Random idea that just ran through my head, for a plotline for some sort of Urban Fantasy game, that I'm not likely to run anytime soon, but don't want to just lose. In a nutshell:
The big bad is the Comte de St. Germain. (Not sure what his evil scheme is, and for the moment it doesn't matter. I tend to think of him as a villain due to first learning of him via the Continuum RPG, but I realize to many he's more like a mystical wiseman.)
His immortality is linked to a Stradivarius Violin he owns, in sort of a priceless musical instrument version of Picture of Dorian Gray. The PCs are hit with an ethical dilemma that in order to defeat their opposition they must destroy a ~$20,000,000+ musical instrument. It's a piece of great musical and cultural heritage, as only 650 Stradivarius instruments have survived to the current day.
And then, after you've given them ample opportunity to make that decision of whether or not to destroy this priceless artifact, you reveal that he's not alone. All 650 owners of such instruments are secretly the immortal rulers of the world. They're probably the Bavarian Illuminati as well, since we're clearly in some conspiracy-theory/trope domain here.
