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Welcome to the boards, Wristyearth!
I'll admit, I'm not exactly certain what your first player is actually playing. I don't own any of the psionic books, so I have no idea what those rules look like. I'm sure someone else can answer that for you. I'm not also not sure how the party is already an average level of 6. Can you provide an example how you hand out XP?
Story, though, I can help with that! So, your characters have just finished the Catacombs of Wrath. It's true, there's no link there to Thistletop. That's because they found Tsuto's journal previously, and that had the clue that said Nualia's up at Thistletop, working at freeing Malfeshnekor.
But you're probably wanting more general ideas on how to make the story flow. Well, the most important thing you as a DM can do when running a published adventure is to be constantly rereading the story. Understand how the narrative flows. What event occurred in the past that is now happening in the present, and what evil plan are the heroes trying to stop in the future? And what clues can you lay down that will start having the PCs ask themselves "What's going to happen next?"
For example, now that they're finished with the Catacombs, what do they know? Well, there's some weird ruins under Sandpoint. That's new. They've been there for several thousand years, and the place barely has any wear and tear. There's strange spiky runes carved into the walls that most people can't read (unless they speak Thassilonian, and then they can). There's some powerful artifact that emanates incredibly strong necromantic power, and nobody's really sure what it is or how to turn it off. The place has a statue of an angry woman, who may or may not be revealed to be the last Runelord of Wrath.
That's the bits from the Catacombs that are important to the story at large, and hint that there's something big just lying under the surface in Varisia. The PCs will learn just what, and just how big as they continue onwards.
If you've got more questions, feel free to ask them here!
I'm currently running Rise of the Rune Lords, and it's a *spectacular* module, every single thing you need is there. My biggest piece of advice is read, READ, the module, don't just skim it. Read the background, and *all* the flavor text. It's up to you to sprinkle in plot points and foreshadow things, like [spoiler alert] Aldern Foxglove is a really big deal in chapter two.
Like you mentioned you didn't know what level they were supposed to be, but on page 11 of the module it says:
STARTING CHAPTER ONE: The player characters should begin as brand-new 1st-level adventurers (preferably with campaign traits selected from those provided in the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition Player's Guide; see page 7).
2ND LEVEL: The PCs should reach 2nd level after dealing with the situation in the Glassworks, just before they enter the Catacombs of Wrath.
3RD LEVEL: The PCs should reach 3rd level early in the exploration of Thistletop-or perhaps even at the climax of the Catacombs of Wrath .
CONCLUDING THE ADVENTURE: The PCs should reach 4th level by the conclusion of this chapter.
And it says on page 70 of the module what their next few levels should be.
I agree with Misroi, I don't know what those characters you described are, either; but the more adjectives you let your players throw in because it seems 'neat' the more problems you'll have. There's no logical reason why the people of Sandpoint should trust a couple of Drow, so you should address that in the narrative, which will be a good opportunity for both you and them to flesh out their characters and personalities.
Remember, as DM you not only have to know the story better than the players do, you have to know their characters better than they do, too, so that you create appropriately challenging situations. And if you find there is something about them that is too powerful for the encounters, buff them. If it's still too powerful, attack them with 10 NPCs patterned off of them.
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First of all, letting novices use non-core material is always kind dangerous.
I assume those drow players wanted to play drow "because Drow are cool". Yes, it's tempting, but as ecw1701 said, drow are known to be evil and there's no reason a pair of drow walking into Sandpoint wouldn't be seen as a threat.
Also, templates are a very good way of completely throwing a campaign out of balance, especially if you give your players a template for free.
What alignment are those drow? Keep in mind that non-evil drow are extremely rare and need a really good background story. In addition, psionics are quite rare, too. Now imagine how rare a non-evil drow psionic must be. Throw in the natural lycanthropy and you've got a one-in-a-million case.
Well, all that said, you can't really do anything about that if you don't want to restart the campaign. The damage is done, but that doesn't mean you can't do anything about it.
Races: Since the party has already completed the Catacombs of Wrath, they must have somehow convinced the town that they're not evil. Still, the enemies don't know that and might try to apply to your character's evil instincts and try to recruit them. A natural lycanthrope will be extremely interesting to worshippers of Lamashtu.
Of course, if they actually agree to ally themselves with the bad guys, the characters will just be pawns who will soon be sacrificed for the greater objective. (which means that would be the tragic ending of their career.)
Also, you might want to keep the lycanthrope one level behind the rest of the group. But first, inform the player that the next time you announce a level, he won't get to level up. If he doesn't want that, give him the option of removing all mechanical effects of his template, making it flavor only. Make it clear that he can't have both the mechanical benefits of a template and a full level.
Level: Inform your players that you made a mistake of having them level up too fast, which means they will now stay at that level for some time. Continue playing the AP with the level 6 characters until the AP actually says they get their 7th level.
Until the AP says they get their 6th level, adjust the encounters so they are still challenging to your players.
Keep in mind that you only have 3 players, so their APL is 1 less than their character level.
To be honest, the best advice I can think of is: restart the whole thing with run-of-the-mill characters, read the rules, read the adventure and start out slow. What you are trying there is like having a brand-new drivers licence and trying to navigate an 18-Wheeler through New York.
It does not sound as if you have fun gaming. Gaming should be fun for everyone involved, the GM included. If this is not the case, stop it. Honestly. It sounds like at least the one player is bossing you around.
For a new GM, stay at the core rules until you feel safe and comfortable with them. Starting with a lot of special rules and strange character options will get out of hand all the time. (And having a Drow Psionic/Cryptic natural Lycanthrope is not a sign for a "master roleplayer", quite the opposite - unless he meant "master powergamer").
Rise of the Runelords is a good campaign, and you will find tons of hints and help on these boards. But you will have to put some work into it. Now, you don´t need to read all 400-odd pages and memorize them. But read the grand storyarch, the chapter you are playing and perhaps the next, and you should be set.
But sorry, I don´t see a way to make that setup work at all.
Both Drow are Chaotic Evil.
The Lycanthrope fancies himself a master role player, so his toon had to be as complicated as possible. Combined with my reckless advancement track, the DR 10/Silver Has made him almost invincible. The only damage he has actually taken is 4 from Tsuto and 3 from one of two dire wolves I threw in JUST FOR HIM!
I let it slide because it was all supposed to be just for fun.
I didn't limit them to core content, mostly to add MORE variety to the game. In any fantasy game, if I can avoid it I NEVER play a human lol. but all play and no work has broken my game somewhat.As my players were eager to level up I pretty much handed out levels every other encounter or so. Though mostly after anything with a CR of 3 or more.
I want my players to stay interested more than anything but I need some stability. Not to mention that my narrative skills leave much to be desired. Again I became a DM out of necessity. As my Lycanthrope player also thinks he's a master DM.....As for advancement, today I found a guide that outlines about what level they should be at key points in the story.
In regards to backstory, I didn't put too much stress on it because I was just eager to actually play. Delaware apparently isn't a big RPG state because I only know 5 people who play, and we're few and far between. The only gaming event in the state is Inconsistent and over an hour drive away.
I agree with what the other guys said, especially that you are being bullied by a powergamer. Pen and Paper games are not, not MMOs. The power curve does get to be pretty crazy, aka playing rocket tag with gods...but it gets that way over time. It's not like WoW where you have to grind to high level so the game can actually begin; 99.5% of Pathfinder games don't make it north of level 17, and almost no one plays past 20.
So here is what I'd do if I was in your position:
1. Stop giving them level ups until they reach that point in the module. They should be level 6 after they finish Foxglove Manor, but before they leave for Magnimar. As I said in my previous post, it says on page 70 of the module what their next few levels should be.
2. Buff every single encounter over what is written in the module. Give the mobs max hitpoints, and double the number of them. Take bosses like Nualia and Malfeshnikor and buff the hell out of them. Take the improved versions of them that people have already created, or pick a much higher CR monster and just use their stats. It may say "Unseelie Manial Boar Wizard" in the bestiary, but mysteriously it just looks like Lyrie, the human wizard working for Nualia.
3. Give them an arch enemy. Create a Paladin werewolf hunter that's always 5 levels ahead of them with 1 or 2 mythic tiers. Create a Drow Noble Wizard/Cleric/Mystic Theurge that was a jilted lover one of the players left at the alter in the Underdark. Have her show up periodically and SMASH them without finishing them off, because she wants them to suffer like she did.
4. Above all else, remember your greatest power: The DM Hammer. A mold growing in Thistletop blocks their psionic powers because you say it does. The Goblins are all armed with silver weapons because Lamashtu spoke to them, warning them of a lyncanthrope who'd be attacking. Just remember the fun in these games is in the shared experience with friends; working together to overcome obstacles and achieve something, not *just* rolling the most dice...even though that part is fun, too.