #28.5 · Say what you have read

A young envoy who said he was Exalon's son later released Ephorus from his pact with the Queen in exchange for his blood, and a drow priestess afterwards claimed that his body and soul had belonged to the Spider Queen all along. Whether the Lady, the greater Lady and the Queen named by the envoy are one, two or three beings is not known.^{12 13 14}