: Re: Plot devices for the climax of an adventure story Setting aside the specifics of my particular plot for a moment, I have need of plot inspiration: how do I set up an escape from a death

@YK4692630

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The best, most climactic climax is when it seems every single route of escape seems blocked and there is no hope, only to fire a well-hidden Chekov gun.

First, give the protagonist a geis. A weakness, a lasting, recurring problem, a burden to struggle against, that gradually becomes such an ingrained part of the character we just forget about it. It can be such a deeply ingrained phobia it causes completely irrational and disproportionate response. It can be a rare sickness with weird symptoms. It may be a curse of complex mechanisms broken when touched by that person. It may be a dire secret connected with a classic geis, that would bring doom to its bearer as soon as uttered out loud. Whatever it is, make it a burden, and NOT crucial to the plot, nor in any way centric to the antagonist and endgame - make it seem like a flavor, not a plot device.

Then design the multi-layered trap - with multiple ways out, each requiring the key, and the protagonist in possession of all, or most of the keys - and then every of them is "out of the game". All backup allies caught. All secret weapons confiscated. All tricky gadgets broken, used up, lost. Secret power words appear to be fakes. Apparently unlocked escape routes got re-locked. There is no hope.

Then the antagonist, taking it all away from the protagonist, triggers the geis. Say, they stole the secret from the mind of protagonist, and say it out loud, as in a "Well, interesting that..." manner. They contract the weird medical condition or it happens to thwart the key element of the trap. The phobia makes the character perform an act of strength they would be completely unable to perform normally. What until now was always a burden and never an advantage, turns out to be beneficial - and critical, possibly as the antagonist simply has no clue how to deal with it, or the "reflective" nature of the item makes whatever power, corruption, or other strength of the bearer act against them, manageable in protagonist's hands, destructive in the antagonist's.

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