Maldar, the Magnificent

[MongoJerry]

Mephisto was pretty close to death, so I decided not to let Bremm Sparkfist bother me. I threw up Bone Prisons around me and let the Bone Spirits rip, Hydras be damned.



As the last Bone Prison around me fell, Mephisto died. I Bone Prisoned Sparkfist and ran around to Mephisto's body. Unfortunately, he hadn't dropped anything useful, so I picked up a couple of items that I could sell for good money at the shop, and jumped into the portal.

Maldar defeated Mephisto and picked up his soulstone. This was a great victory, but Maldar was too late to stop Diablo for Diablo had already entered the portal to gather his minions and prepare for an assault on the mortal realm. Maldar had no choice but to enter the portal to hell as well and vanquish Diablo before all was lost. Even Maldar, the Magnificent, shivered at the thought of making his way past the hordes of hell and battling a Prime Evil in his own realm. Was Maldar up to the task?

But wait! What about the figurine quest? The jade figurine never fell! The figurine quest has always been flaky. The figurine is always supposed to fall when the first boss or champion is killed in Act III, but there are several things that can mess this up (this list is as of 1.09 -- I haven't played multiplayer enough in 1.10s to know if these things are still true):

1. If the person who kills the first boss has already done the figurine quest, the figurine won't fall.

2. If your mercenary kills the boss, the figurine won't fall (I found this out the hard way).

3. If the boss drops another quest item, then the figurine won't fall. E.g., the figurine didn't drop when the Gidbinn boss (who dropped the Gidbinn) was killed and even though I had taken a break and restarted the game, it didn't fall when the first council boss (who dropped the flail) was killed.

These restrictions wouldn't be so bad, except that if the figurine doesn't drop with the first boss or champion killed, it will never drop! Therefore, the figurine didn't drop when the other council bosses were killed.

So I was in a quandary. Maldar is supposed to fulfill every quest, but he's also not supposed to kill any monsters unnecessarily. How could I reconcile these two things? I exited and restarted the game.

When Cain arrived at the Pandemonium Fortress, he had an urgent message for Maldar from Captain Meshif who urged Maldar to return to Kurast before making his way into hell. Maldar took the waypoint back to Kurast (which kind of makes you wonder why he couldn't have taken the waypoint from Lut Gholein to Kurast in the first place) and spoke with Meshif.

Meshif told Maldar that a group of monsters had come to the docks "and, uh, stolen" a jade figurine that was imbued with "powerful magic." A nervous looking Meshif said that if the figurine got into the hands of Diablo, it would be disastrous. If Maldar could get the figurine back, it would be the last piece of a "powerful item" that Maldar could use while he was in hell.

Maldar was suspicious of the nervous-looking Meshif but asked Meshif what the alleged thief looked like. "Uh, like an ape. A really massive one. Or it could've been a mosquito-like thing. You know, those big ones in the forest?"

"Well, which was it?" demanded Maldar. "An ape or a mosquito?"

"Uh, an ape," said a stuttering Meshif. "Definitely an ape."

"If you're lying to me," said Maldar menacingly.

"No, no, no," said Meshif. "I'm telling the truth!"



So Maldar ventured into the Spider Forest and soon came upon a pack of apes with one dominant ape who looked larger and stronger than the others. "If this ape doesn't have that figurine," said Maldar, "a certain ship captain will pay for this ape's life with his head."

Maldar killed the enormous ape, and did indeed find a jade figurine. Maldar returned to town and gave the figurine to Meshif.

"Praise you!" said a delighted Meshif. "That jade figurine will complete the set I was collecting."

"What did you say?" demanded an infuriated Maldar. "You had me kill an innocent ape just so that you could complete a figurine collection?" Maldar took out his wand and began an incantation.

"No, wait, please!" said Meshif. "I'll give you this statuette of a golden bird. I've had it for years, but I consider it a fair exchange."

Maldar glanced at the bird Meshif shoved into his arm. He then whipped his wand in the air and a white ball emerged from it's tip. The whimpering Meshif dove to the ground as the ball sailed by his head. The Bone Spirit struck Meshif's ship, gouging an enormous hole in its hull.

As Meshif's ship sank into Kurast's harbor, Maldar walked away saying, "Thanks for the bird."

Act 3 Quest Screen

Act 3 Waypoint Screen