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I'm trying to tie two plotlines together but I'm having trouble with one detail: what might a succubus be doing that a worshipper of the Demon Lord Cyth-V'sug would want to stop? Demons aren't known for unity so I figure it wouldn't take a whole lot for them to be in opposition, but I think it would take something.
Constraints:
1) The succubus is impersonating a particular noblewoman.
2) The worshipper of Cyth-V'sug has summoned a Fungus Queen who is based in a small underground complex under the wealthy district in town.
3) Vegepygmies controlled by the Fungus Queen have encroached on a druidic shrine in the gardens within the wealthy district (which may be intentional or unintentional).
I'm thinking the crown prince might be involved since if the succubus were to kill or control him it would cause a huge amount of chaos and suffering. But I'm not sure what would motivate the worshipper of Cyth-V'sug to stop that (and some other succubus plot would work fine, that's just the obvious).
Somehow, the succubus has found out about the tainted fungus. Disguised as the noblewoman, she plans on going out and collecting the tainted fungus for herself. Maybe she plans on using it to poison the crown prince, or maybe she has her own mischievous plans (or perhaps she just wants to prevent Cyth-V'sug from gaining any more power). Either way, this would certainly be cause for any of his worshipers to spring into action to prevent the succubus/noblewoman from disturbing the fungus.
Given that human followers of Cyth-V'sug aren't really big on organizations or coordination and are almost entirely about spreading fungus, almost any plot the succubus could have involving humans up to and including simple damnation would be orthogonal at best to the goals of such followers.
If you wanted it to be something relatively simple, then perhaps in this case the succubus has been responsible for a mysterious "sickness" that has claimed the lives (and souls) of a number of locals just because it is her nature to do so, completely aside from any other long-range plans she might or might not have. The noble lord who owns the land the druidic shrine sits upon is currently suffering from this "sickness" (i.e., he's gained a few negative levels). The cultist is justifiably worried that the noble's heir, a strong devotee of a non-druidic faith, will destroy or repurpose the shrine if he or she inherits, thereby inadvertently thwarting the holy will of Cyth-V'sug. Hence, the succubus (whose nature has been revealed to the cultist by his Abyssal patron) has got to go.
Building on Zog's idea:
The mysterious illness has been wrongly blamed upon the new infestation of fungus/mushrooms that has been creeping slowly throughout the sewers of City X. To begin fighting the illness, the local church of Faith Y has been sending expeditions to erradicate the fungal infestation, thus impacting Cyth-V'sug's plans.
The Funglord is none too pleased with the gains his cult were making being so rudely destroyed, and through the demonic grapevine discovers said succubus operating in his territory or whatever.
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Thanks, that helps a lot. I'd been thinking about major opposing goals and it hadn't occurred to me that the succubus inadvertently getting in the fungus cult's way.
It makes sense that the druid shrine would be significant territory. I stuck the fungus there for convenience, but the shrine has the effect of enhancing nearby growth, which means that the cultist would be motivated to defend it. The inheritance issue doesn't quite fit, though - the area is designated as a space of worship for a small local druidic circle (the cultist is not currently a member but may be an ex-member) and it would take more than a nobleman's death to change that.
Blaming illness on toxic fungus might work. There was recently a spot of arsenic poisoning that was passed off as cholera and I could see people making the reverse error.
Do you think I'd need to foreshadow a mysterious illness? I don't have a whole lot of time to build this up. They're going to find the fungus queen next session.
If you are planning on them killing the Fungus Queen next session then the illness thing might not work. However, if you are planning on them only encountering it, then the foreshadowing would work, not to mention it would add to the argument that the illness is fungus related due to the players possibly jumping to the conclusion that the two are related.
That way the Fungus God would not only have a reason to go after the succubus, but now it places the Players in his sights for going around spreading the word of the Fungus Queen being responsible for the illness and needing to hunt it down.
It would be entirely reasonable to just say those 2 demons don't like each other. So they are trying to ruin the other's schemes just out of petty spite.
Perhaps the succubus seduced and/or killed someone important to the other's plans, and now revenge is onthe menu?
Savior70's idea is a good one. You could even say that the fungus spreading through the sewers IS, in fact, harmful to humans in some degreee (you'd rather expect as much from anything connected to a demon cult). Thus, the succubus could be using the real danger of the fungus to take the blame for the deaths for which she is responsible and the cultist would be eager to shut this mouthy noble up and change the subject to just about anything else, possibly trying to reveal her as the "true" threat in the process.
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I don't think I can set up a large-scale mysterious disease, but how about this:
The succubus is impersonating the noblewoman in order to position herself for a significant strike (either killing the prince or a number of carefully-chosen nobles). She's trying to keep a low profile but her plans are taking a while to develop and she gets bored and "sickens" or kills a few people - not enough to attract a huge amount of attention yet, but there's a bit of talk and she realizes that this is dangerous.
She spots part of the cultist's fungus garden in the area around the shrine and identifies a number of innocuous but toxic mushrooms. Seeing a chance to deflect attention away from her and cause more mayhem at the same time, she introduces these mushrooms to a number of private gardens and kitchens, including all of the households she's already killed in. When the handful of illnesses "intensifies" into an outbreak the mushrooms are identified.
Cyth-V'sug warns his cultist, who summons the fungus queen as the succubus puts her plan into motion.
The PCs hear the news of the "outbreak of toxic fungus" just in time to run into the fungus queen. Depending on how that goes they may confront the cultist next or he may try to point the PCs at the succubus instead.