You can always trust demons, right? Especially with the big stuff.
This is just a summary of a scenario I ran.
I used a character idea I think I found here about a clio who rode the WTC down and now has a major charge.
This guy wants to undo 9/11. He summoned a demon who promised to teach him a ritual that would do the trick. And who can’t trust a demon?
The ritual involves choosing three disasters that have similar themes. One must be the disaster that needs to be reversed. The clio made a cape of newspaper stories that told of the disasters, and circumnavigating the site of the disaster, and dumping a big charge.
The PCs get sucked along with the spellcaster.
In this case: He chose the Titanic, the Hindenberg,and WTC.
In each case the PCs would pop-in unnoticed as passengers. Once the PCs figured out wher they are, little motivation is needed. The point is, the disasters will now not happen, and the caster needs them to happen. Once they do happen, he gets a major charge to carry on to the next one.
On the Titanic, the caster disabled the radio man and the lookouts.
On the Hindenberg, he slashed fuel lines.
In the WTC, after the plane hit the tower (the disaster was not the plane crash, but the collapse) he used his major charge to make sure the tower fell (because “everyone knows” that buildings will fall if they take enough punishment).
After the tower collapses, the remaining PCs “pop” back to where they were when the whole thing started, and nothing changed. The ritual does not work. The demon lied.
My PCs promptly murdered the son-of-a-bitch.
Awesome, hkdharmon! Flashbacky goodness!
Boy howdy, “a demon taught me this ritual, and we’ll try it even though it may not work” is one of my favorite UA subplots.
My preferred version is “the ritual does something interesting and powerful, but totally not what the demon promised.” Usually that means “the ritual gives the demon something cool, like a permanent body or something.”