Rise of the Runelords help

[Dousedinoil]

Hey all,

My DM wants someone in our group to volunteer to run an adventure so he can see the game from the players perspectives. I decided to give it a go because I was really excited about doing the skinsaw murders from rise of the runelords. It aligns with our characters levels perfectly and can act as a stand alone campaign so the DM doesn't have to move onto the Hook Moubtain Massacre if he doesn't want to. I've only done a couple of one offs but this will be my first official time DMing. I've read the first three books of the path and am still making my way through the DMG.

*Spoilers*
The one problem I have though, is that Aldern makes his first appearance in book one. In order to get the PC's to come to Sandpoint (Only about 8 days away by boat), I was going to have the fighters father send a messenger to the group to come home to Sandpoint. He has urgent news (he suspects Aldern is working with the Brothers Seven) but can't risk telling anyone over messenger. However, when they arrive they find his father (I made him one of the lords of the four houses to show his greed) he is actually the first victim. He has a bloodstained note saying "Welcome back to town - Your lordship". The PC's can suspect the other houses, his own daughter (who now inherits the sandworks), as well as a few other local scum who would have wanted him dead. That is, until tomorrow when the Skinsaw man strikes again at the lumbermill. From here I go on with the adventure as normal. However, the PCs have no knowledge of Aldern from book one. I was thinking about having the PCs rescue Aldern before they make it to the fathers dead body and as soon as they enter the town. Then the next day they could attend the famous Boar Hunt to keep up appearances. The problem with this however is that Aldern would already be a ghoul at this point. How do I slip this character in without arising too much suspicion?

[CGNefarious]

I would suggest replacing Aldern with someone innocuous from earlier in the campaign that the PCs already know, and then replacing the letters to be vague yet telling references to give subtle clues about who the killer is. Kind of like what is in the book, but tailored to be someone your party already knows. Bonus points if he's a lord of some sort with a vague backstory. The whole point of the mystery is that it's supposed to be someone your characters already know, but don't know too much about, and would never suspect.

If you want to keep it as Aldern, then I'm not sure how you'd do it. :frown:

[Dousedinoil]

I could potentially use an old PC that was replaced in the group. I could pick between an old Druid that went on its way or a Sorcerer that was killed in an earlier campaign but was brought back as a ghast. I guess the problem I come across is that neither is the lord type and wouldn't own an manor across the seas. Our first campaign was pretty dwarf heavy so it will be hard to think of a memorable character but I'll keep thinking.

[ArcanistSupreme]

Does the campaign need to begin immediately? If not, they could meet Aldern on the way to Sandpoint. Or you could whip up a mini side adventure lead-in that doesn't take much out of game time but takes awhile in game, giving Aldern time to make bad life choices.

[Dousedinoil]

I wanted to start the campaign with excitement and the shock/awe of losing his father and hearing about the murders. The group is also slightly over levelled so I don't want to award too much xp. We are still finishing things up with the current DM, so I may ask him to have Aldern Foxglove being held as prisoner in the bandit town we are currently in. I just don't want to tip my hand too much because he will be playing the adventure as well.

Alas, I don't see Aldern being a viable option. The previous book my DM ran was the forge of fury. We rescued two prisoners from the depths of the dungeon. Although my party won't recognize them by name or really have a history, I was thinking about using one of these two. They would responsible because they freed them but wouldn't have the personal connection of an Aldern.