GM's Only: Rise of the Runelords Endgame Advice - Mal Survived...


Rise of the Runelords


Hey all,

So very early in the campaign, the party unknowingly opened a can of worms by finding the key to Malfeshnekors prison, and considering how long the magic of Karzoug had been holding the beast, in my campaign I ruled that the key to the room broke the magical seal for as long as the doors to the room remained open. Long story short, the party were getting their arses handed to them and so, out of desperation they took the key back out of the double door, hoping to seal Malfeshnekor away once more.

This massively p****d the Greater Barghest off, who jumped over the party and through the closing doors, blocked two of the party members escape instead (the Cleric of Desna and Anti-Paladin Insinuator). It then tore through two of the party members, at which point the other two PC's abandoned their comrades and fled for their lives. Mal was onto their scent however, and with a bit of luck the two party members were able to make it up to the courtyard just one round ahead of Mal, and with a change in wind direction, the Greater Barghest misplaced their scent and followed it out of the complex altogether. At this point, it realised it was free and figured there would be plenty of food in the surrounding wilderness.

So, not only did half of the party abandon their comrades, they released this monstrosity upon the world. Heroic.

That aside, I've actually had Malfeshnekor crop up again from book 4 onwards and it wasn't until the Wendigo Siege that the party realised the big Wolf they kept seeing was in fact Malfeshnekor. What happened here was the Wendigo had just broken the walls of the Vekker Cabin down and was about to truly wreck the party, when Malfeshnekor who'd been following them this whole time leapt from the roof, lunged for the Wendigo's throat and tumbled through the snow as the two beasts took it in turns to try and rip each other apart.

Mal prevailed (he's currently level 16) and while his blood trailed through the snow, following the wounds he'd received, he made his way back to the party to say with a wicked, bloodied grin wide across his face; "A chance to stretch my legs...this one's on me, though I see only one of you remain...", before turning invisible once more as he left the party. This is because only one of the original party members remain at this point.

Now, however, the party are in Xin-Shalast and though they have no idea of his intentions, Mal is so enraged by the fact Karzoug imprisoned him for so long that he's helping the party reach the Runelord, so he can laugh and revel in the joy of Karzougs downfall.

What I have planned for next session is when the party presumably get their arses handed to them either from Ghlorofaex or Gamigin (who is likely to attack them very shortly after their encounter with the dragon), Mal is going to become visible as he grabs the only original surviving player character by the throat, and with a grin, demands his newly acquired Sihedron Ring. If the PC agrees, Mal will then take the ring and throw the PC across the floor, telling him to sort himself out before turning invisible once more and running off.

What he's actually doing though, is bounding straight for the Pinnacle of Avarice to take the Sihedron Rings from the four Wardens of the Wind, with the intention of returning to the five PC's with at least three of those rings.

Behind the scenes, he's so far made his way past the Spiders of Leng and successfully cast Charm Monster on one of the Four Wardens. Having "befriended" this one, he requested to borrow its Sihedron Ring, only the Giant explained that giving up his ring within the pulses of the Occlusion Field would result in his death, stating also that he was not permitted to leave the area. So, with a grin as wide as his face, Malfeshnekor had an idea - Making his presence known to the other three Wardens, with a successful diplomacy check, he explained that he is Karzoug's latest ally, and that he was instructed by Karzoug himself to approach them, raising his claw to show them his own Sihedron Ring.

My question now is, how can I get the rings to the PC's?

I had the idea of either somehow getting the Giants to turn on each other and reclaiming the rings from their corpse, or luring them away from their post and setting up an ambush for the Leng Spiders to take care of them, but I don't know how likely or believable either of these would be, so I've made this post for assistance and to hopefully pick your brains!

Also, yes - Malfeshnekor will be the parties ally in the final encounter, though for how long after they hopefully defeat Karzoug, I don't know.
Thanks for any help/advice!

Shadow Lodge

Hm, my reaction to the first paragraph was, "Malfeshnekor was supposed to stay trapped even with the doors open. It sounds like you let him out - and you let a PC be an anipaladin? Uh-oh..."

But at the end, this might be a surprising plot twist. As for how Malfy gets the rings to the PCs, keep in mind that any ruse is doomed to fail the second the conned minion goes to ask one of the Karzoug Holograms what's really going on.

Though this could work to your advantage: Malfy doesn't know about those, so the door opens, and Karzoug Hologram says, "That's a barghest, most likely allied with Alaznist. Fling that worthless thing down a crevasse."

So the giants chase down Malfy, underestimate all the class levels/advanced templates you've given him, and steals rings while invisibile or tries to lure them into the Leng spiders.

As for how to give the rings to the group, he could turn into a goblin, turn invisible, then track the PCs, get in front of them, then make an offer. He can truthfully say he was sent to attack Karzoug's minions, but now found the opportunity to attack Karzoug himself. He has these magic rings and knows what they do, and will fight alongside everyone. Sense Motive could reveal that he's being truthful, yet sounds overly excited at the thought of all the incoming violence. Also, if the last remaining original PC is there, due to being one of the ones who freed him, Malfy could always aim for that one last.

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