Welcome to Part XV of my Icewind Dale walkthrough; this part covering Malavon's Dome and Malavon Despana.
Malavon's base of operations is a glass-domed building located in the Artisan's District of Lower Dorn's Deep. This district was where the smiths, gemcutters and stonemasons lived and worked in the days of Dorn. In numbers of 18 and 16, the approach to the dome is guarded by blind minotaurs and an enemy Malavon is currently busy manufacturing in his dome: the umber hulk.
Note the Pale Justice location:
Malavon's Umber Hulks
At the risk of repeating myself, umber hulk gaze inflicts Confusion on victims that fail their save vs. Spells, lack MR or are not mind-shielded (Chaotic Commands, Mind Blank, Potion of Clarity). Why does Confusion suck so much? Because combat units so-affected either run around like idiots, stand there doing nothing, get themselves killed or - worst of all - turn on the party. Imagine that AC -19/ApR 10 tank of ours suddenly switching sides to wave their weapon at us? Hate.
Unlike with BG2 umber hulks, IWD umber hulks pulsate round-by-round Confusion even when they don't know we're there. Thus, under the effects of stealth or Invisibility we can still be adversely affected.
Newbies may like to scout the place out first - under the effects of stealth or Invisibility - disarming any petrification-inflicting unseeing eye traps (TDD 90/TRD 90) as they mark the location of the beasts. Veterans, however, will most likely prefer to just ward themselves with mindshield, aggro the beasts area-wide, and then employ their arcane AoE of choice to annihilate them in one big pack.
In the following example, we lure a mega-mob together, immobilize it with Web, and then drop Cloudkill. The result? One dozen insta-dead minotaurs. The dozen or so umber hulks were slain by virtue of Cloudkill's damage-over-time plume of poison.
Malavon Despana
Having swept the streets clean of trash we now enter the dome to face off against the most formidable of Poquelin's lieutenants: the drow sorcerer, Malavon Despana (quick overview).
Myco-hulk Pods
The deep gnome slaves are tending to Malavon's mushroom colonies and myco-hulk pods (capsules in which the umber hulks are grown).
However, under the effect of Invisibility, we can see that Malavon is hiding behind a group of slaves in his throne room. Not only that, but he is also flanked by two iron golems and four umber hulks.
Malavon isn't much of a talker. This is the lengthiest dialogue we can get out of him, which doesn't really reveal much other than his lunacy:
It doesn't matter what we say or do: Malavon commands his golems to eject their poison-plumes, thereby insta-slaying the deep gnome slaves. He is then scripted to retreat to his throne, where he turns back around to face the party in order to unleash Fireball and Haste followed by max Magic Missile x4.
The iron golems can be problematic in that they sport immunity to magic, the elements, mind-affecting and immobilization (with the notable exception of on-hit hammering) as well as weapon enchantments of 2 points and lower. Not only that, but their fists hit for a max of 40 damage at 2 ApR.
Malavon's Simulacrum
Once cut down, we discover why Malavon was so squishy and useless: it was only a simulacrum.
(cf. Saablic in Upper Dorn's Deep.)
So begins phase two of the best battle in IWD:
Wisely pre-buffed with Stoneskin, Mirror Image and Globe of Invulnerability, the real Malavon opens proceedings by unleashing a custom AoE spell called Malavon's Corrosive Fog.
A highly mobile caster similar to Davaeorn BG1, Malavon then teleports about his dome (Dimension Door), blanketing three of its platforms with both Web and Cloudkill.
Next, he retires to his sanctum in order to summon meatshields by casting Monster Summoning VI followed by Conjure Earth Elemental x2.
Then, he casts another custom spell called Malavon's Rage x2 and eventually exhausts his repertoire after unleashing Flesh to Stone x3, Dire Charm x3, Finger of Death x2, Slow, Icelance, Cone of Cold and Magic Missile x4. That said, he's usually dead before he unleashes that last barrage (see below).
As is clear from his extensive repertoire, the battle against Malavon can be quite difficult. From its eastern to western wing, the dome is seething with noxious clouds, fogs and webs, potentially hindering party mobility.
There is no "easy kill" on Malavon and Web cannot be employed due to his GoI ward. His spells also cannot be disrupted due to GoI also warding against Magic Missile (which brings down Mirror Image quickly). Besides, as a high level drow he sports 86% MR and we have no way to nerf that. However, Hasted, the collective ApR of physical-based damage dealers usually does the trick: we just lock on and watch our warriors automatically pursue the drow about his dome, burning through his Stoneskin and Mirror Image as they go. In this way, the drow usually drops like a sack of potatoes.
Malavon's death yields a wholesome 50,000 kXP, and acquiring Malavon's Badge yields a whopping 337,500 qXP.
• Disappointing omission. Notably, "command words" for the golems were omitted from the game. These could potentially have saved the slaves. With an Intelligence score equal to or greater than 16, it was supposed to be possible to utter "Kalam, Met" and command the golems to turn on Malavon; with a score in the range of 9-15, it was supposed to be possible to utter "Met" and temporarily shut down the golems; and with a score of less than 9, it was supposed to be possible to utter "Stam" and have the golems attack the party.
• Poor design. In an attempt to save the slaves from being gassed, I tried crit-backstabbing Malavon's simulacrum, pre-dialogue. However, this locks up the game because the dialogue is still triggered but there is no Malavon. This greys out not just the portrait bar but also the left sidepanel, preventing even a reload [IWD1 Bug].
This means we have to alt-tab out of the game and shut it down through the Task Manager. Piss-poor design by Black Isle, right there. Seriously, what nonsense. There is no reason why an instant-slay could not have bypassed the dialogue and spawned his real form in the other chamber.
Anyway, we now have our fifth badge. Just one more to go.
Oil of Null Effect Location
With the oil of null effect and seeds found in the dome, we can free Ginafae and restore the arboretum in the Severed Hand (438,000 XP).
No fewer than 16 arcane spell scrolls are itemized in the Artisan's District and Malavon's Dome. The standouts are undoubtedly Tenser's Transformation and Mordenkainen's Sword.
The other spells are:
These last three spells can only be cast from a scroll in 1.06. In other words, once. They are more useful in IWD 1.42/HoW.
Remember that IWD is non-linear upon our arrival in Wyrm's Tooth. Thus, if we bee-line from there to Malavon's Dome, and then employ stealth or Invisibility within the dome, it is possible to loot Malavon's sanctum of all of these spells - unbeknownst to him - (except for Malavon's Rage, which can only be looted from his corpse) and potentially get more use out of them or put them to better use.
The only weapon of note is Pale Justice. This holy avenger is only itemized if there is a Paladin in the party upon entry to the Artisan's District. Pale Justice is covered in my holy avenger comparison.
- Experience points: 218,000 kXP + 337,500 qXP = 775,500 total XP (6,171,796)
- Killcount: 43 (1569)
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