Malthus Normal

Malthus Normal (a.k.a. Malthus the Odd)

Originally second in command of the Eastbridge Trade Guild, a front for a thieves' guild in Eastbridge. When Cinaed MacPhalain was incapacitated by Rieta, following the instructions of Mother Mayeye of the Boora Coven in Boora Bog, Malthus stood up and took over the guild leadership.
Shortly after this, when Duke Hueck Greyhall offered to pay the party to capture a group of escaped fugitives, Malthus arrived and asked the party to instead escort the escaped fugitives from their safehouse to the Kingdom of Louth and freedom. Malthus offered one gold more than Duke Hueck had offered. The party eventually too Malthus' offer over the Duke's.
Malthus had won over Rieta's friendship when he offered her the Brimstone Cloak. He also introduced her to the Bookhouse Society, a group that seemed to be trying to collect lost tomes and lore. He would occasionally ask Rieta to recover tomes where the group went to adventure. Sometimes he was very specific, stating that he only needed a single, specific page, though the tomes and even the pages seemed to have nothing in common.
He also began to ask similiar requests for Bronwynn. Malthus seemed to use the Eastbridge Trade Guild as a means to collect more of these tomes.
When the party left for Askel, and Tertius had claimed the title of Duke, the party found a tome in Port Raven that was written by the author 'Malthus the Odd', who seemed to be Malthus Normal. The book was the writings of Malthus stating that he believed the Nyctelios, The Mad God, had been sending messages to the insane from his arcane prison. These people were authors who had later gone insane. He believed that within these pages, Nyctelios was explaining exactly how he could be freed from his imprisonment.
When Eastbridge was seized by Harrison Garrington, Malthus left Eastbridge, uncertain of how the political winds would blow and the party were not able to confront him about the book penned by Malthus the Odd.
The League came to realize that Malthus was leading a cult that intended on freeing the Mad God. He had found the location of The Arcane Lock, in the Gallymoore Mountains. He used the assistance of shape-changing slaad and cranium rats to draw the party to the lock. He stated that he wanted their assistance and believed that they would want to help him.
He explained that the gods were greedy and horded power and concepts. He said that when Nyctelios had slain Miseria, Mother of Shivers, and Sisig, Keeper of Dreams, the concepts of fear and dreams were freed. They were no longer horded and kept by the gods. He wanted to free Nyctelios to have him destroy the rest of the gods so that these powers and concepts would no longer be horded and kept away from the people, doled out only on the whim of the gods.
His plan to draw the party to the Arcane Lock worked, but it turned out that what he really wanted was the Elder's Metatext from Ilbryen. He knew that anything written in the book would also appear in the book of Emone, The Knower. With the ritual and writing that the Arcane Lock was broken, he believed that he would release the Nyctelios.
As the party arrived, they saw that cultists were summoning creatures from Limbo and tried to weaken the Lock. They also found Rieta was there assisting him. Rieta used her magic to telekinetically draw the book from Ilbryen, placing it in Malthus's hands. The party fought the slaad and cultists and Bolvaic made it to Rieta and Malthus. In attempting to disrupt the ritual, Bolvaic grabbed Malthus and pulled the both of them down a deep chasm.
With just moments to react, Rieta used her telekinesis spell to grab Bolvaic and pull him from the chasm before he hit the ground. Rieta never wanted to fight the party and had believed that Malthus was going to convince them to help. She joined the party in putting an end to the ritual.
Malthus's body was found at the bottom of the deep chasm, broken and dead, the threat to the Arcane Lock gone.

Species

Tiefling

Year of Death

288 DR

Circumstances of Death

Died falling down a chasm while trying to free Nyctelios

Place of Death

Arcane Lock in the Gallymoore Mountains

Pronouns

He/Him

Gender

Male

Presentation

Masculine

Eyes

Yellow

Hair

Blue-black

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Red

Belief/Deity

Nyctelios

Aligned Organization

Bookhouse Society

Other Affiliations

• Eastbridge Trade Guild

Related Reports

• Interlude: Bronwyn and Rivariin Origins
• Party Downtime 01: Lairs and Travels and Werebears, oh my!
• Session 11: Deadly Hugs and Prickly Thorns
• Session 12: Crime or Punishment
• Session 13: Four and a Half Votes
• Session 40: 9 out of 10 Duel Commandments
• Session 41: Up on the Rooftop
• Session 42: The New Duke and Interludes
• Session 46: Those Who Would Lie to the Babysitters
• Session 50: The Liberation of Eastbridge, Part 2
• Session 51: I Know What You Did Last Winter
• Session 56: Ending With a Choice
• Session 57: We Choose Murder!
• Session 58: Chekhov's Bottomless Pit
• Session 59: Riding the Seaward