Neel's comments: This is a short adventure seed for a group of angelic PCs. It is designed as a subthread or passing scene in a larger game, though it can easily work as a focal scenario, if the PCs are in a period of relative calm. For my own game, I altered Gabriel's dissonance condition slightly; an angel of Gabriel may not set aside working towards the punishment of the cruel for any longer than 3 days, but can take as long as needed to construct a perfect punishment. This doesn't have a direct impact, but it did affect a few of the stylistic choices. "And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble." --Exodus 15:7 Sections: The Teaser What's Going On Hooking In The PCs Continuations The NPCs 1. The Teaser The small man grabbed hold of the larger man's arms from behind, and pushed him to his knees with a casual grace that suggested he found the big man's strength to be entirely negligible. The big man cursed, and began to twist in the small man's grasp, but he stopped with a jerk when the woman stepped past the small man and ino the big man's field of view. The muscles in his arms went tight with the rigidity of terror, and his next words came out in choking gasps. "Oh, no, you're the one -- the one from the dreams! Oh man, oh man oh man..." His voice trailed off, and when the woman knelt in front of him, he turned his face away, towards the narrow brick walls of the alley, so he would not have to look at her. With cool force, the small man shifted his grip; with his left hand he grabbed the big man's shoulder, and with his right he grabbed his prisoner's hair and turned his head to face the woman. For a moment, there was no sound except for the big man's harsh, ragged breaths. Then the woman spoke. "Jered. I am here because you killed Moses Cohen." Her voice was very gentle, and full of love. At the sound of it, the big man began to sob. "It was an accident, I swear, oh please don't kill me!" The woman leaned close to the prisoner, and whispered so softly that the small man had to strain to hear. "It was not. Do not dirty your soul any further, before you go before the great Judge. His law is very clear: 'And if any mischef follow, then thou shalt give out life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.'" She extended her hand to touch the man's face, and there was a brilliant flash of light. A moment later, the small man dropped the scraps of coloth in his hands onto the pile of still-smoking ashes and bones in front of him. With a cool and distant approval the small man noted that tears were flowing down the woman's face. He extended a dusty hand to her, and she took it. The two left the alleyway, and the funeral pyre of the dead man. 2. What's Going On. Abner Cohen is a strictly observant Orthodox Jew. A few weeks ago, his son, Moses, was murdered, and the police were unable to track down the killers. In the profound grief that only a parent who has outlived his child can feel, he prayed that his son's killers know the justice of the Lord. His prayers were heard. Jehoash, a Seraph of Fire, and her companion, Zobah, an Elohite of War, were passing through the city when she understood who she was next to hunt. When Zobah investigated the people Jehoash felt compelled to punish, he discovered Moses Cohen, and the and the two angels decided that they had clearly been sent to answer the elder Cohen's prayers. Now, Jehoash and Zobah are finding Moses Cohen's killers, and killing them one by one. The murderers are a small gang of racist skinheads, ranging in age from their late teens to their early twenties. They had been out drinking when they ran into Moses, and in a drunken stupor they proceeded to beat they young man to death. The fact that one of their number is dying every few days has not escaped them, and they are becoming increasingly paranoid and terrified -- especially since the one who is next to die suffers terrible dreams in the days before they die. Zobah and Jehoash are investigating the dreams of their target before tehy proceed with each execution. For all their harshness, they retain a typical angelic kindness: in dreams, they confront each killer with the fact of his crime, and try to get him to repent before he is sent to meet his Maker. 3. Drawing in the PCs There are a number of ways the PCs could be drawn into the scenario. (I'm assuming that they are angels.) They could simply hear the disturbance. Zobah and Jehoash aren't making much of an effort to conceal their actions, and each human who dies at their hands will cause on the order of a 15-20 point disturbance. If Zobah and Jehoash can be replaced with a pair of NPC angels familiar to the PCs, then it's entirely possible that they'll simply tell the PCs what they are up to -- they don't see any problems with what they are doing, after all. It's possible that the PCs will find out through their mortal connections. If that tough homicide cop a PC knows talks about the mysterious burning deaths of known skinheads in the wake of the death of an Orthodox boy, well, it won't take much effort to realize something weird is up. 4. Continuations The PCs responses to Jehoash and Zobah's mission is quite likely to be unpredictable. What happens next is largely dependent on the personalities of the PCs -- their responses may range from horrified disgust to enthusiastic approval. It's possible that the PCs won't feel any impetus to act once they discover what is happening. If so, don't feel obligated to contrive things to make the PCs get involved. You'll probably get more mileage out of having things that don't involve the PCs going on in your game world, than you will out of forcing the players to acccept a story hook they don't want. Any angel who offers to help out Zobah and Jehoash will get a lot of thanks from Jehoash and a lot of instructions from Zobah. Here are some things that could reasonably happen. The two will ask any particularly persuasive angels, or any with soul-reading abilities (especially Malakim and Destiny angels) to help them with the task of trying to get the killers to repent before they are slain. This is not something Jehoash is at all good at, and Zobah knows his limitations in this regard. A successful conversion isn't going to stop them from executing the killers, though -- they believe that the murer has earned the skinheads the death penalty. More squeamish angels will be asked to talk to Abner Cohen, and make sure that he comes out okay -- it wouldn't do at all for him to lose his soul when God so obviously values him as to send angels to answer his prayers. Angels more understanding of human society might want to stage a coverup of what's going on. A series of skinheads burned to death in the wake of the death of a Jewish boy is going to set off some alarms in the minds of any competent homicide detective. Given that Jehoash and Zobah have no human ties, and no apparent connection to their victims, it's going to be real tough for the police to piece anything together. A smart angel won't leave that to chance, though. Zobah isn't stupid, but he hasn't really given much thought to this aspect; once it's necessity is explained, he'll be quite willing to make any reasonable changes in their procedure, if it will help. ("Reasonable" is defined here as "the skinheads still die, preferably at Jehoash's hands.") Jehoash will not be happy at the deception, but will go along grumpily once Zobah explains the necessity. The pair won't suggest this -- this is just not something that shows up on their mental radar. They are prudent enough not to kill in a too-public place, but that's about it. Getting Jehoash and Zobah to stop will be very hard. There are a few things that won't work at all, and a few that will work but cause lots of acrimony, and something off-beat, weird, and workable that your players will come up with. What won't work: Calling on J&Z's Superiors. Gabriel is not going to see any problem at all with what Jehoash and Zobah are doing. In fact, it's entirely possible that simply broaching the subject with her will cause her to manifest on Earth and lend Jehoash a helping hand. Michael won't be quite so sudden, but he's not likely to be at all sympathetic to pleas for mercy for the killers. Angelology named him a sthe patron angel of Israel and the guardian of the Jews for a reason -- and just because he like svaliant martyrs doesn't mean that he likes the people inflicting suffering upon the faithful. Talking things to death. Jehoash is on a deadline; she can't delay her punishments for more than three days without becoming dissonant. Actually, scratch that -- a brilliant ethical argument full of passion, truth, and careful reason can sway the two. But it had better be amazing: Jehoash can hear the insistent demand that the sinners know her fire, and will dismiss hair-splitting. What may work, but with bad aftereffects: If any PCs threaten violence to stop Jehoash and Zobah, they will back down -- but the PCs will have to mean it (an Elohite and a Seraph will be pretty good at calling bluffs). The two are not willing to start open warfare between angels of God. This is not a solution that will earn the PCs who do it many friends, though. Michael and Gabriel won't be happy at all when they find out. Dominic (if he finds out) will probably not be cool with angels bullying others, instead of calling on the Divine Inquisition, as they ought. Calling in the Divine Inquisition and accusing Jehoash and Zobah of recklessly endangering the secret of celestial activity on Earth will work, because it's true. The triad itself will be content with the PCs, if they have taken steps to ensure that the skinheads face temporal justice, and otherwise they will do it themselves, afterwards. It's quite likely that any PCs in the vicinity of the triad (especially the accusers and any sufficiently loud defenders of J&Z) will be assigned to gather evidence and in general do court-type stuff. Again, this won't please Michael and Gabriel, but it's probably better than the first tack. Getting the killers to face earthly justice, and getting Abner Cohen to forgive the killers, might or might not work, depending on how the PCs play it. This one really depends on how the roleplay goes. 5. The NPCs Jehosah, Seraph of Fire Zobah, Elohite of War Abner Cohen, Distraught Parent Jack Deerfield, Sample terrified punk

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