What to do (storywise) with a TPK at thistletop

[Coolrunner]

I'm GMing a group of 5 PC's through RotRL for the first time and we've had 1 PC die and reroll before while inside thistletop and three of the other PC's have died to Nualia.
The only original PC to have survived decided to roll up a different character, it's his first time playing Pathfinder so I though I'd let him choose something he might enjoy more.
But this all means that none of the original PC's are ready for book two. I've already decided that a new group of PC's are being brought in by Sheriff Hemlock from Magnimar/Deputized from Sandpoint and arrive at Thistletop right after the PC's have been killed off. WIth the one PC surviving he'll give them enough info about the complex to be able to finish book one without much of a problem.
In book two I have nobody in the party to base Alderns obsession on, so I've decided to turn the 1 original partymember into a questgiver of sorts and source of information. He wil also be Alderns obsession.

Does anybody have any ideas or suggestion for things I can adjust or add in order to make this work? Even thoughts on ways to move the story forward after this near tpk, is welcome.

[captain yesterday]

Look at them as Sanpoint's plan B for exterminating the Goblin menace :-)

[the Lorax]

I planned a bit ahead and added Shayliss to "Die Dog Die!" scene.
(and a wagon instead of a rain barrel to hide behind)
One goblin got his head caught in a wagon wheel, and died whey Shayliss released the brake on the wagon letting it roll downhill.

I played up Aldern's fear of fire.
Shayliss will be the object of Aldern's Lust obsession.

I'd say, if you did not run "The Shopkeep's Daughter", do so, and use that angle. Actually, you could run a similar scene all over again (Shayliss is trying to get attention)

Alternately, just pick a character that could look similar to one of the old characters, and have the obsession be a whole case of mistaken identity on the part of Aldern. He is a deranged undead thing now, nobody says his observations and thoughts need to be particularly lucid or accurate.

[Whitehowl79]

At this point if your PC's were not successful I could see Nualia having time to fully execute her plan in offering Sandpoint to Lamashtu.
i.e. building a huge goblin army to burn the town down to feed the runewell and transform herself completely.

This could mean another but vastly bigger goblin army could be headed towards or already is at sandpoint with Nualia at the charge. Maybe she even brought new cronies with her!

For Aldern's obsession I could see him maybe going crazy at the death of one of your party members. He could have secretly had an obsession with one of them if it already wasn't made clear, and maybe now he blames their death on the last surviving member.

[Haladir]

My usual reaction to a TPK is that the bad guys capture the party and stabilize their wounds, for later use as slaves/sacrifices/lunch. This allows me to run a "prison break" scenario where the PCs break out of jail, find their captured equipment, and open up a can of hurt all over their former captors.

[Belegdel]

Seems to me you have things well in hand - I like the way you're intending to deal with the situation. The sheriff would absolutely do as you say - and it gives you an excuse for those characters to not necessarily be level 1.
Using the one remaining character as both a source of information and a focus for Aldern provides an excellent form of continuity.

The thing about Nualia's current situation is that her research to release Mal will take an unspecified amount of time. So, replace the goblins with troops brought in from other tribes, leave any of her companions dead, and let the new characters catch-up relatively easily.
Make the deaths of the first group mean something - getting to her now should be easy.
Assuming, of course, that the new party doesn't waste much time before getting the job done.

[Coolrunner]

Hey everybody, thanks for your replies, I always apreciate feedback and ideas. It's been tough deciding what to do with the new characters, nualia and chapter 2.

We've played a session with the new characters (great improvement on their old characters, which were the first roleplaying characters they ever made), and this is roughly how it went.

The sheriff recruited a CN halfling rogue name Francois Legrand and a LG human paladin named, and I'm not kidding, Bright Shinius, along with 3 guards to bolster the town defences.
Upon arriving back into town a half-orc barbarian and friend of a deceased partymember (I figured it would give them more personal incentive), was waiting for the sheriff in the barracks. When he called upon father Zantus to inform him as to what was going on a N Cleric of Pharasma joined him and had a personal interest in joining the party. The sheriff sent the party and Shalelu(as a guide) to Thistletop to figure out what happened to the heroes of Sandpoint since they'd been gone for 3 days.
When they arrived they found one of the alive partymembers, a NG Aasimar Bard, and another unconcious former partymember(the one that will be the 'Questgiver' of sorts). Shalelu then proceeded to carry the now PC turned NPC to safety while the rest of the group headed inside.
When they went in to confront Nualia they first looted all the old bad guys bodies(which I thought was odd since Nualia was supposed to be just in the other room). And when they went to the room where you're supposed to find Nualia they found a heap of burnt bodies and equipment, the walls covered in bloody symbols and runes dedicated to Lamashtu and the ritual Nualia was using to turn into a fiend(that'll take a religion check to figure out), and the heads of the 3 slain partymembers displayed on the floor with the text "I will return, and vengeance will be mine" written in their blood on the floor.

I haven't decided where, when or how Nualia(or Lyrie for that matter)will make her return or in what state, but I'm sure I can figure out something incredibly disturbing and dangerous.

[the Lorax]

Certainly sounds good.

While I didn't have a TPK, the party did run from Thistletop, then went back to finish of my alternate Elyrium (who they also ran from the first time).

I've decided to go a route not to too far off from what you're doing, feel free to take a look.

I think that I'm going to have them catch glimpses of Naulia/Mal/Lyrie along the way (although I kinda like the "Lyrie Scenario", so I might just let her be the first link along the path of Naulia being just ahead of the party).