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Don't you hate seeing the bad guys just hunkering down in their lairs, waiting nd waiting for the PCs to come and root them out? Don't you yearn for the Evil Geniuses amongst them to get proactive and take the fight to the PCs?
Sure, she's not high enough level to actually cast scrying off her own spell list, but what if she had a scroll of scrying and could find Tsuto languishing away in the guardhouse cell, under relatively lax guard (the PCs had alerted the town to Tsuto's plan for a goblin attack, Hemlock is away getting reinforcements and all available hands are manning the Sandpoint gatehouses).
So Lyrie and Orik slip into Sandpoint, careful to arouse suspicions, free Tsuto with a few judiciously places ghost sounds, illusions and an invisibility spell, and then go to hang out at the Rusty Dragon where they manage to let the PCs overhear them talking about Thassilonian ruins. Their goal: get the PCs off on a wild goose hunt where maybe some of them will get killed.
I'm eager to hear about what other pro-active Bad Guy tactics y'all have thrown at the players in your RotRL campaigns. This kind of stuff makes the campaign really come alive, monsters are far less static when they are going about their *own* plans while the PCs are plotting and scheming.
One nit-pick with that idea: the Skinsaw cult is not active in Sandpoint (aside from the Skinsaw Man himself). But she could be one of the many captives taken by the giants (particularly if the party is slow/unobservant and doesn't get back to Sandpoint in time to organise a proper defence).
If Erylium realises that "her kingdom" is under attack, she might be more pro-active. After Koruvus was taken down, the party (my second group of players) retreated up to the surface - but didn't take care of the pit zombies before doing so. So I had Erylium and her sinspawn get the zombies out of the pits and use them in defence of the actual temple. (The contents of Erylium's "spellbook" wren are not elaborated upon in the adventure, so I just made the assumption that she had the resources to do this.) This forced the party to make three separate attacks on the temple as they whittled down her minions. That plus her Cause Fear, Rays of Enfeeblement, and Summon Monster really made them hate that quasit. They finally killed her with great glee. :)
If Erylium's reduced to 5 hp or less, she's supposed to flee the combat and come back later. I decided that if her allies were killed/destroyed at that point, then she would make her way to Nualia at Thistletop (despite her agoraphobia). This is what happened to the party from my first group of players - and they deeply, bitterly regretted not having managed to kill her under Sandpoint. The Thistletop dwellers now had a flying, invisible sentry/scout with a Stealth modifier of 40+ (with Invisibility factored in), who could also cast useful spells/other effects in combat (Cause Fear, Ray of Enfeeblement, Hold Person, Summon Monster, Command, etc.). Needless to say, they too also hated that quasit and finally killed her with great glee. :)
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One nit-pick with that idea: the Skinsaw cult is not active in Sandpoint (aside from the Skinsaw Man himself). But she could be one of the many captives taken by the giants (particularly if the party is slow/unobservant and doesn't get back to Sandpoint in time to organise a proper defence).
And the book(s) themselves point out that if players don't follow up on the lead to the rest of the Skinsaw cult, you might want to have them send over a few visitors.