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Malgana the Twistwood Witch
female, undead goblin (ghast), sorceress 8th
Description: According to goblin legend, Malgana brokered an unholy deal with a dark power in exchange for 444 years of unnatural life. From that point on, she became known as the Twistwood Witch.
Whether or not this myth holds any truth, one thing remains certain: the Twistwood Witch cannot be killed by conventional means. After ruling the goblin tribes of the Twistwood Forest for many decades—far longer than the lifespan of any typical goblin—she was finally betrayed and “executed” by her own kind. Yet even after her treacherous kin removed her head and cut out her organs (spine, liver, heart and tongue), she continues to live on in an undying (albeit speechless) mockery of life.
Presently, all that remains of the Twistwood Witch is an undead goblin head hidden within a tangle of black hair. Her mouth is sewn shut and stuffed with oak leaves, but her black eyes dart about, studying her surroundings with an eerie intelligence. As a head, she has only rudimentary control of her former powers, but she will continue to regain spells and abilities as she is “reunited” with her lost body parts.
Motivations/Goals: Malgana seeks to regain her former power and extract revenge on the goblin tribes that betrayed her. To accomplish this, she must first find a way to retrieve her missing organs. She has an innate sense of where they are, but no way to retrieve them herself.
This is where the PCs come in.
Schemes/Plots/Adventure Hooks: The PCs are adventuring in the Twistwood Forest, trying to control the goblin tribes that have now broken loose without Malgana’s ironfisted leadership (though a malicious tyrant, she was at least cunning enough to avoid attracting the attention of adventurers).
During their campaign against the goblins, the PCs find Malgana’s head deep in a goblin barrow. She casts a spell to deliver the following message:
“Let me help you fight the goblins that betrayed me. I know of their traps and the antidotes to their poisons. Please, follow my eyes…”
Assuming the PCs comply, Malgana leads the PCs to her severed tongue and stares imploringly at it. If the PCs reinsert the organ, she can speak again, and begins to convey many useful details about the goblin tribes (locations of lairs, names and classes of important villains, etc.) She even asks the PCs to take her with them, claiming she must be reunited with her defiled remains before she can find eternal rest.
Of course, Malgana is only manipulating the PCs to enlist their help retrieving her organs. She secretly plans to kill them after they have served their purpose, as the same vanity that lead her to seek such lasting dominion over life also makes her hate all who have seen her while weak.
With each organ presented, her skin grows and stretches from her stumped neck, hungrily enveloping the (spine/liver/heart) from the PCs’ outstretched hands...
I think Ed sums it up best: this is a fairy-tale villain, but PCs don't like to follow the fairy-tale script.
No group of good PCs is going to spend time helping a ghast's head rebuild it's body. Most neutral ones won't, either. And I suspect evil ones might keep her around for a while, but will use her head as a football when she's outlived her usefulness.
A cool NPC or plot device, just not superstar material in her villainy.
Rec: do not advance.
Initial Impression: OK, I am a bit worried about an undead goblin head. Some limitations spring to mind, but I am interested.
Word Count: 494.
Concept (name, title, is it actually a villain?, overall design choices, playability): C-
The Good: Good name, and I like the title.
The Bad: Ehhhh. OK, so I like the head. But she is essentially useless without the organs. That is even more limiting than I thought. This isn’t a villain, it’s a plot device. Sorry. It requires the PCs to play along the whole way and that just doesn’t happen anymore. I am a “First Edition Feel” guy, but this villain would require horrible railroading even for a 1E adventure to make it work as a villain in an adventure and that is saying something--and that something is not good. Maybe that is the thing that is really the problem here. This is not a villain in a vacuum. This is a D&D villain, which means the PCs encounter her and deal with her. She just doesn’t work that way. Playability is about zero.
Execution (quality of writing, hook, theme, organization, use of proper format, quality of mandatory content-physical description, motivation/goal, scheme/plot, presence of any disqualification criteria): C-
The Good: The backstory is cool.
The Bad: It’s just too limited. The Motivation part is too light. You cant have a villain that if the PCs don’t care is rendered irrelevant. The villain has to have the ability to get in the PCs’ way. I see PCs getting this head and chucking it aside. Where do you go from there? [Best Spinal Tap voice] Answer: Nowhere. And the “find the body parts” cliché is bad. At least you don’t have the PCs do the horrible “travel through the inner organs—oh my god! It’s the body of the monster we’re in!” gag. That is perhaps the only cliché that is worse.
Tilt (did it grab me?, is it unique and cool?, do I like it?, flavor and setting): C+
OK, the idea of a head is cool. But you didn’t deliver.
Overall: C-
A head that can’t be a villain without some help.
Recommendation: I DO NOT recommend this villain submission for advancement.
Oh man, you did the spider hook! I love that one! Too bad. I wish you luck and hope the voters see it differently than I did!
Kobold Press
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Wow, this is just packed with concrete imagery, an original take on goblins, and the creepy-factor. Lots to like here, and if this were a short story, I'd say you were well on your way to success.
However.... There's a fair bit of backstory here, and that's a shame. You only need the bit about the betrayal, really. Instead, I wish we had seen what happens if the PCs refuse the initial offer (which, as my fellow judges point out, will certainly happen with some groups).
It's a great premise, but not necessarily a great villain unless the party plays along. That element of the design is just missing, unfortunately. Which is a shame, because designing worthy low-level villains are tough, and you've got about 90% of one right here.
I'd like to see what you can do next round; will the voters?
Recommendation: So close! I want to recommend this, because the design isn't the same old, same old. But it does fail to consider some likely PC actions and so the villain lacks longevity. Weakly recommended to advance.
I like it as a story villain... but PCs aren't going to buy it. They just aren't. If the PCs were trying to stop a different group of rubes from putting her together, though...
This works if you can get players to think: "Help me undead ghast goblin head, you're my only hope!" If the goblin menace isn't sufficiently strong, then you don't have your "Enemy Mine" scenario. I disagree with the judges here: this can work if the fear of the greater evil is sufficiently great. PCs will know that they're going to be betrayed, obviously, but they'll also think, "Hey, I bet I can get a lot of use out this head and dump it when I don't need it any more. I mean, what's it going to do, bite me?" There's going to be a nice ongoing negotiation here. It would require some virtuoso DMing, but I could see people voting for this.
Say what you will: it's got a memorable hook that encourages role playing.
This one's on my short list of keepers.
This works if you can get players to think: "Help me undead ghast goblin head, you're my only hope!" If the goblin menace isn't sufficiently strong, then you don't have your "Enemy Mine" scenario. I disagree with the judges here: this can work if the fear of the greater evil is sufficiently great. PCs will know that they're going to be betrayed, obviously, but they'll also think, "Hey, I bet I can get a lot of use out this head and dump it when I don't need it any more. I mean, what's it going to do, bite me?" There's going to be a nice ongoing negotiation here. It would require some virtuoso DMing, but I could see people voting for this.
Say what you will: it's got a memorable hook that encourages role playing.
This one's on my short list of keepers.
Ahhh, The DM Force is strong with this one.
(Seriously, thanks for your vote!)
Okay, so my geekgasm died down. This is my favourite Villain so far. To Ed and Sean, I hate to say this, but you should know your Tolkin well enough to know that their is a reason you cant just dump things like this...throwing the one ring into the depths of the sea isn't an option, because it will eventually find its way home. But your right, many PCs will just dump it or try and kill it on the spot, because most PCs are inexcusably stupid and don't understand Fairy tales ;)
You throw this old bag down the well and she is bound to be pulled out by a beautiful, but increadibly impressionable farm hand who will fall for her story. Drop it down a mine, and it'll be kobolds who think it is a god. Kill it? It will live again.
The only flaw with this NPC to my mind is the plot hook; it relies too much on a specific set of actions by the PC.
And you know what, i can forgive it that...I could forgive it almost anything.
Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7
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Reckless Ratings
Concept3
(Is this villain villainous?)
Content3
(Grammar, Format,Spelling, Etc.)
Coolness3
(Would my players be impressed by this? Am I?)
Credibility4
(Does the villain’s motives make sense?)
Clarity3
(How good a sense of how to stat this villain do we get?)
Scores out of 5 and completely based on my opinion only.
Total Score16
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Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8
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Whether or not this myth holds any truth, one thing remains certain: the Twistwood Witch cannot be killed by conventional means
I'm pulling the eject lever, I'm bailing right here. Not going to happen in my world.
If this villain was using lackeys to get her parts, or background plot to steal body parts maybe. My PCs wouldn't fall for it and her head would be in a bag of devouring in no time flat.
I'm inclined to agree with previous posters -- Malgana is a great story aspect, but not a workable villain (at least not with the players with which I've played). I could see her as a villain if she had already been reconstructed (or was only a few parts away, and as such able to act on her own) but in her current state it just doesn't work for me.
CR
Creepy story, yes. Potential villain, maybe. Railroaded pcs, definitely, and there is where I fall off. Zombie is right, you can't just dump the "One Ring" ... but the players don't have to play, either, and folks I game with would balk at this story. Sorry.
There are a few problems, but it's a really really cool idea, which is more than most people had this round. I think that if you're given a bit more space to expand on her, you'll deliver on the abilities and potentials of the body parts and the possible scenarios for the PCs. This one's got my vote.
Creepy story, yes. Potential villain, maybe. Railroaded pcs, definitely, and there is where I fall off. Zombie is right, you can't just dump the "One Ring" ... but the players don't have to play, either, and folks I game with would balk at this story. Sorry.
How are they rail roaded by the core concept of the villain? Certainly the expressed hook isn't perfect and could be a rail road. But with a little imagination, this is the stuff that great villains are made of.
Let them dump the head, nothing is stopping them. But have that decission come back to haunt them.
Let them help it a little for the aid it offers and then try to destroy it.
Provide a living world with strong reasons to want the aid the villain and let it run. This villain will be hugely entertaining regardless of the choices the PCs make.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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Dedicated Voter Season 6
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I was much happier with the general concept - goblin witch interests me much more than ghast head. I think the "scavenger hunt" can only really work if it the reassembly is being done by others - and at that point, I'm not sure there's a compelling story left.
Give me the witch before she got her head cut off. Then I'll be happy.
Though on a sort of creepy swamp thing level (thinking Anton Arcane), the unkillable head appeals. Rather odd we have it twice in one contest, though - and once last year in the country round.
This is an adventure, not a villain. It's definitely an interesting adventure (even with all those railroad tracks) but requires a player group of suitable mindset. Oh, and writing an adventure wasn't a commission here.
You are a writer to watch, but won't get my support on this round in this contest.
Grab: Yes
Useful: No, undead head. I've played Myth: The fallen lords. I know undead heads are bad ;>
Vote: no
Well, this was review #16. I am not impressed by this year's quality ;<
<redacted>
TMI ... and I'm voting based on what I see NOW, not what I might see.
Creepy story, yes. Potential villain, maybe. Railroaded pcs, definitely, and there is where I fall off. Zombie is right, you can't just dump the "One Ring" ... but the players don't have to play, either, and folks I game with would balk at this story. Sorry.How are they rail roaded by the core concept of the villain? Certainly the expressed hook isn't perfect and could be a rail road. But with a little imagination, this is the stuff that great villains are made of.
Let them dump the head, nothing is stopping them. But have that decission come back to haunt them.
Let them help it a little for the aid it offers and then try to destroy it.
Provide a living world with strong reasons to want the aid the villain and let it run. This villain will be hugely entertaining regardless of the choices the PCs make.
I see where you are coming from, Zombie, but I just don't fully agree. This strikes me like an adventure where the party was trying to help a magic sword ... an annoying, egocentric toy. It was the adventure and driving item, but not a villain. Also makes me think of many a quest in any MMO ... pick up X and gather the parts. You do it out of curiousity in an MMO, and because of the lack of final death or true world changing that your actions will cause. But at my table, I just don't see this working without a lot more work on my part and a lot more cooperation on the players than I would rightly expect.
If it had been indicated that she had some sort of eye-contact hypnotism/domination power, I would consider the possibility that a group of hapless PCs might at least starting to reassemble Malgana, until someone slapped a protection from evil on them and they came back to their senses for long enough to dissect the head and scatter the pieces even more securely than they were when they had the misfortune to make contact with them - but PCs being controlled by NPCs takes a lot of work from the DM to work enjoyably for the players.
Have you seen the old Universal horror movie "The Thing that Couldn't Die"? The monster is the severed head of a witch executed by Sir Francis Drake on Californian soil, trying to find its body by using its hypno-gaze to get minions.
Definitely the vibe I'm getting here. But I think it'd work better if the PCs were trying to stop the minions, rather than being the minions, at least at first.
This villain kicks ass. It's tied with the demon otyugh for best villain as far as I'm concerned.
Maybe my party members are a touch on the destructive side, but I foresee them seeing an evil, unholy goblin head as something to destroy and not something to be listened to out of fear that it would lead them into a trap.
I'd give it no more than 1 minute until one of my party members bashed the head to a pulpy mess.
Yeah, I'm digging this. I love undead goblin witches! I would however drop in an element of coercion both to compel the pc's to aid the head, and to lead up to the twist that others noted as being absent. Otherwise, yeah, my guys would just chuck it. But, oh would it be back!
Maybe my party members are a touch on the destructive side, but I foresee them seeing an evil, unholy goblin head as something to destroy and not something to be listened to out of fear that it would lead them into a trap.
I'd give it no more than 1 minute until one of my party members bashed the head to a pulpy mess.
Cant be killed by conventional means. It plays dead and waits for the next bunch of marks. Some time later it gets its body back and now has a grudge against the PCs. How very cleaver of the PCs.
7/10
OK - more of a plot device or even object than a villain, and more helpful than really a villain, but it's just so much FUN! Assemble your own undead goblin! She needs a better endgame than the lame "and then she'll kill them" however. Though I agree with all the other judges' comments, this one at least interested me, unlike 90% of the other entries.
Cant be killed by conventional means. It plays dead and waits for the next bunch of marks. Some time later it gets its body back and now has a grudge against the PCs. How very cleaver of the PCs.
Yes, but that takes it well out of the realm of the submission, leaving things up to the GM. In general there's nothing wrong with that, but as written Malgana isn't a very effective villain.
This isn't a competition to see what other GMs can come up with based off the contestants' creations. This is to see what the contestants can come up with themselves, and under that premise the Twistwood Witch rolls erratically. At best.
That said, this submission is in my top 5 at the moment, though I'm only half way through the entries at this point.
Malgana the Twistwood Witch
female, undead goblin (ghast), sorceress 8thWhether or not this myth holds any truth, one thing remains certain: the Twistwood Witch cannot be killed by conventional means.
I tend not to like this sort of thing, but that's just my personal preference. I hate Superman heros and unstoppable villans. I want vulnerability in my characters. Exploitable flaws, for both heros and villans. Still some people like that sort of thing, so thats not where your fatal flaw is...
Assuming the PCs comply, Malgana leads the PCs to her severed tongue and stares imploringly at it. If the PCs reinsert the organ, she can speak again, and begins to convey many useful details about the goblin tribes (locations of lairs, names and classes of important villains, etc.) She even asks the PCs to take her with them, claiming she must be reunited with her defiled remains before she can find eternal rest.
...THIS is where I think you messed up. You are assuming the PC's will do something. In fact, you are assuming 2 things. The first is that they will understand what your villan wants. A difficult assumption given that her mouth is sewn shut, and she has no tounge. The second assumption is that they will actually help her, once they understand. An even more difficult assumption given that she is a goblin AND undead. That's two strikes against her for most PC's, even before she opens her mouth. I ask all the DM's here... How many times has your party won initiative in an encounter and attacked an orc/goblin/gnoll/whatever before the monster even acted? PC's just assume that a goblin is evil, and 99% of the time, in 99% of the campaigns, they are right. You don't even give Malgana a chance to plead for help before the PC's decide on the best way to have fun with, er, I mean dispose of, a severed goblin head.
Lastly, you made another mistake in making this a villan that couldn't DO anything. This is even worse than the Pacafist Bone Devil. At least he could act if he chose to. Malgana doesnt even get a choice.
I was a big fan of the Spider Hook, and really wanted to like your next submission. Unfortunately, I feel let down. You may still get my vote, but only by default. I'm 1/2 way through the villans and haven't found one I liked yet. If I do vote for you, consider this your "Get Out of Jail Free" card. I know you can do better. The Spider Hook was inspired. This just fell flat.
Jason, I appreciate your "get out of jail free card", should you choose to grant it. I also appreciate your very concise feedback (same goes for the others in this thread as well).
I won't let you down in the next round.
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I do liked the spider hook... but unfortunately I found 4 very good villains... this one... is lacking a lot... I as a player HATE to be railroaded... one of our DMs can say that if he planned an adventure for 2 sesions, we take 8...
I can see a good cleric helping her rest after getting the intel on the goblins :S, my cleric would do it, THEN when the thing is trully dead she will burn the head and the other organs in a big pyre and say a short prayer for her eternal rest... period...
RPG Superstar 2013
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Steven T. Helt
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Okay...for DMs out there ready to do something really different, I am going to turn this guy into a villain for you. Here's an entire adventure path for you to build based on this entry. Hopefully it's also a model of how you can take a freakshow idea (which is obviously the strength of this entry), and take it from creepy to memorable villain.
You can't make a powerless villain. His success can't depend on the PCs, and if they for some reason run this list of errands for him, he's not a villain. He's an NPC and you have a party of grimlocks (that's an intelligence remark) or evil characters. SO...
the Twisted Stitch adventure path (don't read if you might play)
The Twistwood Witch doesn't rely on PCs. As a sorcerer of the (why make me choose? show some Pathfinder chops!) arcane bloodline, he has a familiar and the ability to cast more, Silent and Still spells. Now he has one servant who can help get him somewhere useful. The familiar and an assortment of low-level spells defend him while he slowly recruits a goblin or simple homeless minion to help him find a tongue. But not his tongue. Slowly, his minions abduct a smooth-talking bard so Malgana can have his tongue and eat the rest (he's a ghast after all). He obtains a glib tongue, fastlegs, strong arms, and agile hands. While the low-level PCs investigate this rash of bizarre and grisly murders, he gets stronger, moves to better digs, and acquires a small army of undead and goblinoids.
At the middle of the path, the PCs barely fail to stop Malgana from acquiring his last piece. Maybe they find a perfect body with a missing heart, and they know that something awful has been completed.
Now, Malgana has come from helpless to full-blown villain. He has acheived much, acquired power, and come from the very bottom to be maybe a sorcerer 10-12 with different physical abilities to make a truly monstrous and disturbing bad guy. But that's not enough. Malgana has survived death and dismemberment to acheive these heights. His twisted mind is now set on a grander apotheosis. He sends out his minions to drsitract the PCs with war and raiding and red herrings while he studies for his starstone test.
In the final chapter, the PCs confront him in Absalom. His minions take a Joker-like hold on the city, giving the local heroes and constabulary too many choices to see that Malgana is taking his shot at the Starstone cathedral. In the end, the PCs find him in the cathedral, though they are not set for the challenges within.
Can they resist the temptations of the Starstone and prevent Malgana from acheiving even greater power? Or will the challenges of the Cathedral kill them before they can kill their adversary?
The backstory is not what creates the villain. It's the present and future plans. Every monster has a backstory. A ghast was once human. It's Int 13, so it's pretty smart, remembers its mortal life and such. Every villain has a backstory, every good villain has plots, power and some kind of motivation. Start with evocative items (like the severed head freak show), but then give them life.
TBH, with this crop of 'villains', you might get a vote from me. I have the other half to go through yet, but I have one villain I acknowledge, and a few that are less of a miss than the rest. Good luck to you. Knock it out of the park if you move on, and hope your be working that bloodline and other mechanics right now.
...and for those who haven't wandered up in those parts, I and some others discussed this entry quite a lot in this thread.
It's an evocative entry to create such discussion, and I'd place it in top 10 of the villains this round. But no vote for me, you'll have to rely on others to get to the next round, wow me there and get my vote then :)
Okay...for DMs out there ready to do something really different, I am going to turn this guy into a villain for you. Here's an entire adventure path for you to build based on this entry. Hopefully it's also a model of how you can take a freakshow idea (which is obviously the strength of this entry), and take it from creepy to memorable villain.
You can't make a powerless villain. His success can't depend on the PCs, and if they for some reason run this list of errands for him, he's not a villain. He's an NPC and you have a party of grimlocks (that's an intelligence remark) or evil characters. SO...
My issue is that, while I see the potential for such in Malgana, the writer had 500 words to express that to me, and failed. Less effort and word count devoted to Schemes/Plots/Hooks, and more focus on Motivation/Goals would have sufficed to put Malgana on my list of votables. But that was scrubbed towards making her a head, devoting space in Description to pad backstory, etc. From an editorial perspective, it was a poor use of the wordcount available.
I'm loving the reuniting organs aspect of this villain - real horrorshow. Plus - kudos for the wicked name!
Twistwood witch gets my vote.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Good name, nice description, creepy backstory, fun concept... but wholly irrelevant as a villain. The villain only works if the PCs are forced to play along the entire way. Really, this is not so much a villain as a precis for an adventure involving reassembling the villain for some other purpose, which makes her a plot device, not a villain. And at that, a plot device that virtually no PC is going to fall for, so then they walk away and the adventure is over, just like Elric the Miller and his happy valley, or the pacifist dude who doesn't want you to protect his town with violence. "Ummm... okay. Well, off to the next town then. Seeya."
That plot could involve the PCs stopping someone else from putting her back together, but then she's just an unkillable undead goblin sorceress. Which is pretty cool, once she's put back together again, but then we lose the interest factor of her being a severed head.
There are interesting ideas here, but I don't think it works as a whole villain.
I'm not sure if others are going to find this relevant, but I was flipping through "Exemplars of Evil: Deadly Foes to Vex Your Heroes" and two of the major types was Hero-made Villains and Party as Servant. (p. 32)
The buffy episodes were Surprise and Innocence in season two. "No weapon forged can destroy me."
I'm not sure if others are going to find this relevant, but I was flipping through "Exemplars of Evil: Deadly Foes to Vex Your Heroes" and two of the major types was Hero-made Villains and Party as Servant. (p. 32)
The buffy episodes were Surprise and Innocence in season two. "No weapon forged can destroy me."
"That was then, this is now."
"That was then, this is now."I'm not sure if others are going to find this relevant, but I was flipping through "Exemplars of Evil: Deadly Foes to Vex Your Heroes" and two of the major types was Hero-made Villains and Party as Servant. (p. 32)
The buffy episodes were Surprise and Innocence in season two. "No weapon forged can destroy me."
"What's that do?"
This is original, this is cool, I can really use this. Yet the judges don't seem to like it, despite it being (to my mind) easily one of the best entries. I very nearly voted for this one, but, in the end, the limitation of the possible plots cut it out at the final moment. I hope to see it go through, though! I'll be keeping my fingers crossed...
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka JoelF847
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To be blunt, yuck! A villain who can't do anything isn't a villian that is a threat, or of much interest. I'd be hard pressed to find a group of player (or PCs) that wouldn't just smash the head into a million pieces and scatter them even further apart to thwart this non-threat even more.
The only way I can see this working is as Steven Helt suggested, giving her minions on the quest to restore her who catch the PC's interest and try to stop the erector set villain from becoming complete. Unfortunately, I can't vote for the cool villain Steven wrote up based on Malgana, so this won't be getting my vote.
Alternatively, you could have the head float and fly around like a mini beholder and re-unite itself. This could be cool if the PCs inadvertantly free it and watch it zoom off only to later run into it at various stages of more completeness.
The buffy episodes were Surprise and Innocence in season two. "No weapon forged can destroy me."
It's not necessarily clear in a fantasy setting what "conventional" means. I mean, I would buy someone saying "Mummy Rot cannot be cured by conventional means", yet a 5th level cleric could take care of it without too much difficulty.
Similarly, Vampires cannot be killed by conventional means. Yet little more than a few seconds of sunlight, running water, or a wooden stake does away with them.
I actually like this concept. Yes, it could have been better executed, but i see potential villianous fun behind it all. With a few simple changes in the plot hooks section, Malgana could turn into an intriquing short-term advesary.
I vote to keep her.
Wanted to say thanks to all who showed their support for the core Malgana concept. You will be rewarded with high-ranking positions in her evil army, once she gets around to forming one.
Here are my thoughts on the feedback as a whole...
I think one critical mistake I made here in Round 2 was to assume that Malgana would only be encountered by my own PCs. And I know that every DM thinks his own players are special, just as every mother thinks her own children are special... but let me just assure you that it is a unique band of Machiavellian thinkers that convene around my gaming table each month.
They operate with the assumption that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend... even if the enemy of my enemy is an undead witch head/orcish slave trader/exiled mind flayer/kobold revolt leader or whatever other unlikely ally we can find" -- which is a notion I've largely beaten into them by repeatedly putting them up against otherwise nigh insurmountable odds. In short, I tend to run my games like an HBO Deadwood episode, where the good guys occasionally have to team up with the not-so-good guys to get the even-worse guys. I realize now that this is quirk of my own DM style, and not typically how D&D goes; I should have included some alternate plot hooks, perhaps some plot hooks for, say, a party that includes Lawful Good characters.
My bad.
That said, I did think it was somewhat premature to label this villain "useless" or "just a plot hook with no RPG substance" without first seeing her stats or knowing her CR. That felt a bit like criticizing the cinematography of a movie after having only read the screenplay.
As a final note, a few of you expressed concern over the "cannot be killed by conventional means" aspect of this villain. This concern I took very seriously, for my intent was not to create an un-killable villain (I hate unkillable villains). And to be completely honest, I simply did not give this aspect enough thought at all (even a ghast should be destroyed by decapitation). Before I reveal too much, let me just say I've found a more elegant solution to this problem that I hope to reveal in the next round.
Long story short, when you see Malgana in the next round--if you see Malgana in the next round--don't fight the radness, just let it wash over you in waves.
Good luck, dude.