How could Malochio free himself?

[thekristhomas]

I'm wondering about potential methods that Malochio could use to free himself from the Vistani curse, any ideas?

[tomokaicho]

I forget the exact conditions of the curse. Did the Vistani curse maker offer a clause to get out of it? If there is a clause, then he could fulfill the clause. Otherwise if there is no out clause, a powerful break enchantment spell could release him from the curse.

[thekristhomas]

I've just skimmed through the Evil Eye module and I can find no specifics on the curse other than he is bound to Invidia. His curse was applied through a device called a sphere of binding, empowered by the Vistani and operated by the PCs, and as such has no "wording" that I can find.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I could imagine a convoluted process, where he first kills his mother, becoming darklord of Invidia. This would supersede his curse and break it, but he'd be stuck in the domain anyway. Then he could groom someone else to become darklord, tricking them into killing him, with some plan in place to get him out of the domain and then resurrect him, using a high-level priest loyal to him. Then he'd be free.

But that sounds like a plan Azalin would cook up, not a brute like Mallocchio. I guess he could foresee it with his Dukkar powers, but typically Vistani can't see their own future. Then there's the question of whether a half-fiend could even be bound as a darklord at all....

Maybe just the flip side of how he got cursed in the first place... a group of darklings could get together make their own sphere of unbinding?

Or maybe something involving dear old dad?

[thekristhomas]

I could imagine a convoluted process, where he first kills his mother, becoming darklord of Invidia. This would supersede his curse and break it, but he'd be stuck in the domain anyway. Then he could groom someone else to become darklord, tricking them into killing him, with some plan in place to get him out of the domain and then resurrect him, using a high-level priest loyal to him. Then he'd be free.

But that sounds like a plan Azalin would cook up, not a brute like Mallocchio. I guess he could foresee it with his Dukkar powers, but typically Vistani can't see their own future. Then there's the question of whether a half-fiend could even be bound as a darklord at all....

Maybe just the flip side of how he got cursed in the first place... a group of darklings could get together make their own sphere of unbinding?

Or maybe something involving dear old dad?

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

[Resonant Curse]

I could imagine a convoluted process, where he first kills his mother, becoming darklord of Invidia. This would supersede his curse and break it, but he'd be stuck in the domain anyway. Then he could groom someone else to become darklord, tricking them into killing him, with some plan in place to get him out of the domain and then resurrect him, using a high-level priest loyal to him. Then he'd be free.

But that sounds like a plan Azalin would cook up, not a brute like Mallocchio. I guess he could foresee it with his Dukkar powers, but typically Vistani can't see their own future. Then there's the question of whether a half-fiend could even be bound as a darklord at all....

Maybe just the flip side of how he got cursed in the first place... a group of darklings could get together make their own sphere of unbinding?

Or maybe something involving dear old dad?

Gwydion shows us that Outsiders can become darklords, same with Vecna.

[The Lesser Evil]

Well we already know that Azalin had some plans for him if the metaplot had been allowed to go on long enough. There's also some mention in the Evil Eye of Malocchio gathering Vistani concubines for either himself or for dear ol' dad.

Minus those, I think one possibility for Malocchio is to destroy Invidia if he can find a way to survive it. (You can't be trapped if your prison is destroyed.) One way might be the encouraging of wars and get a worse evil to come in and stamp out Gabby, absorbing Invidia into another domain or forming a new one to reflect the new lord.

A more insidious and likely more successful way might be to learn from what happened in Sithicus with Soth and the Memory Mirrors. Gabby seems the type that might fall prey to them, so haunted is she with impossible choices and has been driven to the brink of madness before. In her fantasies, Matton Blanchard and Ardonk Szerieza. If you wanted to make this into a long, multipart adventure, you could have a few linked adventures involving the following (though it could be in a different order):
a) Malocchio's forces infiltrating Matton's and Ardonk's operations and learning about Gabby's attachment to them
b) Malocchio skirmishes with Azrael Dak for some plot or another, perhaps on appearances looking for the Wanderers or seeking revenge. But secretly, Malocchio is seeking the shards of the Memory Mirror.
c) Alternatively, Malocchio's forces going after Tindal in the Carnival as it passes through the area with the goal of forcing him to make another one.
d) Malocchio's estrangement of Gabby's lovers from her.
f) Malocchio's delivery of the Memory Mirrors to Gabby and deceiving her into using them.
g) Malocchio's escape
e)

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Gwydion shows us that Outsiders can become darklords, same with Vecna.

Good point. I had thought of Gwydion, but dismissed it as a special case due to the obsidian gate, etc. Hadn't thought of Vecna since I see him as a Lich first, god second. but yeah, I guess he was an outsider too, technically.

[Igor the Henchman]

Arijani definitely counts though Also Ebonbane.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Ebonbane is also kind of a special case as he was trapped in a sword first. Arijani counts, I guess, though I don't know if rakshasas were considered fiends back in 2e.

[Igor the Henchman]

OK then I give up

[DustBunny]

Arijani counts, I guess, though I don't know if rakshasas were considered fiends back in 2e.

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.

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?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

OK then I give up

The only reason I'm being pedantic about it is that I'm pretty sure that either The Evil Eye or VRG:Demons said Mal couldn't be contained as a darklord because of his fiendish heritage. I'll have to dig up the reference....

[thekristhomas]

OK then I give up

The only reason I'm being pedantic about it is that I'm pretty sure that either The Evil Eye or VRG:Demons said Mal couldn't be contained as a darklord because of his fiendish heritage. I'll have to dig up the reference....

That's interesting if true, I've had it as head canon for a while that the demiplane is a fiend trap/prison and the Darklords the guards, if a fiend can't be a Darklord it might support that notion

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

The only reason I'm being pedantic about it is that I'm pretty sure that either The Evil Eye or VRG:Demons said Mal couldn't be contained as a darklord because of his fiendish heritage. I'll have to dig up the reference....

OK, I'm stumped as to where I got this idea. Maybe because the VRG calls Reality Wrinkles "pocket domains" I somehow figured they couldn't get a real domain of their own. But in fact, The Evil Eye explicitly says that if Mal succeeds in killing his mother, he'd become the lord of Invidia, so there you have it. Ignore (that part of) my ramblings.