Has anybody done anything with Aashaq the Annihilator? I found her stats in Dragons Unleashed along with her treasure hoard. Tentatively, I thought it might be interesting if she and Kerdak Bonefist had some kind of deal going to keep the Shackles pirates divided ... or if she manipulated everything leading to the Chelaxian invasion so that the pirates remain divided. Tentatively, I might buff her stats (if needed) when the PCs are right at the end of the campaign so that they have a choice: Reach an accommodation with her, or else unite as many pirate lords as they can to bring her down once and for all.
Might be too late to get your attention (hope you don't mind a PMMMMMMMMM~! but, for real, though, if you do, I apologize in advance), but have you made any progress on this idea?
One thing that I'm playing with is a comparison contrast (with possible rebuild to assist) of Aashaq with Raugsmauda and possibly tying that into the whole Ghol-Gan and Blood Queen and whatever other horrible (presumably Abyssal [demon/qlippoth] and/or "outer") stuff led to the fall of Ghol-Gan and even some legacy stuff of the serpentfolk into it all.
If you stick with the idea of Aashaq making a move over organized pirate council stuff do note that Raugsmauda has long been a source of consternation and Kerdak has (ostensibly) set up "unified" assaults against her... but these assaults have always ended in failure. hm, actually it doesn't mention Kerdak, only "the Pirate Council." I was going to spin a conspiracy theory about how it might all fit together, as Kerdak got his hand from Raugsmauda, but it might not be quite so neat as all that. Still, it could work if you wanted it to - Kerdak unifies the Pirate Council behind a call to strike down the undead menace all the while feeding her specific information about what's being planned and prepared. Raugs then obliterates the enemy with preparation, looks prescient and invincible and the pirates learn that Unity Doesn't Pay (unlike, say, Crime).
Kerdak could be willing and intentional (and a trail of letters or other correspondence evidence could be interesting to follow up, later) or he could simply be a patsy - again, remember his titular "Bonefist" hand was a gift from was acquired during an unknown interaction with Raugsmauda, and may well be some sort of spy or manipulation device either allowing her to modify his mind to some extent (but not to a charm/suggestion/dominate effect so folks don't catch on too easy, unless it is that straight forward in which case... makes sense!) or simply to always be aware of everything that happens around him (like a scry beacon but no one can see the beacon because it's right there in plain sight: his hand)... or a bright red herring that just let's him do some low-level negative ray stuff a few times per day 'cause undead graft and what's really going on is something else altogether.
IF Kerds'n'way Skelly-hand really is fighting Raugs-to-liches, I've gotta ask: why bite the hand that feeds him? ()
Similarly, Raugsy may be an ally of or opponent to Aashaq - and in such a situation, her sought-after destruction at the hands of the council's unificaiton projects (as encouraged by Kodak, if that's a thing) is part of a plot by Aashaq to remove an annoying and persistent pest (and may make the lich one of the PCs' friends, later) (), or is part of an organized scheme to instill distrust of unity into the pirates by repeated frustrating and frightening failure (see above), or is a happy coincidence Aashaq is happy to use but isn't directly behind... but now that Kerdak is gone she needs to act more openly with the PCs because <reasons>. Or something.
The connection between the qlippothic black tower, the Blood Queen, serpentfolk empires, Azlanti stuff, and fallen Ghol-Gan is intriguing and worth pondering, too.
I might make Rau-rau-raugs-pew'tin a mythic lich instead of a plain lich, and might have Kerdak-space-program come back as genuine undead (maybe even a lich creature by way of the template; he was corrupted/infected through his hand, see; he might even be a back-up/seed-thingy by Rau-rau-rau'y'r-boat "just in case" which, if she was super dead and her phylactery destroyed forever, it might be interesting to have Kerdak's corpse just kind of start walking and go, "oh, hey guys, you actually beat me; impressive; welp, time to kill the real villain, which is totally not me I swear") which could then help... or harm - or both, as they curse his () sudden, yet inevitable betrayal upon the (presumed) defeat of Aashaq () - against the evil dragon.
One other plot hook to remember with Raugsmauda is Gray Whyrlis who, to quote exceedingly specific wording, "was lost." Not "who lost" not "who was destroyed" or "killed" or "annihilated" or "dissentigrated" or anything... who "was lost."
WHAT
JUST
WHO
HOW
WAT
(In my game I may make him a skullsoul or something, but I really don't know, yet.)
In our game, I'm putting something about Yig, Ydersius, cultists and clones, and tying in elements from Serpent's Skull and side-effects from that AP; as well I'm doing something with an aboleth-like-thingy (and/or a LE fiend thingy I've been intentionally vague on this point). These two side elements are going to come to head, later, but they're part of my background stuff that leads into the end game, and that works well with the Raugsmauda stuff, but I don't know that it works well for the Aashaq as the end boss angle.
Pun-Tasticslion over here :)
I had an idea that I ultimately abandoned for some reason, where, while the PCs are recruiting new forces for their growing armada throughout Book 5, they get a tip that there’s a powerful Lich somewhere in the Shackles that could be convinced to ally to their cause, and if they were truly desperate, they could see if Aashaq could lend them some dragons. These alliances would be extremely valuable, but would also be extremely costly. The cost would ultimately come up during Book 6, and require the PCs to have to make a choice of morality.
Also/alternatively, Aashaq makes an ideal “continuing the campaign” choice. I always saw her as being invested in the continued pirate occupation, because they keep more valorous or judicial fellows away. However, this doesn’t stop her from demanding monthly tithes from the Shackles. When she hears about a new Hurricane King taking over, though, she may just decide to raise those tithes so high, it may just be better to launch an attack on her island...