For those GMs out there who enjoy cruel surprises, try this one for size:
Start with your average team of indeterminate celestials. No, it doesn't matter if they're angels or demons. That's why this setup should work so frighteningly well.
They're trotting along, see an opportunity for some useful freebie, and go for it. It doesn't matter what, so long as it's something that they'd be interested in; on-the-sly mobile phone service, valet parking, etc. As GM, you know your players. Throw them whatever you think they'd be interested in. And even angels will go for under-the-table guns if they have demons they want to shoot, but no roles to allow background checks.
Be only as fair as you have to be; some resonances and attunements will detect something amiss. This gag won't work unless they fall for it in some fashion or another.
Then suddenly, either immediately or after they've put it out of their minds, it goes sour. The police come pouring in all entrances and take whomever they can into custody. Yes, they walked into a 'sting' operation. Happens to the best of them. It may be on the level, or the police may have screwed up somewhere.
It's after the sting is spring that the fun *really* begins. After a little interrogation, some of the officers involved will want to let them go, and some of the others don't see why the first group has grown soft so fast. And in the background, there wi ll be hints of two celestials growing into a conflict of some sort.
WHAT'S=GOING=ON?=======
This is an age-old battle between two rather old Word-bound celestials. They've been at this for a long time, they sometimes work together because their Words mesh so nicely, and now that celestials have fallen into one of their traps, they're at odds whether to let them go, or to "prosecute to the fullest extent of the law." (And they're both very fond of that phrase).
Thyronias, who often uses the name "Theron" or "Tyrone" when Corporeal, is a Mercurian of Dominic. He furthered the cause of Judgement, and made a name for himself in Dominic's ranks, by bringing criminals to justice by using their own greed and vanity against them. In other words, the classic sting operation. While Seraphim can't always bear to hear him work, they can't deny his record of success.
He originally petitioned for the phrase "Crime Doesn't Pay," but after a certain amount of lecturing from Dominic and others of the Seraphim Council who thought that sounded too familiar, he accepted the word of The Folly of Crime.
The other player in this little drama is Gryphast, a Balseraph of Kobal, who understands that getting otherwise good people to laugh at the gullibility of others helps not only to contaminate them, but give them a false sense of pride at thinking they'll never be snookered in the same way, which hurts them worse when finally they *are*.
Gryphast is the Demon of Really Dumb Criminals. (And I quote. Don't forget the 'Really.' Someone else had the word of Dumb Criminals, but now he works for Gryphast. As a bootblack.)
And much as the two of them dislike each other, their words mesh beautifully and they know it. Thyronias has the support of Dominic (if not all of his trust) in this affair because criminals are brought to justice. Kobal is pleased with Gryphast's work in this affair because criminals are brought to ridicule and public humiliation for being gullible.
They rarely work directly together because they can't stand each other, but their servants (almost all of them police of some sort or another) are almost completely united in spirit: creating hoaxes to play on most criminals' low wills to bring them to justice. Whether it's sending notifications to deadbeat dads that they've won Superbowl tickets, or valet parking at the courthouse to trap drunk drivers, they enjoy what they do because a) it works, and b) they get a good laugh from it.
When celestials get trapped in it, though, that's another matter. Naturally Thyroniel will try to help out angels with commuted sentences and the like (though he will want to know why they were breaking the law, and may report it to Dominic), as Gryphast will try to help diabolicals who wandered into the wrong place at the right time (though he will take the time to have a good laugh from it).
That's when things between the two get interesting. Activity between the two factions will start to heat up. Ultimately, it could turn into just an innocent scare, or it could turn into a bizarre sort of bloodbath between camps. And whatever happens, the celestial PCs will be caught smack dab in the middle of it, having to fight their ways out, or duck their heads and weather the storm.
=VARIATIONS=============
Wordbound as Thyronias may be, he's still working with a demon, and Dominic considers him a fairly high-visibility target. He'll send triads to watch him, come by more often to see how he's doing, etc. What this means to any demons who fall for this is that there will be extra angels dropping by sometimes, and they gotta lay low.
Gryphast doesn't have it much easier. Asmodeus will occasionally catch wind of him working with an angel, and will send demons around to gather evidence. Even Asmodeus would laugh if Gryphast managed to slip up and get caught, especially on some stupid mistake. What this means to any angels who fall for this is that there will be extra demons dropping by sometimes, and they gotta lay low.
Though come to think of it... Dominic? Asmodeus? Hell, send 'em both in and watch everybody duck!
If there are enough of both factions there, the whole situation could melt down in a firestorm of bullets and Songs. Whoever it is that gets caught in the middle, be sure to show them a hot time...
--David http://home.bluecrab.org/~dwood
"Next week we'll be showing you how to pick up an architect, how to pull a prime minister, and how to have fun with a wholesale poulterer. But now the men of the Derbyshire Light Infantry entertain us with a precision display of bad temper." -Monty Python, episode 22
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