Hi!
Sorry for the long post (and possibly for my broken english). I am trying to fit as many questions as possible into this as I don’t get much time on the Pathfinder forums with a baby to take care of.
I am currently DM:ing Rise of the Runelords with a party of four lvl 5 pcs (following the guidelines for leveling from the book): drow ranger with tiger, gnome witch (with a weasel familiar), human cavalier and a human paladin. They just cleared the Foxglove manor from the disease and the haunts and began their journey back to Sandpoint.
Summary of the pcs connections to the story/Sandpoint: The drow ranger was sent from Magnimar to investigate the murders in Sandpoint, the gnome witch was brought up among the Varisians and personally know Vhiski (the Sczarni gang leader) from her youth. The human cavalier works for the city guard in Sandpoint and the paladin is a cousin of Sandpoint's mayor.
During their earlier encounter with Nualia, they managed to handcuff Lyrie and recruit Orik but left Lyrie in the room where they encountered her. After the fight with Nualia (from which she managed to escape), one of the pcs, the rogue elf Reviell, sneaked away together with Lyrie (the player then created a new character, the drow ranger who was sent from Magnimar to investigate the skinsaw murders in Sandpoint). Hemlock has taken Orik into custody for him siding with Nualia. During their investigation of the sanatorium, they found a kidnapped tengu named Chuk-Chuk (from my added storyline in which a theatre company were searching for their director, that is, the kidnapped tengu). Chuk-Chuk killed Habe in rage when he saw him and was therefore brought to the prison in Sandpoint to await his trial in Magnimar.
So, as we start the next session, the pcs will arrive back in Sandpoint and give report to Hemlock. I now have a couple of story threads to tie together and ask your advice on this matter:
Both Chuk-Chuk and Orik will be sent to Magnimar for trial. I am planning to let the pcs escort them their as they will be going there anyway to continue the skinsaw investigation. But how should this unfold? Should I add any encounters on the way? And how do I introduce Ironbriar when they get to Magnimar? I'm thinking of showing his corruption by him just sentencing both Orik and Chuk-Chuk to death (the pcs became friends with Orik so this may add some tension between Ironbriar and the pcs, but at the same time I don't want to out him as the big bad guy too early. Also, would Ironbriar be able to sentence Orik and Chuk-Chuk to death as there is a whole council of jusices, or maybe this could be explained with the corrpution within that council?
How and when should I re-introduce Nualia? I am adding a half-fiend template on her and plan to turn her into a shadow demon in the end (is there a shadow demon template?).
What happened to the former pc, Reviell, and Lyrie? Reviell was close with Shalelu (they scouted together for Sandpoint) and Shalelu helped Reviell and Lyrie escape together. I am thinking of reintroducing them as having joined the black arrows in the next book of RoRL but maybe the group gets too powerful together with them, Shalelu’s stepdad and the other guys that are to be rescued from the ogres?
Also, I haven’t really managed to involve the sczarni in the plot yet. As the gnome witch grew up with Vhiski and the cavalier is working for the city guard, they are kind of on opposite sides of the law: whenever anyone tries to discredit Vhiski or his gang the gnome witch defends them, usually by motivating their crimes from a class perspective. How should I involve them in the plot without causing the main party to split because of their difference in oppinion about the sczarni?