It is time for a big climactic battle. The setup:
– The demon Ornix walks the earth, reborn in unstoppable mortal form. The ley lines in the city were taken down as a result, and are being restored by the PCs to cage him in allowing for him to permanently die if his essence has no where to escape to – one remains.
– The feds (“Black Badge Division”, thanks Wynnona Earp) and some old world watchers (“The Oci”) have been brought together through PC action, to begin work on a massive banishment ritual
– Ornix doesn’t care about the mortal plane, he just wants vengeance against a faerie king, the Fae’s monarch, and is seeking the Fae to open a portal to the fae lands.
– The Fae personally, privately, summoned Azazel, another prince who hates Ornix, to the mortal plane – it was ghastly and definitely would have been “veiled” in other company, but it worked well here. He’s personally grossed out by Azazel now, but still wants him to help kill Ornix
– A trap has been set for Ornix, drawing him to where the Fae will be. The Fae has privately called Azazel for the same meetup. A local wolf pack (antagonists for most of the game) have been persuaded to keep Ornix’s underlings mostly at bay. The Wizard has the tools to restore the final ley line and complete the cage at any moment.
– The Fae has his own private goal of closing off the fae lands for good in this area, and is working with local terrain and weather spirits to help. The last requirement is to leech some of Ornix’s power to close it off for good, but he has to get close enough to shove the metal spike that the Veteran created into him
And this all goes down next session. I have some clocks, all interestingly tied up quite well. What I want to do is make some custom moves, obstacles, and things like that, that each risk ticking a clock, or preventing a tick.
So I need some ideas and help here to mechanically and thematically make this battle interesting. What obstacles will the banishment spell face? How will Azazel continue to build power to fight Ornix, assuming he still wants to? What will stop the Fae or the Wizard from completing their tasks?
Help me brainstorm, plussers
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I like the idea of Ornix having the upper hand in the fight with Azazel. but as the banishment spell gets close to expenditure ornix must sacrifice some of his power to delay the spell. [mechanically he lowers his power to also lower the black badges] This puts him on even footing with Azazel and maybe eventually underpowered.
The catch is the FBI weren’t ready for this long of a ritual, and their mortal bodies begin to fail them as the spell continues. Can the PCs find a way to bolster the spell?
I don’t know what the faerie clock is for… Is that the plot to seal the land forever? As far as getting close to the demon and striking hard enough to pierce his hide… You can just have like wind bursts making it a physical challenge. Or you can make Ornix have omnipresent awareness. That if they see you coming they can stop you so the PCs must find a way to create a distraction in order to get close.
Azazel seems like a bad dude. If this is the climax I would have him gather power by decimating the neighborhoods they’ve been protecting. Are the PCs willing to sacrifice their city to see this demon win?
As far as custom moves eh i’m unsure as of right now.
All good stuff. Yes “faerie power” was the strength of the Fae’s magic to seal the realm.
I love the idea of Ornix dropping power to delay the ritual. Also of Azazel killing “good guys” to gain power.
Good stuff!
And fin.
It ended with the Wizard foisting his power onto Azazel so Azazel could rip through Ornix’s legions. The Fae, as fae are wont to do, offered Ornix a deal – marry him and together they can fight his father. Ornix countered, saying that Azazel must die first. The Fae took the opportunity to shove a spike into Ornix (to leech his power) and then took a beating as he Escaped.
The Black Badge and Oci were wrecked, despite the Aware’s help. But at the last moment, the Aware sealed the last ley line, as the Fae inverted his ritual – instead of sealing off the fae lands, he pulled the local area into them. Ornix, Azazel, and all of Ornix’s troops were pulled into the fae and the city was saved.
But now Azazel, after killing and consuming his power, wreaks havoc across the fae lands and the Fae must return to his hated father in order to team up and save their world.
The Aware hit his last corruption during this, and had an ongoing deal with the loa Baron Samedhi. The Baron was not happy about the Fae stealing a whole bunch of souls for which only he can give permission to cross the realms to. So the Aware became his agent – going into the fae lands to kidnap souls from there until the balance was achieved.
The Wizard ended with a relatively normal life. She returned to veterinary school and lived out her days in peace.