Malphas

The story of Malphas' vestige is one that binders familiar with Elven lore likely knew before they knew anything about binding. Malphas was a Sun Elf noble in the Feywild before the migration to the Material Plane. As a younger son he could not stand to inherit much of anything from his family and so he was pressured into joining a druidic fraternity, where he could ascend the ladder of nobility further on his own merit. He did so and soon became a model of elven traditionalism and the exact specimen of what nobility among the elves should be. He adopted the sigil of a white dove and became a vigilante of sorts, leaving dove feathers at the sites of places where he did good deeds in secret, letting the enigmatic nature of the whole thing add to his carefully curated persona.

He met another druid while he was praying one morning and the two hit it off immediately. She had the same sensibilities as he did, the same desire to change the world for the better. She lent an ear to his worries for several months, offering sympathies and then finally offered him an idea. It was a shame, she said, that Malphas could not enact his will on the entire kingdom. It would be possible to make the entire kingdom a better place, if only the corrupt nobles above him were gone. He thought on this and agreed, asking her what he could do about it and she gave him a solution that chilled him to the bone, but he hesitantly agreed. He continued placing white feathers upon the sites of his good deeds, which only increased in the following months, but now he placed bloodied black feathers on the corpses of dead nobles as well. Elven diviners eventually tracked down the source of their problems at the behest of the king, finding Malphas and chasing him down with their agents. He ran until he came back to a druidic enclave hidden in the trees where his love lived, intending to bring her away with him.

When he told her the story she was angry with him, she chastised him for being foolish and mocked him for his overbearing affection towards someone he knew so little. She revealed her true form to him, that of a drow, and then she was never seen again.

When the authorities finally found him he was dead, deceased from loss of spirit and a broken heart.

### Malphas After Death

Malphas went to the Nine Hells after death and his noble posturing led to his popularity with Asmodeus who promoted him up the ranks quickly. At an official capacity he is one of those responsible with ensuring that the Rabble of Devil-kin are properly kept in line. He returned to power but now the vestige of his former self still remains, an aspect of the devil that remains mostly un-touched by the Hells' influence.

### Summoning the Spirit of Malphas

Malphas' spirit appears suddenly in the form of a flock of white doves that suddenly burst into black feathers and coalesce into the form of a lithe and handsome elf clad in black feathered leathers- the mourning outfit of elven nobility. His feathered cloak is adorned with the heads of ravens and they shriek when he moves suddenly, so most of his movements are careful and deliberate. He has black eyes and black teeth and a snake-like black tongue flicks the air as he speaks and when he does his voice cracks constantly, to his great annoyance.

Those who bind to Malphas' vestige find themselves easily enamored with other people, falling in love too fast. If they reject them they simply move on to another the moment they show you the slightest kindness. They feel compelled to use poisons against their enemies. They also find that their teeth and tongue turn black.

### Abilities of Malphas' Vestige

Bird’s Eye Viewing: At will, you can summon a dove or a raven to aid your powers of observation. (Use the statistics for a raven regardless of the creature’s form.) The bird appears perched on your shoulder. You have complete control over its actions, and you can see what it sees and hear what it hears. Use the bird’s skill checks to determine the results of its actions and observations (for example, Bluff, Search, Spot, Listen), but use your skill bonuses to derive information from its observations. If you have the proficiency in arcana, you can use the bird to find magical traps so long as doing so doesn’t require it to manipulate an object. The bird cannot talk. You can have only one bird summoned at a time. It remains until you summon another dove or raven, mentally dismiss it (a standard action), or stop binding with Malphas.

Invisibility: As a full-round action, you can make yourself invisible (as with the invisibility spell). Making an attack ends the invisibility (as normal), but otherwise, the effect lasts a number of rounds equal to your effective binder level. You can invoke this ability as a standard action at 5th level, as a move action at 10th level, and as a swift action at 15th level. Once you return to visibility, you cannot use this ability again for 5 rounds.

Poison Use: You are not at risk of poisoning yourself when handling poison or applying it to a weapon.

Sudden Strike: With your melee attack, you deal an extra 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points per four effective binder levels. This extra damage applies to ranged attacks only if the opponent is within 30 feet. The extra damage from sudden strike stacks with that from sneak attack whenever both would apply to the same target.