So the Whisper’s friends include someone who in combat is equal to 40 people, and demon who can presumably break normal people in half? Has anyone had to deal with that imbalance in scale in play, and what did you do?
One of my whispers picked Scurlock as his enemy, and he’s actually become the big bad the group is dealing with right now, and Setarra hasn’t come up yet. My other group’s whisper has Seterra as an enemy and Scurlock as just a normal ally, but again, neither has come up yet.
Sehtarra is a demon. Even if she is the Whisper’s “friend” every favor she does them is going to need to be paid back in very unsavory blood.
Scurlock’s asks may be different, but I don’t think they’ll be much more palatable.
The important thing about friends is to remember that they’re not just people who are standing around waiting to help you. You might not even necessarily be able to get ahold of them. And the more powerful they are, the less likely they are to have leisure to help you with your problems, and the bigger the favors they’re going to start asking you. Because after all, you wouldn’t want to disappoint your friend, would you?
Actually, my PCs got in a fight with Setarra last Sunday! Well, one of them did.
Said PC ended up accumulating a lot of stress and being smashed through a lot of walls, but it turned out more or less okay. Basically the fight just made everyone look like a badass. (Setarra for kicking the shit out of their tough guy pretty casually, and the tough guy for getting up and walking it off like it was no big deal.)
The other PCs used the time to work out a deal with Setarra’s boss and everyone walked away fine. (Well, Setarra and Oskar got eaten by a wolf demon about 15 minutes later… But they were fine when they walked away.)
Now, mechanically speaking, in order to keep Setarra looking badass without making her just ruin the PCs, I had her take the initiative and put the PC in the position of making reaction rolls to avoid consequence. I also offered two consequences with the choice to completely avoid one on a successful reaction (instead of just reducing it).
So, the PC had to chose between taking some serious harm, or never getting into a position where he could take the initiative. (Which was probably a good idea, because I don’t think he was in a position to actually harm her if he had the initiative, but I knew he wasn’t going to take the harm.)
Just give the powerful demons a weakness, like the pearl around the neck of a Chinese dragon. One wrong move and she could be toast.
The city is an ecosystem that seeks balance. If there’s a demon, then there are enemies for that demon; maybe spirit wardens with the proper gear and expertise for demon suppression, or spies of the city council that keep tabs, so the demon is cautious of acting rashly and provoking consequences.
Violence is so seldom the best solution to a problem. It is like an open wound in the city, and it provokes the city’s immune system to send clotting agents, and white blood cells to wipe out any infection. The harder violence pushes, the harder the status quo pushes back.
If the characters give up on subtlety, and go for the direct blunt-force approach, that doesn’t mean their enemies become similarly stupid. If they flaunt their power instead of using it more surgically, then it’s time for confidence games, networks of allies, and supernatural intervention to strip them of their ability to rile the waters. (Or try to, anyway.)
Their allies are probably conversant with these hidden (or obvious) checks and balances and if asked to cross certain lines will want worthwhile compensation for the heat they’ll attract.