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Greetings everyone !i am in dire need of your help ! Let me get started .
I have decided to give my rise of the runelords campaign a slight twist , giving how much my players LOVED Naulia and her story i am planning on making her the primary villain of the story , after the first encounter with her i want my party to try and hunt her down . She will be the one setting thinks in motion in every book , she will be the one sending aldern to the Brothers of seven that help her ... She will be the one requiting the Ogres etc . What i really need help with is dropping hints of that fact . i want my players to feel like she is always one step away from them and they cant reach her .
In that mind i have decided that she is trying to resurrect Alaznist instead of Karzug . I will convert all the greed to wrath and i think i am ok with that . But giving that i want her to be the ultimate villain and not Alaznist, i will give my players the notion that runelords are of immense power and if they are released all is lost .
so all in all i would love some help with some thinks because my mind is starting to overflow
1 anything specific i need to watch out for when converting anything from Karzug to Alaznist,
2 How do i tell my players that Naulia is behind everything Without someone telling them (they don't always survive )
It helps that one of my players is an Assimar paladin .Long lost sister of Naulia . How can i capitalize that?
Also in an entirely different matter . Anyone knows any good story-campaings evolving thief and assassins guilds ???
If my post doesn't make much sense forgive me its all lost in my head . Thank you for your time and your help .
<paraphrased>
I have decided to make Naulia the primary villain of the story,I need help with is dropping hints. I want my players to feel like she is always one step ahead of them.
In that mind I have decided that she is trying to resurrect Alaznist instead of Karzoug, but I want Naulia to be the ultimate villain.
Your idea sounds like it'll work fine, in fact it has some advantages.
Ogres/Giants/Murder Cultists are not the enemies I think of when one mentions "Greed". I understand some of the reasons behind the choice, but your idea works too.1 - Flavor mostly. Skinsaw should be fine. I'd replace the Paradise in Turtleback Ferry with some sort of "Fight Club". You'll have to retool Sins of the Saviors/Runeforge a bit, and different NPC change their importances and role there.
2 - Have people react to your PC as if it was Naulia. Did Malfeshnekor get out too? Have people ask where her dog went/talk about her new armor/comment on not realizing her religious nature....Naulia is one step ahead of them, and likely in towns that the PCs will be in doing "things" that aren't necessarily killing. Let there be some misunderstandings.
Coming from someone who adores Nualia, I would personally caution you against going this route with her. Making Nualia the big villain of the campaign makes things somewhat murky, as she's truthfully serving the interests of Lamashtu, rather than any of the rising Runelords. The fact she possesses a Sihedron medallion is only because of Xanesha's realization of her potential. Nualia knows next to nothing of Karzoug or the runelords at large, and likely only considers the Brotherhood of Seven to be serving some mysterious benefactors.
All that said, having her continue to be involved in the campaign is a wonderful idea. Assuming she escaped the PCs at Thistletop, she would likely be eager for revenge, but is intelligent enough to realize that the PCs are powerful foes to not be lightly trifled with.
Have her travel to Magnimar and reacquaint herself with the Seven. Xanesha can realize her true potential and use her, eventually sending her to her sister Lucrecia, perhaps. From there it's not a longshot for her to join with the ogres at Fort Rannick, move on to the Hook Mountain clan hold with the stone giants, and perhaps even join up with the assembling giant army in Jorgenfist.
Perhaps she participates in the attack on Sandpoint. Following the battle, she decides to hide out within the catacombs, and while trapped there, manages to uncover a secret passage into the deeper catacombs. When the scribbler awakens, he takes her under his tutelage. If she survives from here, she could easily beat the PCs to Xin-Shalast or harry them on their way.
My point is, Nualia works well as a sub-villain, but the glory of the campaign should really belong to the Runelord Karzoug. Perhaps in time and as she continues to elude the PCs, she gradually gains information about Karzoug's resurgence, becoming wiser to who she indirectly serves, shifting that service into a more direct manor (after all, Lamashtu was one of the major deities in Thassilon). Have her play the Darth Vader to Karzoug's Emperor Palpatine, so to speak. If every time they encounter her, she seems to know more and more about the 'glorious awakening', and she taunts the PCs of a coming godlike creature unlike the world has seen in thousands of years, it will make Karzoug's appearance all the grander, in my opinion.
That's my two copper, anyway!
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I was thinking . I will make Thristletop entitled to Alaznist instead of karzug , there she could have picked something up telling her of Alaznist and her location . with the help of Xanesha ( with whom she found and killed Delek) she found and befriended - M . With his help she started the soul lens and created the ritual to feed it .All of this she does from the same reason she is trying to free Malfeshnekor . Her "mother" told her so .. Alaznist was a great worshiper of Lamastu anyway... How does that sound? :)
Also i am thinking of making her actually the daughter of Lamastu .. but i think that would take thinks a step too far..
I agree with Nargemn I think if she survives, she should be a sub villain and a link through things but not the BBG of the entire AP.
If you made Nualia into Lamashtu's daughter, she would likely be either a tiefling, a half-fiend, or possibly a nephilim. However, this sort of ruins what makes her stand apart - that she, a beautiful aasimar, was corrupt and brought into Lamashtu's faith thanks to a life of abuse and misunderstanding. It's her tragic villain identity that makes her so interesting.
As far as having her be more interested or involved in Alaznist, that's certainly possible, but if that's the case you'd probably want to end her involvement by the time they explore the catacombs beneath Sandpoint regardless of her ultimate fate.
I say this because ultimately the campaign is written with the intention that the characters eventually travel to Xin-Shalast and face Karzoug. If you instead want them to deal with Alaznist, it will be up to you to fully switch gears in the campaign and they would instead be venturing to hollow mountain, potentially, which is where Alaznist slumbers I believes.
Creating all new maps, encounters, and treasures in addition to interesting role playing opportunities is a daunting task, especially so for very high level players, which they should be at that point.