Pact of Ephorus

When the ghost of a woman in an old well had calmed and accepted that Ephorus was not Exalon, Ephorus struck her down by surprise instead of helping to bring her to Exalon. He explained that his oath forbade him to deal with those who return from the dead and that he feared being destroyed if he did.^{12 13}

When Sarah was brought back to life, the oath stood against her. Ephorus withdrew and wounded himself with his own weapon until he lost consciousness, having realised that a sleeping draught would not work on a drow. In the dark he heard a spider speaking, or his own mind, asking when the Lady would learn of the breach and what she would do to him, and turning over the thought that a pact with a different, more embracing mother might be a way out. Breaking the oath did not take away his power at once, and the Lady need not know of it immediately.^{16 17 18}

A young tiefling envoy, who said he was Exalon's son, told Ephorus that if he gave his blood willingly, his pact with the Queen would end when the envoy left. He warned that if a first pact had saved someone from a mortal wound, the wound might return when it ended, as he had seen happen; Ephorus said his own case had been no such wound. He gave his blood to a disc set with a needle, the blood vanished, and the envoy left. Ephorus then felt true weariness for the first time, his elven disguise fell away, and he slept.^{19 20 21 22}

Later a drow priestess made him kiss the spider mark on her boot; his dagger vanished, his wound closed and his powers returned. She told him that his body and soul had belonged to the Spider Queen from the start, that his work was not done and that he would come when called, and ordered him to keep secret his captivity among the dwarves and his meeting with the drow. It remains open whether his power now came through a priestess of the Spider Queen or through some other mighty being.^{23 24 25 26}

Ephorus feared that, pact or no pact, his soul would go to the Spider Queen. A village priest told him that not every drow soul belongs to her; that some sins can be atoned for, but only through repentance in life, and that giving one's soul to fiendish powers was a particular obstacle; that a soul should be returned to its true owner; and he urged him towards the god who rules the passing of souls, named as the Watcher and as Rakash. The priest admitted he was no expert in multiple pacts and told him to seek a wiser one.^{27 28 29 30 31}

Ephorus told his friends that this time he had sworn no open oath, and that he believed his lost powers had been given back by a drow family and the Great Spider they served. The next morning his friends saw him asleep.^{32 33 34}

Ephorus later told his companions that he had cut his bond with his first patron while he was apart from them, and had thought of turning to another patron, hiding behind the faith of the drow. He had learned that had the old pact lasted, he would have served that master's cause after his death. Yet his powers had not waned, though he had killed the priestess, and freedoms he had once lacked, such as sleep, remained his. His companions wondered whether some other mighty being had taken his soul, and whether his dreams and their journey were being steered by that power or by The Puppeteer. With O.C. they weighed whether the dreams and the changes in his life came from a third power; O.C. did not know their source.³⁵³⁶

In a vision Ephorus was shown a temple-like place, a spider-shaped pendant, a woman bearing holy marks and the bodies of sacrifices. The woman claimed that she had saved his soul and demanded that he bring her the pendant, promising power and his friends' safety in return and threatening them and their families if he refused. He came out of it white-faced.³⁷

He told his friends that the vision had come after a spider's bite, and that the woman was his own grandmother, the matron of his house. She had said the pendant was a religious object without magical power, and that if he brought it she would spare him and his friends and leave his soul in peace. He had made no contract with her, and they debated whether his soul had changed hands after his first pact. Ephorus counted himself beyond saving and left the choice to friends who had loved ones to lose; they argued that the matron might be lying and that another way could be found for his soul.³⁸

When the Puppeteer later confronted the companions, he claimed that someone else had sent the dreams, a thing he could not do himself.³⁹

Ephorus asked a companion who had once tried to win back his own soul where his might be held, and they wondered whether those who had bargained with the same master were linked, though reaching an unknown holder without powerful magic would not be easy. He now fought, he said, not for gain alone but because he believed it right.⁴⁰