Malisha

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DeepShadow of FoS
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Malisha

Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Has anyone used the revised version of Malisha from the NSGaz in their games? I'm looking to introduce a whole group of major players scheming for control in my Liffe campaign, and she's a great candidate. I'm just wondering what direction to take her in.

For example, how was she reincarnated into the body of a young girl? It makes it sound like she didn't go through infancy, however it happened, but the reincarnation spell and the feat use different methods. The feat uses actual birth, while the spell uses spontaneous creation at adulthood. Neither would normally account for spontaneous creation as a child. Or was the term "reincarnation" used as a general term for some other process, such as the ceremorphosis process that mind flayers normally use?

Also, she is listed as Ari4/Clr5. Is the Aristocrat a reference to her ceremorphic host? Is her host a separate entity, and is any of it still alive? If her host was an aristocrat, would she necessarily be related to the baron--daughter, granddaughter?

Finally, what's the relationship between her aristocratic side and the beast cult? Is some part of the baron's family involved with the cult? If not, how did the cult members get access to place their leader among the aristocracy?


Any thoughts would be welcome.
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Re: Malisha

Post by The Lesser Evil »

Malisha was originally a normal mind flayer with 15 priest levels in Malar in the original source material in the Book of Crypts. I think the aristocrat 4/cleric 5 might just be a retcon.

You might look at Marcu Vasilis (see in the Forgotten Children and "The Realms Beyond" article in the Book of Souls) for an example of a possible "rebirth" in a pre-existing shell. Another way might be to make her rebirth similar to the revival of the God-Brain in the Book of Sacrifices netbook article, where Seldrid the human psion willingly added his brain to the elder brain mass to become the God-Brain. But instead of Seldrid you have the young girl (which is almost vague enough it could mean anything from a young child to an adolescent young woman) merging her mind/brains with a damaged fragment of Malisha's brain to become something that is not quite entirely either one of them.

Edit: Are you asking this in relation to the Nightblood stone that animates a physical corpse? Were you wondering if Malisha could use the stone to animate a new host body?
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Re: Malisha

Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

The Lesser Evil wrote:Malisha was originally a normal mind flayer with 15 priest levels in Malar in the original source material in the Book of Crypts. I think the aristocrat 4/cleric 5 might just be a retcon.
Well, the original died, so the ari4/clr5 is the reincarnated version, presumably immature. If they are trying to retcon that the original was a ari4/clr5 I would disagree...but then anything is better than the epic-level version they started with. What is that, ECL 28?!
You might look at Marcu Vasilis (see in the Forgotten Children and "The Realms Beyond" article in the Book of Souls) for an example of a possible "rebirth" in a pre-existing shell.
Yes, I'm familiar with Marcu, and was thinking this might be like that. At the very least, I'm thinking that Malisha will be using those tadpole-things to enslave critical people. Quite possibly the baron, whether or not he is her grandfather.

Unfortunately, the ceremorphosis variation done to Marcu doesn't exactly apply here: that was about transferring a living illithid brain into an adult human skull, performed by illithid. As I read it, this would be about transferring a dead illithid's brain into a child's skull, performed by humans.

Moreover, it says the reincarnation in this case was done by a "young priest." Such a feat of bio-manipulation seems a stretch given that description. Perhaps the young priest merely contacted the illithid and had them do it, but then why would they use a child, and...yeah, I'm looking for something else. :roll:
Another way might be to make her rebirth similar to the revival of the God-Brain in the Book of Sacrifices netbook article, where Seldrid the human psion willingly added his brain to the elder brain mass to become the God-Brain. But instead of Seldrid you have the young girl (which is almost vague enough it could mean anything from a young child to an adolescent young woman) merging her mind/brains with a damaged fragment of Malisha's brain to become something that is not quite entirely either one of them.
I know it's vague re: young girl, but I'm going with pre-to-early adolescent. Which means she did not consent to this. In related news, I'm pondering the plot hook of having the PC's meet this child, who seems completely normal, and then later a slightly younger, ghostly version of her appear to them and beg them to solve her murder, despite the fact that she still seems to be alive.... :twisted:
Edit: Are you asking this in relation to the Nightblood stone that animates a physical corpse? Were you wondering if Malisha could use the stone to animate a new host body?
Wasn't sure whether Malisha would have a pressing need for any part of the circlet. I was just trying to flesh out the major players before the fun begins. Not all of them will be chasing parts of the circlet, at least at first.
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Re: Malisha

Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Okay, just looked at the description of the Reincarnate spell to make sure it doesn't have variable ages. The Pathfinder version says:
The magic of the spell creates an entirely new young adult body for the soul to inhabit from the natural elements at hand. This process takes 1 hour to complete. When the body is ready, the subject is reincarnated.
So while some might stretch that "young adult" to include the "young girl" we are talking about, I'm not willing to do so. However, I do see a couple points of interest. One, this spell is a nature-type spell, perfectly in character for the beast cult--it ought to be within one of their cleric domains. Second, the body cannot have been dead for more than a week. Even stretching that with Gentle Repose, this reincarnation must have taken place just after Malisha died. Third, as it says above, it takes an hour to complete. Fourth...why doesn't Reincarnate get tweaked by the DP's?! I'm not finding modifications to it. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, but I think they would have a field day with this spell.

So putting this all together, I'm thinking that the last surviving members of the Beast cult, including a young priest armed with a scroll of reincarnate (penned by Malisha herself as an escape clause), gathered around her remains about a week or so after she was slain. They begin the ritual, but are discovered midway through by the other townsfolk and/or adventurers. The ritual is disrupted, the last remnants of the cult are truly scattered and destroyed, with the survivors thinking their leader is well and truly dead.

Shortly thereafter, someone finds a little girl in the woods, and takes her home. No one knows that the incomplete ritual had enough power to bring Malisha back in an immature body, and so not even her cult members are any wiser until she manages to contact them. Once she does, they figure it out and give the young priest his due, but until that moment, everyone thought it was a failure.

Dang. Now that I've written it out, I think I'm going with that. Still open to suggestions to add on it, or if anyone has an alternative that can compete with the above scenario.
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Re: Malisha

Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Looking at the stats progression for a mind flayer, I'm thinking that Malisha originally came back as a one-year-old, just barely able to walk. She had lost most of her powers, but I think a basic Charm Person would serve nicely to overcome any reluctance someone might have in adopting a child. The other powers would come back gradually; her biggest challenge would be to just be patient as her body and brain matured again. OTOH, she might also find it fascinating, to go through the maturational process again, and be able to reflect on the experience with the heightened intellect.
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Re: Malisha

Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Too bad this campaign fell through, I would have loved this kid as a villain.

Bumping this in case I need to explore her further for future games.
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Re: Malisha

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

DeepShadow of FoS wrote:In related news, I'm pondering the plot hook of having the PC's meet this child, who seems completely normal, and then later a slightly younger, ghostly version of her appear to them and beg them to solve her murder, despite the fact that she still seems to be alive.... :twisted:
I must have missed this thread the first time around, but this... this right here... this is awesome!

Need to find a way to use this concept even if I don't use Malisha exactly.
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Re: Malisha

Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:
DeepShadow of FoS wrote:In related news, I'm pondering the plot hook of having the PC's meet this child, who seems completely normal, and then later a slightly younger, ghostly version of her appear to them and beg them to solve her murder, despite the fact that she still seems to be alive.... :twisted:
I must have missed this thread the first time around, but this... this right here... this is awesome!

Need to find a way to use this concept even if I don't use Malisha exactly.
Thanks! I was actually a little disappointed that the version I ended up with didn't turn out that way, but I also planned to save this hook for use elsewhere. It's just too freaky to ignore.
The Avariel has borrowed wings,
The Puppeteer must cut the strings
The Orphan Queen must take the throne
The Queen of Orphans calls them home
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