You reach an ornate archway inscribed with letters from an ancient, forgotten language. Just beyond you can see the Chamber of Sealing, where you can return the accursed statue to its seal.

However, just as you're about to enter, you suddenly feel like that's the last thing you should ever do. Such a precious statue is surely worth a fortune, and who knows what grand magical secrets it conceals? One after the other, good reasons to keep the statue pop up intrusively into your head.

Then, the temple around you disintegrates as those reasons are given form. Each direction you turn shows you a new and grand possibility. A strange being appears before you, with no determinate age or gender. They speak with a soft strength, “Think carefully, brave champion, of what you might yet achieve.” They gesture outward, and your mind grows hazy as the Demon of Strife struggles to break free from its carved dragonstone chains.

A powerful demonic entity, trapped inside of a cursed object in the PCs' possession, strives to break free and resorts to magical temptations to turn the PCs against their quest. The details include an example for adapting an existing Opponent for use in a very different set of circumstances, potentially including upgrading a mini-boss to a boss.

This scenario is part of The Icon Curse Quick Adventure and has a number of narrative elements specific to that storyline. However, you can fairly easily modify these to adapt this scenario to a wide range of similar scenes.

This is a battle to the death; defeated PCs can spend 1 Karma at the start of their turns to regain 1/3 of their max WP, rounded up (and can take their full turn).

This Stage consists of a collection of false visions that tempt the PCs.

                   Vision of Glory
                 /                \
Vision of Wealth         –          Vision of Control

Vision of Wealth: As a Strategy, suffer -1 Skill to transfer WP to any ally (up to their max)
Vision of Glory: As a Strategy, suffer -1 Power to increase the Round Limit by 1
Vision of Control: As a Strategy, suffer -1 Mind to restore one Stat Track of any ally
4+ PCs: The above require Actions instead of Strategies

The Demon of Strife is a unique Opponent that's needed for story reasons. While various existing Opponents could be used with a bit of reflavoring, sometimes it's preferable to create an Opponent or heavily adjust one in order to best fit your needs.

The Demon of Strife is based on the Mystic. Additional text describes how to upgrade it to a boss for higher PC counts.

This Opponent uses Incantations, which is rare for them. However, it works much the same as in other scenarios (and as with a Magician).

• Demon of Strife

• Demon of Strife
• Spook

• Demon of Strife (boss upgrade)

• Demon of Strife (boss upgrade)
• Spook

• Demon of Strife (boss upgrade)
• Spook x2

PCs begin in a position according to their Profession. Demon of Strife starts in the position with the most PCs.

• Glory: Bard, Priest, Thespian
• Wealth: Merchant, Scoundrel, Agent
• Control: Dignitary, Magician, Occultist

Deckless Variant: The Demon of Strife's Charisma increases to 1d6. Whenever a PC attempts to utilize a special benefit of a position defined in a scenario's setup, the PC must win an opposed Charisma roll or the benefit is lost (including any play, such as a Strategy or Action, required to attempt it). This is necessary even if the Demon of Strife isn't in the same occupied position.

Compared to the Mystic, the Demon of Strife gains an Incant entry on Mind Fog. This helps it play multiple Actions consistently in mini-boss form and adds new incentives for PCs to deal damage to it in boss form. It gets a higher Damage dice since it now has to be incanted. Inner Turmoil is a renaming of Eyes of Charm with an equivalent Trait change. It also serves to start an Incantation for the Demon so that it doesn't have to choose between incanting or playing an Action (though this choice does still exist with Actions in its hand).

The Mystic's Reaction is inappropriate for an enemy designed as the sole target, so Twisted Logic is a completely new one. The Rebuttal entry is standard for typical level 2 Opponents, and the Special entry helps make up for its low Charisma score so it can move about the Stage. A Skill debuff adds some extra tactical considerations for the PCs, as they'll want to avoid reaching -5; consistent failed Actions (or over-reliance on auto-hits) can be quite dangerous.

Finally, Temptation's Whispers is a simple rename, and the boss upgrades use the standard boss mechanics (and double the WP, as bosses are worth 4 PCs compared to a mini-boss's 2).

Enemies will spread targets, trying to avoid hitting the same target multiple times in a round if possible; this overrides the Spook's otherwise random targeting. The Demon of Strife will rely on Twisted Logic to Move due to its poor Charisma, but it will still attempt to block PCs that seek to switch Visions, however futile the effort.

The PCs resist the Demon's foul temptations. They regain their senses, and the statue's voice becomes a meek and tired whine in the backs of their minds.

The PCs turn on each other. All but one are slain, with the victor being possessed by the Demon of Strife, who leaves the ruins to begin its heinous work…

More level 2 interaction scenarios