Confusion about Chapter 7's future impact.

[Elfshire]

A) In chapter 7, Catherine Romana leads the Colossus faction, which Nicodemus then targets with his violent purge of the more corrupt Obscurati members. How is it she's not only still alive in Chapter 9, but trusted with enacting a crucial move against Risur? How does Nicodemus still trust her, when she represents the very sort of person he doesn't want in the Obscurati? If it's just to use her due to her nobility, why does she agree to serve, since he tried to kill her?

B) Also, does the final vote of Chapter 7's Convocation have any bearing on what form the 'new world' takes at the end of Chapter 9? Which plan did they end up going with?

Okay, maybe that second line of inquiry can best be answered by waiting for Chapter 10, but the stuff in (A) honestly confuses me...

 

[RangerWickett]

Meta reason: I wanted a familiar face as a villain in that part of adventure 9.

Narrative reason: Nicodemus's purge of undesirables in the Obscurati works pretty well, but a few people plead for another chance. Catherine Romana's ability to get allies in Risur is useful enough that Nicodemus agrees to keep her on (or even brings her back as part of the ghost council).

As for the vote, the final tally influences some elements of how the purge occurs, but mostly the party's decisions how to vote will only have an effect on any NPCs they manage to save from the purge. Once Nicodemus realizes that some of the votes were from spies, he feels justified in just taking the outcome he wants and killing the people who he doesn't want to work with.

Here's the PF version of an appendix to Adventure Ten.