Malachi

Overview

Player: Jones
Campaign: Under the Bus
Class: Paladin
Level: Unknown
Deity: Demmazon
Affiliation: The Chosen

Malachi was Jones' character, a Paladin of Demmazon and a member of the adventuring party during the Under the Bus campaign.

He was a heavily armored front-line fighter and one of the party's more openly idealistic characters. He held the Knights of Demmazon in particularly high regard and originally hoped to join them someday. His experiences in Toreon, however, complicated his view of the organization and of the institutions surrounding him.

Malachi eventually became involved in an effort to restore the Knights of Demmazon as a force for good. The surviving campaign notes describe him leaving the adventuring party to join the Knights, believing that he could provide the leadership and direction necessary to accomplish that.

There is some uncertainty about how much of Malachi's departure was actually played. Jones may have moved to Duluth during the later portion of the campaign and stopped attending, which may have contributed to Malachi's disappearance from the party.

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Character Concept

Malachi appears to have been built around the traditional ideal of the devoted holy warrior: a heavily armored melee combatant, devoted to Demmazon, with a strong belief in the ideals represented by the Knights of Demmazon.

He was not simply a fighter, however. His actions repeatedly show concern for protecting other people, maintaining the party's resources, and acting according to what he believed was morally right.

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Class

Paladin of Demmazon

Malachi was one of the party's heavily armored front-line characters. Campaign reports repeatedly place him in dangerous melee situations, including fighting creatures with significant damage reduction and attempting to rescue or protect other party members.

His exact level progression is not fully reconstructed.

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Chosen

Malachi was a member of The Chosen.

12th-Level Chosen Power

Divine Body

This is recorded as Malachi's 12th-level Chosen Power.

15th-Level Chosen Power

Unknown

No surviving character notes currently identify Malachi's 15th-level Chosen Power.

It is possible that he never reached that point in the campaign, or that the ability was simply not recorded. His later absence from the campaign makes the distinction difficult to establish.

Legacy Item

• Eagle's Eye — Holy, Everbright, Spell Storing, Ghost Touch Falchion +3
• A sapphire is set into the pommel.
• Wielded by Malachi.
• It is his Chosen legacy item.
• The weapon's exact spell stored at any particular time is not established from what you've given me.

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Paladin Crisis and Atonement

Malachi lost his paladin abilities after deliberately casting Sound Burst during the werewolf assault despite being warned that the spell would hit allied Chosen and one of Nate's followers. Malachi justified the decision as being for the greater good, but the deliberate willingness to harm his allies violated his paladin code. Dew Gooder subsequently required Malachi to swear an oath to protect those less able to defend themselves before himself and cast Atonement, restoring his paladin status.

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The Knights of Demmazon

Malachi had a strong personal attachment to the Knights of Demmazon.

When The Traveler explained the history of the Knights to the party, Malachi initially had difficulty accepting the account. Traveler described the Knights as having become corrupt and exploitative, including forcibly conscripting people. This was particularly troubling to Malachi because he had admired the Knights and hoped to become one himself.

His later relationship with the Knights became more complicated.

By the period covered by the Dark Times notes, Malachi had left the adventuring party and joined the Knights of Demmazon. The stated reason was that he believed he could provide the leadership and direction necessary to restore them as a force for good.

The notes specifically observe that the Knights had broken away from Toreon, and suggest that Malachi might actually be in a position to accomplish what he intended.

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Toreon

During the party's time in Toreon, Malachi became one of the group's principal financial managers.

He served as the party's banker, paying the majority of the group's expenses and handling much of the bureaucracy involved in their activities.

He also hired himself out as a mercenary or sword-for-hire, although this did not produce much income.

This practical financial role contrasts with Malachi's more idealistic attachment to the Knights and his Paladin identity.

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The Chosen and the Party

When the party reconsidered its relationship with The Chosen, Malachi chose not to return as a full member.

Quentin explained that Malachi and Bo Duke were no longer bound by the Chosen oaths and would therefore be treated more like mercenaries or hirelings: they could receive information and resources on a need-to-know basis, but would not receive the same discounts or privileges as full members.

Malachi interpreted this as further evidence that the Chosen was not the organization for him.

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Combat

Malachi was a serious front-line combatant.

Brass Golem

During the confrontation with a Brass Golem, Malachi fought in melee using his sword, including Power Attack and Smite. He was able to overcome the creature's damage reduction sufficiently to contribute effectively to the fight.

Lich Temple

When several members of the party were turned to stone in the Lich Temple, Smah Tepants used Wall of Stone to contain the situation. Malachi physically hacked through the wall in order to help free the petrified party members.

This was characteristic of his role: when something needed to be physically accomplished in a dangerous situation, Malachi was often one of the people willing to put himself directly in harm's way.

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Death and Resurrection

One of Malachi's most significant recorded deaths occurred during the confrontation with the Aspect of Filtiarn.

Malachi was knocked overboard while wearing full plate armor and became unconscious underwater. He subsequently drowned.

Tashiro Sunshine Eastforest and Dew Gooder entered the water to fight the Aspect and protect Malachi, but Malachi died before the battle was resolved.

After the Aspect was defeated, Orinder used a Chosen Power to cast Raise Dead on Malachi.

Dew strongly opposed the resurrection. Tashiro and Marcus restrained Dew while Orinder completed the spell.

The event had an additional significance because several prisoners who witnessed Orinder's actions subsequently knelt before him and appeared to treat him as a divine figure.

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Aegea

During the expedition to Aegea, Malachi was involved in the dangerous escape from the underwater ruins.

At one point he was swept down a staircase as the area flooded. He reached a room that was rapidly filling with water and deliberately closed a door, preventing the water from flooding the library.

Later, Jones/Malachi and Marcus used grappling hooks and rope to help the party make its way back to the Sunchaser.

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The Aegisstaff

Malachi played an important role in the investigation into the location of The Aegisstaff.

He used Divination to ask about the staff's location, producing information that helped direct the party toward the End of the World and Godsmount investigation.

Dew Gooder subsequently used Commune to ask further questions about the staff, including whether it was actually at the End of the World or elsewhere on the Prime Material Plane.

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Beldin

Malachi was involved in the party's relationship with Beldin, a former companion whose religious independence ultimately brought him into conflict with the Church of Demmazon.

The party later encountered Beldin's half-sister Rilina, who was protecting their mother's house. The party assisted with the aftermath of the situation, including the threat posed by a wyvern.

Malachi's connection to Beldin is particularly notable given his own strong devotion to Demmazon and his later disillusionment with the institutions associated with that faith.

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Departure from the Party

The surviving campaign notes eventually state that Malachi had left the party to join the Knights of Demmazon.

The in-world explanation is that he believed he could provide the Knights with the leadership and direction necessary to restore them as a force for good.

There is, however, an important uncertainty in the reconstruction.

Jones may have moved to Duluth during the later portion of the campaign and may consequently have stopped attending sessions. If so, Malachi's “departure” may have been partly an in-game explanation for a real-world player absence rather than a fully played-out character arc.

Reconstruction Status

• Malachi joined the Knights: Established in later campaign notes.

• Malachi intended to help reform the Knights: Established in those notes.

• Exact circumstances of his departure: Unclear.

• Whether the departure was actually played out: Unclear.

• Whether Jones's move to Duluth contributed to Malachi's disappearance: User recollection; not established by the campaign reports.

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Characterization

Malachi comes across as:

• Devout, particularly in his dedication to Demmazon.

• Idealistic, especially regarding the Knights of Demmazon.

• Protective, both in combat and in his later Paladin oath.

• Physically courageous, repeatedly placing himself in dangerous situations.

• Practical, particularly in his role managing the party's finances in Toreon.

• Independent-minded, demonstrated by his refusal to return to the Chosen as a full member.

• Institutionally conflicted, as his faith in the ideals of the Knights survived even after he learned that the organization itself had become corrupt.

His eventual decision to join the Knights can therefore be understood as part of a larger tension between the ideals Malachi believed in and the institutions that claimed to represent those ideals. That interpretation is consistent with the recorded events, but the surviving notes do not provide enough detail to reconstruct his internal motivations beyond what they explicitly state.

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Relationships

• Jones — player.
• Dew Gooder — fellow Chosen and the cleric who administered his Atonement.
• Bo Duke — fellow mercenary associated with the Chosen.
• Tashiro Sunshine Eastforest — helped rescue him after the Aspect of Filtiarn encounter.
• Tim — fellow Chosen.
• Smah Tepants — fellow Chosen.
• Dugan Lifebrew — fellow Chosen.
• Kamal — later paladin.
• Clowe — fellow Chosen.
• Demmazon — deity.
• Knights of Demmazon — organization Malachi revered and eventually joined.
• The Traveler — revealed the darker history of the Knights.
• Quentin — treated Malachi as a mercenary rather than full Chosen member.
• Orinder — restored Malachi after his death.

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Known Statistics

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Open Questions

• What exactly was Malachi's original Paladin transgression?
• What caused him to lose his Paladin abilities?
• What was Malachi's 15th-level Chosen Power, if he reached that level?
• What was his complete Chosen progression?
• What was his final character level?
• What was his race and alignment?
• What was his complete feat list?
• What was his full equipment list?
• How much of his decision to join the Knights was actually played?
• When did Jones stop attending the campaign?
• Was Malachi's departure primarily an in-world character decision, a response to Jones's absence, or some combination of the two?
• What ultimately happened to Malachi after joining the Knights of Demmazon?