This cell is locked and boarded up. Movement can be heard inside. There are two doors here, the cell and the doors behind it.
Inside this room is an ancient and immortal Grimlock. The Grimlock is very old and blind. The magical experiments done on him have made him immortal, hungry, and insane. It will attack as long as there is no light greater than torchlight.
Last week I posted This Old Dragon #91, which listed many outcasts devils for the AD&D 1st Edition game. Among these was Malarea (an obvious play on Malaria, and pronounced Mahl-ah -ree -ah). Of course, I wanted to learn more about her, but there is precious little about her in the article. So I started my deep dive.
This is almost, but not quite, detailed enough for an In Search Of... style post, but it is perfect for a Monstrous Monday.
What Is Known
The Dragon article reveals that she is a former Duke (Duchess) of Hell. She wanted to be counted among the consorts of the Archdukes of Hell, even to the point where she had assaulted an unnamed Duke's consort and would kill all the other consorts to get her way. She is violent and erratic.
At some point after her exile to Avernus, she sought out the courtship of the up-and-coming Bel only to be rejected by him.
She is described as:
... tall, human-like female with huge black wings, which tower 6 feet above her own head when furled; in short, rather like an erinyes. Her eyes are fiery red, her hair long, greasy, and black, her body sleek but powerfully muscled and of a faintly luminescent, "ghostly" white hue. Her hands have long claws, and she has large, vampire-like fangs.- Dragon Magainze (91), October 1984, p. 24
And...that is largely it to be honest. She has stats in Dragon 91 and a mention in Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants Of The Nine Hells for D&D 3.5.
So let me look into who might have been likely to interact with her.
Connections
Bel
The former Archduke Bel was once her quarry, but he had rebuffed her. This had to have made her even more furious than being rebuffed by any of the other Archdukes. After all, Bel was essentially just an elevated Pit Fiend, and she was an Archdevil. I would imagine that she would do anything to see him defeated or humiliated in some way.
Malagard
These two share similar names and some physical appearances, but they are quite different. I mention her here because, for a bit, I considered making them the same person. The deeper lore of both prevents this, really.
Tiamat
We know that Malarea went out of her way to avoid Tiamat. This was back in the AD&D 1st Ed lore when Tiamat was the ruler of Avernus. It has since been retconned that Zariel was the ruler, and Bel overthrew her. So maybe, from this point of view, Malarea avoided Zariel.
Zariel
The former and current ruler of Avernus is the former Angel Zariel. If we follow the 4e and 5e notions that all the Erinyes were former angels, it stands to reason that Malarea was also one. Malarea and Zariel are physically strong, given over to fits of rage and violence, and have similar appearances and backgrounds. Are they the same? Again, I am going to go with no. Both have elements in their backstory that are largely incompatible. Malarea seeks to be counted among the consorts of Hell. Zariel wants to destroy all the devils and rule Hell on her own.
Malarea Today
What would Malarea be up to today? I imagine her status has not changed much. While there have been great upheavals in Hell in the last 40 years, change still moves slowly for the most part.
Large Fiend (Diabolic, Baalseraph)
Frequency: Unique
Number Appearing: 1 (1)
Alignment: Chaotic [Lawful Evil]
Movement: 90' (30') [9"]
Fly: 240' (90') [24"]
Armor Class: -1 [20]
Hit Dice: 21d8****** (116 hp)
Large: 21d20****** (137 hp)
To Hit AC 0: 6 (+14)
Attacks: 1 weapon or 2 claws, 1 bite, wing buffet
Damage: Weapon +2, 1d4+2 x2, 1d4, 1d12
Special: Baalseraph powers and immunities, magic resistance (70%), regeneration (1 hp/ 2 rounds), spell-like abilities (see below), summoning, +2 or better weapons to hit
Save: Monster 21
Morale: 12 (NA)
Treasure Hoard Class: See Below
XP: 15,250 (OSE) 15,750 (LL)
Str: 17 (+2) Dex: 17 (+2) Con: 13 (+1) Int: 16 (+2) Wis: 14 (+1) Cha: 14 (+1)
From Dragon Magainze (91), October 1984, p. 24-25:
Malarea is a bitter and envious devil. She despises many of the consorts of the Nine Hells and desires (to the point of mania) to join their ranks. If she has to slay them all to claim her rightful place among them, she will do so unhesitatingly, but rude defeats on the occasions of her bold, direct assaults in the past have made her more cautious.
Malarea remains a fiercely combative, fractious devil, given to sudden berserk rages and wild physical attacks. This temperament cost her a consortship or other position in the hierarchy of the hells, and has undoubtedly earned her her present exile. She has learned little, however: if she recognizes an archdevil, duke, or unique greater devil, she will pause to ascertain their situation and intentions before she attacks - but she almost always attacks eventually, except when faced with impossible odds. Lesser devils and intruders are her prey - she will attack any such creatures immediately, swooping at them to bite (1d4 damage) and strike with a lance, spear, or other weapon gained from a previous victim, or bare-handed with her iron-hard claws (1d4+2). Malarea is a strong flyer, and often buffets airborne opponents with her great wings, or rams into them at full speed (1d12 damage).
Malarea can use the following spell-like powers at will, one at a time and once per round: pyrotechnics, produce flame, wall of fire, detect magic, dispel magic, detect invisibility, hold person, and polymorph self. She can shed fear in a 2' radius at will (save vs. spell to avoid), and can cast a delayed blast fireball (5d6) three times per day.
Malarea appears as a tall, human-like female with huge black wings (28' wing span), which tower 6 feet above her head when furled; in short, she is like an Erinyes. Her eyes are fiery red, her hair long, greasy, and black, her body sleek but powerfully muscled and of a faintly luminescent, ghostly white hue. Her hands have long claws, and she has large, vampire-like fangs. She
is usually encountered wearing some gaudy trophy of a previous victim - a gleaming necklace or jeweled belt, but she cares nothing for the value of such items and will carelessly discard one for another of gaudier appearance
This was Malarea as of the mid-1980s and 1st Edition AD&D. We know from the Fiendish Codex II that she was still an outcast as of the mids 2000s and 3rd Edition D&D. She seems to be too strong willed and angry to have changed her status.
How desperate is she today? Would she even approach Zariel for her consortship? I can see Malarea considering it but not Zariel. Besides, both devils are far too angry at their own situations.
I think if I were to update her some more (and I have an event coming up in my games that would fit the bill) I might make her the captain of the Erinyes. Her name has Latin roots (sorta) so I might rename her into something with Greek roots. Her name is close enough to Megaera ("the jealous one") for me to work with. I have done a lot of work with the Erinyes, the Keres, and the Dirae, so I am "in the market" for a leader of this group of devils. Someone other than Glasya. I just need to figure out who Tisiphone and Alecto are. Alecto, in particular, will be a challenge since some of her myths overlap with Nemesis's.
This works in another way since the Eriyes/Furies were said in Ovid's Metamorphoses to guard the gates to Dis. In D&D geography, this would put them in Avernus.
Now I just need two more unattached archdevils.
Links
This cell, just down the passageway and on the right, has an eerie glow inside.
The glow comes from somewhere inside the cell but it is difficult tell exactly where. Everywhere the characters look for it seems to be somewhere else.
There are no monsters in this cell and the glow is from the pervasive magic in this area.
This room looks much like the last, save there is no mistake about what is here.
This room houses a creature similar to the one before it. A human-bugbear hybrid, but this one has other features. It is a wight, and its arms have been removed and large crab-like arms end in claws.
It uses the same stats as a wight but adds +1 to all damage rolls.
Like the wraith before it, this creature has been imprisoned for so long that it gives no thought to freedom but only the chance to kill.
Moving on down the hallway, you see a light in the cell to your left.
This cell seems empty but there is a light on the inside.
The light is a wraith that has been trapped here since imprisoned by the Necromancers long ago. It was a human-bugbear hybrid but it was too stupid to be of use to the Necromancers, it was however violent and ill-tempered. It died and now only its wraith remains.
It is so consumed with anger that it will attack first before any thoughts of leaving its prison.
Its stats are the same as a wight, but it is ghost-like. It still drains like a wraith and needs magic to hit.
Two new games to scratch that old-school itch.
Bloody Appalachia - Grindhouse Rural Horror Tabletop RPG
There are like two or three people I would pick as a dream team to make a game of rural horror. And they are all on this project.
Honestly, I didn't need to look past the names. Once I saw Josh Palmer, Eric Bloat, and Pun Issac, I knew I had to have this. And so should you.
So get this now.
Shadowdark RPG: Old-School Gaming, Modernized
This one doesn't really need my help, but it still looks fun. I had picked up the play-test/preview materials at last year's Gary Con and this looks like it will be great.
It is smart trying to get the Old-School and New-School players together. I am not sure it will replace OSE in my life, but it will add some nice features to it.
Moving down the hall there is another cell on the left.
This is a false cell, used to confuse those here to set the monsters free. The guards and many of the monsters are long gone, but the trap remains.
The cell bars are electrified. Anyone touching it must make a saving throw vs. Paralysis/ Petrify or take 2d6 hp worth of damage. A thief can find this trap and disable it. Failure to do either will also result in a shock, no save.
The cell opens up but there is no cell beyond. A trick of the stonework makes it look larger than it really is.
I did not own this one back in the day. My High School DM and I had an agreement to pick up every other issue. This was the one he got. I found the cover to be really cool and thought that it would make for a great concept. Something we would try about four years later.
I did finally get an issue. The one I have is beat up and missing a cover and some pages. This image is from my Dragon Magazine CD-ROM.
We are introduced to the new Table of Contents page. It is easier to read than the older one with the gray background and will be the standard for a while.
Letters praise the recent Katherine Kerr articles and have a few helpful suggestions. The recent Rust Monster ecology didn't fare as well.
Nice ad for Milton Bradley's Broadsides & Boarding Pirates. Back when gaming magazines would run ads for their competitors. The ships from that game would make great props in a sea-faring adventure.
The Forum is less praise-filled on Katherine Kerr's stance on playing evil characters. while I have played evil characters in the past I find playing them these days a bit tedious. Playing a good character was always more fun for me.
Gary is up with From the Sorcerer's Scroll. This one deals with some of the new demon information (and one demon) we will see in the upcoming Monster Manual II.
Long-time contributor Stephen Inniss is back with Realistic Vital Statistics. This is a new guide and system for how much a particular humanoid-like creature, from pixie size to titans, should weigh based on height. The system certainly works and has a lot of internal consistency which is what you need in a game system. He points out some inconsistencies with the data provided in DMG and attempts to make it better. He does give practical and magical adaptations to the Square-Cube Law (though he does call his observations this, that is what it is) and it plainly sets out why giants could never have existed like described in D&D. I do like his notion there is some sort of magic at work here, maybe a low-level sort of levitation spell going on. It is a very useful article.
Dragon Magazine MVP (certainly of this issue) Ed Greenwood is up with The Ecology of the Leucrotta. I will fully admit when I first saw this my first thought was "Why? There are so many other interesting creatures out there." Which I think is the whole point. This article and the one on the Slithering Tracker (the first Ecology of article I ever read) pointed out that even so-called "pointless" or even "useless" monsters can be interesting. It also helped shift my focus of D&D/AD&D as "character-centric" to "normal human-centric" and realizing that even a "pointless" monster can be a huge threat. This also reminds me I should do a retrospective at one point on all of these Ecology of articles.
More Devils. More Hell. And more Ed Greenwood! Nine Hells Revisited gives us some details about the devils and hells they live in. We get some new devils, some of which I have not seen repeated since. There are even a couple that share their names with others like the Greater Devil Dagon (formerly Jaqon), the Greater Devil Azazel, and the Arch Devil Gargoth (formerly Astaroth). This is every bit as useful as the series from Dragons #75 and #76.
Ed follows this up with Eight Devilish Questions. This is the article than also originally clued me it to how to figure out the HD of various higher level demons and devils. I say clued me, but in reality it was more along the line of "duh, why didn't I think of that!"
Nice ad for White Dwarf. Bigger ad for the 10th Anniversary set of D&D books. Really, really wish I had grabbed those then. Of course, if I had they would have gotten lost with all my other AD&D books from that time.
A big overview slash big advertisement is next the first Dragonlance novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight in Chronicles: A Novel Idea. I know a lot of gamers around my age and older complain about Dragonlance, but frankly I don't get it. It did change the game, but in all ways for the better.
Ad for Bard Games' The Compleat Fantasy Series and The Atlantean Trilogy follows.
My entire middle section is gone here. It was The Treasure Trove. I am not sure if I took this out or if it was like that when I bought this box of old Dragons. While by the rules I invented for myself saying I could not review what I don't have, I do want to make one minor breach of that.
As I mentioned, this particular issue was bought by my DM at the time. He took all the magic items here, and a few more of his own, that rewrote all the magic item tables in the DMG. Impressive or ADHD? You decide. Anyway, we were running a small side quest for my paladin, Johan Werper II, and decided that he was on a quest (something that I later would call a "Secret Journey" that all member of his holy order had to do. On this quest, to make a long story short, he found the sword Demonbane. It fit so well with his quest that I made it and even the Citadel of Conjurers a part of my world mythos. MY Demonbane and Citadel of Conjurers took on a different life than the ones that eventually were published in the Forgotten Realms but history was made on that cold rainy afternoon in October.
Penny Perricord is up with Spies' Advice, some questions and answers for Top Secret. Normally this particular column was written by Top Secret Head Administrator Merle Rasmussen. Not sure why he wasn't here. Maybe out watching the Top Secret! movie?
Coming Attractions lets us know what is getting published soon by TSR. An Indiana Jones adventure Crystal Death. Some Dragonlance metal minis. The second Conan adventure. The odd one, 2001: A Space Odyssey for Star Frontiers. I never grabbed this, but I wondered with a universe like Star Frontiers with lasers and robots and faster-than-light travel, we would get one about a ship that only made it to Jupiter. Well that is the nature of licenses boys and girls. Indian Jones, Conan, and Dave Bowman here were all part of TSR's big license push. I am pretty sure they lost money on these.
Speaking of Sci-Fi the Ares section is up next.
"Does Anyone Here Speak Aslan?" from Joseph Benedetto, Jr. covers language skills in Traveller. It is a pretty good guide and one I would adopt for other sci-fi games like Star Frontiers.
Sadly I am missing the next pages of Day of the Juggernaut a Star Frontiers scenario by William Tracy. I am also missing the Marvel Phile of Cloak and Dagger, two of my favorite Marvel characters to be honest.
Alex Curylo is up with Careers in Star Law. This is a follow-up to Kim Eastland's article in Dragon #87. Not about lawyers, but law enforcement.
Not to be forgotten but we do get some new Gamma World material in Don't Leave Home Without 'em! from Scott Hutcheon. This covers new gear for Gamma World.
Our short fiction piece, The Rune and the Dragon, is by Lawernce Watt-Evans.
Paul Smith reviews the Shōgun card game. Ken Rolston is back with full reviews of Mercenaries, Spies, & Private Eyes, Death at Dunwich from Theatre of the Mind Enterprises for Call of Cthulhu (I always like the cover of this one), and The Vanishing Investigator for Gangbusters. He has capsule reviews of Dragons of Despair (he didn't care for it), Marvel Super Heroes, and Bree and the Barrow Downs from ICE for MERP.
Gamers' Guide covers all the small ads. Including an ad for Texas Instruments TI-99 programs to create characters. So yeah computer character generators are at least 40 years old. The rather infamous "Who sez dragons don't fly" t-shirt is featured twice. Lots of other t-shirts too.
Ad for the Indian Jones RPG. Wormy, Dragon Mirth, and Snarf Quest wrap up this issue.
All in all a really great issue. Lots of great articles, including many that can still be used today. Did Malarea ever see her diabolic plans come to light? I must know!
The bars to this cell are long gone, and it is easy to see why. Inside is a large armadillo-like creature. Once the PCs come close to the opening, it rushes out in a frenzy of hunger.
The stairs from the back of Room 28 on level 2 lead a long way down. They end at a large iron gate. The gate is 20' wide and at least 15' tall. It opens in the middle, and it is locked. The rusty nature of this lock imposes a -5% penalty on opening. The gate, though, is also weak enough that combined strength of 24 can pull it open.
There are claw marks visible on the stone after the gate, but none before it. There are alcoves to either side for guards on both sides of the gate (four total). There is an ambient eldritch glow throughout the place.
The hallway continues on.
--
Notes about this level. This is where the Citadel of Conjurers kept their magical experiments. It has long been rumored that this is the birthplace of the Owlbear and other magical monstrosities. When the Vampire Queen took control here, she raised many of these dead creatures as various types of undead so she could keep them as "guard dogs."
My goal this month will be to populate this level with all sorts of new monsters.
I wasn't planning this one today, but I got some surprises in the mail.
Both of these will get full reviews later on.
Blue Flame, Tine Stars, or it's full title, Blue Flame, Tiny Stars: A Memoir of Early Experiences Playing the Holmes Edition of the World’s Most Superlative Role-Playing Game, is from Stephen Wendell and it recounts his experiences at the dawn of the RPG scene and with Holmes Basic in particular. I have flipped through it and it looks like a delightful read. It is available as Print on Demand and PDF.
Chivalry & Sorcery Basic Rules is also available as Print on Demand and PDF. It is a stripped-down, basic, version of the 5th edition of the Chivalry & Sorcery RPG. A great place for newbies to the C&S game.
Chivalry & Sorcery is my third of three games I want to use as my D&D 5 replacement, so I will have some characters and ideas for this game later on.
Down this short passageway from the torture chamber is another large room. The door is standard to unlock.
This large room used to be the barracks for this dungeon level. It was also where all the weapons were kept. There are plenty of weapons here and a few are still usable. Allow players to restock what they need.
As the characters search the room they will begin to uncover a nest of 3 Ghost Spiders. These look like large undead spiders but they are really demonic necromantic projections. They were summoned here from all the fear and death and have never left.
They will attack the party as soon as they are found.
In the back is hidden door that is easily discovered it leads to a flight of stairs going down.
Normally I spend today doing monster write-ups, reviews of monster books, or even updating my slow progress on my Basic Bestiary. But today I want to talk about something else.
Last week Jonathan Thompson passed away. He was well-known, and well-liked, by many in the RPG community.
I met Jonathan through our mutual love of the Victorian period. We became fans of each other's RPGs as well.
I helped a very, very tiny bit with the newest version of Gaslight, with some of my material making into one other Battlefield Press book. Mostly though he had come to me for advice and edits on the 3.x and 5e monsters he had been working on.
Among other thingshe was due to publish my "Darwin's Guide to Creatures, Mythical and Mundane." A monster manual for the Victorian era and for Gaslight in particular.
It got pushed back a few times but he had approached me over the summer to get it updated. I was going through Covid at the time and could not get back to him. When I could he had developed health issues of his own.
I typically ran into him at Gen Con. Out of thousands of people there, we always would run into each other. We typically hit the food trucks and chatted about things. We had, over the years, continued to talk about monsters, the Victorian era, and more. I find it sad that I am no longer going to get to that.
There is a Go Fund Me set up to cover his expenses. I urge all my readers to send whatever they can.
His family are in my thoughts and hopefully, I can send some donations their way.
The hall turns to the right and opens up into a large area.
This room was obviously a torture chamber. There are still racks, stocks, and other implements of torture still to be found here.
There are still two victims here who have been unable to leave, Two Wraiths.
These wraiths are not allied and will attack the party without regard for other.
There is some treasure here the wraiths have collected from previous victims. Both have Treasure Type E.
Turning to your right the hallway continues on a bit. On the corner to your right, there is, if the proper rolls are made, a secret door. This is very similar to Room #7 and Room #Room 19.
This room is found behind a secret door in the corner of the hallway, not on the flat walls.
This room appears to have been a guard room. There are chairs for three with a small table and weapons on the walls. There are slots in the wall where guards can watch both hallways.
This room has been untouched by the waves of denizens here. There is a dagger +1, two-handed sword +1, and 2 +1 sling bullet stored here for the guard's use in addition to some normal items. There had been food, but it has since rotted away. Additionally, there is a bag of gold pieces, 14 GP.
Finding these treasures is worth 2,714xp.
Opening this door is much easier, it feels like it had been opened already and not properly locked.
They are currently eating the remains of two goblins. They will stop and attack the party, but the party will get +1 to their initiative rolls.
They have standard treasure for ghouls and what ever the two goblins had.
