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If you don't want to bring BBEG in, that's ok, although Wes and others greatly encourage it.
As for foreshadowing for TofB, at some point while the PCs are shopping/working/asking around town, randomly throw in how a group of travelers come in and mention how the Beast of Lepidstadt has finally been captured and is awaiting trial. This information will reach them before they get to Lepidstadt anyway, so it'll be fine to drop in wherever you'd like.
Combo that with a few wanted posters and that's more than enough to keep the foreshadowing heavy for the next book.
Broken Moon has one piece of good foreshadowing available: Auron Vrood. He's a powerful necromancer and one of the BBEG's second-in-commands. He is the direct catalyst for the first three book's events, but gets zero real face time until the big fight at the end of Broken Moon.
Have him be at the funeral, overlooking at a distance. Just as one of the PCs does a double-glance, he's gone again. Give a good description of his demanor and looks (tall, dark black cloaks with a glint of white on his chest- his torso is wrapped in bone), with a pale dark face and faint red eyes. Classic evil Necromancer madman.
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Now, if you DO decide to bring in the BBEG, play him the opposite- kind, good looking, likable. He's a pallbearer at the funeral, he goes to meet the Prof's daughter, offers his help, and then has to leave.
He then goes on to wrap up the Cult's activities in Lepidstadt, then helps the PCs in their dealings in the Courtroom.
Basically, he's a gentleman and of upper-class blood. He was a sincere and long-term friend of the Prof's, but they eventually started seeing things differently; BBEG saw it as a chance to increase the wealth and power of the nation, Prof says it's dangerous and to be studied afar, if at all. Kind of a re-hash of the Xavier/Magneto relationship.
BBEG is revealed in Broken Moon as being the confirmed baddie.
Just my thoughts.
Spoilers in this post, if no one has figured a foreshadowing thread will have spoilers.
So Vrood is all over books 1 and 2 by reference. Vesorianna's ghost describes him (staff, bone armor). His name shows up in the V&G ledgers as well, but the players won't recognize it without help.
I had a letter show up after the finished the Prison but before they left Ravengro thanking them for dealing with what had happened and blaming it all on a rogue element named Vrood. It was signed AA. Made some references to knowing the Professor too. Players seemed to take it well... now I wish I had printed it out and gave it to them so I could sneak peeks as to what I actually said (we game once every 4-6 weeks, so I tend to forget specific details of things I ad lib, heh).
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That's respectable.
Yeah, Vrood makes a great recurring baddie. He's just straight up evil, twisted to the core.
His pic in Book 3 is quite impressive.
As for as NPCs, you'll have the blubbering lawyer to help guide the PCs. He's useless in court and just cowers and mumbles, but he's intelligent and useful out of the courtroom.
The Crooked Kin are also intro'd before you get to the city, and although they technically don't really show up again, you're free to work them in if you'd like.
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If you don't want Adivion to be physically present at the funeral, you can have him send a note of condolences to Kendra. Here's the text that I used for such a note.
(Someone else wrote this and posted it in one of the Adivion Adrissant threads. I adapted it slightly for my purposes)
Allow me to present to you my warmest regards and deepest regrets upon the death of your father. Petros was a man of great insight, with a keen and enquiring mind. It was perhaps inevitable that it would be his curiosity that brought him low, for his questing ways led him to dark places, and what he lacked in prudence he more than compensated for in courage. Regardless, I shall remember him fondly as one who was almost a peer; as a man of intelligence, tempered but lightly by good sense.
My thoughts are with you, my dear. I trust the path you choose to tread in life shall be a safer one than that of your late father – indeed, I would insist upon it.
I may, from time to time, check on your well being and general welfare. Please accept this as payment of a debt that a tragic circumstance has imposed upon me.
With the greatest of respect,
Adivion Adrissant
If you want to foreshadow Trial of the Beast, you could also have a similar note arrive from Count Caromarc. He could easily be another of Lorrimor's old associates, especially since he lives near Lepidstadt/ Heck, from Broken Moon, you could have another note from Estovion Lozarov, or maybe from Rhakis Szadro of the Prince's Wolves.
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@ Trinite Thanks I was looking for that note. I have not read TotB yet, any chance you could whip a note from the count that will express his personality? Thanks for every thing.
Mathius
Hmm...that's a little tough...you can actually play the Count's personality a number of different ways. I'll give it a shot, though:
(This letter appears on expensive sheepskin parchment. Affixed to it is the seal of the Count of Vieland)
[knowledge (local) or (nobility) check to know something about his background as the deposed ruler of Vieland]
Ms. Lorrimor,
May I express my deepest condolences over the death of your father. Professor Lorrimor was one of the greatest scholars of his time. It was due to his expertise that I first consulted him on certain intellectual matters. But it was due to his wisdom, generosity, and kindness that I came to consider him a confidant and friend.
As a man who has known great loss, I sympathize with what you must be feeling. But I cannot give you any counsel in how to deal with your grief. Alas, your father was much more wise in those matters than I.
Nevertheless, I send my deepest sympathies to you in this season of grief.
With All Regard and Regret,
Alpon Caromarc
Count of Vieland