As a birthday gift, one of my players got me a commission of one of my favorite moments so far of the Horror on the Orient Express campaign I've been running: The destruction of the Blood Red Fez.
My players had succeeded in getting the Fez during the train ride over to Constantinople, as well as the spell book detailing how it worked and all its powers. So they decided it would be best to destroy the Fez as soon as possible even before meeting Nissra's men for the hostage exchange.
The player wearing the Fez failed the roll and asked to push it. Problem was the POW cost from pushing the roll (since pushing a failed spell requires you to pay several times the original cost) would kill him. I told him he could push it, but regardless of whether he succeeded or failed, it would kill him. He accepted the terms and made the roll (just barely), the Fez melting and burning through the top of his head while the rest of the party could only look on in horror.
The party was a mix of the pre-made characters for the chapter and original ones. The character who sacrificed himself was archaeologist Professor Harold Worth. The party members standing around the body are, from left, carriage driver Marion Knaggs, American cattle rancher Clayton Moore, British military officer Captain Roderick Barrington and Turkish historian Dr. Kasim Polat. Not pictured is British criminal George Banks, who was in bed healing up when this happened and didn't take part in or witness the ritual.