I was watching tonight's 'X-Files', and the whole devil-worship thing of course got me looking at the whole ep in 'In Nomine' terms. Anyway, I came up with an interesting interpretation, and possible adventure seed...
A group of people in a semi-secluded New England town, members of the local school's faculty and coming from a long line of Infernal Soldiers, have drifted out of contact with theri demonic patrons, and allowed the practice of their dark religion to slip somewhat. The infernal Tether located in the nearby woods has fallen into disuse, although never really destroyed by the Host because of its low power and back-woods location. Rumors, however, persist about black magic among the locals.
A pair of half-drunk teenage guys and their girlfriends go out to the woods one night, to the Tether, with a cheezy demonic invocation ripped from a library book. They hope to simply scare the girls into their arms (and beds, if lucky), but the incantation at the Tether attracts the attention of a Balseraph, possibly the one who had supported the town's cultists in the past. She comes down to the Tether, ritually killing one of the boys and scaring off the other kids. She quickly assesses the situation, and decides the wayward Soldiers need to be dealt with. Harshly.
Assuming the Role of a substitute schoolteacher, she finds the class the remaining three kids have together (biology), gets the teacher out of the way by ruining his health, perhaps with a Song, and takes over the class, using her Band's Resonance to convince the faculty that she was hired.
At this time, local police are investigating the boy's death. (The GM may choose to write out FBI involvement if he feels it's unneccesary.) As they investigate, the Balseraph again uses her Resonance to implant false memories in one of the two girls, the daughter of one of the Soldiers, memories of ritual abuse, incest, and the sacrifice of the three chilren she bore. The detectives begin to investigate the father.
If the PC's do not interrupt her plans, the Balseraph will continue to press as the girl's mind, eventually driving her to suicide, perhaps using the scalpel she uses while making up the dissection project she missed because of her freak-out. This would put in in the classroom after school, where she would be alone, and in proximity to the Balseraph.
After that, the girl's father may confess his watered-down occult practices to the investigating officers. If so, he will be dealt with first. Any well-run Balseraph could have a multitude of means of killing him at her disposal; the GM need not stick with the methods from the show. Possibilities include attacking with an animal vessel, using her Resonance or the Song of Possesion to force another to do it, calling in Habbalah or Calabim, etc.
The rest of the Soldiers may be driven by fear to renew their practice, and placate the demon with a sacrifice. They may pick the investigating officers, or perhaps one of the other kids at the summoning. If they succeed in capturing them, the Balseraph may use the Song of Possession to cause one Soldier to kill the others in front of the cops, as seen in the episode, or drive each of them to suicide after killing them and leaving enough evidence to prove it was them, or simply destroying them herself whether they succeed or not. In any event, if the Balseraph's plans are unimpeded, the Soldiers will all be dead, as well as a few innocents. She may then attempt to establish a new group of Soldiers, and renew the strength of the Tether.
The PC's may be angels trying to destroy the Tether and perhaps redeem the wayward Satanists. Or they may be demons who serve a hostile Prince, and want to sieze the Tether for themselves, or maybe they want the Soldiers alive for their own use. Or, to make life really interesting, the PC's could be the Soldiers themselves!
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Elizabeth McCoy <arcangel@prismnet.com>
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