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At the end of Skinsaw, I handed the party a list of names entitled "Sihedron Sacrifices for The Master." No name dropping, no indication of who "the master" is, but the party knows that Xanesha was actually working for someone else.
I also changed the plot hook from Skinsaw to Hook Mountain: Xanesha and Lucretia corresponded via messenger ravens, and a raven arrived a couple of days after Xanesha's death that indicated that Xanesha had a "sister" in Turtleback Ferry whose plans "were both more subtle and more direct" than Xanesha's "little death cult just cutting people up." The letter included a line about "Master will be very pleased when I offer him the souls of an entire town!"
Which indicates that the BBEG has interests in multiple locations at once, AND is harvesting souls for some reason, which can't be good. And, that he's powerful enough to have at least two lamia matriarchs as servants!
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Throughout our campaign we the players made liberal use of speak with dead to question our deceased opponents about their backgrounds, goals, allies and so on. So, starting with a postmortem interrogation of Xanesha at the end of the second module, we learned of Special-K's existence, his location and a rough outline of his activities if not their ultimate purpose. The big picture grew clearer as questioning of the dead continued on with Lucretia, Barl Breakbones, Mokmurian and so on.
I'd be surprised to know that most groups didn't try this straightforward approach to learn what they needed to know.
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I also changed the plot hook from Skinsaw to Hook Mountain: Xanesha and Lucretia corresponded via messenger ravens, and a raven arrived a couple of days after Xanesha's death that indicated that Xanesha had a "sister" in Turtleback Ferry whose plans "were both more subtle and more direct" than Xanesha's "little death cult just cutting people up." The letter included a line about "Master will be very pleased when I offer him the souls of an entire town!"
I like this. Just curious, if the raven arrived a few days later, how did the PCs get a hold of it? Did they stay at the tower during that time or did they just "randomly" come across it?
I have been intending to use Lisa's letter, though I like your idea too, and it might help control the pace of the adventure a little more.
Gee-- I wish I'd seen Lisa's letter! Mine went very similar. I made mine a little more condescending, as if Lucretia didn't approve of Xanesha's plan, and thought her own far superior.
Sister Xanesha,
It has been some time since you have written me. I trust all is well? I must say that I hope you know what you’re doing, letting your little death cult do the actual harvesting. While I’m sure that you’re having lots of fun terrorizing people with very public murders, I will again say that it lacks the subtlety that Master prefers.
Here in Turtleback Ferry, my plans come to fruition. My plan is both more subtle and more direct than yours. Plus, what I’ve set into motion is both feeding on and magnifying the greed in these fools’ souls before harvesting. Master will be pleased when I offer him an entire town!
I expect to be finished here before winter is over. I will visit you in Magnimar when this phase of the plan is finished. Write soon to tell me of your progress.
Lucretia
As for timing, Lucretia sent the letter about a week after the party put an end to Xanesha, but it really had been a while since Xanesha had written. I figured that the messenger ravens take five days to travel the 400 miles between Turtleback Ferry and Magnimar.
My party is very lawful (the party leader is a paladin of Iomedae), and had made friendly contact with Magnimar's leadership, and had given a full report. They met General Odinburge at the reception that Lord-Mayor Grobaras threw for them after they'd defeated the Skinsaw Cult. Odinburge had guards monitor the raven roosts of both the clocktower and the sawmill, and found the letter just a couple of days after it arrived. He called the party together and sent them to investigate.
I wanted the party to have some downtime in Magnimar, and to run an unrelated side-quest, which is why I didn't have the letter among Xanesha's papers. My PCs have pretty much been immediately running after clues as soon as they find them.
It's actually been pretty helpful as a GM that the party seems to trust, respect, and be willing to work with/for the local political/military leaders. But they smelled a rat with Ironbriar very quickly!
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Karzoug was foreshadowed so heavily in the adventure as it was printed I don't know that it needs more. My players were picking up on it quickly:
1. Thistletop statues of Karzoug. And statues of Karzoug everywhere on the landscape of old Shalast.
2. The lingering message from Karzoug that plays on loop at Thistletop.
3. More Karzoug statues/faces at Skull's crossing.
4. Storval Stair.
5. Legends of Thassilon spoke of wizards of tremendous power. The players just sort of guessed that one of the Runelords was going to be the big bad, or else why have all of these ruins everywhere.
6. The uh ... the title sort of gave it away too. They were waiting for a Runelord to, y'know, rise.
Things that I added for more foreshadowing:
1. I had the ruins of a Bakrakhani Academy beneath Magnimar. In one room, as the PCs were trying to escape back to the surface, they had to complete an eight queens puzzle with eight statues and a chessboard. "Seven Runelords and the Emperor, their powers matched and complimentary, ruling the world in harmony." Or some such hint like that. Each statue had one of the Runelords, and the last was a stylized depiction of Xin himself.
2. At Skull's Crossing, the sorcerer used Tongues, a good bluff check, and the Hat of Disguise to try and pass as a troll and communicate with them. He really just wanted the Skulltaker tribe to kill the ogres for them, but I had the trolls ask questions and complain about the Ancient Lord that commanded the Ogres from his fortress. This was how they found out about Mokmurian, but the fact that Skull's crossing had still more Karzoug faces on it led to suspicions.
3. A ruined and half flooded scriptorium in some ruins the PCs were exploring. Everything followed Karzoug's strict instructions. His name coming up helped keep everyone aware, so when Mokmurian was slain they expected his master to show himself. "Giants can't be ancient lords".