The
calling name of
Hordriss the Confuser ("
Call three times and I will appear"). He first provided it to
Team 1 of Series 4 so they could summon him when they found a brass bracelet in
Level 3, which they succeeded in doing. Similar pacts were made with
Team 3 of Series 4,
Team 5 of Series 4 and
Team 1 of Series 5, but none of these survived long enough to locate the desired objects.
Three subsequent teams used Hordriss' calling name, though all had trouble with the pronunciation.
Team 9 of Series 5 got away with calling "Manefact", but when
Team 2 of Series 6 tried "Marefact", it didn't work - they'd been sold a summoning
spell by
Ah Wok, and failed to take his exaggerated Chinese accent into account. They soon realised their error and performed the calling correctly, only to find the mage was furious at being summoned without his permission [see also
TRICK].
Team 2 of Series 7 had to obtain a
healing potion for Hordriss and call him while he still had the strength to respond. It was just as
well he could barely hear them, as they actually called out "Marryfat".
Malefact is derived from the
Latin verb
malefacere, meaning "to do ill", which also gives us the words "malefactor" (a wrongdoer) and "malefaction" (an evil deed). This fits well with the original "dark grey" nature of Hordriss' character, but is perhaps somewhat inappropriate in later years when he is firmly aligned with the Powers That Be!
