I don't know if having it happen during combat would be best, mostly because I fear it would get someone else's character killed, and then the fanbase would probably turn feral. Still, the idea of Fjord's powers publicly failing could be really appealing. It could be done as simply as having one of his illusions drop suddenly.
Having Fjord have to openly confess the full extent of his patrons torments, could be a great moment for the group as a whole. The character struggles with being emotionally vulnerable, and this would be a good way to bypass that.
This might be a little OT, so I'm sorry but I have a slight question about this. In a setting like D&D, where gods are real, and the soul and afterlives are known to exist, what moral value does a body have? Whatever makes a person a person has already left for whatever afterlife they have earned, and the body is just meat and bone. At worst it seems possibly disrespectful, but mostly seems like a morally neutral act, like bringing plants or earth or any other inanimate objects alive to fight your enemy.
I mean absolutely no disrespect, or to challenge how you are managing your game, it is more just a general moral question about how necromancy is regarded in these fantasy settings. I truly mean no offense, and am sorry it this question seems rude.
