A Compact of restoration and continuance

Witnessed beneath the Iron Towers of Dis, sealed in the Hand of Zarchelia, Erinyes-Inquisitor of the Second Court, acting under warrant of His Iron Majesty Dispater, Lord of the Second

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THIS COMPACT is entered into upon the date of its sealing, by and between ZARCHELIA, hereinafter styled the Proprietor, acting in her own name and as warranted agent of DISPATER, Lord of the Second, hereinafter styled the Sovereign; and the undersigned mortal soul, hereinafter styled the Petitioner, of their own volition and in full possession of their faculties to the best understanding of both parties.

WHEREAS

The Petitioner, having strayed from the Material Plane and being currently embodied within the jurisdiction of the Nine Hells, finds themselves without lawful conveyance to their place of origin;

And whereas the Proprietor, in her capacity as Petitioner's previously-bonded counterparty (per the Original Pact, sealed and unbroken), retains a continuing and protectable interest in the Petitioner's continued mortal existence;

And whereas the Sovereign, by warrant freely given and freely revocable, has consented to extend the conveyance described herein in furtherance of the Proprietor's standing interests;

And whereas the Petitioner desires return to their mortal form on the Material Plane, and the Proprietor desires the Petitioner's continued service against parties hostile to the Sovereign's domain;

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants set forth below, the parties agree as follows:

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ARTICLE I — RESTORATION OF THE PETITIONER

§1.1. The Sovereign, acting through the Proprietor, shall return the Petitioner's spirit to their mortal body upon the Material Plane at the Moment of Reconveyance, defined as the precise instant at which the Petitioner's mortal form would otherwise expire absent intervention.

§1.2. Upon Reconveyance, the Petitioner's mortal form shall be restored to a state no less than three-quarters (¾) of its full vital capacity, measured according to the Petitioner's ordinary mortal condition immediately prior to death.

§1.3. The Petitioner shall further be restored to possession of:

(a) one (1) reservoir of arcane, divine, primal, or pact-bound capacity at each tier of expression presently available to the Petitioner;

(b) one (1) instance of each limited capacity, charge, or usage previously expended that is ordinarily renewed by extended rest;

provided, however, that the foregoing shall not constitute the equivalent of any extended rest, slumber, recuperation, meditation, or trance, nor shall it be construed to confer any benefit beyond those expressly enumerated. The Petitioner remains, in all other respects, as worn as they were at the Moment of Reconveyance.

§1.4. The Reconveyance is single-instance and non-renewable. The Petitioner shall not be entitled to subsequent restoration under this Compact, regardless of subsequent injury, death, or dismemberment, provided, however, that if the Petitioner's death results directly and proximately from performance of the obligation of service under Article III, the Proprietor shall bear the obligation of a second Reconveyance at no additional consideration to the Petitioner.

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ARTICLE II — DEEPENING OF THE ORIGINAL PACT

§2.1. The Petitioner's existing pact with the Proprietor is hereby reaffirmed, ratified, and extended in scope to include the obligations set forth in Article III. All prior terms remain in full force and effect, with ambiguities resolved neither for nor against either party.

§2.2. The Proprietor's Mark, as previously affixed, shall be deepened in evidence of this extension. The Petitioner consents to such deepening as a condition precedent to Reconveyance.

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ARTICLE III — THE OBLIGATION OF SERVICE

§3.1. The Petitioner agrees to render service to the Proprietor in the execution of one (1) Operation, as defined herein, when summoned by the Proprietor at her sole discretion.

§3.2. Definition of "Operation." For the purposes of this Compact, an Operation shall mean a single undertaking satisfying all of the following constraints:

(a) Objective. The Operation shall pursue a single, articulable Strategic Objective stated by the Proprietor at the time of summons. The Objective shall be expressed in terms of a defined outcome — the acquisition, denial, removal, retrieval, delivery, elimination, or preservation of a specified person, object, location, or condition — and shall not be expressed in terms of generalized service, indefinite loyalty, or open-ended availability. The Objective shall be discharged upon its achievement, upon its demonstrable rendering as unachievable, or upon the expiration of the Term as defined in §3.6, whichever occurs first;

(b) Theatre. The Operation shall be conducted upon the Material Plane, and shall not require the Petitioner to travel to, through, or via any of the Outer Planes, save by such temporary conveyance as the Proprietor may herself provide for ingress and egress;

(c) Posture. The Operation shall be conducted covertly — that is to say, by means and methods calculated to avoid public attribution to the Proprietor, the Sovereign, or the courts of the Nine Hells. The Petitioner shall not, in the course of the Operation, knowingly disclose the Proprietor's involvement to any party not already cognizant of the same, save under such circumstances as operational necessity may compel and the Proprietor's interests permit.

§3.3. Latitude of Means. Subject only to §3.2 and §3.4, the Petitioner shall have full discretion as to the manner, location, and pace in which the Strategic Objective is pursued. The Proprietor shall not direct the Petitioner's specific tactics, methods, allies, equipment, geography, or sequence of action. The Petitioner may pursue the Objective by stealth, by negotiation, by deception, by force, by purchase, by substitution, by misdirection, or by any combination thereof, in any place upon the Material Plane and over any period of time, provided that the Objective is achieved within the Term set forth in §3.6.

§3.4. Standard of Performance. The Petitioner shall pursue the Strategic Objective to the best of their abilities, in good faith and with such diligence as the Petitioner would ordinarily devote to a matter of significance to themselves. The Petitioner shall not be required to:

(a) exceed their natural capacity;

(b) sacrifice their life, save such risk as is inherent in the pursuit of any objective of consequence;

(c) act in contravention of fundamental conscience, save where the Original Pact already so provides; or

(d) harm or betray a named companion of the Petitioner-Party, save where such companion has, by their own acts subsequent to the sealing of this Compact, become adverse to the Strategic Objective.

The standard of performance shall be assessed in light of the Petitioner's abilities as they exist at the moment of summons, and not at the moment of the sealing of this Compact.

§3.5. Notice and Conveyance. The Proprietor shall provide notice of summons by such means as she elects, including but not limited to: dream-vision, sigil-flare, courier-fiend, or direct manifestation. The Proprietor shall further provide, at the time of summons:

(a) a full and accurate statement of the Strategic Objective;

(b) such intelligence concerning the Objective, the adversaries, and the conditions of the Operation as the Proprietor possesses and as may, in her judgment, materially assist the Petitioner;

(c) such conveyance, equipment, or introductions as the Proprietor in her discretion deems appropriate, the same to be offered to the Petitioner without obligation of acceptance.

The Proprietor shall not be required to disclose her motives in pursuing the Strategic Objective, nor the broader strategic context in which the Operation is situated. The Petitioner is engaged for the Operation, not for the campaign of which it forms a part.

§3.6. Term of Performance. The Petitioner shall have a period of one (1) year, measured by the standard reckoning of the Material Plane and commencing upon the issuance of summons, within which to discharge the obligation set forth in this Article. This period is hereinafter styled the Term.

The Petitioner shall not be compelled to commence the Operation immediately upon summons, nor to pursue it without interruption, nor to subordinate other matters of the Petitioner's concern to its pursuit, provided that the Strategic Objective is in fact achieved within the Term.

§3.7. Accelerated Performance. The Proprietor may, at the time of summons or at any time thereafter during the Term, request that the Petitioner discharge the obligation within a shorter period than the full Term. Any such request shall be accompanied by an offer of appropriate remuneration, the same to be commensurate with the degree of acceleration sought and the burden thereby imposed.

The Petitioner shall be under no obligation to accept any such offer. Acceptance shall be by the Petitioner's express assent, and shall not be inferred from conduct, silence, or partial performance within the accelerated period. Rejection of an offer of accelerated performance shall not constitute breach, shall not diminish the Term, and shall not entitle the Proprietor to substitute a different Strategic Objective in place of the one summoned. Should the Petitioner accept such an offer, the accepted remuneration shall be tendered upon discharge of the obligation within the accepted accelerated period, and a failure of the Petitioner to discharge within that period shall void the accelerated remuneration but shall not — save as provided in Article V — affect the Petitioner's obligation under the full Term.

§3.8. Adverse Parties. The Petitioner acknowledges that the Strategic Objective may place the Petitioner in opposition to mortal parties, including but not limited to nobles, cults, churches, factions, governments, criminal enterprises, and private persons. The Petitioner waives any objection to the engagement on the grounds that the adversary is mortal rather than fiendish, recognizing that the Proprietor's interests on the Material Plane are pursued through the same mortal proxies and obstacles as govern all serious endeavors upon that Plane. The Petitioner shall not be required to pursue any Strategic Objective whose primary purpose is the corruption, oppression, destruction, or unjust suffering of innocents.

§3.9. Single Instance. This obligation, once discharged in accordance with §3.2(a), is fully discharged. The Proprietor shall have no further claim of service against the Petitioner under this Compact, save as provided in the Original Pact.

§3.10. No Recourse Against Third Parties. The Petitioner acknowledges that the Operation may impose costs upon third parties unrelated to this Compact — including but not limited to property damage, reputational harm, political consequence, and bodily injury — and the Petitioner shall bear any such costs or claims as may arise, save where the Proprietor in her sole discretion elects to indemnify the Petitioner in writing. The Proprietor's general practice is not to so elect.

§3.11 Freedom from Liabiity Against  Erroneous Intelligence The Petitioner shall be held harmless and shall bear no liability for any adverse consequences arising proximately from intelligence supplied by the Proprietor that is subsequently adjudicated to be false, incomplete, or materially misleading, where such deficiency was known to the Proprietor at the moment of summons excepting that the petitioners shall maintain secrecy as defined in §3.2.c

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ARTICLE IV — CONSIDERATION TO THE PETITIONER

§4.4. The Guarantee of Second Reconveyance. In further and additional consideration of the Petitioner's full and timely discharge of the obligation set forth in Article III, the Proprietor hereby grants to each signed Petitioner an entitlement to one (1) additional Reconveyance, hereinafter the Second Reconveyance, on the terms set forth in this section. The entitlement is personal to each Petitioner and runs to each individually, regardless of the performance or non-performance of any other Petitioner.

(a) Ordinary Vesting. The entitlement shall vest in the Petitioner upon the achievement of the Strategic Objective and the consequent discharge of the obligation in Article III. Vesting shall not occur upon partial performance, upon the Term's expiration without achievement, or upon the demonstrable rendering of the Objective as unachievable, save where such unachievability is occasioned solely by the Proprietor's own act and is so adjudicated, or save as provided in §4.4(b) below.

(b) Accelerated Vesting upon Death During Term. Should a Petitioner suffer mortal death prior to vesting under §4.4(a), and prior to the expiration of the Term defined in §3.6, the Petitioner — at the moment of such death and not thereafter — may petition the Proprietor for Accelerated Vesting of the entitlement. The Proprietor shall, in good faith, entertain such petition and shall negotiate with the Petitioner in such manner as the circumstances permit.

Accelerated Vesting is not granted as of right. The Proprietor may, in her sole discretion, condition Accelerated Vesting upon the Petitioner's agreement to such further terms as the Proprietor deems appropriate, including but not limited to: the modification of the Strategic Objective; the substitution of a new Objective; the extension or restructuring of the Term; the augmentation of the Diminishment; the imposition of additional duties of service; or the deepening of the underlying Original Pact. The Petitioner is under no obligation to accept any such terms.

Should the Petitioner accept the Proprietor's terms, the entitlement shall vest upon the Petitioner's express assent, and Reconveyance shall be executed forthwith on the terms set forth in §4.4(c).

Should the Petitioner decline the Proprietor's terms, or should the Proprietor decline to entertain the petition, the entitlement shall remain unvested and shall lapse, and the Petitioner's death shall stand as a true and final death without further remedy under this Compact.

(c) Scope. The Second Reconveyance, however vested, shall restore the Petitioner's spirit to their mortal body upon the Material Plane at the precise moment such body would otherwise expire absent intervention, and shall further restore the Petitioner's vital capacity and limited reserves on the same terms as set forth in §1.2 and §1.3 of this Compact. In the case of Accelerated Vesting under §4.4(b), the Reconveyance shall further restore the Petitioner to such physical integrity as is necessary to the resumption of the Operation, the same being a matter of the Proprietor's continuing interest.

(d) Claim. Under Ordinary Vesting, the entitlement is claimable by the Petitioner at any moment the Petitioner's mortal form would otherwise expire after the Operation's discharge, by such means of invocation as the Pact Item shall provide. Under Accelerated Vesting, claim is integral to the petition and is exercised contemporaneously therewith. The entitlement is claimable once, and once only, however vested.

(e) Lapse. The entitlement shall lapse, and shall be of no further force or effect, upon the true and final death of the Petitioner — meaning death from which no Reconveyance is sought, attempted, or successfully negotiated within the moment afforded for claim. Under Ordinary Vesting, the entitlement shall not lapse merely upon the passage of time, nor upon the Petitioner's failure to claim during a survivable injury.

(f) Non-Transferability. The entitlement is personal to the Petitioner and shall not be assigned, gifted, traded, bequeathed, or otherwise transferred to any other party, mortal or otherwise. Any purported transfer shall be void ab initio, and shall not diminish the Proprietor's obligation to the original Petitioner.

(g) Forfeiture. The entitlement shall be forfeit, without remedy, upon the Petitioner's Material Breach of this Compact as set forth in Article V, regardless of whether such breach occurs before or after vesting. A Petitioner in Material Breach has no claim to Second Reconveyance under any mode of vesting, and any prior vesting is voided by the fact of the breach.

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ARTICLE V — BREACH AND REMEDY

§5.1. Material Breach by the Petitioner. A Petitioner shall be deemed in Material Breach of this Compact upon the occurrence of any of the following:

(a) Expiration of Term. The Term defined in §3.6 expires without the Strategic Objective having been achieved, save where such non-achievement is occasioned solely by the Proprietor's own act, by force majeure as defined in §5.4, or by the demonstrable impossibility of the Objective as articulated;

(b) Breach of Posture. The Petitioner, in the course of the Operation, knowingly and without operational necessity discloses the Proprietor's involvement to a party not already cognizant of the same, or acts in such manner as to occasion public attribution of the Operation to the Proprietor, the Sovereign, or the courts of the Nine Hells;

(c) Disposition of the Pact Item. The Petitioner willfully destroys, surrenders to an adverse party, or attempts to transfer the Pact Item to any party other than the Sovereign or the Sovereign's agents;

(d) Acceptance and Default. The Petitioner expressly accepts an offer of Accelerated Performance under §3.7, and thereafter fails to discharge the Operation within the accelerated period. In such case, the breach shall be limited in remedy to the loss of the accepted accelerated remuneration alone, and shall not constitute Material Breach of the underlying obligation, provided the Petitioner continues good-faith pursuit within the full Term.

§5.3. Cure. A Petitioner in Material Breach under §5.1(a) — and only that subsection — may cure the breach within thirty (30) days of its occurrence, by undertaking and completing the Operation as originally specified, provided the Strategic Objective remains achievable. A cured breach shall be deemed never to have occurred, and the remedies in §5.2 shall not attach. Breaches under §5.1(b), §5.1(c), and §5.1(d) are not curable, save as §5.1(d) itself provides. The Proprietor's grant of cure-rights is a singular gesture and not an admission of any principle of mortal forbearance applicable to the courts of the Hells more generally.

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ARTICLE VI — CONSTRUCTION AND GENERAL PROVISIONS

§6.1. Severability. Should any provision of this Compact be found unenforceable by a court of competent infernal jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force, and the Proprietor shall draft a replacement provision of nearest lawful provision reflecting the original intent of the parties.

§6.2. Integration. This Compact, together with the Original Pact, constitutes the entire agreement between the parties as to the subject matter herein. No prior representation, oral or written, divine or diabolic, shall supersede the terms hereof.

§6.3. Governing Law. This Compact shall be construed in accordance with the customary law of the Second, subject to such concessions to mortal law and custom as are objectively reasonable and necessary to give effect to the obligations of a mortal Petitioner operating within a framework of infernal obligation, as determined by reference to the established practice of the Second Court .

§6.4. No Implied Mercies. Nothing in this Compact shall be construed to confer upon the Petitioner any forbearance, indulgence, or kindness not expressly stated. The Proprietor's affection for the Petitioner, where present, is a personal matter and shall not be deemed a term of this agreement.

§6.5. Availability of Counsel. Nothing in this Article shall be construed to prevent the Petitioner from seeking counsel, representation, or advocacy in connection with any dispute arising hereunder, and no provision of this Compact shall be construed to waive the Petitioner's right to be advised by an advocate of their choosing.

§6.6. Memory/Identity. Nothing herein shall authorize alteration of the Petitioner's memories, personality, alignment, or essential identity absent express written consent.

§6.7. Non-transferability. The obligations owed by the Petitioner may not be sold, assigned, sublicensed, transferred, or inherited without the Petitioner's express consent. No obligation herein shall extend to the Petitioner's allies, companions, retainers, family, or sworn associates absent their explicit consent.

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EXECUTION

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Petitioner affixes their name, sigil, or such mark as their hand permits, in the Proprietor's presence and beneath her gaze, the same to be sealed by a single drop of the Petitioner's heart-blood drawn willingly:

Petitioner: ____________________________________ Sigil / Mark / Drop: __________________________

Acknowledged and accepted on behalf of the Sovereign:

Zarchelia, Erinyes-Inquisitor of the Second Court, Warranted Agent of His Iron Majesty Dispater

Sealed beneath the Iron Towers, this hour of the petitioner's choosing.

APPENDIX 1: THE ORIGINAL PACT

https://wiki.deeznuts.wiki/index.php/Pact_with_Lady_Calera

Shade asks Lady Calera if she can have the bagpipes.

Lady Calera: Well, maybe. There's a lot that I can do with them here. As you've seen here in Waterdeep, there are tensions, but we do need the military might of Waterdeep. in the coming struggle. But I do recognize that you are likely to play a key role as well in preventing the return of Tiamat. So what can you do for me? How can you help me if I give you this artifact?

Shade: What would be the most beneficial for you? It sounds like you would like any sort of support in any upcoming uprising or battles?

Lady Calera: That would be perfect. If you would be able to come and assist in any next uprising or battle where I need your assistance. I would consider that a good deal.

Alexios: Now, we say any battle or uprising, are we referring to specifically in dealing with the cult?

Lady Calera: Yes? I mean, there's a lot that is affecting the city. It is generally because of the cult. It's hard to know what specific troubles are going to sort of rise up in the city and whether or not the cult will be directly involved or if they will have maybe poisoned the ear of some other noble.

Shade: I'm down to fight cultists and nobles so that's a yes from me. Anybody else have a problem?

Alexios: Feeling very eat the rich.

Karma: I think it seems like a fair trade.

Shade: Still very fair.

Karma: We're all on the same side here.

Lady Calera: All right, then it is a deal. In exchange for the bagpipes that you will use in the fight against the dragon cult, if I need your assistance in a future battle or uprising, I will send word and you will come and assist me.

Shade: It sounds like a deal. Sorry, I'm eating chips. It sounds like a deal. They have great snacks with this party.

Renown Boons Granted

Boons Shade has earned on the Compact track:

• Rank 1 — Iron Whisperer
• Rank 2 — Clausebearer

Every signer also shares the Tempered Soul feat born of the Compact.

Standings are tracked on the Renown Tracker.