How could Malochio free himself?

[Igor the Henchman]

I feel bad for getting us off topic, so here's some thoughts on the actual question.

If I wanted to run a campaign arc around Malocchio's attempt to escape, I'd probably do the classic "stop the villain from completing the dark ritual" story. Malocchio would try to obtain a McGuffin (or several) that's at least as powerful as the Sphere of Binding the Vistani used to imprison him. I'd then give the PCs a reason to hunt for the same item(s) and watch what happens.

Idea 1 : Malocchio needs to gather a set of Vistani artifacts, each having a special significance for one of the Vistani tribes. The final item could be an artifact that used to belong to Vistan himself. To make things more interesting, Malocchio doesn't need to have all the items in his possession, just have them brought inside Invidia. Once they are all gathered, he would perform a dark ritual that would free him from the curse.

Idea 2 : Malocchio seeks to augment his fiendish powers, perhaps even transform himself into a true demon. To do that, he needs to gather the phylacteries of several fiends who are already trapped inside Ravenloft. Bonus points if he can get a group of unwitting adventurers to do all the reconnaissance and demon-hunting work for him.

Idea 3 : Malocchio strikes a deal with Gwydion. In exchange for gathering the Regalia of Arak for him, the Sorcerer-Fiend promises to use his godlike power to break the Vistani curse. In this scenario, there's not one but two apocalyptic villains trying to break loose!

Then there are the totally crazy ideas: Malocchio could try to steal Styrix's Rift Spanner. Or he could attend a play by Lemot Sediam Juste, staying long enough to hitch a ride. Or he could arrange to be smuggled out inside the Tome of Terror.

[Zilfer]

Do you think the Dukkar and the other Dukkar could be a thing? Maybe Hysoka is the only one able to free Malococio or something? Just a half baked idea there....

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Like Igor, I'm inclined to lean toward Mallochio's freedom depending upon other rules of the world being messed up. I proposed a world-breaking adventure path a while back that involved Gwydion getting released into the Nightmare Lands, destroying or displacing the Nightmare Court and warping the fabric of the demiplane as a result. With stuff like that, Mallochio getting loose would be easy collateral damage.

Apart from that, though, I'd look at that sphere of binding, how it works, the Dukkar concept and how it relates to the Vistani. Crafting that adventure would almost certainly require a DM to flesh out things that the RL writers have intentionally left ambiguous: the Zarovan/Zaravich connection, the War for All Time, the nature of Vistani Mistwalking, etc. Maybe even get the Tribe of Hyskosa involved, to free the new Dukkar so he can fulfil the purpose of the old one?

If you didn't want to get into that, though, consider Mallochio searching for a loophole in the binding magic. The sphere only works if ______ is ______. Fill in the blanks with whatever you want. But who outside of the Vistani would know the exact conditions of the sphere, so as to figure out the loophole?

[Igor the Henchman]

The Vehrteig might know, possibly. And they have a reason to want Malocchio free. You could even reuse Maekon from the Ashington Manor adventure. Kissing up to brutish Vistani-killing noblemen seems like her thing.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Another idea... once the vistani are involved, you can throw linear time out the window. Maybe somehow make use of a Manusa to travel back in time and have agents of Mallocchio stop the sphere from binding him in the first place.

[Nox]

Honestly I like the most the solution Gonzoron proposed.
Said that, malocchio is not Machiavelli, as someone stated, he is a brute, but his father could take a part in it.
After all who k on what are the plans of gentlemen caller?

[The Lesser Evil]

.
Raks in 2e were "spirits encased in flesh" who lived on the Prime, not outsiders/extraplanar such as elementals, fiends and the like.
They gained the outsider template in 3e.

"Malevolent spirits encased in flesh" (Monstrous Manual), that description is pretty vague, nothing in there that prevents them from being fiends. Although the 2e MM says nobody knows where they come from, Planes of Law (a Planescape boxed set) says they are fiends from Acheron.

In any case, Arijanni is not only a rakshasa, he is also half-godblooded.

But back to Malochio, do the DPs even want him roaming around other Domains, or are they happy to keep let him stew in his cage?

I would say no, since if he were freed, his teleport without error would allow him to teleport anywhere and even take darklords with him.

[Garudos Celestar]

I can definitely see the first plan working, being in essence what happened to Gundar

I will point out, however, that Gundar's resurrection had the special feature of the Grand Conjunction causing his domain to cease to exist in between his staking and his revival (and thus he no longer had a domain in which to be imprisoned). Gundar's skeleton never crossed a domain border while Gundarak was still its own domain.

[Igor the Henchman]

He also technically never died. A stake through the heart immobilizes a vampire, it doesn't slay them permanently. Essentially Gundar pulled a Nathan Timothy. AFAIK, the corpse smuggling/resurrection gambit hasn't been tried yet. Wouldn't it be ironic if all Malocchio had to do was walk up to the border with a cart, a flask of poison, and a 5th level cleric with Revivify?

[thekristhomas]

He also technically never died. A stake through the heart immobilizes a vampire, it doesn't slay them permanently. Essentially Gundar pulled a Nathan Timothy. AFAIK, the corpse smuggling/resurrection gambit hasn't been tried yet. Wouldn't it be ironic if all Malocchio had to do was walk up to the border with a cart, a flask of poison, and a 5th level cleric with Revivify?

Hmm, does Mally have a phylactery? Something that would actually stop him being killed (thus foiling this plan)?

Ooh could the orb of binding be a kind of enforced phylactery?

[Igor the Henchman]

I didn't find any reference to Malocchio's phylactery in canon. I guess he doesn't have one (or has one that he doesn't know about?)