*spoilers*
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I've got a new player in my campaign, who dropped in at the start of Prince of Redhand. She's playing a Cleric with the Wormhunter PrC. Now I'm worrying about the following thing:
Lashonna qualifies as a minion of Kyuss, right? So my Wormhunter will most probably realize that there is some minion of Kyuss at the feast. Well, she will be overwhelmed by that, due to Lashonna's high HD, but she will see the presence of a minion of Kyuss. I just don't want to imagine, what my players will do then.
Maybe they even find out that Lashonna is a minion of Kyuss, which migh make running the Library of Last Resort as written a bit difficult...
Has anyone of you experienced something like that?
Tobias
You could give her a "Ring of Mind-Shielding" and rule that it protects her against this kind of detection.
Bocklin
I see two possibilities.
One, the ability only allows you to sense the presence of Kyuss worms and creatures bearing the unmistakable aura of Kyuss' creation; creatures who are merely servants of Kyuss don't show up.
Two, Lashonna explains it away as being a wormhunter herself, or at least formerly wormtouched, and you rule that wormhunters show up on the wormhunter's detection ability.
I've thought about it. They might as well realize that Lashonna is a minion of Kyuss. Lashonna will just leave the party early in that case, so that the players don't get a chance to ruin the celebration.
In Library of Last Resort it will be Manzorian, not Lashonna, who tells them about the Library.
I'll have to think a little more about it, if that works...
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I'm sure that Lashonna has been keeping track of the party's doings from some time now (who exactly ruined the Champion's Belt gabit? Who killed Ilthane?). It would stand to reason that she would gather as much information about the party as she could, especially any newcomers.
Upon discovering said Wormhunter's presence, she could simply hide her connection to Ol' Worm-butt with nondection-type spells. That, or pull a Belker Bitterleaf and carry around a sheet of lead. :)
You know, I'll have to reread that section again. When I read it, I assumed that it meant it would detect creatures infested with Kyuss worms or that were somehow "connected" to Kyuss, not someone that was just allied to him. Heck, if that's the case, what about someone that helps out the cause, but doesn't really follow Kyuss, because their interests lie in the same direction, but they are banking on the Age of Worms not coming about . . .
Not a perfect solution, but nondetection reduces the chances of any divination effect working on either Lashonna or Mahuudril. But, hey, you don't want to nerf the cool ability of this prestige class too much. Just plan for it, set things up so that it's clear that the players need to cooperate with Lashonna, however distasteful and dangerous it is to do so.
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You could give her a "Ring of Mind-Shielding" and rule that it protects her against this kind of detection.
Bocklin
Or she could use a scroll of mind blank before the party. Her caster level is fairly high, so she shouldn't have a problem with it. I would go the scroll route to increase the intrigue going into Library of Last Resort. If your players are usually too trusting, it might help them out.
Also, have the other characters in the party use magic to enhance their features. I used that, and the warlock in the party wouldn't question the fact that there's magic surrounding Mahandruul and Lashona.
I had the same worries and I just finished this module. I made one major alteration to the adventure.
I decided that Lashonna was well aware of the PC's - who they were, what they stood for and more importantly what powers they had. This being the case, and recognizing one of the PC's could potentially detect her as a Kyuss minion I had her send a Simulacrum to the party that would not detect as a minion of Kyuss.
For me, the payoff for the players in discovering she is evil and working with Kyuss after doing her bidding, would bring far more enjoyment to the campaign than having the players find her out too early.
On the flip side, I did give them another opportunity (so as to not completey take it away). I decided when they met her in her manor it was the real Lashonna and if the PC used his power there then I would deal with it. Luckily, the PC didn't and they are now following her advice searching for Dragotha's phylactory.
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The adventure suggests that if the PCs "discover" her, you can have her say things along the line of "Who I am is irrelevant. The General of Kyuss' armies is much more a threat than I'll ever be. I am giving you a chance to strike at the heart of Kyuss, and you wasting time considering if one of his old love interest should be murdered in her own home? Yes, I have loved Kyuss with all my heart a millenia or two ago... perhaps part of me still loves him and wishes him to return. But I know one thing: I hate the abobination that is Dragotha, and will help you destroy it!"
If they still attack her, have her transform to her silver dragon shape. If they still attack her, have her destroy their puny too low level selves! :) muhahahah!
Presuming the character makes an attempt to use the detect minion ability at the banquet for Prince Zeech, most certainly Lashonna and Mahuudril would qualify as a "presence of the minions of Kyuss". However, there's an old trick I do with detect spells, particularly detect evil.
First, you might want to describe any sensory elements of the spellcasting or duration of the spell as being evident by, at least, those in the area of the spell. Perhaps with, say, detect evil, the PCs eyes glow white and light shoots from them in a sixty-foot cone. Now, this is most certainly a visual cue so that anyone around would likely be familiar with what is happening, maybe even without a Spellcraft check. (Consider how a paladin can use detect evil at will. Who's going to argue with the paladin about whether the guy the paladin says is evil is evil or not, because frankly, he's right.)
Now, consider how such a genuinely supernatural (or spell-like, I forget which it is) display would fly at a fancy-schmancy ball. Probably not. A DC 10 Knowledge (nobility)...perhaps...would be enough for the player to guess that such an action is frowned upon in social settings, and at such a reception, would get them the boot, immediately.
So, in short, using this strategy, you don't really take away the character's ability, just the role-playing application of it.