Rethinking Foxglove's obsession

[EtsuElfRanger]

So my players are just finishing up Burnt Offerings and I am going to have a problem when we start Skinsaw Murders. I only had 2 pcs that really met Foxglove, a barbarian and an elf rogue. The barbarian's player hasn't really been able to play since then. And the elf was killed in Thistletop. So I'm kinda runnig short on pcs that bag contact with him. Our druid has seen him briefly but that's about it.

So I'm trying to come up with some options. One idea was to have aldern play up like the rogue has come back as an undead and assume his identity. Was also thinking about having him blame the druid for not saving the rogue.

So how bout the rest of you? I'm sure somebody has had this happen. How did you deal with it?

[LordRiffington]

We had one GM for the first book, then I took over for the second (I don't recommend this, best to stick to one GM per AP.)

In the first book, every single party member of the original party died. It technically wasn't a TPK, as we didn't all die at the same time, but by the time we got to Skinsaw, there were no characters alive that had met Foxglove. I ended up resurrecting the cleric of the party, as the player wanted to play that character again, and it allowed me to have someone there for Aldern to do his obsession thing with.

Wasn't the best I could possibly have done, but it worked.

[DmRrostarr]

I have not had this happen to me, but why not work the object of the affection be an object instead of a person. Perhaps a special item that the party picked up at loot and showed the people of Sandpoint and Aldern sees it and becomes obsessed. Yes it will take a little working, but I am sure it can be done without too much issue.....

[Old Drake]

Difficult; very difficult. It's one of those dangers of foreshadowing events, there's not really a lot you can do, especially as Burnt Offerings is already a done deal.

I think the best thing to do is to simply ignore any connection; Foxglove is pretty much insane, so he doesn't really need a reason to kill people in Sandpoint or elsewhere. And he could simply focus on the group as a whole because they are the most powerful group around; the only ones that could truly threaten him. Your choice if it's a desire to be killed/freed or a first step to gain control of the region (or at least start a reign of terror).
It will make finding him a bit tougher, but if the players have too much trouble a NPC could find some clues that the players can get told about. It should work well enough as a simple hunt the undead adventure. The party misses on the surprise of the gentle man turning into a monster, but it's hardly critical.

[Evan Whitefield]

Why not make the object of his obsession Nualia? Depending on how the pary disposed of her body you could even have her appear in Foxglove Manor as an advanced zombie or something.

[godsDMit]

Personally, I like your idea of Aldern blaming the Druid for not keeping the Rogue alive. Thats along the lines of what Id planned on doing since the beginning, just in case his obsession dies.

[Power Word Unzip]

Another option is to make Aldern's object of obsession an NPC that the PCs know well, such as Vinder's other daughter (the one who tries to seduce a PC in the cellar of the general store - her name escapes me) or perhaps the opera singer from Magnimar who is starring in "The Harpy's Curse" at Sandpoint Theatre.