Disclaimer: If you are in a party with a swashbuckler named Eshoran, this probably isn't a good thread for you. Spoilers of a specific nature abound.
So our glorious saurian overlord mentioned somewhere on the GM Reference threads (I believe it was the one for Hell's Bright Shadow) that he intended to have more Nidal content, but ended up cutting it for space and focus in the AP. There's a rumor in the first book of the AP which alludes to an affair between the High Priest of Asmodeaus and the High Priestess of Zon-Kuthon, but it never goes anywhere. There's another rumor that the Shadowsquare is abandoned (which is true).
My party was quickly interested in looting the abandoned Shadowsquare, but for reasons of repeated grievous defeat by Nox put the idea on the backburner. Originally I planned to have the Shadowsquare abandoned save for a few traps and undead guardians left behind, but I've decided that the place is not abandoned at all, but another center of power for Barzillai.
Throughout book 2 I've tried to play up the Nidalese elements, involving Shae, Shadows, and a reprise from a certain Kyton. I've made efforts to introduce all the big name villains from the 4th Book (where I intend to stop the AP) and for various reasons Aluceda's role has been pretty significantly expanded.
But to the crux of the issue, I've changed things so that Barzillai and Friends have opened a gate to the Plane of Shadow and are using it to funnel additional reinforcements and resources to Kintargo in secret, crossing the Plane of Shadow from Nidal to Cheliax. I've already set plot hooks in motion that should give the Silver Ravens a reason to investigate the "abandoned" temple, and confront the threat there. Revelation of the planar gate (even if not verified) to seriously undermine Barzillai's authority, being that Nidal and Chelish are such uneasy and untrusting allies.
I don't plan for the party to fight Aluceda there (saving her for the 4th book) but they might fight the previous lord mayor as the final encounter- instead of having her in the opera house. I'm wondering what other sorts of encounters would be interesting/fun (as well as CR appropriate) and if anyone has thoughts on how to flesh out the shadowsquare since it isn't given much detail in the AP.
I do realize that this mission might distract from the regional focus on the AP, but I'm not sure that I want to save it for book 4 which is so full of content as it is.
I may greatly simplify the encounter in Vyre (or more likely complicate it with more skinsaw cultist involvement), but my PC's are already over level and wealth as it is, so I'm not particularly worried about them getting more XP than they should.
Anyway, thoughts?
Do you mean the Nidalese embassy? Shadowsquare itself (the temple to Zon-Kuthon) isn't abandoned, I don't think.
Seems to me it would be pretty neat to encounter the previous lord-mayor there, so the party gets to do more than just stake her and move on if the devil doesn't summon her to the fight in book 3 quickly enough. (I ended up bringing her in early because I wanted her to actually do something.) So having her as the boss for this area might be cool.
I like the idea of having a portal for them to deal with.
Maybe add some fetchling minions to the temple? I added a mini-mission involving fetchlings (the Flowershop gang) to my game, and they were a lot of fun. (Fighting fetchling rogues in a darkened warehouse = ouch.)
And take a look at the shadow creature template, if you haven't already (see also shadow lord, a stronger version).
Shadow mastiffs are also fun.
I also had the Flowershop Crew show up, but the PC's have basically consolidated all the gangs of old Kintargo to their allegiance or driven them out.
I don't want crazy with templates, but both are very tempting options. Shadow Mastiffs are thematically appropriate and good filler minions of a party of 8 or 9.
Jillia could still be summoned to the Masquerade if the party opts not to investigate the Shadowsquare. And the party would have to contend with it in book 4.
For some reason I was assuming that the Nidalese Embassy and Shadowsquare were the same. It's too late now not to roll with it, but in retrospect they had rules for utilizing the temple's services.
I've considered that closing portal requires a short jaunt on the plane a shadow, though that might be too much?
Eh, if they're one and the same in your game, that still works fine. Just means they probably closed up the temple for awhile in order to make this portal. I just wanted to check that I wasn't missing something myself, since I didn't remember it being closed.
I think a short jaunt to the Plane of Shadow could be fun, especially since it's described as a warped version of the Material Plane. Exploring Shadow Kintargo would be pretty cool. :-)